Page 75 of Ignite

“If you want to eat, you’d better earn it.” I led them in two slow laps before getting into the real training with lunges, sprints, and ending with my version of yoga-style core work.

Unlike my team, when I pushed these kids hard, they responded and never complained. Yes, there was light-hearted banter between them, but they almost relished the chance to push their bodies and I knew why.

With high youth unemployment, the only option for work meant leaving town. Many of Flick’s students struggled for a reason not to drop out of school. Holding out the promise of free football training and the chance to press their claims for the new coach, I now had fifteen boys and eight women from the local touch-football team turn up at six am for training.

Towards the end of the session, eager and hungry eyes kept drifting towards where Felicity had set up bags of bread, tubs of butter, and packets of deli meats. For some of these kids, it would be the only food they’d eat until dinner.

I allowed my first grin, calling the session to an end.

“Okay, pretend to be humans instead of animals, and sort out between yourselves who is going to stay behind and help Miss Grainger clean up.” When they gave off mock groans, I added, “No one wants Miss Grainger to get into trouble with the principal for being late for class, yeah?”

“Thanks for doing this,” I muttered to Felicity as I helped her finish unloading her car.

“No problems. Eric’s already out on the waves, so it was either spend time with Meringa’s most eligible bachelor or sleep.”

“Don’t remind me.” I sucked in my bottom lip, “I’d update my relationship status in a heartbeat if she’d let me.”

“Rylee still not talking to you?”

“You’d know better than me. How much do I owe you for the breakfast stuff this week?”

After my first week of getting up early and training the teens, I’d complained about missing breakfast. When they all joked about not knowing what the word meant, I realized most of them got out of bed just in time to rush wherever they needed to be.

They never ate breakfast. And when lunch times were spent playing touch football or socializing, they could go all day without eating. It explained their fatigue in the classroom, and their irritability.

Approaching Felicity for ideas, she came up with the solution, meeting me here each morning with enough bread and fillings to send all of them away ready to start the day.

Felicity also used our mornings together to give me a crash course in all things Meringa. Thanks to our morning chats, I now knew who had been childhood sweethearts, only to marry their first love’s brother or best friend.

I also knew things about my players in the Meringa Hawks rugby league team that I couldn’t unlearn. I knew which of my team had wet their bed until primary school—really Trey? Who had asked their principal to be their date for end-of-season awards night—Brody. And after playing twenty-questions, I was about to learn who had been expelled for inciting a school riot that ended up with half the school holding a sit-in on the school roof.

“Did he end up with more than one woman as his date at the auction?” I asked, narrowing my choice.

“Yes.”

“I don’t believe it.” I almost choked on my sandwich. “Korbin?”

“When Korbin believes in something, no one can budge him.”

“But why?”

“Apparently, the school canteen refused to offer a vegetarian option.”

“I’ve seen the dude down a three-hundred-gram steak in less than a minute.”

“That’s what I love about this town.” Felicity always led the conversation back to why I shouldn’t ever want to leave Meringa. “It didn’t matter that Korbin isn’t vegetarian, he wanted to make sure the canteen catered to everyone.”

We pretended not to notice the way the teens worked collectively to assemble the sandwiches and pass out the food between them, cleaning up as they went.

“There’s a box in the change rooms if someone wants to get it,” I called out when they seemed to be finished eating. To Felicity, I said, “They’ve been working hard and …”

I didn’t know why I needed an excuse to do something nice for them. The cheers were enough reward. “Guess they’ve found the bars of chocolates.”

This sleepy, country town had its hands around my neck and wasn’t letting go.

“You’re not the asshole you want everyone to think you are,” Felicity spoke softly while the teens finished cleaning up. It was amazing what they’d do for food and chocolate.

“Didn’t know I’d put out calling cards.”

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