“Hailey!” Misty exclaimed.
“I’m sorry, Misty,” Hailey said, standing her ground. “You’ll just have to be mad at me if you want, but if Paul hadn’t cared more about himself and his stats than he did about the well-being of our team, this never would have happened.”
“I don’t believe this…we’ve been friends for eighteen years, and you’re taking his side?” Paul huffed.
“How good of friends were we when you decided to call a team meeting and leave me in the dark about what was going down?” Hailey screamed.
Jack shook his head. He pulled his whistle from his pocket and silenced the crowd. “There are no sides here; don’t you get that, Paul?” he asked loudly. He turned to Grant. “Don’t you guys understand that you’re teammates? You’re on the same side!”
The boys glanced at each other, then quickly looked away.
“I want to know what happened here, and I want to know now,” Jack insisted.
“We were playing a game of one-on-one…loser was supposed to quit the team,” Paul admitted.
“Yeah, and I’m pretty sure I was winning,” Grant said groggily.
“Shut-up,” Paul rolled his eyes.
“In order to win state…we need both of you,” Jack continued, “and we need you playing together.” He turned to Hailey. “That goes for you too,” he nodded. “Any team in the state would be lucky to have any of the three of you. When you scrimmage against one another, your only objective should be to help make the other one better. We are a team; we win together, and we lose together.” He shook his head and offered a relieved smile. “Now, get out of here you bunch of rascals, and go do some homework or something.”
The crowd broke up, and Jack took Grant by the arm. “Sit down for me for a second,” he said as they sat on the bleachers. Jack waved three fingers in front of Grant’s face. “How many fingers?”
“Three or four or so,” Grant smiled. “I’m really fine, Coach.”
“Why don’t I take you to the house?” Jack offered.
“Sounds good,” Grant nodded.
“See you at home, Hailey?” her dad asked.
“Yeah,” Hailey gulped. “I’ll see you there.”
Hailey and Misty stood in front of the coke machine inside the Country Stop, filling large paper cups with Dr. Pepper.
“Hailey, say something,” Misty begged. “Are you still mad at me?”
“Nah,” Hailey smiled. “After the testosterone-fueled showdown we witnessed this afternoon, I’m just too bummed about how the season has started out to be much good at chit-chat.”
Misty frowned. “You were a little harsh to Paul after the accident, don’t you think?”
“Are you kidding me?” Hailey argued.
“It’s not like it was all his fault,” Misty sighed. “I mean, from where I was standing, Grant was playing just as rough as Paul was.”
“Paul called a secret meeting to try and get Grant kicked off the team,” Hailey groaned. “What was he supposed to do, back down?”
“I have to ask you a serious question,” Misty began, easing into her inquisition. “Do you like Grant? I mean, I know you were totally smitten with him last summer, but, given your hysteria back there at school, I’d say some old feelings have resurfaced.”
“Oh grow up, Misty,” Hailey scoffed. “The guy was unconscious, and I expressed a little concern. What is the big deal?”
“A little concern?” Misty exclaimed.
“So it scared me! What’s your point?” Hailey shrugged. “He was hurt, and I have a heart!”
“Paul was hurt too, and you hardly noticed him,” Misty recalled.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Hailey rolled her eyes. “I thought that you and the entire rest of the team were showing plenty of concern for his wellbeing.”
“I’m just saying,” Misty shrugged.
“Saying what?” Hailey laughed.
“That whether you admit it or not, you still like Grant,” Misty said confidently.
“Do you want a candy bar?” Hailey huffed as she scanned a row of chocolate. “Just settle down; I’m not in love with the guy.”
“Oh wow!” Misty gasped.
“What?” Hailey smiled as she put her money on the counter.
“I accused you of liking Grant,” Misty enunciated, “and you announced that you don’t love the guy! That was a huge leap, girlfriend.”
“You’ve lost your mind, you know that?” Hailey laughed.
Barbra Harper stood from her stool behind the counter where she had been eating an egg salad sandwich ever since the girls walked in. “You better watch yourself, Hailey,” she said with a cautionary raise of her overly manicured eyebrow. “Word at Maude’s is that Blondie is bad news.”
