Page 19 of Did You See Evie

Even though I would likely want to do the same thing if I was their age. There is something unsettling about being at school at night. I’ve felt it myself plenty of times, when I’m working late after games and practices. An obvious aura shift when all the bustling students and teachers are gone.

The girls groan, their attitudes more pronounced now that they’re no longer vying for playing time.

“We’re going to start the movie,” I say. “Get settled in your sleeping bags. It might be easier to go to sleep than you think.”

The girls listen, although they continue to groan. Joanna fiddles with the tech equipment, putting on some raunchy comedy for the girls to enjoy.

“Coach?”

Evie stands behind me, her blanket wrapped around her shoulders like a cape.

“Can I talk to you for a minute?” she asks, her face drawn. “In private.”

We walk a few steps away until we’re standing beneath the very goal where she made this week’s winning shot.

“What’s up, Evie?” I ask her, hands on my hips.

“I need to run to my locker,” she tells me.

“You can’t do that,” I say. “I made it clear you can’t be roaming the halls.”

“I know. I just…”

She looks from left to right. Behind her, I can see the other girls are settling down, but some of them are starting to raise their heads in our direction.

“What are you talking to coach about?” Tara shouts.

“Come on, SoEd,” Beatrice adds. “Let us in on your little secret.”

Evie seems to wince at their remarks, her cheeks blushing in embarrassment. I’m as used to the girls poking fun at one another as I am to their nonsense lexicon. Like SoEd and skibidi and rizz. I’m not sure what any of it means.

“Mind your business, girls,” I shout back to them before focusing on Evie. “Is something going on?”

“I started my period, and I didn’t pack a tampon in my bag.” She speaks the words quickly, her volume no higher than a whisper. “I have some more in my locker.”

“I see. You didn’t bring anything with you?”

Most of the girls came with a slew of things they didn’t need. You’d think sanitary items would have topped that list. Then I remember Evie walking in, carrying nothing more than a pillow and a blanket.

“I wasn’t supposed to start until next week. I just wasn’t thinking.”

I forget, too, that most of the girls are still new to puberty and they analyze their changing bodies with the scrutiny of a scientist, while often forgetting the most obvious things.

“I have some tampons in my office. Would that work?”

“Yes.” Her eyes dart to the left again, and I’m overcome with the same feeling I had earlier in the week, after I gave her a ride home from the Waffle Shack. It seems like there’s something else on her mind, something she’s reluctant to tell me.

“Evie, are you sure that’s the only thing bothering you?”

She looks back at the girls before staring at the gym floor. Her posture is rigid, as though she’s uncomfortable in her own skin. “What do you mean?”

“It seems like there’s something else on your mind. I felt the same way at the celebration dinner this week. And when I saw you in the hallway between classes. If something is troubling you, all you have to do is tell me.”

“It’s nothing?—”

“Evie, I know you. I can tell you’ve not been acting like yourself this week.”

She inhales deeply. When her eyes finally meet mine, they’re rimmed with tears. “It’s not a big deal, but?—”

---