[Complete] Ariel and the Bandits

25 - The Terms

I'm on my way to Ariel's when Coach Beau gives me a call. Something in my stomach plummets, but I don't decline the call.

"Coach," I say.

He skips the greeting altogether. "Herrera gave me a call." When I don't say anything, he proceeds. "We need to release Herrera from the team. Now Oliver--"

"You know." My hands grip the steering wheel tighter. I had a feeling he did, but I didn't want to be right.

"I'm surprised you didn't know sooner."

"Coach, you know you can't do that. She's good at her job and she's proved herself enough times at practice. We've sucked the last few games without her. Why won't you let her play?"

"If we--as you put it-- sucked, it's because you are not focused. We've cut players like apples off a tree-- this will be no different. No one is irreplaceable. Even you can be replaced, you know that."

His words are harsh but true. But this has nothing to do with the player and their skills.

"We had good reasons to cut people off the team, but you want to cut her because she's a girl?"

"What do you want me to say Oliver? 'She's a girl, she's fragile, she can't take on guys who are a foot taller and double her weight. She's not as fast as they are, she'll never be as good as any of them.' Is that what you want to hear? Because this is just a lawsuit and a scandal waiting to happen."

"Were you not the one who advised Coach Russeu to consider the kick returner as a wide receiver?"

"Well now I'm advising Russeu to cut her. If she gets injured and people find out-- then what? The blame will fall on me and I won't be able to help but feel guilt for putting her in harm's way."

"What about the rest of us, Coach? Aren't you putting us in harm's way? Why should it be any different for her?"

"Does she mean something to you other than a player Oliver? Because I think your feelings are getting in the way."

"She's doing this for her family you know," I say. "As a family man yourself, I assume you understand that."

Coach Beau sighs. He mumbles a string of curse words too low for me to hear. "Fine. She has until the Superbowl to stay. On one condition."

His condition nearly makes me hit the brakes in the middle of the freeway. It's difficult to listen to anything else that follows.

"Those are my terms, Park." Coach Beau's voice echoes through the speakers of my car.

"I understand, coach. I'll see you tomorrow."

I'm not surprised that he knows. At least to me, he made it clear that he knows. And it makes sense to me that in order to pull this off, Coach Beau is setting the rules that will prevent Ariel from getting caught. Part of me expected he'd make those terms, but I'd also been hopeful that it wouldn't come to that.

I pull up about half a block away from Ariel's sorority house. I march up the front steps and ring the doorbell. I'm not sure what it is about walking up these steps that makes me nervous. Maybe it's the conversation that is waiting for me on the other side and knowing the coach's terms, or maybe it's the fact that when I see her,  I won't want to do any talking.

One of Ariel's sisters opens up the door. She smiles and lets me through. "She's in the living room."

"Thank you."  I walk through the entrance and make my way toward the living room.

Ariel has her bandaged leg propped up with a pillow on the coffee table. I have a clear sight of her messy bun (If you could call it that. At this point, her bun is dangling-- hanging on to dear life on that hair tie.). She's typing away at some assignment. The deep sigh sounds like a combination of stress and tiredness. I'd walk up to her and rub her shoulders, but the last time I did that, Hera smacked me right between my brows out of reflex.