Coach Knowles

1

onika

"Amir! You're about to be late, come on!"

"Ma please let me stay home. Our new coach is the worst." He got down on her knees and put his hands together like he was begging.

"I'm not paying all that money for you to skip practice. You have five minutes."

I didn't say anything else and walked to the car. I got in the passenger seat of my black Range Rover and started a stopwatch.

Amir came running outside a couple seconds after the stopwatch hit five minutes.

"Whew!" He said after he got in the drivers seat.

"You were 2.32 seconds past five minutes. Don't let it happen again." Being late is a terrible trait to have.

"Yes ma'am. You're letting me drive?"

"You're have your license, don't you? Don't crash my car."

Most kids don't get the privilege of learning how to drive in a Rolls Royce.

"If you say so." He shrugged and connected his phone to the car. He started driving and I sat up to make sure he didn't make any mistakes.

The academy was a 45 minute drive away but we were used to it, we make this drive every day.

We got there and there were parents dropping off their kids in the parking lot. After Amir parked I unbuckled my seatbelt and got out too.

"You coming inside?"

"Yes, I want to meet your new coach. What's his name again?"

It's unusual for them to get a new coach in the middle of the season, head coach at that.

In the words of Amir, she's "satan disguised as a basketball coach to roam earth." I doubt she's that bad, she just made them do suicides.

"He is a her and her name is Coach Knowles."

We walked inside the gym and there was already some boys practicing.

Robyn noticed us first and jogged in our direction with a clipboard in her hand.

She gave me a hug and squeezed me by my shoulders. "Hey Nika, you haven't stopped by in a while what's up?" She let me go and took a step back.

Robyn was assistant coach and her and I have became friends over the past years. She's the least stuck up person in this entire town.

"I wanted to meet the new coach. Amir hates her so I want to see if she's really that bad or he's just exaggerating."

"She's... interesting. Very intense but she'll be good for them."

I know she was only saying that because Amir was still standing here. The only reason he was even still here was to avoid having to practice.

"There's nothing wrong with working them hard, she sounds better than the last coach." The lady coach wasn't bad but he let them play around entirely too much.

"Mhm. Are you coming to the Vegas game?"

The school was an academy for basketball so while they do have great academic scores, they're also one of the best schools for basketball.

They have a girls and boys team and junior varsity, varsity, and all star.

"Hell no. Imani is going to be at a sleepover and for the first time in years I'll have an empty house. I need to take that opportunity to enjoy the silence and relax." I winked so she knew exactly what I meant by relax.