Happy Monday and look out for the <>!
The ride to the stadium the next day was quiet. I wasn't sure if now was the right time to bring up what mom said the other day but maybe she had a point about me not knowing if Everett was the cause of stress. There was only one way to get to the bottom of it before I jumped to any solid conclusions.
"What stresses you?" I asked dad as he drove to practice.
"Oh, that's an easy one. When I'm hungry. That stresses me. Or when the cap on the toothpaste gets left off, or when you don't hang your coat on a hanger, or..."
I laughed as I shook my head. "As useful as this information is, I wanted to know about work. What stresses you about that?"
He frowned as he stroked his mustache. "When the team isn't a team."
During the first practice, he talked about teamwork and why it was so important. But the fact was, our team wasn't a team. "Our team has issues. Why isn't that happening?"
"Oh that's a long story and I'm not sure if I know the entire answer, but it has to do with kicking a player off the team at the end of last year."
This wasn't something I heard before. Suddenly, I was interested in the conversation. "What was his name?"
He shook his head. "I don't want to jinx anything, so I better not say."
The thing was, I would find out the answer with or without his help. Honestly, Google would even tell me the answer. "Fine. Why did he get kicked off?"
"Oh, because of some rules that were broken and trust shattered. It was a whole legal mess and I think we are still dealing with the fallout of that."
"And one person caused all this damage?" I asked in disbelief. I thought Everett caused these problems, but maybe he wasn't entirely to blame since he was still on the team.
Dad turned into the parking lot of the stadium. "One person is capable of more than you know."
I knew one person could cause so much joy but so much pain. His words made me remember a time when he wasn't as cheerful, and it caused a shiver to go down my spine. I shook my head, not wanting to remember the trouble his brother brought into our lives. "Is there any team member that stresses you currently?"
He laughed as he got out of the car. "This sounds more like an interrogation, Nora."
I merely shrugged at him, trying to downplay my questions. "I'm just wondering. Figured I know little about the players and your job and I'm just trying to understand it better."
"The short answer? All of them caused stress to me at different times."
The vague response caused me to frown. It wasn't what I was expecting or wanting, and it made me feel as empty as a house after a Christmas party.
"But great talk Nora, I'm happy you are really going headfirst into this stuff like a diver into a sea." He placed his hand on my shoulder and gave a squeeze. "It makes me prouder than I could even say. Anyhow, enough talk about that, let's get this day started."
This time as I followed dad into the stadium as the sun rose behind us, I realized that there was more to this sport than I knew. There was more to this team than I knew and if I wanted to help dad out and help him make this team better, I needed to be more involved. All these players made the team a living, breathing organism.
Maybe Everett wasn't the entire problem, but he was for sure extending the problem and that should be addressed. Dad worked too hard to have one kid mess it all up for him. Before I confronted Everett about shaping up, I needed to gather more information.
"You know what my favorite thing about Fridays are?"
"What?"
"Team practice games. And guess what? You're playing."
I raised my eyebrow in surprise. Never had I been a part of team games before since I was always the ref. This development was exciting but left me nervous at the same time, worried that I would do something wrong.
"Yup, you heard me right! You are going to be on a team of your choosing."
There was no way I would consider myself athletic. The thought of being with all these players caused my hands to sweat. "Do you think that is a good idea?"
"Why not? You want to know the players, don't you? That's the best way."
I swallowed the lump of fear in my throat. They would judge me for being not nearly as athletic as they were.
"Cheer up champ, you'll be great," dad said as he placed his hand on my shoulder than walked into the locker room where the players were waiting for him.
I followed behind him, hoping the players were all decent. To my luck they were and ready for what dad would instruct them to do.
"Ok, we are doing a different team building game today. Break up into teams of four and I'll provide instructions afterwards."
The team quickly talked to one another as they sorted out their teams.
My eyes traced the crowed, trying to find Everett with no luck. His three friends were here talking with each other, but Everett was nowhere to be seen. This wasn't the first time I hadn't seen him at practice. He was probably the one the missed the most practices so far. That was probably for the better though. This way, he wouldn't give dad stress.
"Just pick the team that has the least amount of players," dad said to me.
"I never did have a choice then, did I?"
He smiled as he threw a finger gun my way then turned back to the team and asked, "Who has only three on their team?"
Rick, Shelly, and Mike raised their hands.
I made eye contact with them as I wiped my wet hands on my pants. They weren't the worst players to be with.
"Great, you have Nora on your team now."
Silently, I walked over to Rick's team as I felt all eyes on me. I heard whispers which made the hair on my neck stand on edge. They were all probably glad that I wasn't on their team. But Rick smiled friendly at me as I walked towards them, making me feel wanted.
"Fu...." Shelly stopped himself before owing dad another dollar. "Cool! Nora's our secret weapon!"
"She might be," dad said with a smile. "But only teamwork will get you through this. All the assistant coaches left items around the stadium. To win you all need to work together. That's the only way to get through the puzzle."
A few of the team members complained, but dad took no interest in them as he handed one person from each team a paper. "Read over the information and figure out where the missing items are. You have one hour."
Rick handed me the paper almost instantly. "You can take the lead on this since your coach's daughter."
I took the paper with a frown. "I hope you know I had no idea I would be part of this until this morning. You think I'm the secret weapon, but I'm really not."
He furrowed his eyebrows, making a crease in the middle of his forehead as he read over my shoulders. "It says we have to pick one teammate to grab the locker room keys and tell coach Olly one dream of ours."
"I can do it," Shelly pipped in.
"Then go, we can't waste any time. I want to win this time."
As Shelly sped off, Rick turned to face me as a smile traced his lips.
He was always friendly towards me, but he had never said much. Honestly, most players didn't say much to me. It was probably because they were often busy when I was around. But with me on Rick's team, he had time to talk to me. "So you go to school here?"
I nodded. "I'm a sophomore, and how about you?"
"Senior. What's your major?"
"International Business."
"Rick, this isn't social hour. Shelly is going to be coming back at any time," Mike complained.
Rick glared at Mike and instantly he stopped complaining, then turned back to me ready to talk more. "We might have a few classes together since I am doing business."
I don't think I ever remembered seeing Rick in a past course of mine, but maybe this year would be different.
Shelly returned with a frown on his face and empty hands. "I couldn't find him," he muttered.
"What do you mean, you couldn't find him," Rick asked, raising his voice, changing his mood almost instantly.
As the game continued, it was clear no team would get to the end. I wasn't sure if it was because the clues were too hard or if we all were terrible at problem solving. I wouldn't lie, I was disappointed. I hoped we would win.
With a disappointed sigh, dad looked at the groups of people in front of him. He stopped the buzzing timer and stuffed it into his pocket. "And an hour is up. It's a shame no team got the prize." He stroked his mustache in thought. "Well, there is always next time. Why don't you all go out for a run to cool down and we can call it quits for the day."
"Better luck next time," Shelly said as he passed me to get on the field.
I nodded, although I wish I had something more to say.
As the room cleared, dad came up to me, shaking his head. I wasn't sure if he was bummed no one won or if he was just disappointed in himself. But he had to know that whatever issues this team was going through wasn't his fault.
"So how did you like being part of the team."
Once again, it wasn't as terrible as I originally thought. Being part of the team, made me help form a connection with the players. I now knew Rick, Shelly, and Mike better. And that probably was for the better, especially if I wanted to know how to improve the team. Working with them made me feel like I was more than just an intern. "I liked it. I'm just bummed we didn't solve it."
"I'll tell you a secret. We played the same game last year and one team was able to solve the puzzle in 30 minutes," he said as he handed me a paper with all the locations of the items hidden. "Can you get them and stick them in my office? After that, could you pick up some papers for me? The assistant coaches left them in the locker rooms, and you can stick them on my desk."
I nodded. "Sure." With that, I walked off to find the items, then accomplish the other task he wanted me to do.
Before long, I was walking to the locker room to collect the first stack of papers.
Tad ran up to me with a smile on his face. "Hey girl."
I smiled at him. "Hey! What's up?"
"Any plans tonight?"
I thought about my fabulous date with my couch and my laptop and shrugged. "Nothing much."
"Want to go to a party?"
I walked around the locker room and picked up a piece of trash and tossed it in the nearest bin. "I don't know." I had never been to a college party before but honestly from what Vera told me, they didn't sound fun.
"Aw come on Nora, the whole team is coming," Rick spoke up as he walked into the locker room.
I shook my head. "Nah, I'll pass this time."
"Oh please Nora, come," Shelly begged as he followed Rick.
Having them beg made me feel like I was apart of their team. I liked that feeling. "As much as I like you guys begging for me, I actually already have plans. Maybe next time, though."
The two of them frowned in silence, then went off to deal with something else.
I walked into the next locker room, only to hear some one shout out, "Nora, knock next time!"
I smiled as I turned my back towards them before I saw anything noteworthy. "I'm just here to pick up notes. Did Olly give you any?" I asked as I held out my hand from behind my back.
"Yeah, here they are," a voice rang out, and I felt a heavy stack of papers get dropped in my hands. "Just make sure to knock next time."
"And miss out on the small show? Not likely." With that, I left to get to dad's office with a stack of papers in my hands.
"Just think about the party," Tad said before he walked off the other way.
I nodded. "Sure." Although I was pretty sure I wouldn't go.
With my head held high and a stack of papers in my hands, I walked into dad's office.
"Hey Nojo! Let me introduce you to Melissa," dad said almost instantly.
I quickly shook her hand and placed the stack of papers on dad's desk. "Based on contrary beliefs, I'm Nora, not Nojo."
She forced a smile which made me believe I just walked in on the more inopportune time. "So it's not Nojo?"
I smiled. "Dad has a collection of nicknames for me. Nojo being at the top of the list."
"It's nice to meet you, Nora."
"Nice to meet you too, Melissa."
Melissa turned to dad and said, "Paul, listen to what I'm telling you. I'll be back tomorrow to discuss." With that, she left without another word.
"What did she tell you?"
He shrugged then rolled his shoulders back with a sigh as he looked at the stack of papers on his desk. "You know, can we talk about this later? I have to deal with these papers right now."
I nodded, as I fought a frown from my face. Whatever Melissa told him made him upset. And for some reason, he didn't want to tell me about it. "How about I get snacks?"
He looked up from his papers. "That would be fantastic. Thank you, Nora."
<>
I smiled at him, then left without another word to get overpriced snacks from the vending machine.
As I approached the machine, Everett was leaning against the wall, close to it with a cup in his hands.
We were starting to make a habit of meeting by the vending machines.
He made eye contact with me and nodded a simple greeting, then went back to sipping his drink casually, as if I had seen him all day long.
I chose not to acknowledge him as I put money into the vending machine and waited for the snacks to fall. I wondered why he wasn't in practice but was here now, when everyone was gone.
"So are you going to the party tonight?" Everett asked.
If he was going, that would be a solid no. "Probably not," I stated as I picked up the snacks.
"What would make you go? An invitation from me?" He smirked as he ran his hands through his styled short hair.
Even with the snacks in hand, I resisted to slap him out of frustration. Didn't he get it by now that I hated everything about him? He was a bully, cocky, and was not part of the team. It was his fault that dad was stressed. He didn't even bother to come to team games today, so that told me he wasn't a team player. "Oh, because that sounds so tempting now." I rolled my eyes at him and turned on my heals, ready to leave him.
"Wait, Nora, maybe going out might be good. It might be worth it to see what the players are like off the field. We are more than football and I think you don't see that. I think you don't know the players for who they really are."
I turned to face him as his words resonated with me. His dark eyes spoke to me. I chewed on my lip in thought until finally decided that maybe it wouldn't be too bad. Maybe he had a point. Everett was completely different outside this stadium, so the other players might be different as well. "Fine."
He smirked which made me scowl. "I'll see you there then?"
Please tell me I will not regret this. "I'll see you there," I said as I walked towards dad's office, hoping that I made the right choice.