Page 13

So, Coach Dunn, I heard you was about to be head coach next year,” Vonte Wiley said, raising his eyebrows at her. He was a sophomore linebacker with a fluffy Mohawk and an ever-present wide grin.

Jade adjusted the baseball cap on her head so it blocked more of the sun from her eyes. “Who told you that?”

Vonte shrugged. “I don’t know…”

The coach in her wanted to snuff out unnecessary gossip, but it also wanted to commend him for not turning in his teammates. It was better for them to be united, even in something as silly as this.

“Well…” she said with a sigh, trying to formulate the most appropriate answer possible. “You can tell whoever you heard it from that when there are announcements to make about coaching changes, we’ll make them to the entire team. There’s no need to speculate.”

Vonte squinted up at her. “You only talk like that when you’re mad or when you’re trying to tell us to stay out of grown folks’ business without actually saying that.”

“Which one do you think I’m doing right now?” she asked.

“I don’t know…”

Jade nodded, putting a hand on one of his shoulders. “Look, you don’t need to worry about anything but doing your best this seasonand what your folks are making you for dinner tonight. Anything else is on us, okay? So let us handle it.”

Vonte nodded. “Yes, ma’am… but… if we do have to get a new coach, I hope it’s you.”

Jade clenched her jaw tight to keep from grinning, before cuffing the boy on the back of the neck. “Get on back to those drills, boy. I want to see them knees up high too.”

They had a friendly scrimmage coming up against some boys from across the river in Port Royal. The teams didn’t get to play each other during the year, so the coaches got together in the offseason to try each other on for size. The game didn’t mean anything, technically. But the Port Royal boys were good, and ever since her first season with Greenbelt, Jade had been able to gauge how their season would go by how they performed in this scrimmage.

Every single one of them needed this season to go well. She, to prove that her guidance was essential to the success of the team. Coach Landry, so that he could begin his retirement with a bang. And for the kids out on the field, this could be their return to glory. So much was on the line for so many people. It only felt right that she should take this as seriously as she would a championship opener.

“If you keep making that face, it’ll get stuck like that.”

The hairs on the back of Jade’s neck stood up at the sound of Ms. Lim’s voice coming up behind her.

“I thought I sensed a demonic presence in the air.” Jade sniffed.

“Well, I do raise hell wherever I go.”

Lim’s smirk made Jade want to snap. “Which means… what?” Jade growled. “That literally no one wants to be anywhere near you? I guess that does sound about right.”

Like some kind of aggressively annoying big cat, Lim moved around her, snatching the hat off Jade’s head and raising it above her own. Lim was a few inches taller than she was, with longer arms too.Jade refused to degrade herself by reaching for it like a child; instead, she just crossed her arms over her chest and tried to throw the other woman the most scathing look she could muster.

“You act like a child, Lim, and that’s why you’ll never succeed in life.”

Lim’s answering snort was loud. “You’re the one standing there pouting with your arms crossed like one of my kids when I tell them they’re not allowed to run the kiln.”

Jade’s first instinct was to uncross her arms, but she didn’t want to give her the satisfaction. So she balled her hands into fists and tucked them farther into her armpits. “I don’t pout,” she said. “My mouth just naturally looks like this.”

Lim’s eyes immediately jumped to her mouth. “… And so it does,” she said, then hummed, not looking away.

With sudden awareness, Jade realized just how close they were. She could smell the laundry detergent on the other woman’s T-shirt, the light floral scent of perfume clinging to her neck. It was slender and smooth and had the slightest bit of sweat slicking the skin. Her lips were right there too, plump and red. She had this ridiculous Cupid’s bow that made her look like some kind of Disney princess.

It made Jade so sick that her mouth watered, forcing her to swallow hard. Those lips curved into an even deeper smirk, and Jade drew her own back behind her teeth.

“I can’t stand you,” Jade hissed. “Every time I see you, I get hot.”

When the air between them grew thick with tension, Jade knew immediately that that wasn’t the right choice of words. Lim’s eyes trailed up her body, starting from her exposed legs and thighs and working their way up until they landed on her face again. Lim was unabashed about it, her smirk slowly becoming a grin. Jade didn’t mean to show any sign of being affected, but her body reacted onits own, completely betraying her as a shiver made her shoulders shimmy and her jaw tremble.

“I definitely agree with that,” Lim said.

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Mmm, you might not have meant to say it out loud, but you definitely meant it.”