Page 64 of Colliding with Ten

“You want to shadow our training staff while you’re on our cheerleading squad?”

I nodded. “I won’t be cheering for another few weeks anyway.”

He rubbed a hand over his face and went still, disappearing into himself. Meadow, his girlfriend, called it his problem-solving face. I called it his okay-fine-but-do-I-have-to-be-involved face.

“I hate you,” he said.

“That’s not true. You’re obsessed with me.”

“Don’t spread lies.”

I moved closer, bumping my shoulder into his like I was thirteen again. “Please.”

He stared down at me and nodded. “Let me ask Hill. But you’re gonna be the one doing the talking this time.”

“Of course.”

“Alright”

“Really?” I screamed, beaming at him.

“Don’t do that.” He nudged his ears, then turned SportsCenter back on.

Two days later, the meeting was quick. Hawks’ director of sports medicine, Marcus Hill, and Head Coach Mayfield sat across from us. AJ introduced me to his coach, then stepped back. He’d open the door, but I had to walk through it.

I talked about the Denver clinic, Ronan’s methodology, what I’d observed in my own recovery, and what it had made me want to understand better. Mayfield listened with his arms crossed, deciding whether I was wasting his time.

Halfway through, Mayfield asked, “Why should we take on the liability of a cheerleader shadowing my medical staff?”

I answered without hesitation. “Because I know what it looks like when a player says he’s fine and isn’t. I’ve said it myself. I know what it means to admit otherwise. I know you may not see dancers as athletes, but we are. I have grown passionate about this, and I understand what it’s like to have everything on the line.”

Hill looked at Mayfield. A message passed between them.

As the meeting ended, Hill leaned back. “An extra pair of motivated eyes during a stretch where half the roster is managing injuries.” This was directed more to Mayfield than to me. “It’s never a bad thing.”

Management signed off the same afternoon. AJ came home, set a Hawks lanyard on the kitchen counter, and walked to the fridge.

I stared at it. “What’s this?”

“It’s a fellowship. For the rest of the season, you’ll shadow Hill and his staff. You observe and assist where they let you, and you do not get in the way.”

“I know how to not get in the way.”

He pulled out a water bottle and looked at me over the fridge door. “You really don’t.”

I picked up the lanyard with my name on it. “Thank you.” I gave him a grateful smile.

“You’re going to sign a mountain of documents, and you’re going to behave like you have sense.”

“I make no promises.”

He shook his head as if thinking, ‘Why do I bother?’

“Who am I shadowing?” I asked, going over to the couch to bounce on it like a kid. Being able to use my legs again was making me angsty and want to do unnecessary things.

AJ’s mouth twitched. “Hill. He wants to oversee this. He already knows you’re annoying and prepared for it.”

“Perfect. I love being pre-hated.”