Page 15 of Ready to Score

He furrowed his brows at her, confused.

“It’s going to be hard enough convincing the other guys to even consider standing behind me as their leader. Let alone the parents and the school board and the damn mayor. Like you told me before, I’m a woman, a Black woman, a gay Black woman—”

“Bisexual,” Landry interrupted, causing her to laugh despite the gravity of their conversation.

“Regardless,” she continued, “you think they’re going to allow us both to hold positions of power on this team? Next thing we know, there’ll be write-ups in the paper about how the liberal agenda has come for America’s favorite pastime.”

“That’d be baseball,” Landry corrected her yet again. “And frankly, the longer I think about it all, the less of a fuck I give about what they have to say. They can do all the write-ups they want, so long as they include the wins by whoever ends up coaching this team.”

Jade swallowed. She wanted to believe that. She did. But this was Greenbelt, South Carolina. And it was far from the scene of some inspirational sports movie. She knew what people would think, what they’d say, what they’d do once they got their hearts set on bigotry.

Still, in all that muck, there had been something just as important for her to take note of. Coach Landry was an incredibly encouraging figure for the kids, but for the coaches… not so much. Generally, that was fine. Jade didn’t need her boss to spend all his time praising her. She had herself for that. And her parents and Miri and the deep delusion that lived in her head telling her she was the best to ever do it. This was different, though. She was coming after his spot, and to hear him even insinuate that he thought she deserved it meant more than she’d realized it would.

She nodded, trying to convey her thanks with her eyes. She knew he wouldn’t know what to do with any of her words.

“I’m still going to beat her,” Jade said. “I don’t know why she’s decided to do this all of a sudden, but she doesn’t deserve this. She’s way too green; I think she hardly knows what she’s doing. Maybe we should make some calls to verify her claims about coaching in Texas. That could be complete bull-hockey for all we know.”

“Hmm… maybe.” Landry sighed and shook his head at her stubbornness. “Looks like she’s not doing too bad now, though.”

Fifty yards away, Francesca Lim was demonstrating the correct stance for the O-line boys. Both of her feet were planted in the turf, one of her arms tucked against her side and the other in the grass. Her shoulders were perfectly aligned, and her ass was high and tight. Jade tried not to stare too hard at it—and failed. Watching unblinking as Lim blew her own whistle in quick succession twice before immediately charging forward and grabbing the white towel situated on the ground a few feet from where she’d started.

The towel drill was a short one, no impact, and quick to accomplish. But it taught the players how to position and move their bodies to secure the gaps between them on the field.

Lim lined two players up, facing each other but a few feet apart so they didn’t run into the other when the drill began. Jade heard the whistle go off again and saw the first two boys perform the drill, only to be stopped by Lim on their second go-round. She helped one of the boys position his shoulders and get lower to the ground, and the other was told something that Jade couldn’t hear. When she blew the whistle again, both players grabbed their towels up with no problem, earning pats on the back from the woman guiding them.

It was only a small showing, the type of drill the boys could coach themselves on, Jade told herself. But she saw how the boys responded to her, how they didn’t give her a hard time. They respected her.

Truth was, that was more than half of it—the respect. In her mind,the logistics of the game came second to being a good leader. It was troubling to see Lim display these qualities. It was even more troubling to feel the aching, begrudging amount of respect Jade felt for them. It was fine, though; that respect didn’t make Jade afraid. She might have to sharpen her claws a bit more, but she wasn’t afraid. Lim could take her childish jabs, her easygoing bull, and her YouTube University coaching and shove them up her ass.

“I guess it’s a good thing that ‘not too bad’ isn’t nearly good enough,” she told Landry, eyes still narrowed on her target, laser focused.

6

Greenbelt City Bingo Hall was buzzing on Thursday night. Jade wasn’t sure she’d been inside the place even once her whole life, but she could not imagine the well-loved but worn-down spot was ever as popping as it was tonight. For the first football fundraiser of the year, Greenbelt Senior High had shelled out good money to rent the entire space for the evening. Vonte Wiley had suggested a bingo night fundraiser during their team brainstorm months ago. The premise was simple enough—people would buy into the game as normal, but all proceeds and possible winnings would be donated to the team.

She stood next to him now, proud to see something one of her kids had thought of become realized.

“It’s a big night,” she said with a smile. “Straighten your tie up a little bit.”

Vonte grimaced as he pulled the collar of his shirt away from his neck. “Granny starched this shirt way too much.”

Jade laughed. Vonte was being raised by his grandparents, and his granny made sure the boy had on his Sunday best for every event they had.

“Undo the very top button.” She pointed at the spot way up herneck that mimicked the placement of the button. “Now twist the knot around a little until it’s straight under there.”

He followed her directions swiftly, then proceeded to move his head with a little more dexterity. “Oh yeahhh.”

“Are your grandparents here?”

“Yes, ma’am. Granny’s over there, but Grandaddy had to work tonight, so he couldn’t make it.”

She could hear the lilt of disappointment in his voice even when he tried to suppress it. Vonte’s granny was only a few feet behind him, sitting at the end of one of the bingo tables with her purse on her arm and her daubers on the table in front of her. Jade caught the older woman’s eyes and gave her a smile and a wink.

“Don’t worry,” she told Vonte. “Coach Carr is going to film your speech, and everyone will take plenty of pictures, so he’ll get a chance to see you.”

That made the boy groan. “This is about to be so trash, Coach Dunn. I hate talking in public.”

“This event was your idea. We’ve done a car wash every year for the past two decades. This is the first time we’re doing anything like this. And look at how many people showed up.” She gestured around the room. “We’ve barely got any more seats to fill. Everyone loves your idea.”

---