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The contract read, very clearly, that student athletes were not allowed to use drugs or alcohol. If they did, they would be suspended for one week for their first offense. A second offense meant removal from the team.
Emily groaned.
Kyle, perched on the edge of her desk, said, “You can still pretend you don’t know.”
“The whole school saw me watch a video of her completely hammered, hanging off her teammate.”
“Well, then right now I’m sure they’re coming up with a story. Just accept the story and then move on with your life.”
She stood up just as the bell rang. “I can’t.”
He stood too. “Of course you can’t.” He headed out of her room.
“Thanks for your help,” Emily said and really meant it. Maybe Kyle wasn’t so bad.
Emily tried to focus on her last two classes of the day, in which she had neither Juniper nor Jasmine. She did have Thomas, who did show up for class. He was fairly meek throughout the period, and then stayed after the bell. “I’m sorry, Miss M. I just couldn’t tell you. I couldn’t be a rat, but I also couldn’t lie to you.”
“I get it, Thomas,” she said, and she almost did get it. “And the whole school knew?”
Thomas shrugged. “Pretty much. Chloe didn’t, till I told her, and made her swear on her iPad not to tell you.”
“OK, let’s get to softball practice then.”
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When Emily got to the field, the girls were a melancholy bunch. They stood there calmly and quietly watching her get out of her car. She walked over, dropped the equipment by the bench and said, “Jasmine and Juniper, can I talk to you?”
The girls trudged over and looked at her expectantly.
“I adore each of you,” Emily said. “I really do. But we can’t let this slide. You signed a contract, promising your teammates that you wouldn’t drink. You broke that promise. So now I have to suspend you from the softball team for one week.”
“Miss Morse!” Jasmine screeched. “That’s a bunch of bull! Everybody in that school drinks all the time!”
“Are you saying that more of your teammates were at that party?”
“Well, no.”
“Are you saying that more of your teammates have consumed alcohol this season?”
Jasmine looked at the toes of her cleats. “No,” she mumbled.
Emily took a big breath. “You made a choice, Jasmine, a choice that has nothing to do with anyone else. You choose to drink alcohol in public—”
She made a loud pfft sound. “It wasn’t in public.”
“Where was it?” Emily asked.
Jasmine shrugged. “At the beach.”
“So, public. You let someone film you.”
“Well, I didn’t know he was going to show a teacher.”
“OK, Jasmine,” Emily said, her temperature rising, “I’m done talking to you about this, as you are obviously completely unwilling to take responsibility—”
“I wasn’t even drunk!”
“What?” Emily said.
“I didn’t even drink. I was just there. You can’t prove I drank.”
“Shut up, Jazz,” Juniper said. “You drank.”
Jasmine swore at Juniper and then stormed off toward the road.
“Can I still practice?” Juniper asked.
“No, sorry.”
“Can I be at practice?”
Emily hadn’t thought of that. She didn’t know the answer, but she guessed, with no athletic director and an invisible principal, it was up to her. “Yes, I think that would be a good idea.”
“OK, thanks.” She turned toward the bench, took two steps, then stopped and looked back at Emily. “And I’m sorry, Coach.”
Emily just nodded and then headed toward the rest of her team.
Hailey met her before she got there. “Can we talk?”
Emily nodded and stopped walking.
“Please don’t suspend them. We need to beat Searsport twice to make the playoffs.”
“Maybe—”
“No, I’m telling you, we do. I figured out the Heal points. We beat them twice, we’re in. We lose even once, we won’t make it. And they’re not great, but they’re Class C. They’re not going to be easy to beat. We need Juniper.”
“I hear you, Hailey, but I can’t ignore this. They made a decision. There have to be consequences.”
“Miss M, you don’t understand. Everyone drinks. All the time. It’s a fact of life. You’re not teaching them anything. They’re still going to drink when they grow up. They’re still going to drink next week.”
“I hear you, Hailey, but I’ve made my decision. Now let’s practice.”
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James stopped by her house later that evening. She hurriedly ran a hand through her thick hair and checked her teeth. Then she sat back down on the couch and tried to act naturally. “Come in!”
“Hey, just wanted to check on you.”
“So you heard?”
“I heard. And for what it’s worth”—he sat down on the other end of the couch—“I think you made the right call.”
“So the island doesn’t hate me again?”
“Nah, no one cares about softball.”
“I’m not so sure that’s true. You didn’t see them that second day at Vinalhaven. They were great.”
“Who? The fans?” He looked shocked.
“Yes, the fans. You know, those people who actually go to softball games?”
He gave her a sideways look. “I went to the first Vinalhaven game.”
“Yes, yes, you did. Thank you.”
“Hey,” he said, fishing his phone out of his pocket, “I wanted to show you something.”
She saw him scrolling through videos. “I’ve already seen it.”
He shook his head. “Not that. This.” He handed her the phone. Three girls were on the softball field. MacKenzie, not in her gear, was sitting on a bucket behind home plate. Hailey and Juniper were on the mound.
“What are they doing?” Emily asked.
“Just watch.”
Hailey went through a windmill windup and fired the ball to MacKenzie. Then the video stopped. Emily looked up at him. “She’s windmilling?”
“Yeah, I drove by earlier to see if you were still there, and you weren’t, but they were. I watched for a few minutes. Juniper was teaching her to throw. I just videoed a few seconds of it to show you, not because I’m creepy.”
“She thinks she’s going to teach Hailey to windmill in four days?” Emily asked, skeptical.
“She thinks she’s going to try.”
