Chapter Thirty-Two
The meeting started late. Not only were the members of the school athletics committee there, but the football team and a bunch of people from the town. And when she said bunch, she meant nearly everyone. There were so many people there that they had to move it from the conference room into the gym. Lexi and Avery huddled at the back, not wanting to miss anything, but also not wanting to be ejected, either. They really had no reason to be there, except Avery had figured that this was the one place she might understand what Lucas had done.
As the crowd were mostly still standing, LeVonn got up from his seat at the front and sidled past the other players he was sitting with to make his way to them.
“Hey,” he said as he leaned against the wall next to Lexi. “You know what this is about?”
Lexi looked at LeVonn and then looked at Avery and back to LeVonn. “We’re going to find out just how much of a douche canoe Lucas Black is.”
“What? He’s cool, man.”
“He is not cool,” Lexi hissed at him.
LeVonn looked at her and shook his head. “When you were virtually passed out by the pool, he came back and insisted on knowing if you were safe with us.”
“He did what? He thought I wouldn’t be safe with you both? That’s funny.” And then she looked at Avery and pulled a face. “That’s also, like, really sweet. Remind me that I’m hating on him right now.”
But Avery couldn’t formulate the words. How could he be the good guy she’d always seen and yet also be the guy who lied and put playing football above anyone else’s dreams or needs? She covered her face with her hand, pretending to scratch the side of her forehead. She didn’t know how her face was reacting to the news, and she was still trying to process everything.
“Here we go,” Lexi said, nudging LeVonn and nodding to the front where Principal Wilson and the athletic directors had entered the gym.
The principal brought the meeting to order, looking disapprovingly at the extra people who were in the meeting. “We’re here to discuss a player—Lucas Westman—and his impact on the Hammers.”
There was a rumbling around the room as people wondered who Lucas Westman was. Avery closed her eyes. None of this was going to go well. She was here for closure. That was all.
“I’m sorry. We know him as Lucas Black,” the principal said evenly. “Lucas Westman was banned from playing on any high school football team for three years, back in Henderson, east Texas. He came here, under an assumed name, and played for the Hammers.”
The football team seated at the front just stared at one another.
“Obviously, this has put the whole season under peril for us, and we’re here to discuss what our next action should be.”
Mr. Duchamp stood up. “I’d like to table a motion.”
“This isn’t that kind of meeting,” Mr. Wilson said, looking along the top table. “But okay—what’s your motion?”
“I move that Coach Stone steps down, and we replace him with Billy Seymore, here.” He put his hand on the shoulder of the guy sitting beside him.
LeVonn frowned. “What?”
Avery shuddered. She’d done this. Everything she’d tried to do had just failed spectacularly.
“I think it’ll be enough to demonstrate to the conference chairman that we take our failings seriously and that we’re prepared to take drastic action to keep the Hammers working to the playoffs. Do I have someone to second my motion?” Mr. Duchamp said.
There was silence, and her dad dipped his head down with what looked like a smile on his face. What was going on? His job was on the line, and he was smiling? Avery stepped forward to hear better. Or just to understand better.
Lexi and LeVonn stepped forward, too, glancing at her, not really understanding, but standing with her. Lucas didn’t have someone that would stand with him no matter what. In that second, she really understood how lucky she was. Like, really lucky. Yes, she had problems, but she had friends who would stand with her no matter what she did.
“Coach Stone. Is there anything you’d like to say about this situation?” the principal said.
Her dad stood up on the dais. “I have a few things to say, yes. I’ve spoken to the commissioner and the conference chairman, and they both say that the Hammers won’t be expelled for this, since it’s reasonable to assume that we didn’t know who he was.”
Avery didn’t understand. She can’t imagine how her father had got them to say that, because playing a banned athlete was usually an open and shut case. Except, she guessed, no one knew he was banned.
“I spoke to Black’s previous coach at length. He thought that Lucas’s punishment was way over the top, especially for a kid.” He held his hands up as people started to talk. “I know. Rules are there for a reason, and when I spoke to Lucas this morning, he apologized and didn’t try to offer any excuse. He took complete responsibility for what he’d done.”
Avery frowned. Lucas had gone to see her dad?
“But let’s not kid ourselves here. He was a victim of a predatory university with the funds to buy its way out of trouble. His coach should have done much better to protect him, because that’s what coaches are supposed to do. Not just watch out for the players when they’re on the field, but watch out for them off the field, too. And he didn’t—he admitted as much. That’s not what we do here. Hillside is better than that.”
The whole place was silent.
“The coaches and teachers in our school know about our kids. We know when they’re struggling. We know when they’re upset, happy. We know when they’re driving around town in a brand new car. We know when a kid is close to failing Calc.” He raised his eyebrows and looked at Avery.
She pulled a face and looked away. Lexi giggled.
“Lucas Black was let down by his coach, his school, and his town. And I think he’d be the first to admit that he let himself down, too.”
Mr. Duchamp stood again. “That’s all very well. But it’s my money that keeps the athletics program open at Hillside High, so I think I should have a say in the direction the Hammers take.”
Mrs. Diaz stood up. “I think I’d rather know my kid was being looked after at school than have new fancy hand dryers in the locker rooms, to be honest.” She sat down again, studiously ignoring the look that Mr. Duchamp gave her.
Mrs. Van Sant stood up. “I liked that young man. When I offered him a free sandwich, he refused and insisted on paying. I think he’s learned his lesson.”
Mr. Duchamp stood again. “This isn’t about second chances—it’s about right and wrong.”
Mr. Hardy stood up. “Dan, are you telling me you’ve forgotten how many chances you were given as a kid? You set fire to the Briggs’ barn when you were fifteen. You crashed your mom’s car because you’d been drinking when you were seventeen. There was that dumpster incident. This town forgave you and kept giving you chances. And look at where you are now. I’d say this is the place for second chances. Besides which, that young man volunteered to help me clean my store yesterday—he didn’t have to do that. He seemed like a good kid.”
Avery blinked back tears. She wished Lucas was here to see this.
“I have Coach Stone’s replacement right here. Do you have any words, Mr. Seymore?” Mr. Duchamp said, trying to take over the meeting again.
Oh God, if he promised to take care of the players, to be the kind of coach her dad was, that was it, basically.
Billy Seymore stood. “Well, I’d just like to thank you all for your confidence…” He frowned. It was clearly a prepared speech, as if he’d expected the town to get on board immediately, but the discussion had taken a different tack.
A wave of chatter started with the players and parents, and in seconds, it escalated until it sounded like a full-blown riot was going to take place right there in the gym.
Mr. Duchamp looked at Billy Seymore as if he were seeing him for the first time. Maybe Avery wasn’t the only person in Hillside prepared to keep her dad in his position.
The principal banged his ring binder on the table. “Enough, ladies and gentlemen!” he bellowed. Silence fell. “Let’s all take a ten-minute break and then reconvene with calmer voices.”
“Wait here,” Avery said to Lexi and LeVonn as she looked for her father through the crowd of people who had all just stood up.
She waited at the side for him to come down from the platform. “I can’t believe you’re standing up for him now,” she said. “You saw him today?”
“Mr. Hardy is right. Everyone deserves a second or third chance—as long as they own up to the God-awful mess they made. And he did to me.” He looked for something in his inside jacket pocket.
Avery didn’t know what to think. She looked out at the crowd of people she’d known her whole life. A lot of them were backing Lucas, even though they barely knew him. Meanwhile, she actually did know him, but she was hesitating. He had hurt her. Maybe she had hurt him, too, but all she knew was that it hurt. And maybe that was what was stopping her from taking his side.
“Here. He asked me to give this to you.” He held out a sealed envelope. “Do you want it, or do you want me to take care of it?”
Slowly, she raised her hand and took it from his. It wasn’t just a letter; it was thick.
He nodded and dived back into the throng of people.
As she stared at her name on the front, her dad was shaking someone’s hand, repeating, “Second chances, am I right?” and, “Keep fighting.”
Avery looked back toward Lexi and Colin, who were deep in discussion. She opened the envelope. First out was a short letter.
Behind the letter were dozens of index cards. She peered at his terrible handwriting. Her heart squeezed as she realized what she was looking at. He’d made her SAT flash cards. From E to Z. The ones she’d been missing. The ones her mother hadn’t been able to finish. They’d obviously taken a while to finish, as they were written in different pens, and some were crumpled as if they’d been stuffed in a bag, and some were pristine, like he’d done them at home.
The letter was enough. But the flash cards were…something else. He had never been afraid of the grief in her life. And this was something so close to her heart and her grief. She could have hated it—she didn’t at all—but she could have, and he still did them, because he knew she needed them.
She crumpled the note to her chest for a second and then pulled it back again to re-read it. He loved her? The flash cards told her that he did.
She walked back to Lexi as the principal called the meeting to order again, but her mind was elsewhere. The hurt was still there, but in the midst of it, a door cracked open. They could fix this. They could still make it work, she was sure.
“I’m handing the mic back to Coach.” A few people clapped.
Mr. Duchamp and Billy Seymore left the gym by the side door.
Was that it? Was her nightmare about her dad losing his job over, just like that?
“Anyway,” her dad said, “we plan on playing on Friday, and we plan on making it to the playoffs this year.”
The team at the front of the gym cheered.
“Will Lucas Whatever-his-name-is be playing?” a voice yelled. A rumble of laughter went through the gymnasium.
“No. He left town a few hours ago. Wanted a clean slate somewhere else,” her dad said, his gaze on Avery.
Avery’s mouth dropped open. He’d left? She’d never see him again? Fear and anger and sadness vied for a prominent spot in her churning stomach.
Lexi grabbed her hand. “Let’s go find him.”
God love that girl. Avery turned and hugged her.
LeVonn shook the keys to his brother’s Jeep. “Come on, then,” he said, making his way to the door. They slipped out as quietly as they could with a six-foot five-inch guy rattling his car keys. “Sorry. Sorry.” LeVonn’s voice echoed as he bumped elbows with people.
“Where do we look?” LeVonn asked as they left the parking lot.
Avery looked at Lexi in the front seat. “I don’t know. I guess the bus station? Maybe Route 10? Mostly people hitch there.”
The bus station was empty, and the next bus to Pecos didn’t leave for two hours. “I guess we’ll just drive the 10 for a few miles in each direction,” LeVonn said, taking the entrance ramp.
Every mile they took, Avery felt hope slipping away. The wind blew in her face as she looked at the dusty landscape. “This is useless. He could be in Houston by now,” she said, defeated.
“Not unless he was hitching in an airplane,” Lexi said. “Let’s come off and try the other direction.”
LeVonn threw a U-turn on the mostly empty road, and they headed back to Hillside and then continued past the exit.
As she always did, she looked out for Stan, her speed camera.
“Oh…my…gahd!” Lexi shouted into the wind.
Avery looked between the two front seats. There was a person standing in front of Stan, just looking at it. As the Jeep approached him, he turned around.
LeVonn jerked the car onto the shoulder, skidding to a stop a few feet in front of Lucas.
Avery sucked in her first full breath since the meeting.
Lucas was still here. They’d found him.