Chasing Football Dreams (Diner Girl #2)

Chapter One

D uncan and I met up with the guys at the diner. I was grateful that there was no awkwardness or tension. It never dawned on me that my team truly cared about me and that we were a family for as long as we lived. Even if we won’t be on the same team in the future, we will forever have each other’s backs.

Brenda was kind enough to let us push a set of tables together for my team and sent the waitresses out to take everyone’s orders. I had to control my laughter at the guys checking out the girls and I just had to accept that they were still just guys.

“How are you feeling?” Freddie asked from the

“Everything is still a bit hazy,” It’s hard to comprehend that my childhood was a lie and that I could be someone else.

“We got your back,” Wesley came forward. “I know it doesn’t mean much but we are your family now and anything you need, we’ll be there,”

“Are we going to discuss what happened and why you felt the need to break into the orphanage’s office?” Xander asked.

No matter how badly I wanted to argue about my discovery. It was hard to accept what a piece of paper states but it was all proof I had at this point.

Nobody truly knew how I became to be an orphan. They were only aware that I was an orphan.

I looked at Duncan seeking advice to answer their questions. He nodded his head at me, giving me the option to share my secrets with them.

“I became an orphan when I was four years old," The images were still hazy of how I exactly got to the orphanage. I've only had the word of Kelly.

"I was told that my parents died in a car accident and I was the only survivor,” I tried to ignore last night’s dream hitting me against the skull. I tried not to overthink about how it could have been a memory that resurfaced.

“For sixteen years I believed what they told me until I learned of their betrayal,”

“What happened? It must have shaken you to the core, to have you all of people breaking the law,” Freddie noted.

I lifted my head to find Duncan’s gaze. His dark, mysterious eyes were trained on me and I realized they weren’t so inexplainable anymore. It got easier to understand him and pick up on his emotions.

I haven’t told him about the dreams Eliza and I were starting to believe to be memories I’ve suppressed.

How do I explain this to them without sounding insane?

“From eleven years old, I started having recurrent dreams of my supposed childhood,” I didn’t want to go into details about what my dreams were about and what I saw.

I embraced the expected dishevelled looks of my team. “Eliza started to believe that I could be the daughter of Shane Martin,”

Their gasps levelled with my astonishment. “But how?” Wesley questioned. “Zoey Martin was found dead,”

“I was thinking the same thing and I still believe it can’t be true,” My gaze locked with Duncan’s again and I saw that he was frustrated with my remark but he composed himself.

“But?” Xander asked.

“I overheard the woman who looked after me at the orphanage tell someone over the phone to come and fix their mistake,” It still pained me that Kelly was behind my kidnapping.

“She was referring to me as the mistake,” Kelly was acting suspicious after I told her about my recurrent nightmares and let it slip that they were of my father.

“Damn, Zoey. This is serious,” Andrew noted.

I nodded my head. “I know,” I was aware of the consequences and the unexplainable hurt I can create. But I was hurting too.

I curled against Duncan when he wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me against him. “We are not going to make any assumptions or talk about any of this to anyone,” He instructed. “Zoey and I know of the consequences of our assumptions and that’s why we are not going to make a big deal of this until we have concrete evidence,”

“Why would anyone want to do that?” Wesley asked.

“Shane Martin was seen as one of the most successful Quarterbacks of that time. He was once stalked to the point of getting threatened to lose a game or he would feel the repercussions,” Xander explained.

Everyone’s attention turned to me. I was the repercussions.

“Why go through all that trouble to fake your death only to place you in an orphanage?”

I pulled up my shoulders having no idea why anyone would do that to anybody. As I see it, it was the most awful thing a person could do to anyone—to separate a child from their parent and make them believe they were thrown away.

“But how did you not know when you started having these dreams?” Freddie asked.

“Their faces are blurred at all times. Coach Shane. His voice sounded familiar but I just could never figure it out until the other day when he said something to me that the man in my dream said,”

“The day you zoned out?” Andrew asked.

I nodded. “I’ve never zoned out like that in the past twelve years of my life,”

“And the other night,” I looked at Duncan. “Instead of having the same dream. This one was new,”

“What was it about?” Xander asked

“I was sitting in a corner of what looks like my bedroom, hiding. A man called out to me and in my dream, I recognized his voice because I let him take me away. I remember seeing street lights before I passed out from a strong chemical placed under my nose. The last words I said before I drifted off was when I asked the man where my father was,”

All around the table, I was met by silent stares.

“Man, I got chills,” Freddie exclaimed, shaking his shoulders to get rid of these so-called chills that he caught the eye of one of the waitresses. He shot her a grin but it turned into a scowl when Andrew slapped him at the back of the head.

“Focus, doofus,”

Freddie grumbled under his breath causing the tables to erupt in laughter.

I always thought that I would never belong but having my whole team here with me, listening to things I have only shared with Eliza. Made me feel like I finally made my mark in the world.

I don’t want to be anywhere else in the world right now.

I raised my gaze when out of the corner of my eye, I caught Brenda leaving the kitchen holding a massive cake shaped like a football in her hands.

The team started clapping their hands and letting out hoots when Brenda came over to place the cake down in front of me.

They started clapping faster as Brenda lit each candle and they broke out singing the birthday song. I laughed more than I cried at how off-key they were.

“Make a wish, Zo!” Terence coached.

I looked at Duncan and I didn’t know what to wish for anymore. I didn’t care about finding my family anymore because they were it. They are the family I’ve been searching for all of these years and I finally felt at home.

Duncan traced the curve of my cheek with his knuckles. “It doesn’t have to be a wish,” He encouraged.

“I wish Eliza was here to witness this,” I whispered, a single tear falling from my eye.

“She will be here for the next and the one after that,” He assured me.

I nodded and turned back to the candles. I smiled and then blew out the candles. I laughed loudly when the guys all cheered. Everyone in the diner was looking at us but at this stage, I didn’t care. I was truly happy to be surrounded by people who cared about me.

“Now, who wants cake?” Andrew called, rubbing his palms together.

“You have to wait until Eliza gets back from her trip,” Freddie remarked. Receiving a scowl from Andrew.

“Not that kind of cake,”

Xander just shook his head, smiling at them. He then stood up when his gaze landed on something. I frowned and noticed that Duncan was smiling too.

Ivy came forward with her parents following. She embraced Xander before letting him greet her parents as she came over to me and Duncan.

She greeted her brother with their secret handshake before she embraced me with a hug. “Happy birthday, Zoey,”

I blinked when she didn’t stammer.

She grinned when she noticed.

“She is more motivated than ever to work on her speech after Xander and she made peace,” Duncan explained.

“You mean dating him again,” Ivy corrected her brother. She added an extra word in ASL which made Duncan break out in laughter.

I got to my feet to greet Duncan’s parents. “I got you something small. Duncan told me not to go overboard but I couldn’t help it when I saw this in the shop. It reminded me so much of you,”

I opened the present out of curiosity and found a necklace with a pendant shaped like a football. “I love it,” I exclaimed and hugged her.

“Okay, since we are allowed to exchange presents,” Wesley suddenly got to his feet and ran to the back.

“Do I want to know?” I asked turning to Duncan who gave nothing away.

The team chuckled and I turned around to see Wesley leaving the kitchen with a life-size Duncan Jones cardboard cut-out. “When this one is giving you a hard time, you can take it out on this one,” Wesley joked.

I snickered when I caught Duncan flipping him off but then Wesley pulled out a massive teddy bear from behind the counter, wearing my number jersey. He also handed me a signed football of many years ago when Coach Shane won his first Superbowl.

“I am also a collector and a fan, and after today, hearing that you could be the daughter of the legend, I would say you are my new inspiration,”

I wasn’t the only one shedding a tear as everyone tried to hide their teary eyes.

“I am sorry for how badly I treated you but I can say this with an honest heart, I am glad to call you my QB,”