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“Title IX?” I questioned.
I mean, sure, I knew what Title IX was. Everybody on all college campuses knew, but especially women athletes. The gist of it was, nobody can be discriminated against in education based on their gender. A couple of ways this law played out, like tangible examples of it, was that administrations were forced to fund women’s sports equally, as well as giving out more athletic scholarships to women like me.
“I know what Title IX is,” I said. “But I don’t see how it applies here.”
Grace flipped her hair. As pre-law, she delighted in answering legal questions as though she’d already passed her LSAT and was on her way to Harvard.
She explained, “Well, you know how Title IX also covers sexual assault?”
I nodded, vaguely aware.
“So,” she went on, “it kind of covers two prongs of the Alan and Melanie situation. One, their relationship could mean that a woman athlete has been treated differently from a male athlete, and two, because Alan was in a position of power over Melanie, he could also be brought up on misconduct charges. I’m kind of oversimplifying it, but… yeah.”
Had the air grown thinner? Because I was having a hard time breathing. I turned away from Grace and put a hand to my chest, to ensure that my lungs were still pumping.
Obviously, I’d understood that getting involved with Simon could result in backlash. I knew he might lose his job, or I might lose my scholarship. But I thought those were kind of opaque formalities, like we’d be punished and that would be the end of it. I didn’t think a theoretical relationship between us would trigger legal action.
I asked Grace the question that felt most relevant to me, “But what if it’s consensual?” I quickly corrected myself. “What if it was consensual?”
She shrugged. “Like, whenever somebody with some kind of institutional control over another person sleeps with that person, the lines are blurry. But okay, sure, let’s say it was consensual. Then no one would lawyer up unless they were at the risk of legal action by the school — for instance, losing a job or losing a scholarship.”
I froze. Was she answering the questions casually, or did she know exactly what I’d been asking? Her face betrayed no sign.
“All that being said,” she continued, “what really matters is that, either way, the school could be found in a violation of the Title IX rules as they pertain to women’s sports. If a school is found in violation of that, the courts could theoretically pull funding from the school — provided it’s a public university, like ULA — or shut down entire wings of the athletics department until the case was resolved.”
I gasped, a noise that was far too dramatic for somebody without stakes in the conversation. Grace quirked her eyebrow, but ignored the point.
“Is that all true?” I questioned. “Are you sure?”
She shrugged. “No, I’m not sure. Title IX is good, but it’s complicated. There’s every chance I don’t ‘know my IX.’”
This time, I didn’t inhale sharply, but exhaled easily. So it was possible Grace was just talking out of her ass.
And then she kept talking.
“But,” she said, “of course, our conference itself could choose to suspend the team in question, if there was a relationship between a coach and a player. Now I really don’t know how that works, but we do technically have a governing board that can force a school out for the season.”
Darkness seemed to be closing in on the edges of my vision.
I’d been prepared — I shouldn’t say that. Rather, I’d been considering what might happen if I were to, say, fuck Simon’s brains out. I knew there would be consequences for both him and me, if any, but they seemed like individual, and frankly earned, consequences. Like, I would know our relationship — I’m getting ahead of myself — our intercourse — was consensual, but I wouldn’t blame the school for raising questions. Historically, they’d be right — when situations like this had happened in the past, they more often than not weren’t consensual, not really.
I wasn’t ready to face the individual fallout, which was why I’d kept my grubby little paws off Simon’s hot bod. But I’d thought, maybe one day, I’d get so needy that I’d just like, let loose, give in and devour him.
However, there was no single solitary world in which I would put the Stallions in jeopardy because of my own actions. I could make big decisions for myself, but I absolutely couldn’t make them for my team. What if my brief dalliance affected the lives of the people I loved most on this campus?
I needed final confirmation from Grace.
“So Alan and Melanie,” I began, electing to distance myself from this as much as possible, “the two of them sleeping together, and continuing to work for the team, that could’ve gotten us kicked out of the conference?”
