Tanner waved at me. He was sitting with them too. It wasgreat that they were all here. Supporting me. It should have felt nice. Butthem being here made my skin crawl. Like they were evaluating me or something.
I turned back to the field. I needed to talk to James aboutPoppy’s threat. I knew that. But I was hoping to have a solution first. I’dalready waited a week though. A week too long. If something happened to Scarlettbefore I could tell James, I’d never be able to forgive myself.
“Coach Caldwell?”
I looked down at Jefferson. “What’s up?” We were up by threetouchdowns, minus the three extra points he’d missed. And I knew he felt theembarrassment of those misses more than the joy of our victory.
“Do you think maybe we should start going for two-pointconversions instead of extra points?” He looked so defeated.
And it broke me. I was supposed to be present enough tofigure out how to help him. And all I was doing was worrying about literallyeverything else possible. “Absolutely not.” I slapped his back and his glassesslid down his nose. “We’re going to figure out how to make you the greatestkicker Empire High has ever seen.”
He smiled. “Thanks, Coach Caldwell.”
Now I just needed to make good on my promise. There had to bea way to get through to him. But as the game ended, I was no closer to asolution.
And all the high-fives in the world didn’t pull me out of myhead. I felt the little hairs on the back of my neck rise again and turned around.My stalker was standing on the edge of the field just…staring. As soon as oureyes met, she quickly walked away.
She was definitely up to something. I tried to remember thenight we spent together, but it was a little fuzzy. Why had she slept with mein the first place? Did she have some kind of ulterior motive? Had Mr. Pruitt actuallysent her? Had she stolen something from me? Or copied my keys or something? Idon’t know. I just had a really bad feeling. All I wanted to do was go homeand take some sleeping pills.
But my brother and friends were making their way over fromthe stands.
Tanner waved and then pointed to his watch.
I waved back, knowing that meant he probably had a date or alate meeting. And it was probably best that he was in a hurry to leave. BecauseI didn’t need any more “my Tanner” jokes right now.
“Just like old times,” Mason said. But he wasn’t reallytalking to me. He was staring out at the field. I couldn’t tell if he lookedsentimental or just…sad.
“You were great,” his wife, Bee, added and gave me a hug. “Ican’t believe I didn’t know you coached at Mason’s old school. I would havegotten Mason out here way sooner.”
I didn’t really have anything to say to that. Because no oneoutside of Mason, Rob, James, and I knew why none of us wanted to step footback on this campus. Maybe reminiscing about high school was fun for somepeople. I wasn’t one of them. And judging from the look on Mason’s face, I wasn’tthe only one.
“This school is unbelievable,” Daphne cut in, and slappedRob’s hands away so she could give me a hug too. “It looks more like a museumthan a high school. Rob said we might get a tour?”
“Mhm.” I really didn’t want to walk through those doors. I’dsomehow avoided doing that very thing. I wasn’t the gym teacher, so there wasno reason to go inside. I even bought all our practice equipment and donated ashed to keep it in. Thinking about walking into the school made my heart startto race.
“Where are all your kids?” I asked. If someone could put asmile on my face, it was Scarlett. Or Rob and Daphne’s daughter, Sophie. Shewas just as funny as her dad.
“Ellen’s watching them,” James said. “Great game.”
“Thanks.” I looked over to the school. “The side doors areunlocked if you guys want to head in. I have a few things to clean up.”
Mason grabbed Bee’s hand and guided her away from thestadium, like he couldn’t wait to get out of here. The school brought back morememories, though. He’d figure that out soon enough.
Penny gave me a small wave before James put his arm aroundher shoulders and pulled her away.
“I’m going to stay and help Matt clean up,” Daphne said. “Yougo ahead.”
Penny was easy to talk to and we always laughed together. Beewas encouraging. It was hard to leave a conversation with her without feelingmotivated. And Daphne? It was like she could somehow sense pain from a mileaway. She always wanted to help. And she was normally really good at it. But Ithink I was like a puzzle she couldn’t solve. Like she knew that I needed her,but I’d never tell her why.
Rob kissed her cheek. “Hey, wait up!” he called to the othersas he ran after them.
I didn’t really have anything to pick up. There were nopractice balls, and Jefferson hadn’t brought snacks again this week. Becausethey hadn’t been well received. Another thing to add to my list of recentfailures. I busied myself by looking at my clipboard even though I had all theplays memorized.
“All the guys were quiet on the drive over here,” Daphne said.
I nodded but didn’t look up.
“I’ve looked at Rob’s old yearbook from senior year. He got ClassClown. And you got Most Likely to Succeed.”
I remembered trying to get out of taking pictures for thesuperlative. I didn’t want to be Most Likely to Succeed. It felt like a sickjoke. Being nominated for something pertaining to my future was meaningless whenmy real future, the only future that mattered, had been cut short the secondBrooklyn took her last breath.
“You were all popular. So why does Rob never talk about histime here? Why don’t any of you guys?”
I sighed. “Because high school sucks for everyone.”
She laughed. “For people like me. Not for people like you.”
Penny had said something similar to me the other day. And Ihated when any of my friends’ wives said shit like that.
