Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 70516 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70516 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Bossy was a standout. There was no way in hell that she wouldn’t have been noticed if she’d been more visible.
“Oh, yeah.” Bossy smiled. “I did. We’d just finished our season when I transferred here.”
“I hear you’re pretty good.” Ryan nodded. “It’ll suck for your old team to have to lose you, but we definitely won’t be complaining to have another great soccer star on our roster.”
Wasn’t that the truth?
It just sucked that I couldn’t put her on varsity due to UIL rules on transfer students.
But, it would be good for her to learn the program and her teammates before she was stuck in a role that the team might resent her for having.
Next year would be her year, but I was sure that Bossy would be perfectly fine hanging out with junior varsity until then.
Plus, her fellow sophomores would mostly be on JV with her.
“Hey, Darcy!”
A young man that I knew quite well peeked his head in the office, surprised to be called out when he’d been walking by to get to his next class.
“Could you show our new soccer gal to her first class?”
Darcy was the JV goalie for the boys’ team.
Though they played in the fall, they continued to train year-round unless they were in other sports.
Darcy was great, and I liked him a lot. He was a good kid with a solid head on his shoulders. He was also sweet and kind, and I had zero problems with him showing my favorite girl around.
He proved his sweetness when he saw me and cried, “Coach E!”
Everyone in the school had called me Coach E. I’d wanted to distance myself from the Wheeler name when I’d first come on as a history teacher and head coach of the girls’ soccer team. At the time, I hadn’t been embarrassed of the name like I was now, but I’d been under a thick, dark cloud of my father’s role as a pastor that some liked, and some hated.
I wanted to be my own person, and that was why I’d decided to never go by my last name.
The students’ address had started out as Coach Edith, then Coach Eddy, finally shortened to Coach E in the last few years.
“Hey, Darcy.” I smiled. “Treat my girl right, okay?”
“And who is your girl?” Darcy asked, holding out his hand politely to Bossy.
“Berkley,” she introduced herself. “But my friends call me Bossy.”
Apollo, some of the Dixie Wardens, Weaver and I had discussed whether or not we should allow her to go by the nickname Bossy, and we’d decided that it was okay. Mostly because the only people who had called her Bossy were Weaver and Bossy’s grandparents.
They’d never addressed her as such outside of their own household, either, because Bossy had never liked the nickname because it made her “look bad.”
According to her father, at around age nine, she’d said, ‘No one likes to be known as a bossy person.’
From that moment on they’d made a conscious effort to make sure they didn’t address her as that to anyone but each other.
Now, Bossy had grown into the nickname, and it would keep the confusion down when they addressed her.
She always answered to Bossy.
“Bossy.” Darcy smiled. “I like it.”
Bossy’s cheeks flushed as she shot me a small wave and disappeared into the crowded hall with Darcy.
“Oh, that one is going to be a little killer to all the boys,” Leeanndra said.
“Agreed.” I nodded and turned to the group. “How is everything going? Anything I need to be aware of?”
“Your history sub actually knew her shit and didn’t deviate too far from the lesson plan,” Ryan said.
“And your team is doing great under the tutelage of your sister,” Newsome said. “However, your history sub had no clue about soccer, so she’s really glad you’re back to take that over. Your girls have been working hard, and hopefully won’t have any issues seeing as you have your first game back tomorrow night.”
I patted my thigh. “We’ll work out all the kinks. Thanks for taking care of everything. I know it couldn’t have been easy with all that went on.”
Meaning, they’d covered for me and watched my ass with the school board and the parents when it was learned that my father was a freakin’ creep.
The only thing that’d saved me beyond anything else was my distance from my family. I’d had nothing to do with them and had made no bones about my distaste for my father and his church.
I’d learned of the school board meeting only after it’d already happened. Some of the parents had been bound and determined that I was fired. But the soccer girls as well as all their parents, and the parents of my regular history students, had come out in full force and defended me and my character.
My father’s sins would not be my own.