“I mean, we could always write a note to my econ teacher if I have to miss first hour.” I flatten my palms on the table and grin at Coach as he sits down.
He laughs dismissively.
“I’m afraid this won’t take quitethatlong.”
Damn.
“Look, I asked the headmaster if I could handle this, so you can relax a bit. It’s just us,” he says.
My muscles ease, but my palms are still sweating. I think maybe I’ve hit my emotional wall for the week.
“I got your punishment reduced to match Oliver Raskin’s,” he says.
My mouth falls open and I lean forward, a jolt kickstarting my energy. I can practice. That’s all I want. I just want to practice and be on that field and forget the rest.
“Coach—”
“Before you thank me,” he interrupts. “I think it’s important you know that the reason it got reviewed and rolled back is because Oliver wrote a letter on your behalf. I mentioned offhandedly in my one-on-one with him yesterday that I was going to see what I could do, and then before dinner, he slipped this under our door. The headmaster has a copy, but I thought maybe you’d like to read it.”
He slides a folded paper toward me, and I take it hesitantly, peeling up the corner to glimpse how long it is.
Damn. He even hand wrote it.
I begin to unfold it but before I can, Coach stops me.
“You can read it when we’re done if you want. It’s weird to have someone staring at you. Besides, I have this one other thing,” he says.
I flatten the letter again as my heartbeat quickens with anticipation. I’m not sure whether to prepare myself for good news or bad. This conference room baffles me.
“I don’t share this with a lot of people, but I had a sister.” Coach meets my gaze for a beat, a painful memory tweaking the corner of his eye. I squirm a bit in my seat but leave my palms flat on the tabletop. “I was your age, almost exactly, when Savana passed away. She was a year younger than me, and the circumstances were different. My sister was sick. But her death was sudden in that we always expected years together. We were going to raise our kids close to each other and host barbecues and take vacations together. We got that from our parents and cousins growing up. The Fuentes clan is big and loud and so much fun.”
He glances up and a faint smile stretches his mouth. He’s lost in the memories for a moment, but his expression shifts back to a sort of blankness as his head falls forward and he looks me in the eyes again.
“It’s never easy to lose someone you love,” he says.
I nod, my stomach tightening with that hard truth.
“A sibling is something rare and precious, and I wanted you to know that I get it, your pain and grief.”
“Thank you, Coach,” I say, fidgeting nervously with the edges of Raskin’s letter.
“One of the best things my family did to honor my sister and to help us heal was set up an endowment for scholarships in her name. It isn’t much, maybe enough to give money to two or three students a year. If you think your mom would be open to it, I’d love to share the name of the scholarship we give at Welles with your sister.”
“Wow.” I’m stunned by the offer. I know that Coach and his wife aren’t from the same kind of money most families at Welles are so the gesture carries even more weight. Not a lot of Welles parents would want to share credit for their scholarships. People around here are all about status and symbols to brag about.
A major perk of coaching and teaching is that a kid gets free tuition at institutions like ours. The public school James played at before here wasn’t exactly well-funded. Apparently, they were good at sports but bad at academics—and commitment. From the little James has shared about his old team, it seems his dad struggled to keep kids eligible. A third of the team dropped out by the time they reached mid-season his junior year.
“I’ll talk to my mom about it, but I can’t imagine she’d say no. That’s . . . wow.” I laugh a little and rub my chin. Anika would get a real kick at the idea that someone would be going to school on a scholarship with her name.
Are they majoring in secret tattoos and piercings?I imagine her saying.
“Good. We’ll get it done, then. Now, I expect I’ll see you at practice today. That’s part of the deal, you put in the work.”
He stands, so I scramble to my feet to shake his hand.
“Yes, sir.”
He holds my hand for an extra second, his grip squeezing a little tighter for a moment to make sure I feel it. He lowers his head a tick as our eyes meet and I nod, getting it.