A 90's Friday Night Lights meets Fifty Shades, only the town is the sadomasochist and the two young lovers their pawns.
July Elizabeth Edwards is stuck in the existence her pretentious, rural East Texas town has allotted her. A shift in social statu...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
I heard the door to the principal's office start to open and figured I should look attentive. This wasn't entirely my battle. I was only there showing moral support for my two best friends turned drill-teammates now I suppose. Physical and moral support given the get-up I was wearing to match them. I was encouraged out of my seat in the waiting room when the office door appeared to be opening and the three of us stood up to be escorted in.
The principal's door closed shut as abruptly as it opened, then appeared to swing open wide followed by a dramatic exit from the varsity football coach. His face was red, and it was obvious there had been yelling in there. Adrian Reed walked out after Coach Craig, and I had never seen a look like that on his face. He brought his estranged expression to the ground as he started past us. Principal Sabella closed the door neatly behind him, nodding at his surrounding staff with a polite "nothing to see here" smile to save face. He approached us while following behind the other two. "I'll be right with you ladies. Just give us a moment."
Adrian cut his eyes at me as they walked by us. They were steel blue, and I couldn't help but feel the concern he had in them as he approached and looked up at me. He wasn't choked up. He was mad. Before I could look away from the intensity of his face Coach Craig spun around exiting the main office and walked back toward Adrian.
Adrian stepped backward and turned to face him, putting his back in front of me. He had nowhere else to go. The crazed coach lunged closer and stuck his finger in Adrian's face. Adrian was less than two inches from me. He was practically covering my whole body. If you had randomly approached the scene, it would have looked like he was protecting me from Coach Craig, which obviously wasn't the case. However, I wasn't sure what the case was.
I had never seen a teacher, or a coach for that matter, accost a student like that. Certainly not in front of other students, the principal, and his administrative staff.
"Let me tell you something, boy!"
My God, the coach had Adrian pinned, and Adrian had me pinned behind him. I kept trying to step or slide back out of the way, but there was a chair against the wall behind me. Nothing would budge, and three bodies, including the principal, all stood in a cramped but appropriate distance to the left of me. I had nowhere to go either. There was a plant next to the chair behind me, separating me slightly from the other two girls and the principal, and I hoped it was covering the momentary bind I was in. Adrian was backed up so close to me, I could feel the heat off Coach Craig's red face, and if he had spit on Adrian when he shouted, it likely would have landed on my face as well.
