We Come Alive 5

Respect: Given or Earned

Monday afternoon, since it was the Monday after prom, also known as Senior Ditch Day, most of the rowdy students of Grand Ridge weren't around. Well, that was until some of the athletic coaches and their trainer got off work for the day. Clover drove over with Ethan and Jose since the three had been spending the day together. But, she left them with Ricky while she went to talk to Danny.

Clover slouched in his office chair while Danny was walking around putting files away in his cabinets. He turned around to grab the last stack on his desk to notice her staring at all the photos he had up on the wall. Instead of roster pictures and athletic pictures like other coaches, he had selfies, group pictures, and more personal pictures of the players. Especially the seniors.

"You gonna miss hanging out here?" Danny asked, walking to the filing cabinet.

Clover looked over at his back. "The field, the locker room, and the athletic building. Definitely. You guys, the boys, Manny and Kiara? Of course. A decent amount of the students. But anyone else? Nope. The principal, the superintendent, and the school board? Absolutely not." She snarled the end, looking back at the pictures.

"Cause they don't care?" Danny wondered, coming over and sitting on the edge of the desk. "Yeah, Mateo's mentioned not to mention them to y'all."

She didn't reply, just wanting him to drop the subject. The one thing she was overly glad to leave behind. Danny didn't let her do that, instead continued with the subject.

"What happened? What started it?"

Clover looked him in the eye. She gave him a half smile for a moment before dropping it. "It was my sophomore year. My first full year I was starting, my first year as captain. We were playing this regular season game. It wasn't even near playoffs." She scoffed, running her fingers through her hair. "We were winning by a landslide. I never remembered the score. Nobody does, but everyone knew we were winning. It was mid-third quarter. I call a play and hand the ball off to Jose. Ricky was somewhere protecting him, left me wide open." She let out a soft sigh while looking away from him. "This kid from the other team came from my right and ripped my helmet off by accident. Another guy came from my left since they tried to blitz me. Helmet to helmet hit. Except, I wasn't wearing a helmet."

Danny's jaw dropped. He looked at her in pure shock as she just stared at her sneakers that were with the rest of her lower half on the top of his desk.

"What happened?"

Clover shrugged. "One second I'm on my own two feet about to get my helmet, the next Jose and Ricky are standing over me screaming for our trainer. It was Bruno at the time. You know, before he retired and you replaced him. Anyway, he asked me all these questions, and I walked onto the sidelines by myself. Didn't need any help or nothing. Got up off the ground, blood coming from my temple, and walked to the sidelines."

Clover sniffled as she leaned her head back, glancing at Danny every once in a while. "The two boys felt so bad. They just kept apologizing over and over and over again. I knew it wasn't their fault. The one guy's finger got caught in my face mask. It was my helmet or his finger. The other guy, he ain't mean it. He was running at me full speed. He didn't do it on purpose. But, when I got to the sidelines, Mateo gave me a quick concussion test. Asking my last name, my jersey number, my first name, my mother's maiden name, Ricky's mom's name. All these questions. I could answer them, but...I couldn't keep my eyes open. It was so bright outside like the sun had just come up. Paramedics were putting bandages on my head, checking my eyes, and my pulse. I didn't want to go to the ambulance. I don't remember why. I just...didn't. For the life of me, I can't remember why. Next thing I know, Simpson and the superintendent come over talking to Mateo. They ask him if I'm okay and all of this other stuff. He said, yeah. Bruno was sitting next to me, keeping an eye on me. I was fine."