Page 60 of The Cheerleader is Off Limits

“Do you want to be benched for the next game?” I snap at him, and I watch him visibly shake.

“No, Coach.”

“You guys all have futures in this sport. You need to be focused on the season,” I tell them, looking at each of them in their eyes as I pan the room. “Otherwise, you’re going to let your teammates down by focusing on the wrong things.” I know I’m probably overdoing it with this lecture, but the thought of one of them messing around with Sloane pisses me off even though I know I don’t have the right.

“Good.” I nod, because they were all good guys for the most part. Unfortunately, my job requires me to hear a lot of gossip, and I rarely hear anything that paints the football players in a bad light. There were mistakes of course, but nothing that ever made me feel like I really needed to get involved. “Great game, you guys,” I tell them without another word before leaving the locker room. I hear some mumbling and whispering, and I imagine they’re talking about me losing my temper and something along the lines ofwhat’s Coach’s problem?

Everything, unfortunately.

I’m only in my office for a few minutes before Mack appears in the doorway, leaning against the doorjamb. He wasn’t in thelocker room with the guys just now, so I’m surprised to see he’s still here.

“You’re still here?” I ask before putting my hat back on and packing up the rest of my stuff to head out.

“Yeah, I forgot something.” He clears his throat before taking a step into the room, almost like he’s nervous.

“You’re dancing around something. Out with it.” I chuckle.

“Look, you always tell us if something is bothering us, we can always come to you.” I have a soft spot for Mack. He was kind and smart and overall, a good kid, not to mention a phenomenal quarterback with the kind of talent that made me believe I’d see him in the NFL one day.

“Of course, what is it? What’s on your mind?”

“It’s not me.” He clears his throat. “It’s… you, Coach. You’re different. And… a few of us have just been wondering if something’s going on. Like in your personal life or something. Because… we got you. Whatever it is. You know if it’s women's troubles or something… or… I mean, if you got someone pregnant and she dropped the baby on your doorstep and bounced, we’ll all rally to babysit.”

I let out a chuckle and lean against my desk, folding my arms over my chest as I stare at him. “You’ve all noticed?”

“You snap at everyone during practice.”

I can feel my defenses rising. “I’m just coaching.”

“You’ve been coaching me for two years now, I know what your coaching looks like. You usually inspire us… make us want to be better. There’s been a lot less of that this past week. You’ve been… meaner more… grumpy. And maybe that’s normal for other coaches, but it’s not for you, which is why I’m here.”

“Grumpy? I’m tough, which I always have been. You want to be the best? This is how we get there,” I tell him.

“You had Sam running suicides for an hour for being thirty seconds late the other day.”

That was the day I realized Sloane would be staying in my class for the rest of the year. So maybe I was a little more on edge than usual.“You know I don’t do late.”

“You made the whole defense run an extra mile because one guy dropped a pass.”

“Try four.”

He sighs before turning his hat backward and moving his equipment bag that was slung over his hip to the other side. “You’re missing the point, Coach.”

“I guess so, can you get to it?” I snap because I was tired of being questioned. I was also feeling defensive, and I didn’t want to take that out on Mack any more than I already had.

“Is something going on?”

I pause for a moment, not because I planned to tell Mack the truth, but because he was right, and I hate that I was taking my anger out on them when they had nothing to do with it.

“Nothing for you to worry about,” I tell him, because it didn’t seem like Mack was going to let this go.

“That’s adult language for yes, but mind your business. Or as my mother says, ‘stay in a child’s place,’” he says with an eye roll.

I chuckle, thinking about Mrs. Mackenzie, who I know would do anything to see her child succeed and is probably the driving force behind Mack being such a good kid, because she takes zero bullshit.

“You seem to be awfully interested in my personal life all of a sudden.”

“Only because I’m captain of the team and it’s fucking with morale.”