We all knew that we would have to face the music in front of Celestia today, but Twilight wanted to confront Celestia about what she had to go through since the first day of school. And she wanted Sunset and Applejack to be there as well. But for me, if there was ever a time that I needed a team on the same page for what we were about to face, that time was now.
Coach Spitfire went to tell Miss Luna about what we discovered from last night; how someone knew about the layout of the school, from getting into the gym to finding the science room where Angel the bunny was located; that Lightning Dust and crew was in charge of the damage; how we had to break into Crystal Prep to rescue Angel; how I had to convince Fleur to come clean about her actions; everything. The only thing that I didn’t want to bring up is the Elite 5’s role in all this. Not until I talk to them in private about what they possess. That was the last thing I want for everyone to worry about. If they have the same gift that I have, I need to know what they know about it as well.
It was after 4th period that Coach Spitfire came for me, Twilight, and Sunset. Luna went to get Applejack. We all knew that we would have to see Celestia at this time. Spitfire took the rest of our team from our class and made sure all members of the team would be at the gym, finishing up on some of the final touches for homecoming. I knew that Celestia would want to know who from the school knew about my gift. But when we arrived there to meet Luna and Applejack, Celestia went off the deep end.
“What the heck were you thinking last night? To find out that you went to break in to Crystal Prep just to rescue a bunny from our school was crazy. What if you got caught while you were in there?”
“I doubt it wouldn’t be a problem when you have someone who can sense trouble around every corner,” Applejack said.
“Plus we had help from the outside getting us around the school,” Twilight added. “I don’t see how that can be a problem when YOU have been keeping secrets from us.”
Celestia started to look at me, but Twilight slammed her hands on the desk, getting Celestia attention.
“Don’t even think about going to him for anything,” Twilight yelled. “Do you know how much hell I had to go through since the start of the school year? You paired me up with Sunset for most of the classes, hoping that Jack here would help resolve all of our problems.”
“And when things got to be their worst, I had to do whatever I can to fix Twilight’s problems that involved Jack and Sunset,” Applejack added.
“And do you know how much pain I had to relive from all this?” Sunset asked Celestia. “I would have wanted to kill myself…AGAIN!!!”
“At least you could have told us about Jack’s gift,” Twilight said. “Would have made things easier on all of us instead of having everyone as your own lab mice.”
After hearing all this, Celestia sat down and pinched the bridge of her nose before she spoke. “Jack, who else knows about what you carry?”
Before I could answer, a knock came to the door before it opened. It was Coach Spitfire. “We’re ready when you are.”
I said, “Celestia, I think it’s best that you see for yourself.”
As all of us left the office to make our way to the gym, Celestia grab Star Swirl’s book and whispered something to Ms. Raven before walking with us. When we arrived at the gym, she was surprised to see over almost two-dozen students in the gym.
“You have got to be kidding me,” Celestia said in shock.
Cadence walked in front of the group. “Principal Celestia, if Crystal Prep is trying to cheat to win, by any means, and if you plan to leave it up to Jack to deal with it, then he’s going to need an army, or at least a team, to stop them.”
“She’s right,” Shining Armor added. “I know he has what it takes on the team. But if we’re facing a rival team who has what he has, then we need to find out how to stop them. And what has happened this week is just proof that they will try anything to get an edge on winning, with or without that gift.”
“You got that right.”
We all looked at the gym entrance to see Coach Iron Will who spoke. Mrs. Harshwhinny, Ms. Raven, and Doctor Whooves also walked in with them.
“If you plan to take on Crystal Prep, then it’s wise to have us on your side,” Mrs. Harshwhinny said.
“Students, meet the rest of the team,” Celestia said. All of us were surprised to see who all knew about my gift for so long. “I guess you all deserve to understand why we have been doing this from the start.” She looked at Mrs. Harshwhinny to begin.
“It’s about how Professor Star Swirl learned about the power of soul resonance back in Equestria University. Just like how Coach Spitfire was the head female coach at EU, I was a professor there as well. I was also a good friend with Star Swirl at the time. I knew that he always like to learn and discover new and rare things and liked to talk about it with me. But one year, he didn’t show up for the start of the new college semester. All that the university would say was that he retired. I tried calling him, but got no answer. Since I have Celestia’s home number, I called her up and asked if she heard anything. That’s when I knew about the book arriving at their house. When I heard that she was selected for the VP position here, I decided to resign at the end of the college year and start working as an English teacher here. I wanted to find out what happen to Star Swirl just as much as they did.”
Celestia took over the conversation. “When I went from VP to Principal, I knew I was going to be busy with the school. Mrs. Harshwhinny recommended that I hire Ms. Raven from Manehattan, who was once a student in her classes at EU. She knew that Ms. Raven would be able to help us during our off time in finding out about Star Swirl’s wear-a-bouts. And we were lucky that she did.” She looked at Ms. Raven to continue.
“When Crystal Prep got a new principal, after hearing stories of problems in the school, they started to improve year by year. Then the perfect streak in every school challenge came into play. Somehow, Principal Cinch was able to make Crystal Prep as the best school to attend for the best and brightest students. As you would know, Jack, that Mane Coast Academy was also a top ranked school in the nation, their methods were different from Crystal Prep. When I brought it to Celestia and Luna’s attention, it raised some concern.”
Spitfire took over. “An opening came up for a female coaching job. I was the new head coach at the time when Luna called asking me to take the job. I knew what was going on with their search, but I couldn’t take the job. So I recommended a friend of mine from Cloudsdale to take it for me, Coach Fleetfoot. I filled her in on what was going on, and she kept an eye on anything unusual there. But somehow they were having a hard time finding out what they were looking for. Coach Iron Will got in touch with the head coach of EU, Coach Tirek.
That’s when Iron Will took over, in his method of speaking. “Celestia told Iron Will about the problems with Crystal Prep. Iron Will doesn’t like Crystal Prep to cheat, but Iron Will has no proof to show. Fleetfoot wasn’t much help in the position that she was in. So Iron Will called an old friend, Tirek. Tirek kept tabs on EU since Star Swirl’s disappearance, but nothing new showed up. Tirek has coached students from Crystal Prep, but they weren’t who they used to be since Crystal Prep. This raised many questions.”
Spitfire said, “Tirek told me that they were getting nowhere in the team’s search. When I heard that Coach Goalkeeper was retiring, Celestia asked that I take over as the female coach here. I was hesitant at the moment, but Tirek said that I should go there and help out. Plus since Rainbow Dash needed help with her scholarship, there was no reason I should decline. Tirek said that he would find someone to take my place at EU. When Celestia later told me about your gift, Jack, she wanted me to keep an eye on you. Luna soon then had an idea of making it easier with the idea of the samurai club. I’m sure that you know the rest of the story.”
“So Coach Tirek is also a part of this team?” Shining Armor said.
“That’s right,” Spitfire replied. “And he hopes you would get the football scholarship after this year. He could use your talents. But that’s for another time.”
“Then what’s Doctor Whooves story here?” Twilight asked.
“SPOILERS!!!” I said. Everyone looked at me. “Professor River Song would have played a part in this.”
“Indeed so, Jack,” responded Doctor Whooves. “Since Celestia and River Song have kept in touch with each other, thanks to me, for some reason the both of them, somehow, got me involved. Beside, since River Song is now aware of your gift, she’s been busy looking for anything that could be connected to it on her summer trips overseas. She’s still connecting the pieces since she now understands what’s going on.”
“And until then, we’re in the blind about the bigger picture on my gift,” I said.
“That’s right,” he responded. “By we do have one thing we need to focus on.”
“CRYSTAL PREP!”
“Twilight, tell Coach Iron Will you have something for tonight’s game,” Iron Will said.
Twilight looked at me before answering to Iron Will. “Since I understand a bit about Jack’s gift, we might have come across something from the video we got, but it more of a long shot.”
“We noticed that Crystal Prep’s quarterback has been able to avoid getting sacked against Trottingham, but that was weeks ago. If we had more up to date video, we could be certain,” I said.
“Well, it really is a long shot, because that’s his name,” Spitfire said.
“Wait, you mean last year’s backup QB is the starting QB for Crystal Prep?” Flash asked.
“That’s right,” Spitfire responded.
I looked at the guys for a better explanation. Shining Armor said, “Long Shot was just a backup QB until we faced them last year. We were able to do a number to their starter QB while we had the lead. When they put him in, he just broke through our defense without breaking a sweat, winning the game. They made him the starter during the championship game, and that’s when we got trashed big time.”
“Sounds like a gifted student to me,” I said. “If I can dodge any defense that comes at me, then he could do the same.”
“Is that the only player who stands out?” Luna asked us.
“From what I saw, that’s the only one,” Twilight said.
“We can rule out Brick Wall,” Chrysalis added. “If he had that gift, he would have dodged my leg sweep when he went running towards Jack from behind weeks ago.”
“I hate to change the subject, but what about the woman’s basketball team,” Dash said. “The Elite 5 is a part of that team, and one of them acts as the tactician for both football and basketball teams. Wouldn’t they have something like that in them?”
“The thought has crossed our minds, but we’re a long way from finding out at this time,” Celestia said.
Coco asked, “Sunset, you fought against Lightning Dust before. Were you able to land any blows on her?”
“Some, yes. But they didn’t do a lot of good when Suri came up from behind to hold me down.”
“The we can rule Lightning Dust out as well, otherwise, she would have dodge every swing you would have thrown,” Coco added.
“That’s a good point,” Applejack said. “Jack was able to dodge most of what I threw at him, unless I was able to pin him down. But he even found a way to stop any punch I threw at him.”
“We had a feeling that not every student would bear this gift, otherwise, it would wave red flags at the school from everyone else,” Luna said. “Jack, when you were in the school, anything felt out of place over there?”
“Nope. It was like any other school. I even didn’t sense anything bad from their guard,” I said.
“I thought the school guard was nice when he tried to help us find Angel while we were outside,” Fluttershy added.
“Then maybe some of the students there might bear the actual gift that Jack has,” Celestia said.
“I wouldn’t go there, Tia,” said Spitfire. “Tirek did say that he had students from that school, and they weren’t who they were when they started college, so they must be finding a way to give them this gift.”
“Oh, what if they’re part of some evil organization wanting to take over the world,” Pinkie said. “Oh maybe their aliens trying to infect the students without them even knowing it.”
“Pinkie, I think you been watching too many spy movies and sci-fi shows,” Applejack told her.
“Wait, Pinkie might be on to something,” Moon Dancer said. “If they were doing something at the school, wouldn’t the school board, or even the government look into it? Then they would find something that would require the school to be closed down. So it would be safe to do their operations someplace else and just test it on the students in hopes to give them an edge in what they can do before.”
“Then we’re back to where we’ve started,” Twilight said.
I looked at Coco; seeing that she wanted to say something to me, but I gave a silent signal to stay quiet for now.
Twilight continued. “The only other issue we have is trying to prove that Lightning Dust was the one that planned the chaos in our school and tried to pin it on Sunset.”
“Well, we know that someone knew the school layout to find a way into the school and make their way to the science lab,” Luna said. “But who would be willing to go back on our school to do this?”
Coach Spitfire’s cell buzzed. When she pulled it out, she saw something on the screen. “Well, we can ask the student who left that piece of fabric at the window.”
“I’m guessing that Fleur was able to identify who needed their track jacket fixed, right?” I asked.
“Better. It’s someone that Fleetfoot knows in one of her classes,” Spitfire said. “And she says that if we can take him in, he should be easy to tell all who was a part of Dust’s group, with enough pressure.”
“If you can pull this off, I’m treating you, Fleetfoot, and Fleur to shakes at Sugarcube Corner,” I said.
“I’ll hold you to that, Jack,” Spitfire said.
“So, Jack. Did you hit it off with the rival model that had the hots for you?” Rarity asked.
“Let’s just say that if I can help Diamond Tiara and her mother change, I can do the same with Fleur,” I said.
“So, how do we make sure he’s at the game tonight?” Applejack asked.
“Leave that part to us,” Luna answered. “We’ll make sure we get him tonight.”
“Miss Luna, perhaps we can use a few students to help…blend in with the crowd,” Mrs. Harshwhinny recommended. “Trixie, Rarity, you think the two of you would have something for this?”
“Trixie knows we have something for this occasion, right Rarity?”
“I believe we do. Who do you have in mind, Mrs. Harshwhinny?” Rarity asked.
“If its students you need for the job, then leave it to us,” Lyra said, pointing to Sweetie Drops. “We can help find your target.”
“Then count me in as well,” Octavia said. “You two might be able to blend in, but if it’s snobs that you have to face, then leave those ones to me.”
“Then it looks like we got a plan in place,” Spitfire said.
“Jack, I hate to say it, but it looks like you have your team to get it done,” Celestia said. “I’ll be impressed to see the final results after tonight, Captain Jack.”
“Since when did I become the captain of this team?”
“Since you created the Manehattan Knights, we think it’s deserving that you take charge of the team of students,” said Ms. Raven. “And I must say, Manehattan has improved since you created the group a couple of years ago.”
I just placed my hands on my hips and shook my head in disbelief. “Coco, you want to do the honors?”
“It will be my pleasure,” Coco answered. “As a member of the Manehattan Knights, if you want Jack to be the captain of this group, raise your hand.” And everyone in the gym raised their hand high. Pinkie decided to raise both hands. “I guess you’re our new team captain.”
“And it all begins again,” I said to myself. “Miss Luna, any news on Master Blade’s items that he planned to give to you?”
“The will just got finalized yesterday, and the caretaker is getting everything ready for me to pick up, since that’s the only way I can have it brought over. And she did find something that I overlooked: a diary. It’s in his own language and dates when he was younger, so it might shed some light on your gift’s origins. I plan to go there tomorrow morning and be back before the homecoming dance. For now, we just need to get through our match-up with Crystal Prep tonight. If we face them in the championship game, we might have a better idea about your powers.”
I told everyone, “Well, what are you all waiting for? Let’s get to work. We got a rival school to deal with.”
And everyone started to leave the gym to head on to lunch while they planned for tonight. Coco stayed for a moment, wanting to talk to me about earlier before.
“Jack, I know you didn’t want me to bring it up, but what if it’s…her,” Coco said. “I mean you felt something bad about her when she left Professor Digger’s office in the museum, and that was when we were waiting for him during our freshman year. If someone on the outside is using the students of Crystal Prep for their own gain, wouldn’t she be the one to do so?”
I said, “Ever since I learned more about my gift, and what I know about Crystal Prep so far, it would be something that she would do, if its her. But I need to talk to Indigo first before pointing fingers at others. I know the professor had concerns about her when she made that visit, and I think it’s the reason that he would give the two blades to me.”
“How would we know if Indigo is on our side in the first place?” she asked. Then the answer just popped into her head. “Wait, was it her that helped us last night?”
“It was her team, but they don’t know about the connection between me and her, so let’s leave it that way for now, until I find a way to talk to her in private. We can fill Moon Dancer and Chrysalis in on this later. Get with our team in Manehattan this weekend and see if they can look into her actions. I want to make sure I have my bases covered before making this kind of move. For now, our focus is on Crystal Prep.”
“Agreed,” Coco responded. “Looks like we get to see some action again.”
“And I wouldn’t do it without you, Coco,” I said.
Applejack wanted to talk to me after school in private. She told me that there was something that she wanted to get off her chest. I did need to talk to her about something as well, so we went outside near the statue.
Applejack said to me, “Before I let you have your say, let me get this out in the open with you. Ever since we had that talk on my farm months ago, I started to have these…feelings for you. It was something that I couldn’t understand because it was a new experience for me.”
I wanted to say something, but she kept on talking. “Now I know you’re still new with being around girls in that kind of manner, and when I pulled that stunt on you on the farm, I was only joking. But after you left the farm, I started to have second thoughts and wished I went father with you when I had that moment.”
I still tried to say something, but she still kept talking. “When I saw how you wanted to help out with Sunset, I started to feel jealous and needed to find a way to get ya to forget her, and that time you took me to the workout room was the only way to make it happen. I tried to give you signals on the ride there, but you were focused on helping Sunset, so that’s why I challenged you.”
I wanted to say something, but I figure that I let her finish what she wanted to tell me. “When that failed, I talked to Miss Luna about how I should approach you about my feelings. But I had to put it aside when you and Sunset had that encounter with Lightning Dust and company. You had to save Sunset from Dust because she needed your help. After you finally learned about her past and told me, I had to start thinking about what I should be doing for myself. I even told Twilight that I had feeling for ya, but when she said yesterday that you had feeling for Sunset, I didn’t know how to respond. But after last night, I knew what I needed to do.”
Finally, she was almost finished with what she wanted to say to me. “I know I gave you the wrong signals because I’m more old fashion, wanting the guy to ask me out. And I can guess you have feeling for both Sunset and me. But now I know I need to make the move up front instead of waiting for you to make this kind of move. So I’m asking you this…”
She took a big breath before she spoke. “You need to ask Sunset out to the dance tomorrow.”
I said, “I know and…wait, what did you say?”
“You heard what I said, Jack. I want you to be Sunset’s boyfriend. She needs you more than I do, and I mean it.”
I was now confused at what Applejack was trying to tell me, and she could see it in my face.
“Wait a minute, did Sunset tell you that you should ask me out to the dance?” I nodded, and she just put her hand on her face in shame. “Damn it, Twilight. You just have to make it harder for all of us.”
“I think she learned that last night when we were going back to Fleur’s place,” I said.
“Well, let me make it easy for you. After what I experienced with you, I now know what I need to do in the first place. I’m sure to find another guy out there that would be right for me, and there’s the spring homecoming next semester, so there’s still time for me. But Sunset is never going to find herself a boyfriend with her past problems, and you’re the only guy that has gotten close to her. Right now, she needs someone to help heal the wounds that she has, and you’re the only guy who can do that. If she says that she’s not worth your time, then screw it. The two of you were destined to be together, and I’m sure Twilight will accept you to be with her.”
I took what she told me to heart and said, “I’ll do it. Thanks, AJ.”
She embraced me in a hug and said, “No problem, partner. Best I can do for ya.” As she released me from her hug, she said, “And if I ever need any help in how I should approach a guy better, I’ll come to you for advice, if ya don’t mind.”
“I’ll be happy to help, as long as you can help me with Sunset’s training later on. I have a feeling she might need it.”
Just then, I felt my cell buzz. I took it out and saw that it was a text from Fleur.
Jack, can we meet before the game tonight.
I don’t want to be alone there.
“I figure you got everything resolved with her,” Applejack said.
“I did, but that’s not what she’s saying. The second sentence is the code word that I gave her to warn me,” I said.
Applejack asked, “You think Lightning Dust and company are behind this?”
“I think Lightning Dust is just ticked off that I’ve been getting in her way with her plans,” I said.
Just then, Twilight and company, along with Sunset and Chrysalis came out to join us.
“I’m guessing that you two got everything taking care of with your…chat?” Rarity asked us.
Applejack said, “We have, Rarity. But now we got bigger fish to fry.”
“Just got a text from Fleur, wanting to meet me before the game. But her text was disguised as a warning for me.” I looked at Sunset and Chrysalis and said, “How do you girls feel like giving some payback from our last encounter?”
Sunset and Chrysalis knew what I was talking about and nodded.
“I’ve been meaning to get back at that bitch for what she did to me,” Sunset said. “And I have my own personal payment waiting for her.”
“And I’ve been waiting to have another go with Miss I-take-all-the-credit after last time,” Chrysalis added.
“Twilight, get the team together that’s not part of tonight’s game like before. I think it’s time we set our own trap for Dust and company. And this time, we make sure they regret messing with us from the start.”
I made sure that Fleur knew to meet me at the school around six o’clock. This way, if it were Dust and company, Brick Wall wouldn’t be with them because of tonight’s game. I wanted to make sure my team had the advantage in this matter. I sat on the tailgate of my truck, waiting for her to arrive. That’s when I saw a black SUV pull up towards me. When it stopped in front of me, Fleur came out from the back of the SUV.
“Jack!” Fleur said, running towards me. “I’m sorry for doing this.”
“Is everything OK?” I asked Fleur.
“Oh, everything is just fine.” I recognized the voice. It was Lightning Dust, coming out from the back of the SUV. Suri and a few other girls came out of the SUV from the other side and walked to Dust’s side.
I stared at Dust for a moment before whispering to Fleur, “Go to the field entrance and look for Coco. Leave the others to me.” She acknowledges what I told her and went off towards the football field. Once she was out of range, I placed my focus on Dust. “I’m surprised you would show your face after you went running scared the last time.”
“Shut it, Jack,” Lightning Dust yelled. “No doubt you helped get your lame bunny back from us.”
“And you also got the gym cleaned up and back to normal,” Suri added. “We know you used Fleur to get back at us.”
I replied, “Well, that’s because she was interested in me while you only cared about your DAMN SCHOOL’S PRIDE!!!”
“THAT’S IT!!!” Dust yelled. “You’re lucky that Brick Wall and the guys couldn’t be here, but I’m sure us ladies can take you down easy!”
“Ya sure about that?” Applejack started to come out behind one of the cars next to mine. “If ya want Jack, you have to get past us.”
Dust said, “What the…you and what army?”
“ALL OF US!!!” Rainbow Dash yelled as she made her appearance.
Most of the other girls from our team made their appearance. Lyra, Sweetie Drops, and Trixie showed up to my left; Rarity, Vinyl, and Octavia to my right. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy came out from behind me with Tree Hugger holding Angel on her hands.
“What the heck?” Dust said as she started to back up to the SUV with the others, but Dust and Suri were bumped into someone else. Dust looked back to see Sunset, and Suri saw Chrysalis, who both grabbed the girl that was in front of them.
Sunset said, “Hello, BITCH!!!”
Chrysalis said, “I hope you’re ready for a rematch.”
“Lightning Dust, I know you like to play dirty since we played together back in Cloudsdale,” Dash said. “But what you did days ago crosses the line.”
“Now, now, Dash. Let’s not all start pointing fingers without proof,” Applejack said, then looked at Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie and gave them a nod.
Fluttershy went and asked, “Angel, do you know who kidnapped you?” Angel pointed at Dust.
Pinkie asked Angel, “And do you know who destroyed the gym?” Angel pointed at Suri. “Thank you.”
At that point, Pinkie and Fluttershy walked up in front of us, and their mood greatly changed. Pinkie’s hair went flat, and Fluttershy’s eyes went wide, as both of them started to grin like crazy.
“There’s something you need to know about them two,” Applejack said. “Pinkie hates party crashers.”
“And Fluttershy hates animal abusers,” Dash added.
Tree Hugger stepped in and said, “And when they come across haters like you, their aura gets very dark, like bad karma ready to strike.”
“And it ain’t pretty.” Applejack finished.
“Hey, Jack. Maybe we should leave it to them to handle this. We have a game to get ready,” Dash said.
“Good point. I want to save my energy for Brick Wall…on the field,” I said. And I walked towards the field with Dash.
“Wait, you’re leaving us with these psychos?” Dust yelled at us.
I yelled, “Yep. Hope you survive.”
As we were leaving the area, I asked Dash, “So how long do you think they can hold up?”
“I say…five minutes tops.” Dash replied.
That’s when we heard Fluttershy’s voice. “YOU’RE GOING TO RESPECT ME!!!”
“Actually, make it three minutes,” Dash said. “Fluttershy’s a fast finisher.”
Then there was a boom behind us.
“Pinkie’s party cannon?” I asked Dash. She nodded. “That’s going to leave a mark.”
We arrived at the field entrance, where Fleur and Coco were waiting for us.
Fleur asked, “What was that?”
Dash answered, “Oh, it just the girls doing damage control.”
“Thanks for warning me in your text,” I said.
“I’m just glad that you’re safe,” Fleur responded. “I’m sorry for dragging you into all this from the beginning.”
“There’s no need for you to be sorry,” Coco said. “We all make mistakes, but that’s why we have friends around to get through them.”
“You mean…I’m your friends?” Fleur asked.
“Yea,” replied Dash. “But you might want to take the creepiness down some levels. Guys can be scared of creepy girls.”
I almost wanted to slap my hand on the back of Dash’s head, but Fleur said, “I understand, and I plan to take a break from man-hunting for a while until I figure out what to do on my search.”
We started to hear some tires squeal and saw the SUV driving off, breaking the speed limit.
“Well, there goes my ride,” Fleur said.
“If I see Diamond Tiara or Silver Spoon later on, I’ll see if they can help give you a ride home,” Coco said to Fleur.
“Thanks again. It’s nice to have friends that truly care. I can now see what makes your school special.”
“We should be thanking you, Fleur. If you didn’t know about the guy who needed his jacket fixed, we wouldn’t have planned to capture the guy and get all this resolved,” Dash said.
“Well, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get ready for tonight’s game,” I said.
“I’ll stay with Fleur until some friendly faces show up for her to stay with, or just make sure that we stay in the shadows for safety,” Coco said.
“Jack?” I looked at Fleur and she gave me a kiss on my cheek. “For good luck.” And both of them made their way to the football field gate.
“You really have a way with the ladies, don’t you,” Dash said.
I glared at Dash and slapped her rear like last time, saying, “I guess I do.”
Dash’s face went red for a moment before she said, “I swear I’ll get back at you for that.”