Matchmaker Empire High Book 4 By Ivy Smoak Copyright 2021 Ivy Smoak All Rights Reserved Cover photo by Michelle Lancaster Photographer Instagram @lanefotograf Want a behind-the-scenes look at my journey as an author? The ups, the downs, the movie deals…I’ll share it all! And as a special thank you for joining, you’ll get anexclusive copy of my short story, Matthew Caldwell - The Untouchable. CLICK HERE tojoin the party! To my amazing readers who alwayshave kind words to say. I write for you. CONTENTS Title Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Chapter 37 Chapter 38 Chapter 39 Chapter 40 Chapter 41 Chapter 42 Chapter 43 Chapter 44 Chapter 45 Temptation A Note From Ivy Chapter 1 Thursday I blew my whistle as Jefferson kicked the ball…nowhere nearthe uprights. The football flew way left and into the parking lot, hitting thetop of the principal’s car, setting off a blaring alarm. I cringed. Back when Iused to be on the Empire High football team, our kicker was terrible and westill won all the time. But Jefferson’s ineptitude was on a whole differentlevel. He hadn’t made a single field goal yet. Not even during practice. I knewwe were only a few weeks into the season, but I’d already heard the whispersthat Jefferson was going to be the worst kicker in the history of Empire High. Iwanted to prove those whispers wrong, though. Jefferson deserved a fair shot,just like everyone else on the team. I blew my whistle again. “Everybody in!” I waved the teamover. They were all out of breath, and to me that meant we’d had agood practice. We weren’t supposed to be done for another half hour. But wewere ready for tomorrow’s game, despite Jefferson being better at hitting carsthan doing anything useful on the field. If I cut the team a break today,they’d work that much harder when I needed them to. Besides, I needed to have time to shower before heading overto Penny’s. I knew it was inappropriate to hang out with her. Especially one onone. But I didn’t really care about the consequences. All I knew was that beingalone with her sure as hell beat going back to my empty place. I realized the whole team was staring at me while Idaydreamed about being alone with the one woman in this city that I couldn’t bewith. I cleared my throat. “Okay, let’s do sprints,” I said. There were a few groans. “Come on,” the captain, Smith, said as he pulled off hishelmet. He was still catching his breath from the last drill. “We’re going tobe too tired to play in the game.” I laughed. “I’m just kidding. Let’s call it an early day. Thatis…if you think we’re going to win tomorrow?” “Of course we’re going to win,” Smith said. “With me as thequarterback it won’t even matter that we can’t make a single field goal.” A few players snickered. I glanced over at Jefferson. Everyone was literally standinga few feet away from him right now. Like he had some kind of contagiousdisease. Jefferson was the only freshman on the varsity team. He was also ascholarship student. The combination of the two would have been bad enough. Buthis terrible kicking made it even worse. “We can’t win unless we all show up. And nice try,Jefferson,” I added. “A few more practices and I’m sure you’ll be knocking themthrough from 50 yards out.” Hopefully. I had a soft spot in my heart forscholarship students. And I wanted the team to accept him. I knew he’d beenhaving a hard time at school because a few kids on the team had laughed at himjust for walking onto the field for tryouts. And Smith swore it was anaccident, but a ball had been thrown right at the back of Jefferson’s head whenhe went to try his first kick. I gave him a spot on the team because I wantedto help. I was hoping that despite the fact that he was scrawny, he’d magicallyhave a golden foot. I was wrong. And I was pretty sure being on the team wasjust making his social life worse. Jefferson pushed his glasses up. The kid was beaming. “Go Eagles on three.” I put my hand out and they all threwtheirs in too. “One, two, three…Go Eagles!” we all yelled at the top of ourlungs. The team dispersed. But Jefferson hung back. “CoachCaldwell?” Hearing the students call me that still seemed weird. I had startedvolunteering as the assistant coach several years back. And when Coach Carterretired last year, the head coach position had landed in my lap. I’d almostturned it down. But now I was glad I hadn’t. Coaching these kids was always thehighlight of my day. It wasn’t like I had much else going on. “What’s up,Jefferson?” “My mom wanted to know if she could bring some snacks fortomorrow’s game? She noticed that there haven’t been any at the last couplegames. And that maybe everyone would like them?” I smiled. I remembered when I played youth football and allthe parents used to bring snacks and juice boxes. It wasn’t standard practicefor our games at Empire High. But I didn’t blame Jefferson or his mom for notknowing that. I was pretty sure they were more used to attending chess clubthan sporting events. And honestly, what could some snacks hurt? Surely theother players would like that. Maybe it would help. Although the combination ofbeing a scholarship student at this prestigious school and being the onlyfreshman on the team was an uphill battle. In a few weeks the students wouldhave to accept him though. All it was going to take was him kicking a lastsecond field goal to make everyone rally around him. I just needed to figureout a way to make him stop hitting cars. “Sure, that sounds great.” “What’s your favorite snack?” he asked. “Oh…um…” “I think my mom kind of wanted to thank you for letting mejoin the team. It was her idea for me to try out, but I never thought I’d makeit.” His glasses slid down his nose when he
