Victoria, Rebecca, and Lori snicker in the distance.
Mr. Williams jogs over. “What happened?”
“Someone pushed me.” I glare at the trio.
“Did you see who?” he asks.
“No.” I wince.
He thoroughly examines me. “You have a few minor scrapes and bruises, nothing serious. Jamal, accompany Cocoa to the nurse’s suite.”
Due to my slow gait, it takes us longer than it should to reach our destination.
“What’s the matter?” a slender Black woman sitting at a desk asks.
“I have a headache.”
“Lie down.” She motions towards a curtained off section of the room where two beds are. “Is this common?”
“No, I fell,” I answer, gladly lying on the comfy mattress.
“Name?”
“Cocoa Matthews.”
“I’m Nurse Hopper.” She walks to the water cooler and fills up a paper cup, then offers it to me. “Feeling dizzy?”
“Yeah.”
She rummages through a cabinet and hands me two ibuprofens.
“Go back to class,” she tells Jamal. “I got it from here.”
“See you later,” he says and leaves.
After determining I don’t have a concussion, Nurse Hopper gives me a clean bill of health. I go to the locker room and shower before meeting Kate and Lucy.
“Sorry I’m late,” I say, rushing into the small conference room and joining them at the long oval table.
“It’s fine,” Kate replies, studying my war wounds. “Jamal told us what happened.”
“Are you hurt?” Lucy nibbles on her fingernails apprehensively. “We were afraid for you.”
“A little sore, but I’ll survive.” I wave dismissively. “I’m a resilient girl.”
“I’m glad you’re okay,” she says.
“All right, so let’s plan to publish the first newsletter by the second week in October.” Kate folds her arms on the table, going into full editor-in-chief mode. “The pep rally and first game of the season are scheduled for the last Friday in September. The homecoming dance is the following day. Lucy, are you able to attend both and do your photography thing?”
“Yep, adding to my calendar now.” Lucy deftly clicks away on her cell phone.
“I want to feature player interviews in this issue too.”
“Okay, I’ll brainstorm questions to ask,” I say, scribbling all the details in my notebook.
“Great. Moving forward, does meeting Wednesday afternoons work for everyone?”
Lucy and I have no objections.
