Page 62 of Faking the Play

I wish you’d just kept walking and left me alone.

She didn’t just regret getting romantically involved with us. She regretted even meeting us. Her friendship was one of the best things about my childhood, and the fact that she didn’t just want to forget it, that she wished it’d never happened, had cut deeper than her cheating.

And to make matters worse, I still had my doubts about what had actually happened.

I’d doubted it from the moment Logan had said that Amelia slept with Jason, but he’d been convincing, and emotions had run high, so I’d decided to believe it. That decision, however, hadn’t stopped my brain from constantly bringing it up when I least expected it.

“Office,” Coach Hobkins barked.

He didn’t say anything else until the four of us were crammed into his office, with him behind his desk and the three of uson the other side. Since there were only two chairs, we stayed standing.

“What the hell is going on with you three?” he demanded. “You’ve been off your game for weeks and now I got professors telling me that your grades are all slipping.”

I winced. I knew I bombed a test last week, and there was an assignment I’d completely forgotten about for another class, but I hadn’t realized it’d tanked my grades enough for Coach to get a call.

“Everyone has off days,” Logan said.

Coach shook his head. “Don’t give me that bullshit, son. You guys have been off in practice, in games, and in school for weeks now.”

“We’ve got some personal stuff going on, Coach,” I offered.

“No shit,” he said. “Unless someone died or is sick, I don’t give a damn. Everything else isn’t important.” His eyes narrowed. “Unless one of you idiots got a girl pregnant. That’s not what this is, is it? You knock up some chick?”

“Hell, no.” I shook my head. “That’s not it at all.”

“Then put it aside. Push it down. Do whatever the hell it is you have to do to get your heads screwed on straight again.” He reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a toothpick. Popping one end into his mouth, he chewed on it for a moment and then added, “You boys are all still serious about wanting to play pro, right? Because if you’re not…”

“We are,” Ryan said.

“Good. Then keep your eye on that prize.” He crossed his meaty arms and leaned back in his chair. “This next game we got coming up, it’s an important one.”

“Yes, sir,” Logan said. “It determines whether or not we’re moving on to the playoffs for this new bowl game.”

“Now, I know there’s been a lot of talk about how this Honeycomb Bowl was the wrong choice for our team, but if wemake it, we’ll be playing here. And I happen to have it on good authority that some members of the Broncos staff have said if the game is at CSU, they’ll be coming. And I don’t think I need to tell you what that could mean for your futures.” He eyed each of us for a long moment, like we needed time for what he was saying to sink in.

“No, sir,” we all muttered.

“I’ve been coaching for a while now, and there’ve been other talented players, some who went on to play pro, but you three are the most talented athletes I’ve had the pleasure of knowing, and you’re even better when you’re together. I sure as hell would like to see you boys all get to keep playing together, and if it happened to be as close as Denver, well, it’d be nice to take my players up there once in a while and brag about how I used to be your coach.”

We stared at him, mouths hanging open. He wasn’t a cruel or verbally abusive coach. In fact, he gave a lot of positive reinforcement. But I’d never heard him make a speech like the one he just made.

“Do I have your word that you’re all gonna buckle down and get those grades back up?” He kept going like he hadn’t just shocked us into silence.

Dumbly, we nodded our heads.

“Good. Go hit the showers and then hit the books,” he said. “And when you come into practice tomorrow, I expect you to all be focused on the game and not on whatever else has been filling your head.” He leaned forward and put his elbows on the desk. “I don’t want to bench my best players during an important game, but I will do it if I think you aren’t thinking straight. I won’t have anyone getting hurt because you weren’t paying attention.”

Shame filled me as I nodded my head again. He was right. We weren’t just screwing with our futures or even just putting our own health at risk. Football was a dangerous enough sport on itsown. Add in someone who didn’t have their entire focus on what they were doing, and the chances of someone being getting hurt increased by a lot.

“We hear you, Coach,” Logan said. “We’ll take care of it.”

“See that you do.”

And with that, we were dismissed. None of us said anything as we headed for the locker room, but I didn’t think we needed to talk. We all knew what we needed to do. Now we just had to do it.

Chapter thirty-four

Amelia

---