Page 65 of The Golden Receiver

I eventually fell asleep. I was still tired when my alarm went off, and I immediately checked my phone. There were no messages from Kieran. Nothing saying that he’d been hurt in the night. I sent him a text to tell me when he woke up, because I was already anxious.

I just needed to be around him. It wasn’t my fault that every time he was out of my sight, I got nervous.

He texted about thirty minutes later to ask if I was going to go on a run and if he could join me.

Our run was slower than usual, but it was worth it. I’d missed running with him the past few days. We ended our run at the student center where we got a small breakfast. We spent the rest of the morning together, and when it was time to head over to the stadium for the game, we walked there together too.

When the game started, Kieran sat on the bench. He looked miserable. The only thing that made it not too terrible was the fact that Willis was not playing very well. He missed a catch I knew Kieran would have made. Including the last play of the game. We were down by three, and Eric threw a ball that went right into Willis’s arms.

And then he dropped it.

The final buzzer sounded and we’d lost the game.

I hoped that would make Willis and his crew realize that Kieran deserved to be in the starter position. If they had any sense they would, but then if they had any sense, they probably wouldn’t have attacked him in the first place. They would have trusted that our coaches made the best decisions possible for the team every time. I didn’t think they’d risk everything to say they had a human starting on an all-monster team.

They could get the same kudos just having a human on the roster riding the bench all year.

I still got Kieran out of the locker room as soon as I could after the game though. I didn’t trust that Willis and Reyes wouldn’t start their shit again, and honestly, I didn’t want him anywhere near them. I still didn’t agree with his decision not to tell anyone who had attacked him. If I had my way, they would have faced some kind of consequences for their actions. Actually, no, if I had my way, they’d have been kicked off the team.

Maybe out of the school entirely.

Kieran and I ended up spending the night in his room, because I couldn’t stand another sleepless night.

“You have to go to class today,” Kieran demanded as we were leaving the gym.

Unfortunately, he said it right as we were walking by Coach Erikkson. Our assistant coach was positioned by the door, watching as everyone left. Same as every practice. I noticed he never liked to leave the weight room until everyone else did. I didn’t know if it was because he wanted to lock up or make sure nothing happened. Sometimes, I wondered if he worked out on his own after we all left.

Maybe he and Coach Shaw worked out together.

It was one of those mysteries of the universe that would probably never be solved.

“Hemmings, may I speak to you?” Coach Erikkson asked.

We hadn’t even made it two steps out of the gym. I glowered at Kieran because I knew it was about what he’d said. It wasn’t like I could tell him no, though.

“Wait here?” I asked Kieran. “Or in the locker room?”

“I need a shower before class,” he told me with a shake of his head. I wanted to growl at him. Didn’t he understand that I needed to be with him to keep him safe? “I’ll see you at lunch, okay?”

No. He’d see me when he got out of class. Because I would be waiting outside of his classroom the way I had been for the past few days. I was smart enough not to say that in front of the coach though, so I just nodded in agreement. I watched as he walked through the glass doors to go outside before I followed Coach Erikkson back to his office.

It was the third time this season I’d been in there. I’d only been in his office once the season before, and it wasn’t because of any kind of trouble. This was becoming a bad pattern.

I took a seat across from his desk. For once, Coach Shaw wasn’t in there. I thought, maybe, it would mean that Coach Erikkson would sit down behind his desk. He didn’t. He stood behind it, looking down at me with his fiery eyes and grave expression. “What is it that Sawyer meant about going to class today?”

“It’s nothing,” I told him with a shrug.

“You are here for school. That requires going to class,” he told me. If his voice weren’t so emotionless, I might have felt like I was being scolded. Instead, it just sounded like a fact.

A wrong fact. “I’m mostly here for football, honestly,” I answered. I gave him my most charming smile.

He did not look charmed.

“This is not a laughing matter. Are you aware that if you find yourself on academic probation, you will not be allowed to play?”

I blinked. I was not aware of that. “Doesn’t it take a while to get on academic probation?” I asked. It probably wouldn’t happen because I missed a week of classes. Right? I wasn’t going to get kicked off the football team for missing a week of class.

“We receive midterm reports for each of our players, as well as updates throughout the semester.” That did not answer my question. The flames in Coach Erikkson’s eyes grew brighter. “Go to class, Evander.”