Chapter 31: Callaghan
Hannah walks out withoutsaying anything else. I stand there, stunned for a minute. How had she turned this on me? Like I’m the one at fault. Like I’m the one who betrayed her.
I can’t wait to get Watson’s take on this one.
Okay, so talking to Watson hasn’t been that bad. He got me to admit that I don’t know what I’m going to do if the shoulder keeps me permanently sidelined. He wants me to take a career aptitude test to figure out what I’d be good at.
He’s very into making plans that have nothing to do with soccer.
It’s weird. He hardly ever talks about soccer with me.
The next morning, I find myself back on his couch. Well, chair actually. He does have a couch, but it’s not at all comfortable. He’s got a rocking chair I find much more soothing and therapeutic. Without even needing the lead-in questions to prime the pump, I launch into a recounting of last night’s events.
“And what do you think about what she said?” Watson tents his fingers beneath his chin.
“What do I think? Can you believe her audacity?” I still can’t believe it myself.
“Totally. But what part do you find the most incredulous? That she wanted to explain that she made a mistake in a vulnerable moment? Or that she never sent the video and had no intention of doing so? Did that story ever hit the news?”
I blink. “Um, no.”
“But you’re out on the injured list. Is it because of Hannah?”
I thought I told Watson what happened. He should pay closer attention. “Well, no. I tried to work out and ended up tweaking it more. Kenley was there and saw me do it.”
“So it never broke onThe Looking Glass? It’s been like two weeks since this happened. Did I miss the story?” He raises an eyebrow slightly.
“No, but that’s not the point. How can I trust her? Actions speak louder than words.”
“Yes, indeed they do. So your job before our next session is to think about Hannah’s actions. In the past as well as now. Are they in opposition to her words? And then apply that critical eye to yourself.”
After my appointment, Watson’s words race around my head. Hannah’s actions. Going all the way back to college, she helped me pass a class. She encouraged me in the weight room and on the field. She snuck out so my friends didn’t make fun of me for sleeping with her.
As if. It still burns me that she could have thought that.
And then ... she almost died. She didn’t reach out. She didn’t make me feel guilty for leaving. For ghosting her and all my friends.
Her first contact with me in November, four short months ago, was to try to help Xavier Henry, whom, by all reports, she didn’t even know. She said it would help the Buzzards too.
She was right.
She had no reason to want to help either one of us, but she did nonetheless.
Then, she helped Ophelia convince Bob Miller to get Xavier out of his contract with the Terrors and hire him for the Buzzards. Hannah reported on this on her ClikClak channel, but it didn’t go far. Good news rarely spreads as fast as bad news.
Then, in New York, she stepped right in and helped me get away from Katherine with no questions asked, even though she was there trying to get a job. The job she’d had to put on hold when she almost died.
I’ve been watching the content onThe Looking Glass’s social media. I can tell the videos from the event that Hannah sent in, and they were all relatively innocuous. Nothing was damaging, even though it was interesting information. There’s been nothing from her since.
On the other hand, I ghosted my friends and the girl I was interested in as soon as my career started to take off. I don’t make time for anyone outside of the soccer team, and even then, that’s in the context of practice and games.
