Page 18 of Love Me Not

“You’re looking for new members?”

“Every club can use new members,” I answered, reluctant to confess how dire our situation was.

“I can talk to the players,” he said. “See if any of them want to join.”

Steps from the art room, I spun to face him. “Are you trying to be funny?”

The coach looked genuinely shocked. “How is that funny? You need students and I have a roster of them. Unless you’re as prejudiced against athletes as you are against coaches.”

“I’m not prejudiced against anyone.”

“You’ve been frosty to me since you found out I coach the team.”

“I have no?—”

“I see you in the lounge,” he cut in. “You aren’t as cold to anyone else as you are to me.”

I once again opened my mouth to argue, then snapped it shut. He wasn’t wrong.

“Coach Collins, there’s a reason I’m not on the school welcoming committee. I’m not the warm and fuzzy type. I’m not a people person. In fact, in general, I don’t like people at all. I also don’t like sports. You are the combination of a person and sports. Therefore, I have two reasons not to be remotely interested in you. It isn’t personal. It isn’t meant as an insult. And it isn’t something for which I should have to apologize.”

“You—”

“As for your roster, I would gladly take willing participants, but in my eight years of running the drama club at this school, not a single football player has ever joined, and I have no doubt that none ever will. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

“Are you saying if they show up ready to work that you’ll let them in?”

Did the man not hear a single word I just said?

“I welcome any student who wants to join and take the work seriously. However, I will not be holding my breath that any of your players will fall into that category.”

With one of his ear-splitting claps, he gave a curt nod. “We’ll see about that.”

The coach took several steps backward before spinning and strolling off in the direction we’d just come. If I had a heart, I’d almost feel sorry for the guy. Because he was about to be sorely disappointed.

On the plus side, I was looking forward to my impending I told you so.

Two weeks later, we had yet to gain a single new recruit for the club. If Trey pitched the idea to his players, none of them took the bait. Color me not surprised. We would have normally started rehearsals by now, as this was the first week of October and the play was scheduled for the weekend before Thanksgiving, but no new members meant no one to play the parts.

If we didn’t add to the numbers before the middle of the month, changes would have to be made. I refused to not put on a play, but with only two girls and two boys, our options were severely limited.

That said, this was Megan’s wedding weekend, which meant putting the play dilemma aside until Monday.

The final bell sounded ten minutes ago, but I needed to give my notes for the substitute one more read through before heading out. In lieu of an old fashioned bachelorette party, with the requisite debauchery and imbibing, Megan requested a small gathering for food and wine and casual chit-chat.

No strippers. No body shots. Not a single hint of hedonism.

The night before Becca’s wedding in January, we’d attempted a girls’ night out, complete with bar hopping and plenty of alcohol. For the rest of us, anyway. Becca had been quite pregnant at the time.

Unfortunately, one thing after another went wrong, and we found ourselves stranded nearly an hour outside of town in the middle of the night at a motel no respecting cockroach would patronize, let alone a human. Between the remote location, and a reluctance to endure a case of bed bugs, we’d resorted to calling Jacob’s ex-wife for a lift.

To our collective amazement, she’d not only showed up to get us, but been very cool about the whole thing.

Still, after the trauma of that night, we were more than happy to go low-key for this one.

“Ms. Pavolski?” came a deep voice from my doorway. “Do you have a minute?”

I looked up to find Aiden Bishop and Burke Pemberton hovering on my threshold. They’d both been in my creative writing class last year, and I had Burke again this year for World Lit.

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