Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 73794 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 369(@200wpm)___ 295(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73794 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 369(@200wpm)___ 295(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
“We just got a text.” Cosmo rushed into the kitchen. “The school board had an emergency session. They had to make budget cuts to a lot of programs, including fall sports. And Coach Willard didn’t show up for the meeting because he’s been sick. So now everyone is worried there won’t be a football season.”
“That’s not entirely unexpected.” Angel pulled out her phone and set it on the table in front of her. “The school board has been doom and gloom on the upcoming budget for months. But let’s call our own emergency meeting for the boosters, players, and parents to see what can be done.”
“Let me know if I can help.” I sat up straighter, trying to look reassuring for them both. Angel might be wiser than me in a lot of ways, but she’d always be my little sister.
“You can come to the meeting, Uncle Tony.” Cosmo nodded eagerly. Too eagerly. “You’re a Mount Hope High School legend.”
“I wouldn’t go that far…”
“You said you’d help, and we need all we can get.”
“Yeah, Uncle Tony, you should come,” Angel added with her patented puppy-dog eyes.
“Okay, okay, I’ll come.” I held my hands up, knowing when I was beat.
“And, Cosmo, text that new kid and make sure he knows about the meeting.” Angel was fully in mom-and-booster-president mode.
“Already on it. He’s the best quarterback option we’ve had in years. He and John are our best hope of a decent season.” Cosmo held up his phone. “Uncle Tony, can you text Caleb? He should come too.”
“Uh…sure.” I couldn’t hesitate too much without being obvious. But Caleb and I had carefully kept our distance in the week since our Fourth of July encounter. We made small talk at work without eye contact or tripping into dangerous waters.
Not that a football meeting was that risky, but the prospect of seeing Caleb out of uniform and off the clock should not have made my heart thump. Maybe Angel was right, and I was on the verge of a grown-up version of a crush. I couldn’t let that happen.
Chapter Ten
Caleb
I was as ill-suited for the role of pseudo-parent as I was for the acting job of pretending like nothing had changed with Tony. And at Thursday night’s football meeting, almost two weeks after the Fourth of July, my shortcomings in both roles were on full display.
“We’ve got a season to save!” John waved his arms wildly, almost taking out Cosmo. The cafeteria at the high school was half-full of parents and football players. I was younger than the parents but older than the students. Add in my lack of athletic prowess, and I might as well have had a glowing arrow over my head showcasing my lack of fit with this crowd.
However, I wasn’t here for me or even for Tony, who’d texted me about this meeting and was sitting alarmingly close to Scotty and me. I was here for Scotty, who continued to scowl like he’d rather be anywhere else. I’d had to listen to his lengthy list of complaints the whole walk to the school, so I wasn’t surprised when he let out a loud groan in response to John’s enthusiastic pep talk.
“If there’s no football season, I’m going back to Portland.” Scotty’s blue eyes darkened as he scrunched his face up more.
“You will not,” I hissed, trying to keep my voice down but getting more than a few heads turning our direction anyway.
“Watch me.” Scotty crossed his arms over his chest and sat back in his red plastic cafeteria chair.
“No one’s going anywhere,” Tony interrupted, voice stern. I shot him a sour look for getting involved. I could handle Scotty, thank you very much, even if all the evidence was to the contrary. But Tony simply ignored me and gestured widely at all the kids gathered. “The team needs all of you.”
“And you’re the best quarterback option we’ve had in years,” Cosmo piped up from the other side of Tony. “You and John are gonna be an unstoppable quarterback-receiver duo.”
“Maybe.” Scotty pursed his lips, but at least his tone was thoughtful, not surly.
“Come on, man. You can’t quit on us now.” John brought all his enthusiasm to stand directly in front of us. “We might actually be good enough to lure some recruiters to our games.”
“I’m not a quitter.” Scotty’s eyes flashed, expression going hot and angry. “But how are we gonna afford everything? Buses for away games? Equipment? That shit is expensive.”
“We were discussing increasing the participation fee.” One of the moms, a fussy woman in a matching pastel-pink shirt-and-shorts combo, had been pushing for that option since the informal meeting had begun.
Scotty swiveled his head in her direction, all that fire finding a new target. “You can’t just increase the fees per student. That ain’t fair to the students whose folks can’t pay.”