Coach Knowles

54

bey

I went to Onikas house last night and she dropped me off at work this morning. I know the real reason she wanted to drop me off was so I would be forced to go back to her house later.

She's not as slick as she thinks she is but I didn't mind. She woke me up in an special way so I was walking around with some extra pep in my step.

I was excited to see my students and they were glad to see me too. In each class they complained about the sub, I was told to never go on vacation again.

It was finally my lunch period and I had no text messages from Onika. That's weird, if she want coming she probably would've said something and if she wasn't she would've told me that because I'm expecting her.

I made a salad night and brought it over to Onikas to refrigerate. I brought it out and my salad fork.

I was eating and grading papers at the same time when there was a knock at my office door. That must be Onika. "Come in!"

It wasn't Onika. It was the woman from the basketball game that made Onika mad because she touched my arm. That was our first and only time speaking so I'm not sure what she wants.

"Hi, can I help you with something?" I pushed my glasses further up the bridge of my nose and looked up at her.

"I just brought you a little to show my appreciation." She held up a bag. "You coach my son, Jordan, and he got a really good scholarship. I know he wouldn't have been able to do that without your coaching. He's my son and all but-" She paused and laughed, "He wasn't that good."

"Really?! I'm so happy to hear that." My heart melted. I'm glad I could make an impact on someone's life.

"Yes, I'm extremely grateful. I own a vegan restaurant and bakery so I brought you a few things."

"Oh wow, thank you."

"Of course. I don't know if you're a vegan or not but from looking at your skin, you have to be on some type of diet. It's glowing."

I laughed at her compliment, she was right. "You're close, I'm a vegetarian."

"Oh I can definitely tell, you look good. I've been a vegan my whole life so I promise my food is good."

She came around my desk to give me the bag of food. I don't know why, she could've just put it on my desk.

"Your whole life? Meaning you've never eaten meat?"

"Never in purpose, I've eaten meat on accident or been tricked into it but I always spit it out. How long have you been a vegetarian?"

"When it's not a season of a sport I have to coach, I eat meat. But I've been doing this since college."

She chuckled, "So you still eat burgers and stuff occasionally?"

"Yes and for those couple weeks I go crazy. I add chicken to my salads and everything."

"Have you ever tried tofu? There's a lot of different meat substitutes you could put in your salads."

"I don't think so, it scares me."

"I get that, why don't you come down to my restaurant and show you how it's made one day? I understand being afraid of unfamiliar foods, I'm the same way. I make everyone try any new recipes before I do."

"Really?" Most of the time people think it's weird.

"Yeah. My business card is there with my personal phone number so just let me know when you're free and we can work something out."