“Then ask the team or stadium photographers to send you one.” She waved a hand at me, clearly not buying my excuse.
“Kodi!” somebody shouted and I turned to see Lunez running up to me, Renee walking farther behind, face pinched.
“Oh, hey, Carlos,” Rosa said. “How're you doing?”
“Good, good,” he said quickly, giving Rosa a smile before turning to me. “I actually came over to ask for Kodi’s advice.”
“Me?”
“Yeah. I’ve seen what you’ve done for Kean’s socials and how that affected ticket sales for the Whip Snap Cup. So I wanted to run some ideas by you.”
“Oh.” I bit my bottom. Ireallydidn’t want to help him for so many reasons. For one, his success could mean the end of my career at the Dastards. Two, his success was tied to that bitch.
But then he gave me those big, pleading brown eyes and I couldn’t tell him no.
“Sure, what’s up?”
“No.” Renee gritted her teeth, popping up behind Carlos’s shoulder. “I told you, you don’t needherhelp. I can give you any advice you need.”
“But Kodi has social experience,” Carlos argued.
“She’s aPA.”
“Actually,” I interrupted because I couldn’t help but correct Renee. “I do predominantly have social media management experience. Being Kean’s PA is a stepping stone for managing the team’s social media department.”
“Oh shit, that’d be so cool!” Carlos said with genuine enthusiasm. “See, Renee, she’s the exact right person to ask.”
“You’regoing to manage the team’s media? After what you did?” Renee asked, face scrunching up.
“What did you do? And who is this bitch?” Rosa asked in a whisper.
“Later,” I mumbled, then said to Renee, “I’m in the running. But what I’ve done with Kean’s socials proves I’m the best fit.”
“Absolutely,” Carlos said while his agent rolled her eyes and walked away. “But anyways, I was thinking that since it’s unlikely I’ll get on the field today, I could do crowd work. And if enough people like what I do, Coach’ll be more likely to put me in next game. Or at the very least if I get a lot of attention, I might get transferred to a team closer to my family.”
“Transferred?” Rosa gasped. “That’s sacrilege to talk about, young man.”
“I know, I know.” Carlos looked down, sheepishly scratching the back of his head. “But I don’t wanna replace Kean. So it makes more sense to find a team thatneedsa keeper.”
“I guess that’s sweet.”
“So what’re you thinking?” I asked before Rosa gave him any more shit.
“Well, actually —”
A Substitution
Olli
For this being an away game, I was relatively calm. Normally, my thoughts were focused on the condition of an unfamiliar field and crowd and trying to measure up the opposing team.
But today I was just relieved that Kodi was in the crowd, insight, and there was no chance she’d be whisked away to the announcer's booth by a hot older gentleman who liked to flirt. Instead, Kodi was seated in the stands, right behind the bench, with the other family members.
Throughout the game, I was able to occasionally look over and see her cheering with Jimenez’s wife, enjoying herself. And I could do that without being completely distracted by her. It was a perfect balance.
Or at least it was until half time and Kodi ran up to me as I headed to the locker room.
“Kean!” she shouted, eyes darting back to the away team stands.
