Haddie felt her face flush as she scoffed. “I was not!” She let out a nervous laugh, sounding like the guiltiest guilty to ever guilty.
“CoachMartin!” Sarah replied. “You are sweet on Coach Rourke! I knew it!”
Haddie rolled her eyes. “We’re colleagues,” Haddie insisted. “And roommates who are just friends. Also, I don’t know why I’m explaining this to you. A student shouldn’t be making inappropriate assumptions about two faculty members.”
“There is nothing in the Summertown High School Policy andProcedure Handbook that says students cannot speculate about two consenting adults possibly being sweet on each other.”
Haddie’s mouth fell open. “Youreadthat?”
Sarah groaned. “You made us all sign off saying that we did!”
Haddie laughed. “I guess I didn’t think you all actually did it.”
Sarah’s eyes widened. “Wait, wait, wait, wait, WAIT. Did you say that you and Coach Rourkelivetogether?”
Warning alarms sounded in Haddie’s head. Sarah already knew she was full of shit, and now Haddie was adding more fuel to the fire by letting it slip that she and Levi were roommates.
“Platonically!” Haddie whisper-shouted so no other students would hear.
But deep down, Haddie knew their relationship was teetering on a line between platonic and something more. Living with Levi started out awkward, then turned to something comfortable, but lately was starting to feel like torture, all thanks to a stupid broken window.
Tommy’s uncle Pete came up to the apartment the next day and measured the glass, and less than twenty-four hours later, she had a brand-new window, and the tree culprit was trimmed. That meant Haddie only had to suffer two nights on the couch, tormented by the muffled sounds of a naked Levi tossing and turning in his bed while she tried to sleep. Okay, nearly naked, but what was left to the imagination had been haunting her dreams ever since. And now those dreams were a waking nightmare.
“And what do you mean you knew it?” Haddie asked Sarah.
Her student shrugged. “There’s just some of us on the teamwho’ve been speculating, but we had no idea you guys lived together!”
“Who lives together?” Teddy Kostas asked as he strolled over with a noticeably empty bucket.
“Coach and Coach,” Sarah informed him, and Haddie groaned.
“No shit!” Teddy exclaimed. “Go, Coach Rourke!”
Haddie shuddered. “Teddy, I am going to pretend you did not just say that and forbid you from ever saying it again. Sarah? If I had begged you not to tell Teddy a second before he showed up, would you have complied?”
Sarah pursed her lips and shook her head. “This is too good not to share.”
Haddie filled Teddy’s bucket while she pondered the situation.
“What’s it going to take to have you two keep your mouths shut about this?” she asked. “Not that I need to defend my purely platonic friendship with Coach Rourke to either of you, but if the rest of your teammates find out, the focus of our practices will no longer be the games, and I’m pretty sureyouwant to continue winning games…” She glared at Sarah. “Andyouprobably want to start winning games, correct?” This time she directed her attention at Teddy.
“Harsh, Coach,” Teddy replied with a sigh. “The truth hurts, but she’s got a point,” he told Sarah. “Guys my age have zero maturity when it comes to shit like this. I should know. I’m a guy my age, and my brain is already on overdrive with totes inappropriate speculations.” Haddie gasped, and Teddy held up his hands in defense. “What? I didn’t say, ‘Go, Coach Rourke,’ again!”
Haddie groaned. She’d brought this on herself, and now sheneeded to fix it. “Please, you two. I really need you to keep our living situation in the vault.” If a handful of students were speculating about the two of them after barely a month of school, how long would it be before they were the talk of the district? Or even the town? Haddie needed to shut this down before it went any further. “If you do this for me, I’ll…” She sighed. “I’ll buy you both coffee for a week.”
Sarah raised her brows. “Well, this just got interesting.”
“I know, right?” Teddy agreed with a dude bro laugh. “I was ready to comply just based on the whole respect-your-elders thing my mom is always telling me, but I’ll take free caffeine.”
Respect your elders? Haddie didn’t even know where to begin with that one. But this wasn’t about her ego. It was about protecting her privacy and Levi’s too.
“Fine,” Sarah replied, but Haddie could see the wheels turning in her head. “But we get to choose the beverage type, size, and when it is delivered.”
Haddie’s mouth fell open. But then she reminded herself that she was the grown-up here…or theelderwith authority that they both needed to respect.
“This is how it’s going to go down,” she told them. “The elementary school starts earlier than the high school, so I will have your drinks made to order and waiting for you on a chair outside my classroom door. If you want the drinks fresh from the coffee shop, you’ll be at my door at eight sharp. If you order iced and don’t mind it a little watered down or hot and don’t mind a little cool off, pop by before first period. You’ll email me your fiveorders by Sunday evening, and after that, no changes, take backs, or swaps. Got it?”
Teddy stood at attention and gave her a salute. “Got it, Coach!”
