Andi was happy to see both her parents waiting for her when she came out of the locker room.
Since her mom wasn’t in the middle of a case, her hours these days were flexible. Her dad’s hours were almost always flexible—which was why he worked at home at night a lot.
“Great win, Andi!” her mom said.
Her dad wasn’t quite as enthusiastic. “Why didn’t you play at all in the second half?” was his opening comment as they walked to the car.
“Dad, we were up by a bunch, and Coach J wanted to play some of the other guys.”
“I didn’t see Ron Arlow come out,” her dad said as he chirped open the car doors.
“You sound like Jeff,” Andi said. “And, by the way, he didn’t play in the second half, either.”
Her father said nothing for a moment as they all climbed into the car.
Just then, Andi’s phone pinged with an incoming text. It was from Jeff.
My dad wants to come to practice tomorrow to do follow-up story. You OK with that?
Andi read the text to her parents.
“What do you think?” she asked. She was wondering if the presence of the TV crew might upset Coach J … again.
“Ask him why his dad wants to follow up,” her father said.
Andi did. The answer returned quickly, and Andi relayed the message: “‘Lots of viewers have apparently asked what’s been happening since you were put on the team’ … Even his bosses!”
When Andi read the answer to her parents, they both nodded, and her dad said, “Sure, do it. I’m betting Coach J will put a positive spin on what’s happened. Might even take credit for being so open-minded.”
They all had a good laugh at that one.
Tom Michaels and his camera crew were waiting on the practice field the next day when Andi arrived.
“We’re going to talk to your coach first,” he explained. “He said he’d be here at three fifteen—which is one minute from now. That should give us a few minutes to talk to you before practice at three thirty.”
That was fine with Andi. She thought it was a good sign that Coach J had agreed to talk.
Except he didn’t show up at three fifteen. He walked onto the field ten minutes later, and Andi could see him waving Mr. Michaels and the crew away.
“Not now,” he said. “I have a practice to run. I’ll try to make some time when we’re finished.”
Jeff and Danny Diskin were standing next to Andi as they waited for the coaches to walk over to start practice.
They could hear Tom Michaels—clearly upset—talking to Coach Johnston.
“We got out here at three o’clock to set up because you said you wanted to do this before practice,” he said. “What happened to, ‘I’ll be ready to go at three fifteen’?”
“Got tied up, sorry,” Coach Johnston said. “You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to. Your call.”
Now Andi got it. Coach J was hoping Mr. Michaels would get upset and leave without doing the story at all.
“What time is practice over?” the reporter asked.
“Can’t promise an exact time, depends how the kids are feeling,” Coach J said. “Usually around five.”
“We’ll be back,” Mr. Michaels said, and signaled his camera guy to take down the camera and tripod that had been set up. He walked over to where Andi, Jeff, and Danny were standing.
“In my business we call this being slow-played,” he said, not breaking stride because Coach J was whistling the team to the center of the field.
The practice was a difficult one. The usual stretching and calisthenics went longer than usual. Then came fifteen minutes of keep-away with one then two players inside small circles of players. Then there were some ladder sprints—for no apparent reason. Finally, just before four, they split up into teams to scrimmage. Andi, Jeff, and Danny were all back with the second team.
The three of them exchanged a look as they were lining up. They all knew the reason for the punishment.
At about four thirty, Mr. Michaels and his cameraman were back on the sidelines. Andi was relieved. The thought had occurred to her that Coach J might cut practice short so that he’d be gone when they returned.
Since that tactic wasn’t going to work, he dragged the practice on an extra ten minutes and then spent several post-practice minutes reminding them of the importance of Friday’s game. Jeff’s dad’s cameraman had been shooting the last few minutes of practice, and he then videoed the post-practice talk. If Coach J cared, he didn’t show it.
Finally they were dismissed with a reminder that they’d have a short practice on Thursday—mostly drills; not much running—to be fresh for Friday.
As Coach C collected practice balls and other equipment, Coach J walked directly to Mr. Michaels and said, “Ready?”
“Need about two minutes to get the camera set up,” Mr. Michaels said.
“You’ve got one,” Coach J said.
Andi was reminded of something her father had said back in mid-September. “Who does this guy think he is, Bill Belichick?”
Apparently he did.
When the interview started, Coach Johnston was all smiles and sunshine. He was glad that he’d been ordered to put Andi on the team, he said. She was a good player and—with his encouragement—her teammates had accepted her.
Andi almost choked when she heard that answer.
“Why was Andi on the second team for most of today’s scrimmage?” Mr. Michaels answered.
“We’re going to need all sixteen players to contribute on Friday,” Coach J said. “I wanted to see different players in different roles today. We had an excellent practice.”
He’d been ready for that one.
“What do you think your record would be right now if Andi Carillo wasn’t on your team?” Mr. Michaels asked.
He didn’t seem as prepared for that one. He thought for a moment and then finally said, “It would be two, three, and one.”
“That is your record,” Mr. Michaels said.
“I know,” Coach J said, not even the hint of a smile on his face.