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Oh, Simon. He really thought he was going to give me the time and location, and expect me not to act on it? Foolish boy.
Looked like we wouldn’t be able to practice today. Simon would probably be angrier about that then anything else, I thought to myself with a laugh.
“Girls,” I called out to my teammates, who were splayed around the sidelines of the field, putting on gear and stretching.
“Yeah?” Tanya said in reply.
“Can you gather back around?”
They all looked at one another, then immediately dropped whatever they were doing to move in my direction. I smiled, thinking how nice it was to have friends like these.
“What’s going on?” Riri asked as the team coalesced around me.
I read them Simon’s message, which explained his plan to quit. They listened, rapt and in shock. Once I was done, Sharon-Ann proclaimed:
“We’re not going to let him do this, right?”
Nora seconded that, saying, “Simon’s a great coach, and you’re obviously in love with him. Nobody should have to quit over that.”
“Yeah,” Beth chirped. “If we’re all cool making it work, the school should be too.”
“What do you want us to do?” Max asked, and the gang grew silent, waiting for my answer.
I straightened up, and replied, “I was thinking… how’d you like to help me stop him?”
The team erupted in cheers of agreement — girls waved their hands in the air, others jumped up and down. They were on my side, forever and always. How could I have even doubted that?
I held my hands up in the air to indicate that they should simmer down, and they did.
“What’s the plan?” Grace asked with a smile. I could see that we’d put our differences behind us, and that now, all she wanted was for me to get my happily ever after. Good, because I’d missed her.
“The meeting sounds like it’s happening right now,” I replied, addressing the whole team. “What if we, I dunno, go plead Simon’s case?”
“Like with David?” Nora asked.
“Yeah,” I affirmed. “Simon’s mistakes are mine as well, and he shouldn’t have to take all the responsibility for them. If he loses his job, I don’t think I could ever forgive myself. Plus, we’d lose one amazing coach. So… do you think we could stop this?”
Sophia cried, “Hell yeah!” and the whole team burst into excited laughter.
“Well, okay then,” I said with a grin. “I like the enthusiasm.” I checked my phone and saw that every minute we stood on this grass, time was ticking away.
“We’d have to go, like, right now,” I explained.
Rose bent down, double-tied her shoes, and then straightened up to say, “Okay, now I’m ready.”
“Since practice looks as though it’s not happening today, consider this getting in your laps,” I joked, before taking off like a shot.
I began to sprint across the field, with my entire team following me like a battalion. And only a few hours ago, I’d wondered if I would ever lead them again. How could I have even questioned their loyalty? These girls would follow me to the ends of the earth — they’d even follow me into the Athletics Director’s office.
We raced across campus, around buildings, over mud and in between students. Heads turned to watch us as we flew past, baffled and intrigued. You don’t even know the half of it, I wanted to tell the bystanders.
To their credit, the girls weren’t even out of breath when we pulled to a halt in front of David’s door, which was a long way across campus from the field. Good. At least that meant they were still in fighting shape, despite all that I’d put them in through in the last few days.
“This is it,” I said quietly.
An arm slung around my shoulder, and I looked to my side to see that Grace was next to me.
“You can do this,” she whispered. “We’ll be right by your side the whole time.”
The rest of the team nodded in agreement.
That gave me all the push I needed. I flung open the office door just in time to see Simon rising from his seat across from David.
“Catya?!” he exclaimed. Then he looked over my shoulder and saw the rest of the team. “Uh, what’s the team doing here? What’s going on?”
Instead of responding, I fully opened the door, and walked in, gesturing for the team to follow me. We filed into David’s office, a space that was conveniently big enough to hold all of us. The man of the hour, David, was seated at his desk, looking on incredulously.
“Hello, Catya,” he said, and to the team, “hello, Stallions.”
“Hi, David,” we all chorused, in that annoying synchronicity habit leftover from years of organized sports.
Simon, looking desperate and on edge, intervened to say, “Catya, you can’t be here right now.”
I shook my head. “Sorry, but I have to be. I won’t let you do what you’re about to do.”
