“Coach Cantu?” I say, and he looks up at me when he hears his name.
He gives me a smile and says, “Olivia, how are you?” And then he notices Leo behind me. His face lights up. “And congratulations on your finish yesterday, Leo. I wasn’t sure you were going to pull it off with your rough start.”
Okay, that’s like salt in the wound.
“Just had to get my head back on right,” Leo says.
Coach’s eyes bounce between Leo and me a few times. “What can I do for you this morning?”
“I wanted to thank you. For signing my form,” I say. I’m nervous but I don’t know why. “After the text you sent, I thought for sure you wouldn’t, since I didn’t finish my hours.” Maybe I’m half expecting him to chew me out for almost wrecking the tournament for Leo.
He gives me a tight smile. “I wasn’t sure what this week would be like when you showed up here. When I sent you that text, the officials had not informed me as to what happened and I thought you were a no-show. And I’ll admit, I was furious. But when I found out what happened, I realized you had finally understood the most essential part of golf. Integrity. All players are required to keep their own score and call penalties on themselves. It’s the most important principle. Without it, the rest doesn’t matter. When I heard what you did, what you admitted to, even though you didn’t have to and at some peril to yourself, I thought,She finally gets it!”
I can’t look at him. I know I’m blushing, I can feel it.
“So I signed the form and turned it in for you. Mr. Spencer said he’d let you know, but I should have called you myself.”
I swallow the lump in my throat. “I’m so sorry I blew your class off. If there’s one thing I regret, it’s that.”
He smiles. “Thank you. And good luck with everything.” Then he leans forward to look at Leo. “I’ll be watching out for you! You’re going to do great things!”
And now Leo is blushing. We’re pretty adorable, I must say.
We say our good-byes and walk hand in hand back to the parking lot.
“I guess you need to let your family know,” he says once we’re back in my car. “That’ll take the rest of the day.”
I laugh. “Watch this.”
Pulling my phone out, I open up a new text to Nonna.
ME:Great news! Coach Cantu signed my form! I get to graduate!
I show Leo the screen and hitSEND. He seems a little confused.
“Just wait.”
It only takes about sixty seconds for the texts to start rolling in.
MOM:You got it signed??? Call me!!
AUNT EILEEN:So glad I didn’t have to hunt that coach down and give him a piece of my mind! Love you!
UNCLE MARCUS:Happy for you
And on and on it goes. God, I love my family.
Our graduation is taking place in the convention center downtown. They put a stage in just for this occasion and we’re all seated, facing the crowd of family and friends. Not that we can really see them with the lights pointed at us, blinding us to everything behind them.
I know my entire family is in the audience since Uncle Michael and Tim got here three hours early to stake out enough seats for everyone. And Leo is here and that makes me so incredibly happy. We’ve planned to visit each other throughout the summer, and it’s only a couple of months before we’re both in Baton Rouge.
Mr. Spencer walks up to the podium and the crowd gets quiet.
“It’s my pleasure to introduce our salutatorian, Olivia Perkins, who will welcome everyone here.”
There is loud applause, which makes me blush as I walk to the microphone. I place my notes on the podium and take a deep breath.
“As salutatorian, it’s my job to welcome everyone to the commencement exercises! To all our parents and family and friends, I thank you for being here. Thank you for supporting us and cheering us on. We couldn’t have gotten here without you.
