her star boy - Chapter 7: Chapter 7
You are reading her star boy, Chapter 7: Chapter 7. Read more chapters of her star boy.
Devyn
The children's hospital charity events are one of my favourite things in the world. Serena and I would volunteer at them throughout college, and now, we're here as supervisors. This year, California's NFL team are hosting a camp for the children that are resident patients and don't get to have the normal life that kids deserve.
DEV'S FIT ^
"Devyn, could you grab more cones from the shed please, dear?" Zenobia calls to me from beneath the canopy of refreshments.
She's only three years older than me, but she's like my work mom. It's Zen, Maria, Halle and I setting up the field before the rest of the volunteers arrive with the children, and then the football volunteers. While the Redwoods are funding the event, the player volunteers are a local high school team.
I head off in the direction of the shed that we've been gathering the supplies from. It's a sports shed, so it naturally smells like a locker room of death. I snatch up the cones and leave before I pass out. When I get back, I see Serena, with a line of kids trailing behind her in single file. A smile spreads across my face and I race over with the cones hugged to my chest.
"Devyn!" A chorus of little voices call out to me when I'm close enough and my heart glows.
"Hi, my beauties!" It's not until I'm at the canopy do I drop the cones, pushing stray curls from my face. "You all look so big and strong, like real-life professional football players!"
A few of them grin up at me or giggle, while others look around timidly.
This group of thirteen are Serena and I's key children. We work with the younger division, aged 5-8. It's important that they have constant and familiar faces while they're at the hospital, that they can build a comfortable rapport with the people caring for them. The middle division, twenty-five 9-12 year olds are making their way over from the second bus with our coworkers, Liv and Maisy. The 13-17 division, instead of coming to this event, all got tickets to the Redwoods game against Ohio State this weekend. They are beyond excited.
Phoebe, one of the quieter kids, stands at the back wringing her hands. She's wearing a baby pink jersey and her blonde hair is in two little pigtails and she's the sweetest little girl in the world.
"Beebee," I put my hands on my hips and narrow my eyes when she looks at me. "Are you secretly a real football player?"
She shakes her head no, still fiddling with her hands, but her lips turn up a little.
"Are you sure?" I pout.
Phoebe shakes her head no again, but this time she smiles a little.
I turn to all the kids."Who's ready to play some football?"
They cheer and jump up and down and I love my job.
An hour later, Serena and I are under the refreshment canopy grabbing more bottled water for our kids. They were separated into two groups of six and seven, and are on rotation, along with the middle division. The high school volunteers arrived not long after us and are working with them on each activity.
"I love our job," Serena sighs as she looks over the field. "This is so cool."
The activities are scattered across the field, six in total, and it is chaos. But I love it-the loud laughter and screaming and little sneakers scuffing the grass. I never thought that running around after kids to top them up on sunblock and hydration would be so fun.
"Me too," I have five bottles in my arms, and follow after my friend back to the children.
That's when I hear it. The deep, unmistakeable voice, so casually commanding that it freezes me mid-step.
"You want to keep your elbow up-like this. Yeah, perfect. Now let if fly."
First, I see a couple guys that look far too jacked to be the high school volunteers. Among them is Noah, and Serena sees him at the same time, skipping off in his direction.
Then, my eyes find him. Luis Pierce is at my activity, crouched down and showing Phoebe how to throw a ball. At five years old, the ball is much too big and heavy for her, so Luis is doing majority of the work, but when the ball soars through the air to the hands of the volunteer, she turns to Luis and grins at him like he strung up the stars.
He looks every bit the professional athlete, sporting the teams hoodie and that easy confidence he wears like a second skin. For a second, I just stare. And then he looks up at me and smiles like he knew I'd be here.
For five years, I never once ran into this man. And in the past week and a half, he's suddenly everywhere I am.
"I think you're following me, Devy," he stands up when I reach them.
I uncap Phoebe's bottle for her and she gives me a small thank you.
"I was here first," I shoot Luis a look before heading over to give the rest of my kids their water.
He trails along beside me. "You're right. Noah told me you'd be working this event."
"And you're here because...?" When I glance over my shoulder I catch his grin.
"Noah told me you'd be working this event," he repeats.
I make a face close to contempt at him before handing my final two bottles to Blake and Emir.
"We finished training early," he adds, "thought it would be nice to stop by."
"Devyn!" I turn to Maria's voice. "We need two adults for a demonstration over here! Do you guys have a minute?"
I turn to see Serena and Noah working together between our two groups of YD, and then head over to Maria's group, deciding they have it. I glare at Luis for no reason other than not wanting to smile at him, and head over.
"Okay y'all!" a dark-skinned teenage boy claps his hands together, standing in front of a group of middle division kids. "This is gonna be the trust fall exercise!"
You have got to be kidding me.
"Is that Luis Pierce?" one of the kids mumble to their friend beside them.
" Miss Devyn and Mr Pierce will demonstrate how this will go," the boy turns to us and grins, holding double thumbs up. "One catcher, one faller. Then switch."
I don't miss the irony of having to do a trust fall with the person who made it impossible for me to trust, but for the sake of the children, I turn to Luis.
"If you drop me, I'll kill you," I mumble, loud enough so only he can hear.
"I have great hands, Dev. It's my job." He holds them out.
I roll my eyes before turning around on my heels. I don't give myself time to think about it, instead just letting my weight go back on to my heels before I fall.
For a moment, it feels like my heart leaps from my chest and runs off down the pitch.
And then I feel strong arms hook under mine and I don't crash and fall and my heart kick starts again. He gently pushes me up to standing, and I push the loose hair that escaped from my ponytail out of my face.
"You're not gonna let me hit the ground, right?" Luis teases when I turn to him.
I smirk. "Turn around and find out."
He raises his brows, but turns without question. In all honesty, I'm not entirely confident that I'll be able to catch this six foot something, two hundred pound athlete, but I've been working hard in the gym recently, so I'm willing to give it a shot.
Luis glances over at me one more time before he falls back. The weight of his body knocks the air out of me, but I catch him nonetheless. I'm kinda shocked that I did.
"Okay," I huff, breathless. "Get up now, you weigh a ton."
Luis laughs, but when he pushes himself up and turns to me, there's a heaviness in his eyes that makes my chest burn. I bite the inside of my cheek.
"Perfect demonstration from Miss Devyn and Mr Pierce!" the volunteer boy claps. "That's what you're aiming for, kids. Learn to trust each other. Okay, now go!"
The children's hospital charity events are one of my favourite things in the world. Serena and I would volunteer at them throughout college, and now, we're here as supervisors. This year, California's NFL team are hosting a camp for the children that are resident patients and don't get to have the normal life that kids deserve.
DEV'S FIT ^
"Devyn, could you grab more cones from the shed please, dear?" Zenobia calls to me from beneath the canopy of refreshments.
She's only three years older than me, but she's like my work mom. It's Zen, Maria, Halle and I setting up the field before the rest of the volunteers arrive with the children, and then the football volunteers. While the Redwoods are funding the event, the player volunteers are a local high school team.
I head off in the direction of the shed that we've been gathering the supplies from. It's a sports shed, so it naturally smells like a locker room of death. I snatch up the cones and leave before I pass out. When I get back, I see Serena, with a line of kids trailing behind her in single file. A smile spreads across my face and I race over with the cones hugged to my chest.
"Devyn!" A chorus of little voices call out to me when I'm close enough and my heart glows.
"Hi, my beauties!" It's not until I'm at the canopy do I drop the cones, pushing stray curls from my face. "You all look so big and strong, like real-life professional football players!"
A few of them grin up at me or giggle, while others look around timidly.
This group of thirteen are Serena and I's key children. We work with the younger division, aged 5-8. It's important that they have constant and familiar faces while they're at the hospital, that they can build a comfortable rapport with the people caring for them. The middle division, twenty-five 9-12 year olds are making their way over from the second bus with our coworkers, Liv and Maisy. The 13-17 division, instead of coming to this event, all got tickets to the Redwoods game against Ohio State this weekend. They are beyond excited.
Phoebe, one of the quieter kids, stands at the back wringing her hands. She's wearing a baby pink jersey and her blonde hair is in two little pigtails and she's the sweetest little girl in the world.
"Beebee," I put my hands on my hips and narrow my eyes when she looks at me. "Are you secretly a real football player?"
She shakes her head no, still fiddling with her hands, but her lips turn up a little.
"Are you sure?" I pout.
Phoebe shakes her head no again, but this time she smiles a little.
I turn to all the kids."Who's ready to play some football?"
They cheer and jump up and down and I love my job.
An hour later, Serena and I are under the refreshment canopy grabbing more bottled water for our kids. They were separated into two groups of six and seven, and are on rotation, along with the middle division. The high school volunteers arrived not long after us and are working with them on each activity.
"I love our job," Serena sighs as she looks over the field. "This is so cool."
The activities are scattered across the field, six in total, and it is chaos. But I love it-the loud laughter and screaming and little sneakers scuffing the grass. I never thought that running around after kids to top them up on sunblock and hydration would be so fun.
"Me too," I have five bottles in my arms, and follow after my friend back to the children.
That's when I hear it. The deep, unmistakeable voice, so casually commanding that it freezes me mid-step.
"You want to keep your elbow up-like this. Yeah, perfect. Now let if fly."
First, I see a couple guys that look far too jacked to be the high school volunteers. Among them is Noah, and Serena sees him at the same time, skipping off in his direction.
Then, my eyes find him. Luis Pierce is at my activity, crouched down and showing Phoebe how to throw a ball. At five years old, the ball is much too big and heavy for her, so Luis is doing majority of the work, but when the ball soars through the air to the hands of the volunteer, she turns to Luis and grins at him like he strung up the stars.
He looks every bit the professional athlete, sporting the teams hoodie and that easy confidence he wears like a second skin. For a second, I just stare. And then he looks up at me and smiles like he knew I'd be here.
For five years, I never once ran into this man. And in the past week and a half, he's suddenly everywhere I am.
"I think you're following me, Devy," he stands up when I reach them.
I uncap Phoebe's bottle for her and she gives me a small thank you.
"I was here first," I shoot Luis a look before heading over to give the rest of my kids their water.
He trails along beside me. "You're right. Noah told me you'd be working this event."
"And you're here because...?" When I glance over my shoulder I catch his grin.
"Noah told me you'd be working this event," he repeats.
I make a face close to contempt at him before handing my final two bottles to Blake and Emir.
"We finished training early," he adds, "thought it would be nice to stop by."
"Devyn!" I turn to Maria's voice. "We need two adults for a demonstration over here! Do you guys have a minute?"
I turn to see Serena and Noah working together between our two groups of YD, and then head over to Maria's group, deciding they have it. I glare at Luis for no reason other than not wanting to smile at him, and head over.
"Okay y'all!" a dark-skinned teenage boy claps his hands together, standing in front of a group of middle division kids. "This is gonna be the trust fall exercise!"
You have got to be kidding me.
"Is that Luis Pierce?" one of the kids mumble to their friend beside them.
" Miss Devyn and Mr Pierce will demonstrate how this will go," the boy turns to us and grins, holding double thumbs up. "One catcher, one faller. Then switch."
I don't miss the irony of having to do a trust fall with the person who made it impossible for me to trust, but for the sake of the children, I turn to Luis.
"If you drop me, I'll kill you," I mumble, loud enough so only he can hear.
"I have great hands, Dev. It's my job." He holds them out.
I roll my eyes before turning around on my heels. I don't give myself time to think about it, instead just letting my weight go back on to my heels before I fall.
For a moment, it feels like my heart leaps from my chest and runs off down the pitch.
And then I feel strong arms hook under mine and I don't crash and fall and my heart kick starts again. He gently pushes me up to standing, and I push the loose hair that escaped from my ponytail out of my face.
"You're not gonna let me hit the ground, right?" Luis teases when I turn to him.
I smirk. "Turn around and find out."
He raises his brows, but turns without question. In all honesty, I'm not entirely confident that I'll be able to catch this six foot something, two hundred pound athlete, but I've been working hard in the gym recently, so I'm willing to give it a shot.
Luis glances over at me one more time before he falls back. The weight of his body knocks the air out of me, but I catch him nonetheless. I'm kinda shocked that I did.
"Okay," I huff, breathless. "Get up now, you weigh a ton."
Luis laughs, but when he pushes himself up and turns to me, there's a heaviness in his eyes that makes my chest burn. I bite the inside of my cheek.
"Perfect demonstration from Miss Devyn and Mr Pierce!" the volunteer boy claps. "That's what you're aiming for, kids. Learn to trust each other. Okay, now go!"
End of her star boy Chapter 7. Continue reading Chapter 8 or return to her star boy book page.