Page 35 of Look What You Made Me Do

“No more mullets. Number twos for you all. Here, now, this afternoon.” There was a collective groan. “You don’t want to? No problem. I have a reserve list and I’m not afraid to use it.”

He didn’t but he could make one.

“Training is every day,” he continued. “Every day. Three o’clock sharp. Rain, hail, snow or shine. We have three weeks until the first game and a lot of ground to cover.”

None of the boys were smiling now. Good. He finally had their complete attention.

“Lastly, one day off school, just one” – Jake held up a finger – “without a medical certificate… cut class just once and you’re off the team. No exceptions.”

Silence greeted him and he glanced at Ella. Even she looked slightly aghast. But Jake knew boys like this, like Cameron. He’d been one himself – disenfranchised. If it hadn’t been for his Aunty Thelma getting him into football and setting impossibly high standards, God knew where he’d be today.

It was time to pay it forward.

“Those of you still keen, come join me.”

The newly minted team members looked at each other. Then they looked from Jake to Pete, still holding the clippers, and back to Jake.

Cameron was the first to move and the rest followed.

Jake nodded. “Alright then. Go with Pete.” The scruffy rabble shuffled off. “Cameron,” Jake called. “Not you.”

Cam frowned as he fell back. Ella approached, looking at them uncertainly. “Everything alright?”

“All good,” Jake dismissed.

She glanced at a nervous Cam and opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by an out-of-breath Trish lugging a large shoulder bag. “I just got your text,” she said. “You want me to do what?”

Jake tipped his head to where Pete was standing with the new recruits. “Shave some heads.”

The petite blonde eyed the boys in the distance and then glanced at Ella. Ella shrugged and Trish smiled. “It’d be my pleasure.”

Jake laughed as Trish practically levitated her away across the oval. He turned back to Ella. “Why don’t you join Trish?”

For a moment Jake thought she was going to stand her ground and demand to know what he wanted with her brother but she acquiesced with a nod. He and Cameron tracked her progress as she caught up with Trish.

“Did you want something, sir?”

Jake looked at the kid who could almost meet him eye to eye. He was big, stocky, and probably one of the few guys on the team with real talent.

But Cameron Lucas needed a damn good kick in the ass. And he was just the man to do it. Cam was going to be sorry he ever wanted on the team.

“I’m not your father, Cameron, nor am I a teacher. You can call me Jake or Coach.”

Cameron swallowed. “Yes, Coach.”

Jake regarded him seriously. “I understand you. Probably better than you understand yourself. I know Trently gave you a tough time. I know you probably spent your life with your fists up defending someone you didn’t like very much in a shithole you didn’t give a damn about.”

Cameron remained silent but his jaw was set and hostility blazed in his eyes.

“Unfortunately for you, the next few months, your ass belongs to me and if you want on this team, then you’ve got to prove it to me – more than the others. Do you understand?”

Cameron nodded. “Yes, Coach.”

“I don’t know if you know this or not but I was at your place one night a few weeks ago when you told your sister to fuck off. If you ever talk to Ella like that again – ever – you’re out. Got it?”

Cameron ground his teeth together so hard Jake thought he was going to break some. “But?—”

“No buts, Cam. Men just don’t talk to women like that. That’s the number one rule, right there. Are you a man or a boy? This is where you decide.”

---