Remember

Chapter 2

(a/n) If you read this before I updated it the first time, then re read the first chapter cause I changed a whole bunch of it :)

]The next morning I got up and threw on some running shorts. I ran my usual mile, stopping at Hal's to get a drink of water, just as usual. The owner, Hal McGee, stopped me before I left. "Hey Carrie. You'r brother's football coach is having a meeting today! Make sure to let him know!" he yelled from across the booths. I nodded. "Thanks!" I replied as I left.

"It's been an honor, coachin' you boys as long as I have. I'll be taking the year off-" satrted Coach Yoast sadly. Gerry, our mom, and I were at the meeting. There were a lot of disappointed sighs, and several people let out desperate "No"s. "Afterwhich, I'll be moving to Loudon, and taking the head coaching job at Loudon High." he said sadly. More people complained. I heard someone yell "Don't go Coach!" Alan's dad was the first to actually speak up. "I say boycott T.C. Williams!" he said firmly. "Tell 'em Fred!" yelled someone in the back. "I say our boys aren't playing for some Coach Coon!" he yelled angrily. Gerry stood up. "He stole your job. I'm not playing for him. I've started a petition, and I'm sittin this season out." he said firmly. "The place you gonna sit is right back in that chair Gerry." ordered Yoast gently. "Boycott T.C! Boycott the school!" continued to yell Fred. "Stop this Fred, you know that none of these boys can afford to go to another district just to play ball! They sit this one out, they put their futures on the line!" he said softly. "Coach, I'm out too. I ain't playin for no theif." said Ray, standing up. Alan shrugged his shoulders and stood up too. "Coach if you go, I go." he said simply. "Don't do this, don't make this any harder for me than it already is" Tried Coach.

A few days later, I was all packed up for camp. Gerry would be coming a week in, and our weeks would overlap. I got on the bus, which, naturally, was split in two. All the white girls sat in the front, and the black girls in the back. "hey, saved you a seat!" I heard my friend Suzie yell. She was in the middle, where the divide was. I sat next to her, and on my other side, were 2 black girls. One looked over to me, and looked me up and down. I smiled at her. She rolled her eyes and looked away. 

1 week later
"C'mon girls, we gotta get this right! The boys get here any second, and we gotta show off when they get here!" yelled the coach. I rolled my eyes. The coach was making us prepare a performance to do as the guys got here. Just to "Show off". I was one of the people being thrown in the air. The performance wasn't even a performance. She just wanted to make us look perfect. She would be instructing us on how to catch fliers. I was a flier, so she didn't really need to tell me anything. My catching group was made of three people. Suzie, a black girl named Cameron, and the girl from the bus, whose name was Jasmine. Jasmine hated me, so I was a little worried that she was the most crucial catcher. The bus pulled up, and Coach Mendell started as the boys came out. They stopped where they were walking to watch us. "All right girls. You catchers, you need to make sure you catch the fliers. Jasmine, Sally, Katelyn, y'all are the most important. If you don't catch, that flier will most definitely break an ankle, and we'll be short a flier, and we don't want that. Do you understand?" she yelled. The guys were crowded around. The coach, I noticed, was eyeing Coach Yoast. Gerry had told me that he was back to be an assistant coach. "Yes ma'am!" yelled the catchers. "Tell me, my three main catchers, what exactly do you do?" she asked. "Catch the feet, and stop them from slamming into the ground!" they replied in unison. "Good, are we ready to try?" she yelled out. I got with my group, and Suzie linked hands with Cameron. I pulled myself up, and they stood me there for a second. I saw Gerry watching in curiosity. "Ready, and, throw!" yelled Coach. They threw me into the air, I did my flip, and finished in perfect catching position. Jasmine flashed me a smile, and I landed. Suzie and Cameron caught my arms and back, but, at the last second, jasmine pulled away. My left foot slammed hard into the ground, and I cried out in pain. Almost instantaneously, Gerry, Alan, an Ray were there. Coach ran over too. "Carrie what happened?" she and Gerry asked at the same time. "Gee, I don't know" I said through gritted teeth. "Jasmine, get over here" ordered Mendell firmly. Jasmine meekly came over. "Why didn't you catch Caroline?" she asked in a steady tone. "Her feet slipped through my hands" replied Jasmine weakly. "Oh yeah" I said sarcastically. Coach took another look at my ankle. This is definitely broken."she said annoyedly. "Jasmine, I'm gonna need you as my new flier" she said. Jasmine smiled happily, then smirked in my direction. "You cant-" I started angrily. "You, and you. Take her to the nurse" she said, gesturing to Gerry and Alan. "We'll talk later" she told me, before Gerry helped me up. I winced as I tried to walk on my ankle. Alan and Gerry draped my arms over their shoulders, and helped me hop down the grass to Gettysburg college.
At the nurse's station, I found out that my anlke wasn't completely broken, just cracked. I still wouldn't be able to walk on it without crutches for a few days, then I'd still have to wrap it for another 3 weeks. She wrapped up my ankle and made me sit with some ice up against it, making sure that I knew exactly how bad it would hurt if I tried any "crazy flips" while it was still wrapped. A minute later, Coach Mendell came in. "You know she missed my feet on purpose." I told her. She nodded and pressed her lips together. "I know. But she's next in line for flier, and if I deprive her of that right, there will surely be a huge thing about how I didn't let the black girl participate fully on the team." she explained. "She obviously didn't participate fully" I said, gesturing to my foot. Coach nodded and pressed her lips more tightly together. "Now, you can either call your mom to pick you up, or you can stay here at camp." she said. I sighed. "I'm not gonna leave." I said firmly. "Sweetie, you know that since you can't attend camp, you can't be on the team this year" explained Coach. "I know. But I'm not gonna leave." I insisted. The coach raised her hands in surrender ."All right" she said. Gerry jumped up and ran off excitedly. I didn't know what was wrong with him. Alan stayed to help the nurse fit my crutches. Gerry ran back in, and he was followed by his football coach. I gave a small smile. "So I hear you're stickin' around" he said, sounding slightly impressed. "Yeah" I sighed. "Listen, we could use a little help coachin' the team this year if you're up for it" he offered. I tried to suppress the huge smile that I had. "I'd love to!" I said happily. "Great! Happy to have you aboard. Come this way" he said, gesturing me to follow. Gerry and Alan followed giddily. All the guys were talking in the cafeteria, still holding their bags. We walked in, and they shut up. Coach Yoast said something quietly to Coach Boone, who looked over and gave a small nod. "Alright, listen up folks! We've got one more defensive coach this year! Miss Caroline Bertier!" he yelled out. A few of the white guys cheered, since most of them had known me for years. The black guys just nodded. I gave a small wave. "Alright, remember, the person you sat with on the bus is the same person you'll be rooming with for the duration of camp!" called out Boone. The guys nodded and ran off to their bunks. Alan and Ray walked with me. They explained how Boone mixed the black bus and the white bus and assigned bunk mates. Alan and Ray were bunking with these 2 guys, Jerry Harris and Petey Jones. They had the only room with an extra bunk, so I was rooming in there. I was hanging out in there while Alan unpacked his stuff. Ray had headed off to look for the bathrooms. "Hey, a little help?" asked Alan. I turned to look, and saw that as he was trying to take off his tie, he hadn't loosened it enough, and it got stuck in his mouth. I suppressed a laugh and loosened it so that he could get it off. He was about to say something else when he heard something in the other room. A minute later, I heard him call out "Fight!" All the guys rushed over. I knew immediately who it was. I pushed myself through the crowd, smacking some of the guys with my crutches. "Get out of here girl!" I heard a few guys yell. I ignored them and got to the middle, where Gerry was beating up a black guy. "Gerry!" I scolded loudly. He didn't seen to hear me, and pulled his arm back to punch again. It hit me right below the eye, making a thump sound that effectively stopped everyone in their tracks. I smacked him in the back with my right crutch, making him wince slightly. "Oh my god, Carrie, you okay?" he asked immediately. I glared at him before walking away, where the crowd parted for me.
"A bunch of tough guys, huh? You look like a bunch of 5th grade sissies after a catfight. You got anger, that's good. You gonna need it son. You got aggression, thats even better, you gonna need that too. But any little two year old child can throw a fit. And can someone please tell me who did this, and how Coach Bertier has a huge bruise under her eye, 'cause she will not tell me a damn thing!" yelled Coach Boone. No one responded. Boone sighed. "Football is about controlling that anger. Harnessing that aggression into a team effort to achieve perfection! Coaches, they can cut a player if they think he's not up to snuff. If they think he's hurting the team. This is a public school program. I will never, ever, cut a player who comes out to play for me. But when you put that uniform on, that Titan uniform, you better come to work! We will be perfect! In every aspect of the game. You drop a pass, you run a mile. You miss a blocking assignment, you run a mile. You fumble a football, and I will break my foot off in your John Brown hind parts. And then you will run a mile. Perfection!" he called out. Everyone looked around guiltily. "Let's go to work" said Boone finally.