“How’s it going?” she asked as he joined her.
“Got a couple of kids with attitudes this week,” Ben said. “Just stay sitting. I’ll take care of getting the drinks out.”
“I can help.”
“You can supervise.”
She looked like she was going to argue, but then just nodded. Ben bent and quickly transferred the drinks from the cooler to the table. Amelia organized them into lines by type of drink.
“Are the kids with attitudes picking on other kids?”
“A bit,” Ben said. “I’m not sure why they’re here. They were a bit disruptive earlier in the week, but today, it’s like their goal is to make sure no one enjoys the clinic.”
“That’s too bad. Do you think Cole will do anything about it?”
“I have a feeling that he’s going to pull them aside during the break.”
Once the drinks and snacks were all arranged, Ben sat down in the chair beside Amelia. At the beginning of the week, a second chair had appeared, but Ben wasn’t sure who was responsible for putting it there.
As the teens made their way out of the gym for their break, he could see a few of them glancing back toward Cole and then whispering to each other.
One of the kids approached Ben. “Are they going to get into trouble?”
“I don’t know,” Ben said. “That’s Cole’s call. But I know he’ll try to get them to see that what they’re doing is disrespectful to everyone participating in the clinic.”
Another kid scoffed. “They don’t care about respect.”
“Yeah,” the kid next to him said. “They’re not good in school either. Always getting into trouble. Bullying other kids.”
“Do they play basketball during the school year?”
The tallest of the three who’d spoken shrugged. “Only in gym class. The coach told them not to bother trying out for the team because even if they were the next LeBron James, he wasn’t letting them on.”
Ben could hardly blame the coach for that approach. It had been apparent from day one that they weren’t as focused on basketball as the others who were there were.
“I’m sure Cole will do his best to understand what’s going on,” Ben assured them. “And if that doesn’t work, he might ask them to leave.”
“I hope that’s what he does.”
“We’ll have to see,” Ben told them. “Cole will do what he thinks is best. For everyone.”
When Cole walked out of the gym, the two boys weren’t with him. He walked over to the table, a serious expression on his face.
“Can I have the information for Travis McNeil and Eddie Thomas, Amelia?”
“Sure.” Amelia sat forward and flipped open the file that was next to the laptop. She quickly sorted through the papers, pulling out one, then another. She handed them both to Cole. “Here you go.”
Cole took the papers, then pulled out his phone. He went back into the gym, leaving everyone watching him curiously.
Amelia glanced at Ben. “Remember Doug Leonard?”
Ben rolled his eyes. “Do I ever, and yeah, these boys are just like him. Do you know what happened to him?”
Amelia shook her head. “But I haven’t really kept up with people from high school. Layla might know. She’s done a better job of keeping in touch with the kids from your class.”
“I don’t think I want to know that badly,” Ben said with a laugh. “I’m in touch with the people from high school that I want to be in touch with.”
A spark lit in Amelia’s eyes, but almost immediately it died. She turned her attention to the papers, shuffling them back into order, then put them back into the folder.
