Page 5 of Trick Play

“It’s your only option. Unless you can pull out a miracle and get your grades up by finals …” He trailed off, but I caught the meaning. I was closer than ever before to getting kicked off the team.

“Okay.” I didn’t have a choice. I needed to ace this class and hope it was enough to keep me safe from probation.

“Good.” He opened his laptop and typed for a minute. “I let her know she should add you to the course.”

“Thanks.” I dug my nails into my pads.

“I believe in you, Ethan. You’ve never backed away from a challenge, even though you have to work harder than everyone else. I’m proud of you.”

“Thanks, Coach,” I stood and let myself out of his office. I wasn’t in the mood to see or talk to any of my teammates, but Benjamin, Reid, and Hunter were all waiting for me when I strode into the locker room.

Ignoring them wasn’t an option, so I went to my locker and sat on the bench to take off my gear while they interrogated me.

“What was that about?” Reid started.

“My grades.” It wasn’t exactly a secret that I struggled with school work. These three had been at my side since freshman year and had heard me complain enough to understand the gist of my problems.

“How bad is it?” Benjamin asked. I wanted to believe it was because he cared about me, but he always put the team first. He was thinking about restructuring the lines and running plays without me.

“I’m right on the edge.” I had my skates off and tugged my jersey over my head.

“But I thought you’ve been working with that tutor.” Reid crossed his arms.

“I have, but it’s not enough. She doesn’t understand how my brain works. She gets impatient with me and repeats herself a hundred times rather than coming up with a different way of explaining things.”

Hunter eased onto the bench next to me. “Can you request someone else?”

“Yeah, there have to be better tutors out there,” Benjamin added.

“She’s the fourth one that’s been assigned to me, and she’s better than the others, so I decided to try to survive the year. She’s really trying and promised not to give up on me.”

Which was better than the previous three that bailed when they realized I wasn’t an easy fix.

“But she should try to find ways to work with you. If you don’t understand the way she’s explaining it, she needs to change tactics.” Benjamin was switching back into captain mode. He was a fixer, and now I was his biggest problem.

“I’ll talk to her again and see if it helps.” I doubted it. She was assigned to me at the beginning of the semester, and we were almost halfway through. She got me through midterms, but if my counselor reached out to Coach, I must not have done as well as I hoped.

“What else did he say?” Hunter asked.

“There’s an elective I can take that is supposed to be an easy A. It should help raise my overall GPA to keep me safe for the rest of the year.”

“Are you sure adding another class is going to help?” Reid sounded as convinced as I’d been when Coach first told me.

“I don’t really have a choice. I haven’t checked my grades this week, but if my counselor is talking to Coach, then they must be worried.”

“You need to stay on top of your grades, Clarkson. You can’t wait until it’s too late to ask for help,” Benjamin added.

I was already at that point. But I hadn’t waited. I asked for help. It just wasn’t enough. “I’m taking the class, so don’t worry.”

Reid gave me a sincere smile. “We’ll help as much as we can. You’re not alone.”

“Yeah. I think there are a couple of guys majoring in history. They can probably help you.” Hunter slapped my back and stood.

“Maybe hold off for now.” I appreciated their enthusiasm and willingness to jump to my aid, but I didn’t really want this getting out to the rest of the team. It was hard enough that my closest friends knew how much I struggled. I didn’t want the younger guys doubting me.

“Sure, let us know.” Benjamin waved the other guys out, leaving me to shower and change.

As soon as I was alone, I closed my eyes and dropped my head into my hands. I never wanted to be a burden, especially when it came to my closest friends. I hated that I couldn’t just get it. It didn’t matter to professors that I took twice as long to complete assignments and that I’d been studying more than ever before. They didn’t care about the late nights, or occasional all-nighters, that I spent rereading my textbook and reviewing practice tests.