𝐇𝐞𝐫 𝐏𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐀𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

TWENTY FIVE

Constance

After my last class of the day, I headed straight to the high school again. I was parking when I spotted Vee being dropped off by her dad in front of the door Coach Wang usually let me in at.

It looked like things were pretty tense between them as I got my stuff out and slowly began walking that way. Vee almost tripped on the curb as her dad pulled off quickly, a strained expression on his face as he drove away in his SUV.

"Vee!" I called out, jogging towards her as she reached the door too. "Vee!"

She turned, checking the time on her phone. "Sorry I'm late for getting ready. I didn't realize I had left my volleyball stuff at home so I had to get it from my dad."

"No, no. It's fine. I'll cover for you," I shrugged, "Say you were helping me get something together for the other girls or something. I don't have to text Wang to get the door. We can just walk in through the other way."

She seemed to blush a little. "Oh...like through the main building? Are you sure...?"

"Yeah," I shrugged.

We started walking towards the main building, both warming up to some easy conversation. I liked how it seemed to make her feel better. Whatever was going on at home was having a negative affect on her, and I really hated to see it.

My phone buzzed then, and I told Wang I was already in the building coming through another way; Vivianne was helping me with something. I slid my phone back into my pocket, grabbing her hand to pull her onto the sidewalk that abruptly began near the front. I didn't let go until she did, still walking close to her.

"Rough day?"

"Yeah," she sighed, watching her feet as we walked.

"I got a bad history with dad's too," I added, then laughed. "Wait, that sounded sooo bad. I mean, my father and I don't have the best relationship."

Thinking about it for a moment, I then said.

"We honestly don't really have a relationship at all."

Vee curiously looked over at me as we followed a group of students into the main hall. "Why's that?"

Because he hadn't responded to my message I sent through Snapchat yet, even though he could respond to Arnae, who he had known for a shorter amount of time. I still didn't know...if I had a new sibling on the way yet. I needed those results. Bad.

And then suddenly her arm was cuffed into mine, like I was walking her down the aisle or something. A group of kids passed by: a really tall nigga, some girl in a dress I'm pretty sure they couldn't wear to school, and some other short dudes in basic copy and paste hoodie/jean combos.

The girl and Vee seemed to hold eye contact for a long moment before we passed by them.

"Who's that?" I asked her a question of my own.

"Hm," she only shrugged.

We made it to the locker room and Vee ran off to get ready while most of the other girls got started on warming up. I suggested different techniques for different people as I walked around until Coach Wang made an appearance from her office with a mysteriously full hydro flask and a little smile.

"Hey, Coach," I threw an arm around her shoulder.

"Hey. How's the wife and kids goin'?" she grinned, staring at the girls out on the court.

"I-I don't have...a wife and kids, Coach," I laughed.

"Oh...right," she joined me in laughter, "Well, how's Angelle? That's her name, right?"

"Yeah. We're kinda going through...rough times, if you will," I murmured. "It makes me wanna throw myself into these practices even more."

"Well good. The game's on Saturday, and we got until then to get some spirit in these girls," she stated.

"You can go ahead and call the scouts. If it's not this game, it'll definitely be the next, Wang," I promised her, squeezing her shoulder and looking into her eyes.

"If these girls fail...I just might retire, Constance. I've lost my touch."

"You haven't. I just think you've lost your motivation," I let my gaze dip down to her cup, giving Wang a little smile. "And maybe if we can get that back then we can get your groove back, Coach," I bumped her with my hip.

"Always so optimistic, Clark. It's hard to be that way nowadays," she acknowledged.

"I try to be," I sighed, thinking about all the problems in my life.

"Mine!"

I caught a volleyball spinning right towards Coach's head with one hand, ignoring the sting. I looked across the court. "Now who did this belong to? And if I heard mine...why wasn't anybody runnin' for it?"

Everyone stood their awkwardly.

"Ground's kinda wet. Twenty laps around the court, no breaks," I clapped, "Game on Saturday! Who wants to be committed? Who wants their name on the school website? Who wants to go to college? Who loves this game? Go, go, go!"

The girls broke out into a tornado of legs as they ran across the gym.

"Pace yourselves, ladies!" Wang called out, setting her cup down besides her feet. "Pace yourselves!"

Coach turned to me. "Saturday. You sure you can be here?"

"Yes. But just for moral support," I smiled, "You're gonna be leading them."

"I can't. You've done so well, Constance. I should talk to the school. Have them hire you as a second coach or something. You're good at this Clark. You give them reason and passion and discipline. We both know you don't wanna be an architect, you don't even know all your multiplication facts."

"True, true," I laughed. "But this isn't my path..." I watched the girls running. "I mean...at least, I don't think it is."

Coach laid a hand on my shoulder this time. "I'll put in a good word with the school. If they allow it, it'd be great to have you as an assistant coach. And maybe that's not your life choice- it still could be a paycheck more than at the library," a girl walking by seemed to look up when she heard that part, "until you're outta college."

"Hey, run!" I snapped, realizing she was eavesdropping. For some reason, that really had me hot. The girl broke off into a jog, seeming to catch up with some of her friends. I cooled myself down, shoving my hands into my pockets and looking down at my feet as Coach talked.

I could take this job, yes, but working at the library was something I sort of liked too. I was a book person, it was mostly quiet, and yeah Angelle was there but...was I really gonna let Angelle run me out of a job I had first?

"So what do you think?" Coach asked.

I looked up, sure with myself. "I'll definitely consider it, Wang." And I meant that.

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