treacherous • alan bosley

the new kid

maisie stood with the coaches at practice, trying to capture a few action shots. her article would need to be finished and edited by the first day of school, so she needed some good images before it was too late. at first she wasn't sure of the deadline, but apparently principal bolan had called the girl's house while she was away. it was slightly nerve wracking. she had been hoping for a little more time.

the boys were all playing and having fun on the field. it was truly a sight to see when compared to their practices a week ago. their unity was something maisie desperately wanted to capture. they were taking a slight break in plays, but all the boys stopped whatever they were doing to gawk at the red car pulling up to the field.

"who's that?" maisie asked boone, assuming the coaches were expecting someone.

"no idea," boone gave the girl a shrug, looking as a boy got out of the car, "come on."

maisie knit her eyebrows at the coach, surprised he had asked her to go along. she was going to go anyways, but the invitation was a lovely gesture. at the start of this process, she knew boone didn't take kindly to her. it was nice to see that he had changed his mind.

the pair approached the new boy and his father, but before they could get a word out gerry began cracking jokes.

"hey, fellas!" gerry yelled out, looking over at the boy with an amused grin, "look at that fruitcake!"

maisie scoffed, looking at gerry with a cold stare. she shook her head, before returning her attention to the boy standing in front of her.

"gerry, just keep your mouth shut and get back on that field!" yoast told him as he joined boone and maisie.

"pay him no attention," maisie smiled politely at the innocent looking boy, "he just learned to not be racist like three days ago, so we haven't gotten to the other stuff-"

"sanning," boone quieted the girl with a harsh stare, before introducing himself to the men in front of him, "i'm coach boone: head coach of this program and this is maisie sanning. she runs our school paper."

the men shook hands, while maisie offered a polite smile.

"coach boone, i'm colonel bass," the man introduced himself. he seemed pretty decorated, which made maisie wonder why he had just been stationed in virginia of all places, "i just got transferred here from huntington beach, california. this is my son ronnie and he's a quarterback."

maisie looked over at the boy with a familiar glint in her eyes. she figured he wouldn't be half bad with a little haircut. maybe even border-lining on hot. after all, there was nothing more attractive than a california dream boat. it was a sentiment many small town girls shared in.

"how you doin', ronnie?" boone said politely, before addressing the presence to his left, "this is coach yoast. we're pretty set at the quarterback position. but, uh, if your boy is any good, you may wanna check out wilson or hamilton."

colonel bass sighed, attempting to further explain the situation, "well, i talked to coach taber. he won't let black people play on his team. the way i see it, if these boys can fight a war together, they can play ball together. now, he's a pretty good runner-"

everyone has somewhat tuned the colonel out, watching as ronnie picked up a ball and threw it about halfway across the field. he had managed to hit gerry in the back of the head, meaning the boy had the aim of a sharpshooter. maisie's mouth gaped open with delight, as she turned to look at her two coaches. surely they wouldn't be able to pass this up.

the three members shared a quick look, before yoast turned back to the colonel, "i think we can find a place for you boy. one or two conditions, though."