“I’m going to go check in with my team, give them some props for showing up for the program.”
“Hads,” Emma said, grabbing her friend’s hand. “I didn’t mean—”
“It’s okay,” Haddie told her. “I’m fine. And I’ll be right back, okay?”
Emma nodded with a forced smile and, ugh, Haddie hated making her feel bad for simply reminding Haddie that she was swimming in very unfamiliar waters.
Haddie climbed up the bleachers and slid across the empty row in front of her team.
She was greeted with various versions of “Hey, Coach!” and “What’s up, Coach?” But for some reason, Sarah Ramirez stayed quiet, barely even able to look Haddie’s way.
“Hey, team!” she called back. “I just wanted to pop by and thank you all not only for showing up but for Showing. Up!” She gestured to their attire and the signs, the purple, black, and white ribbons tied around ponytails and braids. “You really outdid yourselves.”
“It was Coach Rourke’s suggestion,” Sarah told her, finally speaking up. “He said if we did it for his team, then his team would do it for ours.”
The belly acrobatics were back. It was one thing to fill thestands—or at least halfway fill the stands—for his own team, but it was something else entirely to promise to do it for Haddie’s. He gained nothing by supporting her team. Hell, he’d gotten her to swear off solo showers as well as sleeping alone. She was a sure thing. But this? Everything he’d done today? It made her feel lightheaded.
“Then expect to see our stands looking pretty much the same for our game on Thursday.” Haddie held her hand up like a visor against the not-yet-setting sun. “Well, I guess that’s it. See you all for practice after school tomorrow. And thanks again for the excellent school spirit.”
She turned to head back to her spot in the stand but stopped when she heard, “Coach Martin? Can I talk to you for a second?” Haddie spun to find Sarah Ramirez climbing down the few rows of bleachers to meet her where she stood.
“What’s up, Sarah?” Haddie asked.
Sarah looked down as she fidgeted with the hem of her uniform jersey, then back up at Haddie. She groaned. “I’m sorry Teddy and I made you think that if you didn’t buy us coffee that we would spill the tea about you and Coach Rourke.”
Haddie narrowed her eyes. “Sarah. You two pretty much told me you’d be incapable of minding your own business unless I made it worth your while.”
Sarah grimaced. “I know. That was kind of crappy of me.” She leaned a little closer to Haddie and lowered her voice. “I kind of have this mad crush on Teddy, and the only way I know how to flirt with him is to be an intimidating bitch in front of him.”
Haddie barked out a laugh and leaned back so she could lookSarah square in the eye. “Oh, Sarah,” Haddie began, “your crush is so obvious. But guess what I’m not doing.”
Sarah’s shoulders sagged. “Making me bribe you not to tell everyone that I am out of my mind for a goofball marshmallow like Teddy Kostas?”
“Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!” Haddie cried. “I think we have a winner!”
Sarah rolled her eyes, which made Haddie smile because that was the Sarah she knew and adored.
Haddie crossed her arms. “We do some stupid shit in the name of love, don’t we?” she asked with a conspiratorial grin.
Sarah’s eyes brightened. “Coach with the potty mouth. I like it!” Then her mouth fell open. “Wait! You said ‘We.’ Does that mean you mean meandyou? Did you just admit that you have a crush on Coach Rourke? I swear I’m just asking for me and not for any sort of extortion purposes.”
Haddie laughed. “Goodbye, Sarah. I’ll see you at practice tomorrow.” She spun back toward the stairs and heard Sarah gasp.
“The…the shirt! You’re wearing his shirt! I can see the outline of his name through the fabric!”
Haddie didn’t bother to dignify Sarah’s accusation with a response. If Levi wasn’t worried about how it would look for her to be wearing his shirt in front of both of their teams, then neither was she, even if she had been trying to hide it.
She glanced down to where Emma, Matteo, Tommy, and Jules were getting poised to watch the kickoff, and then she squared hershoulders and marched down the bleachers and back to her seat.
Who cared what any of them thought when all that mattered was Haddie and Levi’s assessment of their situation? It wasn’t like Coach Crawford could fire them for their entanglement. She’d reread the policy and procedure handbook twice just to make sure. If their performance in the classroom went unaffected, then Coach Crawford would have no means to enact consequences.
She lowered herself back into her seat and grabbed Emma’s hand. “Go, Muskies,” she said.
Emma looked at her with a relieved grin. “Go, Muskies,” she replied.
And then, when Billy McMannus…Billy McMannus was on the field?When Billy McMannus intercepted Middleton’s kickoff, Emma and Haddie flew up from their seats.
“Go, Muskies!” they cried in unison.
