First Meet, PT. 4, Jesse POV

He found himself beside Violet, who was so excited, she could barely keep still. It was clear that she was for their parents, making their relationship permanent. He wasn’t so sure, but he found himself distracted from inspecting Isaac because of her expressive face. The way she looked at his mom with such longing made his stomach tighten.

“Jesse’s a great soccer player,” Mom said.

Violet turned to him and sized him up. “You are?”

He shrugged, unsure why having her full attention made him feel funny.

“Let’s play,” Violet said, swinging her legs over the bench seat and leaping to her feet.

He glanced at mom who gave him an encouraging smile before he started after Violet who retrieved her abandoned soccer ball. She ran toward him, hair streaming behind her, sunlight hitting her eyes, making them appear green.

She didn’t slow down enough to stop herself from bumping into him. He took the hit and got a whiff of her hair, which smelled like strawberries, before she stepped away.

“What do you think?” she whispered loudly, even though there was no one within hearing distance.

“About what?”

She gave him an impatient look and jerked her chin at their parents, still sitting at the picnic table. Was it his imagination, or had they moved closer?

“Your mom’s so nice.”

She sounded awed.

“So ladylike and pretty.” Violet cocked her head to the side as she watched them. “Dad’s been so happy. I’ve never seen him like this.”

When he didn’t comment, she looked up at him. Again, he felt that odd stirring in his stomach. Had he eaten something bad from the taco truck? No, it was the way she was looking at him. Something about her made him nervous, which didn’t make sense. Girls flocked to him. They passed him notes in class, asked him to be their boyfriend, and did a lot of annoying things to get his attention. That didn’t make him nervous, but the way Violet looked at him, dead on, without that flirtatious, coy shyness he expected made him sweat. She eyed him impatiently, as if they’d grown up together instead of being introduced half an hour ago.

“Your eyes are green,” he muttered. “They were brown when I first saw you.”

“They do that,” she said dismissively and dropped the ball at their feet as she said, “What do you think about my dad?”

“I don’t know anything about him,” he said truthfully.

“He’s a good dad.” She pursed her lips before she admitted, “Though he can be strict.”

“My dad was in the military. I doubt your dad is as strict as mine was.”

“Oh.” Her expression turned sympathetic as she reached out and lightly rubbed his arm. “I heard about your dad. I’m sorry.”

His heart thudded in his ears. “I’m okay.”

She nodded, taking him at his word, and lightly kicked the soccer ball as she moved away from him. He let out the breath he’d been holding and watched her impressive dribble. When she tried to kick past him, he instinctively stopped her and saw her eyes narrow.

“That was a practice shot,” she said quietly.

“Sorry,” he said, and stepped back to offer her the ball. “Did you want…?”

“No. Let’s get straight to it.”

That had an ominous ring to it. He got a preview of her illegal moves, but he didn’t think she would employ the same tactics on him that she had on her father. He was wrong.

**This is a raw draft of the prequel for Corrupt Idol. Please do not share or distribute.

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