Chapter 27 State champions
Kendrix
By the time we got back to school, practice had already started. I expected Coach to be mad because of our lateness, and he was, but not in his usual way. Coach had taken one look at the three of us and said,
“Get changed into your training kit and join your teammates.”
That was it. There was no other reaction, no mention of the emergency he called Cisco about. He had simply turned back to monitor the players on the pitch. Somehow, his unusual silence was even more unnerving than his anger.
“Do you think he knows about what Sebastian did? Is that why he's acting so unusual?” Cisco asked as we walked back to the field after changing out of our school uniforms.
“I don't think so. Maybe something else happened. Besides, we're not sure that rutting son of a bitch found anything.” JJ responded.
I didn't say anything the whole way back. I couldn't shake off the feeling that something was terribly wrong somewhere. Why on earth was Sebastian trying to spy on us?
DHS and KSE students have been rivals for many years, but we've always stuck to our side of the city. We don't provoke each other unnecessarily no matter how infuriating the other was been.
The only time there's physical confrontation between both school was when we were on neutral grounds, like the Vault, or Benny's. But even then, it was limited. We settled most of our rivalry on the pitch or on the road.
“We should start paying extra attention to our surroundings for anything suspicious. I'll inform the rest of the team after practice.” I said quickly as we joined the remaining players.
Cisco and JJ gave me subtle nods each.
The training, like every other one we've done since school resumed, was brutal. But I couldn't help feeling that Coach was pushing us harder today.
Still, no one complained. Maybe because we'd all taken note of his mood and knew this specific one was usually the scariest. I tried to get my mind off it, tried to clear my mind of every thoughts and focus on the fierce pain of pushing my body too hard.
The video. Stephanie. Sebastian. Coach.
My mind echoed those words in an endless loop. I gave up trying to banish those thoughts and just let them drown me instead. As a result, I butchered training, and not in a good way.
And of course, Coach noticed. The last thing any player wants is Coach James ‘noticing’ you when he's in a pissy mood.
He charged towards me, his brows furrowed in the way it does when he's contemplating something.
“Sinclair, you play like that at the next game and I'm gonna sit you out for a couple more games.” he said sternly.
“Got it, Boss.” I nodded when something suddenly hit me.
We were having our first on-season match next week. Could that be the reason Coach was so worried?
“We've played Crystal High many times before and we've never lost to them. And based on their recent posts on social media, they haven't had as much training. You shouldn't be worried about them.” I said genuinely.
It was true. Crystal High was a slightly better school compared to Bradford High, but their football program was still shit
Coach stared at me for a few seconds before shaking his head. “We're not playing Crystal High.”
I blinked in surprise, but before I could ask, he was walking away again. He ended the practice and asked all of us to gather in the locker room.
At the locker room, the silence was tense. There was not even a whisper of the usual complaining about the brutal training. Everyone could sense Coach's mood. He folded his arms and studied the crowd.
“Last season, we worked so hard together, we trained, we strategized, and that hard work paid off at the end. We won the state championship.” Cheers went up among the players, interrupting Coach.
“State champs!”
“Eagles for life!”
“They didn't stand a chance!”
I didn't join in the cheers and neither did my friends. Coach's face was still tight which meant there was a bad news coming. He waited patiently till the chatters died down and cleared his throat.
“Unfortunately, the state board is stripping us of the title. We're not recognized as the state champions anymore.”
Dead silence.
No one moved, no one breathed as we all stared at Coach in stunned silence. And that was when the calm facade Coach had maintained throughout training finally fell.
And he was livid.
“The meeting was held this morning and it was decided. The officials found out that one of our players violated the academic requirement and stripped us of the title.” he said, his eyes red with fury.
He didn't mention any names. He didn't point to any players. He just stood there, fuming silently.
“Bullshit!” JJ scoffed as he snapped out of his shock first. “We fought hard for that title, we made sacrifices, we trained, they can't just take it away with some bullshit excuse.”
JJ's outburst seem to snap out the rest of the team as well. The locker room buzzed with disagreement and anger of the players.
“This is not fair!”
“They can't just take it away!”
“How the fuck are we not champions anymore?”
“Just because of one person.”
“This is fucked up!”
The screams continued but Coach did nothing to stop it. He just stood there as if he couldn't quite believe it himself. After all the shit we went through last season, the title was just…gone. A bunch of people had just decided that we weren't worthy of it anymore.
Fuck them.
I was still fuming when my eyes caught a particular player sitting silently and not participating in the outrage. He had a guilty expression on his face. And that's when I knew. But before I could call him out, Coach restored decorum to the locker room.
“I understand your anger. I understand how unfair it feels that after everything, the record books just say we didn't win. But it didn't matter what their papers said. I was there, your fans were there that day. We all saw what you did, how your fought. They can't take that from you. Ever.” Coach met each of our gazes.
“We're not going to sit here and complain about our loss. What we're going to do is prove those motherfuckers wrong by winning the next championship game fair and square.”
Murmurs of agreement broke out and the tension seems to reduce a little bit.
“Are you going to train harder than you did and prove them wrong?” Coach asked. The murmurs turned into loud agreement.
“I repeat, are you going to win the next game and prove them wrong?!” He asked louder this time.
We responded with loud cheers too and the tension soon dissipated completely. We all went from anger and straight to determination. We were going to win the next championship and rub it in those suckers face.
“We are not playing Crystal High next week.” Coach said when the cheers died down. “We will be playing Diamond High School.”
That seem to elevate the team's spirits even more. There was nothing more uplifting than winning against DHS students. And we were going to win.
But something else had snapped into focus in my mind. Sebastian hired someone to look for dirt on the team, the championship title was stripped away from us, and now we were playing DHS instead of Crystal High. It was too much of a coincidence.
And I didn't believe in coincidences.
So when Coach walked back to his office, I went after him.
“It was Collin, wasn't it?” I asked as soon as the door clicked shut.
“What?” He asked.
“The student that violated the academic requirement was Collin.” I said more like a statement than a question.
Coach sighed. “It's not about pointing fingers. We're all responsible for what happens in this program. So instead of looking for someone to blame, I suggest you prepare the team for the next game, Captain.” he said dismissively.
Cisco and JJ were waiting outside Coach's office when I came out.
"Collin looked really guilty earlier. He was the player who violated the requirements, right?" Cisco asked immediately. I nodded.
There was no use lying when he had connected the dots too. Coach had confirmed by evading the question.
“Damnit!” JJ groaned.
“My theory is that Collin had ratted himself out while he was drunk last night. Cornelius had taken the information to Sebastian and he had reported to the state board.” I said.
Cisco nodded calmly while JJ swore.
“So what do we do now, Captain?” Cisco asked.
I didn't know how to answer his question. DHS had set an elaborate trap for us and we had fallen right into it. While I believe we could win against them in the upcoming match, I suspected they already had another trap set that we would be blindly walking into.
But we couldn't refuse to play. There was only one thing we can do, one thing we've always done.
“We start over.” I said.