Page 21 of Gone Tonight
The tenth vote went to me. One more and I would be captain.
Mrs. Davis leapt to her feet and started to say something, then cut herself off. I glanced across the table and caught a flicker of a smile cross Rosie’s face. It looked genuine.
If every JV girl voted for me, and just one of the varsity girls did… Even with all the water I’d chugged, my mouth went dry.
Was it actually possible I could be elected captain?
I would work so hard to deserve it. I’d create new routines, the best ones our squad—no, any high school squad—had ever performed. I’d offer one-on-one help on the weekends to any teammate who had trouble learning them.
Coach Franklin was frowning. Mrs. Davis sat back down and tapped her pen against her pad. Her face was a thundercloud.
Coach reached for the next slip of paper, and I could hear the relief pour into his voice as he called Brittany’s name.
There was one slip of paper left on the table.
Coach reached for it.
I wasn’t sure which I wanted more, for me to win or for Brittany to lose.
The grin that spread across Coach’s face told me the vote went to Brittany before he read her name.
But Mrs. Davis still looked furious.
It was a tie, six-six.
I saw Coach lean closer to her and whisper.
James approached them at the head of our table. I heard him offer Mrs. Davis another Chardonnay on the house.
She simpered that she really shouldn’t because she was driving.
James promised to make it a small one and she fluttered her eyelashes and told him he’d twisted her arm. Then she asked for an iced tea with extra lemon and two packets of Sweet’N Low on the side.
Even before our town had a Starbucks, Mrs. Davis had perfected the art of high-maintenance beverage ordering.
All around me, girls were murmuring. There had never been a tie for captain before, at least not during the years I’d been on the team.
Coach’s booming voice caused everyone to fall silent.
He said that in case of a tie, the coach cast the deciding vote.
My heart plummeted. Of course it had to end this way. Whatever made me believe I’d have a chance?
Then he announced it was pretty clear Brittany Davis was the kind of girl we all wanted to represent us.
Mrs. Davis beamed and steepled her manicured fingertips together as she stared up at Coach. I didn’t look Brittany’s way. I couldn’t bear to see her smug expression.
Coach kept talking, saying our team needed someone who would be comfortable carrying the name Panthers in front of the public. Going to nationals would be an expensive trip, he said, and though we had a good sponsor, some of the girls wouldn’t be able to afford hotel rooms.
Like me.
Mrs. Davis beamed at Coach as he wrapped up by saying that our captain needed to speak the same language as the businesspeople we’d have to ask for support.
Every word was a spike in my heart.
He couldn’t just say Brittany won.
Coach had to spell out why I could never be captain: My mother was a drunk and my father was a handyman, so I was trash.
