Burke’s Little Secret

C-6 P-1

The traffic outside the stadium was a gridlock of brake lights and painted tailgates, but inside the cramped sedan, the silence felt even heavier.

I leaned my forehead against the cool glass of the passenger window, watching the sea of fans in our school colors marching toward the massive concrete gates. Usually, I didn't have anyone to sit with on the three-hour drive to out-of-town games. I didn't really have friends on campus; I was always just the quiet girl in the back of the lecture hall, or the sister hovering on the sidelines of the football team's social circle.

But yesterday, Lily, a girl from my advanced statistics class, had caught me packing up my laptop. We had partnered up for a few small projects, but we’d never really talked outside of schoolwork. When she found out I was trying to figure out a ride to the away game, she had immediately offered to drive me. I had been so relieved to not have to beg Noah or Levi for a spot on the crowded team bus that I’d accepted right away.

Now, though, my chest felt tight with a completely different kind of anxiety.

"So," Lily said, shifting the car into park as we finally found a spot in the gravel lot. She turned off the engine and looked over at me, tapping her manicured nails against the steering wheel. "The twins are going to absolutely crush it today. But honestly, I’m mostly excited to see how Isaac plays. He’s been on a total tear lately."

I caught my breath, my fingers tightening around the strap of my bag. "Yeah, the whole team has been working hard."

"Oh, come on, Annabeth, you can be real with me," Lily chuckled, leaning across the console slightly. "Everyone knows he’s the real star this season. Plus, have you seen the way he looks in his uniform? I heard he’s single, too. Do you know if he's looking to talk to anyone new? Like... do you think he has a specific type?"

She arched an eyebrow, her smile loaded with a very obvious hint. She was fishing for information, and it wasn't the first time she'd dropped a comment like that since we left campus. Over the last three hours, she had subtly brought up Isaac's name at least four times, asking about his schedule, his favorite spots near the dorms, and whether he usually hung out after the games.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and forced my face to stay completely blank. The images of Isaac from the party—the fierce, unreadable storm in his eyes before my brothers interrupted us—flashed behind my eyelids. My thoughts were already a jumbled, chaotic mess, and the last thing I wanted to do was analyze his love life with a girl I barely knew.

"I don't really know," I lied softly, reaching for the door handle to avoid her gaze. "Isaac mostly keeps to himself and focuses on the game. He doesn't really talk to me about that kind of stuff."

"Right,"Lily said, her tone sounding a little disappointed, though she quickly masked it with a bright smile. "Well, I guess we’ll just have to see how he does on the field today. Let's go find our seats before the kickoff."

I stepped out of the car into the crisp, windy afternoon air, pulling my jacket tightly around my shoulders. As we walked toward the spectator gates, the thunderous roar of the crowd inside the stadium echoed through the concrete walls. I was grateful to Lily for the ride, but as my eyes instinctively searched the stadium entrance where the players would soon emerge, the weight of Isaac's mixed signals felt heavier than ever.

The final whistle blew, and the stadium erupted into a deafening roar of cheers and flashing stadium lights. We had won. The scoreboard blinked our school's victory in bright neon numbers, and the entire sideline was a chaotic blur of jumping players, flying towels, and cascading confetti.

Isaac had been absolutely incredible on the field. Every time he made a play, the crowd went wild, and despite the absolute mess inside my head, I had found myself cheering until my throat was raw.

But it wasn't just his performance that had my heart racing. During the transitions between quarters and right before the final drive, I had caught him looking up into the stands. Not just scanning the crowd—looking directly at me. Our eyes had locked for a few fleeting seconds across the distance of the field, his gaze carrying that same intense, heavy gravity that had terrified and thrilled me at the party.

"Wow," Lily breathed next to me, clapping loudly. "He really did amazing. Did you see that last tackle?"

"Yeah," I murmured, my eyes still glued to the field as the players began to converge in the center to shake hands.

Down below, Noah was jogging toward the bench, wiping sweat from his forehead with his jersey. He stopped, his eyes drifting up to where Lily and I were standing in the bleachers. He looked at me, then shifted his gaze directly over to Isaac, who was still subtly looking back toward our section. Noah’s expression tightened, a quiet flash of realization crossing his features. He noticed. He saw the silent, charged connection happening right under everyone's noses.

But as Levi jogged up beside him, slapping his shoulder in celebration, Noah kept his mouth shut. He didn't say a word to his twin. Levi was already wound tight after the interrogation with Carter, and Noah knew that if Levi caught onto the way Isaac was looking at me, the celebration in the locker room would turn into a disaster. Noah was protective, but he was also smart enough to know when to hold his cards.

My relief at Noah's silence was cut short, though, when I looked toward the track.

The cheerleaders were forming a line to cheer the team off the field, and standing right near the front was Jasmine. She wasn't looking at the scoreboard, and she wasn't celebrating the win. Her eyes were locked entirely on me, narrowed into cold, sharp slits. The glare she threw up into the bleachers was unmistakable, heavy with suspicion and a sudden, sharp hostility. She had clearly caught Isaac looking up here, too, and she knew exactly who he was looking at.

I pulled my jacket tighter around myself, stepping back into the crowd as Lily started gathering her things. The game was over, we had won, but as I watched Isaac disappear down the tunnel toward the locker room, the tangled web around us only felt tighter.