Chapter 21 Weston
Weston
We were a week away from playoffs, and the boys were getting antsy. Our last game hadn’t gone as planned, despite us coming away with the victory. Malik and Cutter were off. They were in early foul trouble, they had problems knocking down their shots, and they were in a funk.
I had noticed it earlier in the day, during class, and tried to pinpoint the issue before the game.
Both swore nothing was wrong, but I suspected they weren’t being truthful.
The only thing I couldn’t figure out was whether the boys had a problem with each other or if Malik was also having some family matters.
Even now, the boys seemed to be lost in their own worlds.
I suspected Cutter’s shift was due to his mom being in the hospital all week.
Antonia at least had brought her to our game last night, which had surprised me.
Although, by looking at Miriam or speaking with her, you wouldn’t know she was sick.
She was always smiling and, when at the games, cheering her heart out.
As a teacher and coach, I knew she’d be sorely missed at the games.
Before I dismissed the class to go get changed, I called Malik over and asked him to help me put the cones away. We were finishing a unit on scooter hockey, which the kids absolutely loved. Thankfully, we hadn’t had any accidents. There was nothing worse than a scooter rolling over a finger.
Malik picked up the cones nearest him and brought them over. He put them in the bag and then started to walk away.
“Malik, can we talk?” Without him turning around to face me, I could already sense the eye roll. It was the way he tilted his head slightly and the visible tension in his shoulders.
He turned, and I saw so much anguish in his eyes. Malik shook his head.
“Do you want to go to my office and talk?”
“Can’t, I got class next.”
“I’ll write you a note, excusing you.”
Malik gave my offer some thought and finally stepped toward me. I walked side by side with him because I didn’t want any of his classmates to think he was in trouble. Besides, I didn’t want him to see me as someone in power, but as his friend. Someone he could confide in.
When we got to my office, Jerome was in there, working on his computer.
“Coach, I’m going to need the room for a minute,” I said as we entered.
“He can stay,” Malik said.
“All right. Let’s sit over here.” For the office of a physical education teacher, mine was a decent size, but it was because I was a coach and the head of the department. The other PE teachers’ office spaces were the size of closets, since they didn’t spend a ton of time in there.
My office, besides my desk, had a two-person sofa and some oversize throw pillows that the athletes liked to sit on when they came in here. I had direct access to the locker room and a door that went out to the fields, making it easy for me to get to the baseball field.
Malik opted for one of the chairs near my desk. I took the other one, moving it to the side of him, and Jerome sat on the couch.
“Coach Levy and I noticed a shift in you this week. We want you to know that you can talk to us if something’s bothering you. You’re a valuable part of our school, team, and community, and we want to be there when you need us.”
Malik leaned over, covered his face with his hands, and groaned. “I’m in trouble.”
“Is it legal trouble? Do you need an attorney?” Jerome asked.
“No, sir,” Malik said as he sat back in the chair. He looked around the office but never at me or Jerome, shaking his head. “Ugh . . . Janelle’s pregnant.”
The news hit me square in the chest. Malik wasn’t the first student of ours to experience a teenage pregnancy, but he was the first one of my players in my coaching experience.
Malik was my thinker, the brains behind my offense. As far as I knew, he’d been with Janelle Canson for a few months. She was a year behind him in school.
“Malik, there are a whole list of things Coach and I could say right now, but none of them are going to mean squat to you,” Jerome said. “So, let’s start here: Do you and Janelle have a plan?”
He shook his head. “She hasn’t told her parents yet.”
“Have you told yours?” I asked.
“No, I don’t know how to look my dad in the face and tell him I messed up, that I threw my chances of going to school to play ball down the drain.”
Malik was from a single-parent family and had a dad who worked two jobs to give his son every opportunity. I liked his father a lot, and he was determined to help his son succeed. I couldn’t imagine how this was going to go.
Malik had colleges looking at him, and rightly so. He was one of the most talented kids in the state by far and deserved a shot at a scholarship.
Even with a child on the way.
Malik ran his hands down his shorts. It struck me then that he hadn’t changed back into his usual dress pants and polo shirt. He always came to school dressed in what I would call business attire because his dad told him to treat school like a job.
A straight-A student, Malik was tall, slim, and extremely athletic. He kept his dark hair neat with a tapered cut, wore glasses, and flirted up a storm with the staff. There wasn’t a teacher here who didn’t like having him in their classes.
“Have you and Janelle talked about options?” I asked.
Malik nodded. “She wants to keep it.”
I glanced at Jerome and let out an exhale. “What can we do to help?” We were way beyond the responsibility talk about safe sex, condoms, and what would happen if you didn’t use one. Malik didn’t need a lecture from us because he’d get that at home.
“I don’t know.” His voice broke before he could finish the sentence. “This isn’t what I want. I want to go to college and turn pro, and now I can’t.”
“No one is saying you can’t, Malik. It’ll just be harder,” I told him.
“Janelle said once colleges find out I have a kid, they won’t want me.”
I didn’t know if that was true or not, but it wasn’t something I was willing to gamble on.
Jerome got up, went to Malik, and pulled him into a hug. “We’ll figure the college stuff out,” he said. “Right now, we want to make sure you’re okay. That Janelle’s okay. The road ahead is going to be tough to navigate, but you have a support system, and you need to use it.”
“Coach is right, Malik. We’re not going to turn our backs on you. You’re not the only one who’s ever gone through this. If you don’t want to go to class, you can stay in here,” I told him. “I’ll get you excused for the rest of the day and see if we can get your work sent down.”
Malik nodded. “Thanks, Coach.”
“Why don’t you go get changed, grab your stuff, and get comfortable?”
Malik got up and left, closing the door behind him. Thankfully, I didn’t have another class to be at.
“What in the . . .” Jerome didn’t need to finish his sentence. Any colorful word would’ve fit perfectly there.
“I don’t even know what to do for him,” I said as I leaned back in the chair. “How does this even happen? Aren’t there condoms in the health center?”
Jerome nodded. “Just because they’re free doesn’t mean they’re going to use them.”
I groaned loudly and pounded my fist on my desk. “His dad is going to force him to quit playing and get a job. Doing that is a surefire way to lose any chance at a scholarship.”
“He could have a job and still play,” Jerome said. “There are places on Main Street that’ll work around his schedule.”
“Really? Like who?”
“The grocery store for one. And I bet Lee would give him a job at the diner. Hell, that’s the place to work, if he can start waiting tables.”
Nodding, I got up and went to my desk to write some establishments down on a sheet of paper. “I guess the next step is for him to tell his dad.”
“Or Janelle to tell her parents. I don’t know them very well.”
“No, me neither,” I said. “I don’t have her in any of my classes.”
The door opened, and Malik came back in.
He looked sad. There was no other way to describe him.
He dropped his backpack onto my small coffee table and took his work out.
I sat down and rattled off an email to his teachers, explaining he would be in my office for the rest of the day, and they were to consider this an excused absence.
I would probably catch hell for it, but so be it.
Malik was more likely to get his work done in here than he was in class.
“You aren’t missing any tests today, are you?” I asked.
“No, sir.”
Jerome excused himself to go do hall duty for the in-between-classes bell, and I glanced at my lesson plan for my next class. Back to floor hockey for this upcoming period.
“Coach?”
“Yeah, Malik?”
“Do you think you could be with me when I tell my dad?”
“Of course. Do you know when you plan to do that?”
He shook his head. “I’m pretty scared to tell him, honestly.”
“I get it. It’s been the two of you for a long time, and he works hard to give you everything he didn’t have.”
“Yep, and now I’ve gone and messed it up.”
“There are two of you in this, Malik. You can’t accept all the blame.”
He nodded, but I wasn’t sure my words were sinking in for him.
“I want you to think about your future.”
Malik sat back and scoffed.
“Hear me out. You are talented, and colleges are already looking at you. I don’t want to see you give up sports because of this.”
He opened his mouth to say something, but I held up my hand to let him know I wasn’t finished.
“I’m going to talk to Lee Waters, the owner of the Ridgeview Diner, and see if he has any openings. If he does, I’ll ask about flexibility. If you could get a job there and work your way into waiting tables a couple of nights a week, that’ll give you a decent paycheck.”
“How does that help with college, though?”
“I believe, with the new Name, Image, and Likeness program, you’ll be able to market yourself to companies. I’m not well versed on it yet, but I’ll do what I can to figure it out.”
“Okay.”
“The bottom line is, you and Janelle had an error in judgment. Neither of you should be punished for it or lose the future you have planned. I don’t know what her plan is for after high school, but I do know yours, and I’d really hate to see you give it all up.”
Malik nodded and wiped at his eyes. “I don’t have to get married, right?”
I shook my head. “Not unless you want to. Do you want to get married?”
“No, sir.”
“All right then.” I sighed. “If you’re not busy, I want you to write down everything we just talked about so when you sit down to tell your dad, you have detailed notes.”
Malik nodded and stood. He came over to me and wrapped me in a hug. “Thank you.”
I patted his back and wished I could take all of this away for him. Even for Cutter. These boys didn’t deserve their lives to be twisted around the way they were. No one did.
The bell rang, and the current PE class filtered into the hall. Some kids saw Malik in my office and teased him about being in trouble. That was the last thing he needed.
I left him in my office and went to start my next class, hoping like hell nothing else would happen today or this week. I wasn’t sure how much more I could take while trying to prepare for the playoffs.
Later that night, after practice, I met Jerome at the pub. He’d somehow managed to snag two stools at the bar, facing the TV. I sat next to him and ordered the local IPA along with a glass of water, and nachos.
“What a freaking week,” Jerome said as he took a drink from his pint glass. “Can it get any crazier?”
I thanked the bartender for my beer and took a sip. “Let’s see, we have one student athlete whose mom is dying and another student athlete who’s going to be a dad. I think that tops it for us.”
“All while heading into the playoffs.” He shook his head.
“Don’t remind me.”
“I heard a rumor this morning,” Jerome said. “I didn’t want to bring it up at school since the walls have ears.”
I chuckled. Rumors spread in town like wildfire, and most of them started at the school because the teachers were gossips.
“What did I do this time?”
“Had breakfast with a very pretty woman who’s been staying in town, helping her friend.”
I huffed as Antonia’s face popped into my mind. “Guilty.”
“No way!”
“What?” I asked as I looked around, scanning to see what or who had gotten Jerome’s attention.
“You like her, don’t you?”
I sighed and slumped in my seat. “‘Like’ is the understatement of the year. I’m infatuated, but she has a boyfriend, so I’m just an admirer from afar.”
“No, she doesn’t,” Jerome said.
“Yes, she does.”
He shook his head and took another sip. “Not anymore, according to Samira, and she knows everything.”
I let Jerome’s statement settle over me and thanked the bartender when he placed my plate of nachos in front of me.
If Antonia didn’t have a boyfriend, that could be a game changer for me.
Although I’d never come out and ask her, nor would I pursue anything with her, given the state of Miriam’s health.
It seemed I was no better off than I was when I’d sat down, before knowing that the woman of my thoughts, dreams, and desires was now single.
I picked at my nachos, determined to put her out of mind, at least until I got home and I could stare at my ceiling all night and wonder what she was up to.