Page 13 of Inside Out
“Angela, you shouldn’t know what your recent grades are because you’re not supposed to have your phone on you during school,” I said.
“It’s in my locker,” she replied. “I checked my grades between classes.”
I was proud she took her education so seriously, but I also wanted her to laugh and live for something other than her updated grades. “We went over my policy on the first day of school, Angela. I won’t use classroom time to discuss individual concerns over grades. That’s not fair to the other students because it cuts into my lesson. I have a tennis match after school, but I will make myself available until three fifteen if that works for you.” The young lady was upset because she earned ninety-seven points out of a hundred. As ridiculous as it may seem, I knew it was important to her, and I wouldn’t belittle her concerns.
“I’ll be here,” she said with a firm nod before she went to her desk.
I stood in front of the class and waited for the desks to fill before I spoke. “Now that we’ve covered the basics of atoms, we’re going to move on to atomic mass and atomic mass numbers.” My announcement was met with a mixture of excitement, grumbling, and indifference. I freaking loved my job.
“Oh, yay,” Ellie said excitedly. “Dr. Bradley came to cheer us on. I was starting to think he was like the rest of the pricks in our community and only cared about the football team.”
“Language, Ellie,” I admonished. “We all know he’s been making his rounds to all the fall athletic events. It means more that he’s here to cheer us on when we claim first place in the league for the first time in school history.”
“You really think we’re going to do it?” she asked, sounding less precocious and confident than usual. She and her teammate, Sara Devers, were our best individual players and were practically unstoppable in doubles competition.
“I know so,” I assured her. “Let’s make sure we have a good warmup and let’s take down East Carter High.”
I supervised warmups and met with the head coach from East Carter while managing not to look in Rome’s direction. I needed to be at my best which meant I had to pretend he wasn’t there. I couldn’t ask my players to focus if I was distracted. I’d seen him when he first arrived and noticed he’d changed into a pair of gym shorts, sneakers, and a Blissville High T-shirt with our bulldog mascot on the front. I didn’t need to look in his direction when I knew he had those baby blues beneath his aviator sunglasses trained on me.
Every match against East Carter was a dogfight, but I knew the night would be ours when we went into the final set. Ellie and Sara were playing their best tennis of the season, and I saw the determination on their faces when I spoke with them before they took the court.
“I see how badly you want this, but do you know what I want from you as your coach?”
“A first-place trophy at the end of the season?” Sara asked.
“I want you to enjoy every serve, volley, and point. Play as a team and have fun, ladies.”
“Winning is fun, coach,” Ellie said with a sly grin before she looped her arm through Sara’s and pulled her toward the court.
Those ladies at East Carter didn’t stand a chance against their determination. Ellie and Sara coasted to an easy victory because they played together like a well-oiled machine. We lined up and exchanged high fives with our opponents over the net before I took my team off to the side to celebrate.
“Congratulations, everyone. You played your hearts out this afternoon, and I’m so proud of you. That doesn’t mean we can slack off. We might be leading the league, but East Carter is going to be hungry to reclaim the top spot. If we falter, they’ll do just that. I want you to celebrate tonight but be ready to practice tomorrow after school. Bulldogs on three. One…two…three…”
“Bulldogs!” we all shouted together.
The parents who were able to attend came over and congratulated me on the victory, and I assured them the win belonged solely to the kids. I was aware of Rome’s presence on the periphery and knew he was waiting for the right opportunity to approach me which didn’t happen until the last parent, student, and coach left.
He slid his glasses to the top of his head and offered me a warm smile. “Congratulations, Julius.”
“Thank you, Rome.” I thought I was prepared for the energy that would blast through my body when I accepted his handshake, but I was wrong. It was so much more intense than the first time. “My friends call me Jules,” I found myself saying.
“Are we friends?” he asked huskily.
“I…um…” I rubbed the back of my neck while trying to figure out how to answer that. We were friendly, but I couldn’t say we were friends. Could we even be friends with the attraction sparking between us?
Rome began to chuckle. “I didn’t mean to make things awkward between us. I guess I’m just rusty.”
“Rusty at being friends with someone?”
“With someone I find attractive and would like to get to know better. Romantically,” he added.
“As in date?”
“I would settle for you not avoiding me and would love to work my way up to a cup of coffee and a pastry. See where things go from there. Is that something you’re willing to entertain?”
I had no damn clue how to approach the situation and decided honesty would be best. “Rome, I’m very attracted to you, but I’m not sure pursuing a relationship with you is good for me.” I could tell he was trying to figure out the reasons I felt that way, but he didn’t press me.
“I respect your honesty, Jules. I hope you respect that I don’t give up easily.”