12. Eden
12
EDEN
E den enjoyed the rest of the weekend with Jack. They went for a long walk, visited the town library, and baked a lemon cake with glaze to have with their Sunday dinner.
But mostly Eden threw the ball in the backyard for Jack until her arm and shoulder ached and the two of them were laughing their heads off in the frosty air.
Axel didn’t message her again, and she figured she had been right about the bike riding to school—it was a nice idea but probably not something he actually wanted to add to his routine.
She was honestly a little disappointed. After watching his big game a couple of times, she was kind of looking forward to hearing Jack ask him about it. Jack kept piping up with more things about that game that made him curious— like how much the players had to practice to feel ready to do their special play, and whether Axel was nervous when their coach made the call, or when it was time to throw the ball .
It’s the quarterback’s job to throw, Jack said again and again. Not the tight end’s. But he did it anyway. You do what your team needs you to do.
On Monday, when her students were heading down for gym, Eden decided to go with them.
It’s only because so many of them are writing about football, she told herself. It would be good for me to watch a little of it in real life.
Besides, she wouldn’t exactly stand out for doing it. It seemed that since Axel Williams joined the faculty as a volunteer, just about all the teachers were feeling more interested in watching their students in gym class.
She took a quick bathroom break before heading into the gym, arriving a few minutes into the start of class. But the kids were all just standing on one side of the gym, looking a little downcast.
“Are you sure?” Axel was asking Nancy.
“We aren’t scheduled to take them outside today,” Nancy said, shaking her head. “It’s discouraged by the school when there’s snow on the ground anyway, unless they all have their boots on. But even if they did, none of them brought their coats down from their cubbies. I’m sorry.”
“That’s okay,” Axel said, looking almost as disappointed as the kids.
Eden’s heart went out to him. She often wished they could do things that weren’t on the schedule herself. When you were working with children, there was nothing like being able to give them a bit of fresh air or some other out-of-the-ordinary fun when you sensed that they needed it .
“Listen guys,” Axel said, jogging over to the bleachers and grabbing a boom box that he must have brought from home. “I wanted to make today extra fun. We might not be able to go out, but we still have something special. As of right now, it’s not a regular Monday anymore. It’s a rock and roll Monday .”
The kids perked up and wandered over with interest to where Axel was setting the player on the bottom level of the bleachers.
“Now who wants to pick out one of my mix CDs?” he asked, popping up and smiling at them encouragingly. “I think this one’s good.”
He held out a plastic case, and Susannah Arden darted up to take it.
“Who is Bruce Springsteen?” she asked.
“ Wh-what? ” Axel spluttered.
“Bon J-J-ov-i?” she sounded out next, pronouncing it like jov-ih .
“You kids don’t know who Bruce Springsteen and Bon Jovi are?” he asked, looking thunderstruck. “Are you kidding me?”
A bunch of the kids giggled, clearly having no idea what he was talking about. Honestly, if she hadn’t used them in class last month for a read along exercise, half of them probably wouldn’t even know what a CD was.
“I’m not allowed to listen to music with cursing in it, Coach Williams,” a little boy said seriously.
“There’s no cursing in ‘Born in the USA,’” Axel said indignantly. “And there’s none in ‘Livin’ on a Prayer,’ or ‘We Will Rock You,’ or ‘Eye of the Tiger’ either. ”
“Hey,” another little boy called out. “Hey, those are good songs.”
“Of course they are,” Axel agreed, pointing to the boy and nodding his head up and down, as if to say this-kid-gets-it.
“I know,” the boy went on wisely. “Because my grandpa listens to oldies too.”
“ Oldies?” Axel echoed in horror.
Eden tried her best not to laugh. But he looked up at that moment, right into her eyes, and suddenly they were both smiling like fools.
“Come on, guys,” Axel said, turning his attention back to the kids. “I’m going to teach you all about how fun it is to warm up to good music. This is the good stuff. It’ll rev you up and inspire you. My coach used to play this music for me and the rest of the team. And none of you better say he must have been a dinosaur. ”
The kids all cracked up at that, and Eden couldn’t help but notice that their eyes were sparkling now, and they seemed plenty revved up without anything to inspire them besides Axel Williams and his positive energy.
I wish he could take them outside, she thought to herself. Who knows what wild thing he would do with them out there?
An idea began to form in the back of her mind, and maybe it was just the electrifying opening guitar riff of “Eye of the Tiger,” but instead of trying to forget about it, she found herself getting kind of excited.
For the kids, of course. Not at the prospect of spending more time with Axel Williams.