This is it.
This is when he kicks me out.
He banishes me.
This is when he says I’ve taken things too far, and I’m going to be booted from my school in its entirety.
“Obviously,” he says. “I can’t permit you to play football. I realize that you have a big game tonight, but you’re out.”
I gulp.
The guys are going to be pissed.
They’re going to be beyond livid that my decision has affected them in this way. I hate knowing that I’ve let them down, especially after so much hard work and dedication. I don’t personally care about missing the game. I like playing, but football, for me, has been a way to ramp up my college scholarship applications more than anything else.
I wait to hear what comes next.
“You’re suspended for one week. That’s also effective immediately.”
“Okay,” I nod, but then it hits me.
“You aren’t expelling me?”
“I should.”
He stares at me, and for a minute, I wonder why he’s giving me a second chance. What I did was pretty much evil. I mean, I shared a picture of Emilia in an embarrassing situation. It was something cruel and terrible. We all saw it happen, but nobody needed to see it happen again.
“But I like the fact that you showed the initiative in coming in here,” he says. “You put aside your own future in order to better hers. That’s the kind of thing I like to see at my school, Reynolds.”
“Yes, sir.” I swallow hard, still not quite believing it. “Thank you, sir.”
“I’ll talk to Mr. Wilson about Emilia,” he says. “And as for you, you’ll be staying late every day for the rest of the year. You won’t be in football anymore, so you’ll have plenty of time to tutor the freshman in their literature courses.”
“Yes, sir.” I repeat, still in a bit of a daze.
It worked.
It fucking worked.
I was honest, and I’m being punished, but knowing that Emilia is going to get a second chance makes this a huge weight off of my chest. In addition to knowing I didn’t completely fuck up her future, I’ll have a second chance myself.
I’m still going to get to graduate.
I doubt I’ll do it with any sort of honors, but I took a stand, and I finally made things right.
“Thank you for giving me another chance,” I say.
“Don’t make me regret it.”
He motions for me to leave, and I do, and as I walk out of the office and back to my class, I can’t help but wonder what the future holds for us. Emilia didn’t have to take a chance on me, but she did, and now everything is going to be okay. Somehow, everything is going to work out, and I just know that the two of us are going to have a beautiful future.
No matter what.
Timothy and Jared are still lurking outside of the principal’s office and they follow me silently back to my class. When I stop outside of the doors and look at them, they don’t speak at first. Finally, Timothy pipes up.
“He booted you from the team, didn’t he?”
“I’m not booted from the team, but I am out of the game.”