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Chapter 35
publish date:
2026-05-12 16:53:46
Latest chapter
THE QUARTERBACK NEXT DOOR Chapter 39
Lena's povMy phone buzzed itself right off the nightstand. I fumbled for it in the dark, my heart already pounding from the sound. It was 6:17 a.m.It wasn’t a text. It was a storm.My screen was a flood of notifications. Instagram tags. Twitter mentions. A string of texts from numbers I didn’t know. At the top, a message from Chloe, sent three minutes ago: LENA. WAKE UP. YOU’RE INTERNET FAMOUS. IN A BAD WAY.I sat up, the cold morning air hitting my skin. I tapped the first notification.It was a photo. Posted by an account called ‘Gridiron_Gossip’. It had over five thousand likes already.The picture was from last night on the field. The stadium lights made everything look sharp and dramatic. There I was, kneeling in front of Derek, holding that stupid, bloody cloth to his eyebrow. My face was all serious concentration. His face… his face was looking down at me with this weird, soft expression. I’d been too focused on the cut to see it then. But in the photo? It looked intense. It
THE QUARTERBACK NEXT DOOR Chapter 38
Derek's pov Bryan’s words hung in the air like a bad smell. Planning the wedding. He said it. He actually said it. I looked at Lena. She was just holding that stupid bloody cloth, her eyes wide. She looked like she’d seen a ghost. A ghost wearing a tuxedo. Then I looked at the team. No one was moving. Everyone had stopped packing up. Helmets were dangling in mid-air. Water bottles were forgotten. Every single one of them was staring at us. At me. Mason’s mouth was hanging open. I saw Chris elbow Jake and point. A low whistle came from somewhere behind me. The silence was worse than getting sacked. Then Lena blinked. She looked from Bryan’s stupid grinning face to the crowd of my teammates. She made a tiny squeaking noise, dropped the cloth like it was on fire, and spun around. She almost ran off the field. Her ponytail was bouncing like a flag of surrender. “Lena, wait…” I started, but it was too late. She was gone, ducking into the tunnel. That’s when I heard the laughter.
THE QUARTERBACK NEXT DOOR Chapter 37: The Punch
Lena’s POV I was halfway across the parking lot when shouting from the football field made me stop. At first I ignored it because football practice at Ridgewood sounded violent even on normal days, but then I heard Derek’s name and suddenly everyone started running toward the field like free money had fallen from the sky. My stomach tightened immediately. By the time I got closer, Coach Thompson was yelling, players were crowding around the benches, and Derek was sitting down with blood running from a cut above his eyebrow while the medic argued with him. “I said I’m fine.” “You’re bleeding through your uniform.” “I noticed.” “You probably need stitches.” “I probably need everyone to relax.” Even injured, he sounded irritated instead of concerned, which honestly felt very Derek. Bryan spotted me first and walked over quickly. “You missed the drama,” he said. “Derek punched Carter Mills.” I looked at him. “Why?” Bryan gave me a look. “Because Carter apparentl
THE QUARTERBACK NEXT DOOR Chapter 36: The Problem With Defending Her
Derek’s POVBy the end of the day, I have officially become Ridgewood High’s favorite topic against my will.Which is saying something considering last month people thought Coach Thompson was secretly having an affair with the cafeteria manager because they were seen buying oranges together at a grocery store.This school survives entirely on delusion and WiFi.The second the final bell rings, my phone starts vibrating like it has developed a personal vendetta against silence.Messages and notificationsFootball group chats exploding.Social media posts already dissecting my “public defense” of Lena like sports commentators analyzing national tragedy.Mason appears beside me while I shove my phone back into my pocket with growing irritation.“You know,” he says thoughtfully, “when people said senior year would be memorable, I do not think they imagined you defending a girl accused of theft like a divorced father in court.”“I hate you.”“No, seriously,” he continues, barely holding ba
THE QUARTERBACK NEXT DOOR Chapter 35
Derek’s POVHmmmm….There are very few things more exhausting than walking into Ridgewood High at eight in the morning and immediately sensing chaos before anyone even opens their mouth.Unfortunately, Vanessa Blake has perfected that atmosphere over the years.She does not create scenes loudly anymore because she learned long ago that subtle cruelty survives longer than dramatic cruelty, and the second I spot her near the lockers surrounded by her usual audience of emotionally unemployed cheerleaders, I already know somebody’s day is about to get ruined for entertainment purposes.Then I see Lena.And suddenly the problem becomes predictable.She is standing near her locker quietly adjusting the strap of her bag, expression calm in that careful way she has when she is trying not to attract attention, and for reasons I do not entirely understand, watching her exist like that while people constantly look for ways to tear at her nerves irritates me more every day.Bryan is beside her ta
THE QUARTERBACK NEXT DOOR Chapter 35
Derek’s POVHmmmm….There are very few things more exhausting than walking into Ridgewood High at eight in the morning and immediately sensing chaos before anyone even opens their mouth.Unfortunately, Vanessa Blake has perfected that atmosphere over the years.She does not create scenes loudly anymore because she learned long ago that subtle cruelty survives longer than dramatic cruelty, and the second I spot her near the lockers surrounded by her usual audience of emotionally unemployed cheerleaders, I already know somebody’s day is about to get ruined for entertainment purposes.Then I see Lena.And suddenly the problem becomes predictable.She is standing near her locker quietly adjusting the strap of her bag, expression calm in that careful way she has when she is trying not to attract attention, and for reasons I do not entirely understand, watching her exist like that while people constantly look for ways to tear at her nerves irritates me more every day.Bryan is beside her ta
THE QUARTERBACK NEXT DOOR Chapter 31
Lena’s POVBy the time I get to school the next morning, I have already made a very important decision for the sake of my remaining sanity, my emotional stability, and my ability not to throw a textbook directly at Derek Hayes’s perfectly shaped head.I am done trying.Not dramatically. Not emotion
THE QUARTERBACK NEXT DOOR Chapter 28
Lena's POVIgnoring someone is easier when they don’t notice, when the absence of your voice blends into everything else and no one stops to question it, but Derek notices in the worst possible way, not directly, just in the small pauses that stretch a little too long when I don’t respond the way I
THE QUARTERBACK NEXT DOOR Chapter 19
Derek’s POVBy the time I step out of the shower and pull on a clean shirt, I can already hear movement downstairs, and it takes me exactly two seconds to remember that the house is no longer as quiet as it used to be, which is already starting to feel like a problem I didn’t agree to have.I grab
THE QUARTERBACK NEXT DOOR Chapter 15
Derek’s POVBy the time practice ends, I already know I’m not in the mood for anything that requires patience, which unfortunately includes most people and whatever unnecessary drama the day still has left to throw at me, because there is always something, and somehow it always finds its way back t
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