Chapter 9
GAbrIEL
I OPEN THE LOCKER ROOM door, and the first thing I notice is the silence. Everyone’s here. The whole team. They’re all staring at me, and no one’s talking.
Something’s wrong.
“What’s going on?” I ask, keeping my voice steady.
No one answers. They just keep staring, and the tension in the room is thick enough to choke on.
Zyair lunges at me fast, his face twisted with rage, and before I can react, he shoves me hard into the lockers. My shoulder crashes against the metal, and I barely have time to register the pain before he’s swinging at me.
I block the punch and shove him back. He’s strong, but I’m stronger, and I manage to pin him against the opposite wall. “What the fuck, Zyair?”
“You fucking liar!” he shouts. “How could you do that to me? How could you fucking lie like that?”
I tighten my grip on his arms. “What are you talking about?”
“Don’t play dumb with me!” He tries to break free, but I keep holding him. “You know exactly what I’m talking about!”
Someone across the room speaks up. “Just play it.”
I glance over and see Taj holding his phone. He taps the screen, and suddenly my voice fills the locker room.
My chest constricts.
Fuck, fuck, fuck!
The recording keeps playing, and I can hear myself as I lie to Coach. All of it. Someone recorded all of it. When it ends, the silence is deafening.
Zyair wrenches free from my grip and steps back, his chest heaving. “You went to Coach and told him I had family issues. You made him bench me. And you lied to my face about it.”
I open my mouth, but nothing comes out. My mind is racing, trying to figure out how this happened. Who the fuck recorded me? Who was there that morning?
“It’s fake,” I say, forcing my voice to stay calm. “Someone edited the audio. It’s not real.”
“Bullshit,” Zyair snaps. “I talked to Coach. He confirmed it, and said you came to him and told him I needed some time off.”
Fuck.
I swallow hard. “It was a misunderstanding.”
“A misunderstanding?” Zyair hands are balled into fists. “How the fuck is that a misunderstanding? You told Coach I had family problems! You made him bench me. And then you stood there and told me it was probably a test. You looked me in the eye and lied to me.”
“It wasn’t like that.”
“Then what was it like?” His voice breaks, and I can see the hurt under the anger. “Why would you do that to me? What did I ever do to you?”
I don’t have an answer. At least, not one I can give him.
The door swings open, and Coach steps inside. His face is deadly serious, and his eyes land on me immediately.
“Santelli. My office. Now.”
I glance around the locker room one more time. Every single person is staring at me with a mix of anger, confusion, and disgust. Even Taj, who’s usually in my corner, won’t meet my eyes.
I follow Coach out of the locker room and down the hallway, my mind still spinning. Who recorded me? How did they get the audio out to the whole team?
Coach doesn’t say anything, and soon we’re inside his office with the door closed. He takes a seat behind his desk and motions to the chair across from him.
“Explain,” he says.
“It was a misunderstanding.”
His jaw tightens. “That’s what you said in the locker room. I’m asking you to explain what you meant by that.”
“I thought Zyair was struggling, and I was trying to help.”
“By lying to me?”
“I didn’t lie.”
Coach leans forward, his hands clasped on the desk.
“Gabriel, I just listened to that recording. You told me Zyair had family issues and that he asked you not to say anything. And then I find out from Zyair himself that none of that is true. So either you lied to me, or someone’s setting you up. Which one is it?”
I hesitate. I could tell him the truth, but the truth is worse than the lie. And I can’t explain why I did it without making everything worse.
“Like I said, it was a misunderstanding,” I say.
Coach stares at me for a long moment, and I can see the disappointment settling into his expression. “I don’t believe you.”
“Coach—”
“I don’t believe you,” he repeats, cutting me off. “And even if someone did set you up, you should’ve come to me the second you realized there was a problem. You should’ve talked to Zyair and done something other than let him wonder what he did wrong.”
I clench my jaw and say nothing.
Coach leans back in his chair and exhales slowly. “You’re demoted. Effective immediately, you’re no longer the captain.”
I can barely breathe. “What?”
“You heard me. You’re also benched for the next game. After that, we’ll see what happens.”
“Coach, you can’t—”
“I can, and I am.” His voice is firm, leaving no room for argument. “I can’t trust you anymore. And your teammates sure as hell can’t trust you. Whatever your reasons were for doing this, it doesn’t matter. You lied to me, you lied to Zyair, and you hurt the team. That’s not what a captain does.”
I don’t move.
“If someone set you up, you should’ve known better than to give them ammunition,” Coach continues. “You should’ve checked with your teammates and been honest with me. But you didn’t do any of that. You chose to lie, and now you have to deal with the consequences.”
I want defend myself, but I know it won’t change anything.
“There’s going to be a team meeting tomorrow,” Coach says. “You’re going to apologize to everyone. You’re going to own up to what you did, and you’re going to try to earn back their trust. Understood?”
I nod stiffly. “Understood.”
“Good. Now get out of my office.”
I leave, closing the door behind me. The hallway is empty, and I lean back against the wall and close my eyes.
This is a disaster.
I’ve lost the captaincy, and I’m benched. The whole team hates me, and I have no idea who recorded me or how they got the audio.
My phone buzzes in my pocket, and I pull it out.
You failed.
I stare at the message, my chest constricting. Fuck!
I shove my phone back into my pocket and push myself off the wall. I don’t know who’s messing with me, but I’m going to find out.
And when I do, they’re going to regret ever crossing me.