The Secret Life of Mitchie

Chapter 8

There were whoops and cheers as guys were clapped on the back and fists were bumped.

"You did it Mitch! You made the team!" Frankie cried swinging an arm over my neck and playfully giving ruffling my hair.

I laughed happily with him as a few other guys came over to give me a pat on the back.

"Mitchell, son, would you mind staying for a minute or two? All the rest of you are dismissed for the day." Coach called over the congratulations.

Frankie gave me a questioning look and I answered with a shrug.

"I've got to get a book from the library before it closes, so I'll go get that and wait for you by the staircase." Frankie said walking towards the locker room. I nodded and walked over to Coach.

"Sir?" I asked hesitantly as I approached him.

"Daniels, I chose you as one of the back-up players for the team, and I would like to congratulate you. You did great out there today, and with some hard work you'll be playing in no time. But that's not why I asked you to hang back a minute. I needed to ask if you were going to be able to afford to buy your own cleats and shin guards. If you need any help just let me know. I'm aware that your father is often gone and you boys are left to fend for yourselves."

I felt a shock at his words; I wasn't aware that he really knew anything about my personal life.

"Thank you sir and I'll let you know by next Monday. I need to go home and talk to my father about everything this weekend."

Coach nodded, "That's fine, we'll have practice this week, but our first game isn't for a few weeks anyways. Go home, talk to your father if you can, and let me know."

Coach paused and thought for a second. "Funny, I had thought Pierce was the last Daniels boy. I always thought the youngest Daniels was a girl."

I felt my heart stop and my smile froze on my face. My brain was chugging fast to think of an answer.

"Uh, yes sir, we do have a younger sister. Just a year younger than me." I tried to say as casually as possible.

Coach Sanders stood staring at me for a moment, so long that I thought the jig was up, but then he burst out laughing. "There are just so many of you Daniels its hard to keep up. Alright, go on and head back to the dorms before dinner."

After thanking Coach again, I left and made my way to the main building. I could still feel my heart racing from the interaction with Coach.

Frankie was waiting at the bottom of the staircase just like he said he would be and we walked up to the dorm in silence. I didn't feel like talking, and Frankie seemed to be exhausted from practice.

The rest of the evening passed without anything really eventful happening. We brought some sandwiches from the cafeteria up to the room for dinner, and Andrew dragged me into playing a game with him and Gary.

When it was all done, I climbed up onto my bed and was asleep before hitting the pillows.

                      *                                        *                                      *

Wednesday morning was similar to the previous. I woke up, woke Frankie up, got ready, and went to class.

This morning started out pretty much the same as well. I woke up to the annoying sound of Andrew's alarm clock and groaned as I climbed out of bed.

Once again Frankie's snoring underscored everyone getting up. I didn't really have the energy to mess with him so I just satisfied myself with throwing a pillow at him.