Chapter 20

TORI AVOIDED BRANDON most of the week. They had one class together, but she escaped before he got a chance to talk to her. Thursday, he was waiting for her after practice.

“Hey, Tori. I was wondering if you’d like to go out again Saturday. I really enjoyed myself last weekend,” he said.

“I don’t know.”

“Um ... If I ask you a question, would you please not answer, ‘Nothing’,” he said. She turned and glared at him, daring him to speak. “What’s the problem between us? I thought we both had a good time.”

“Noth ... All right,” she said, still glaring at him. “I don’t know if I can trust you.”

“I absolutely promise that I didn’t tell anyone about our date or what we did,” he immediately defended himself. “I’m not the kind of guy who brags about who he’s dating or what they did. I would sure never trash the reputation of a girl I really like!”

“My reputation is fine. My friends have been hurt.”

“What? Who? Please tell me what has happened. I don’t have, like, a big network of friends who keep me informed about what’s going on. I’m still new here,” he pled.

“I told you about having been one of Dennis’s girlfriends and how a lot of the girls on the team were girlfriends. The next thing we know, the District Fucking Attorney is in front of the school board threatening to bring charges against a coach who was allegedly having sex with his team members. I told you because we were sharing our history and you blabbed to someone who was willing to bring charges!” she shouted. She’d been holding it in all week and it just boiled over.

“I didn’t do anything. I thought it was weird, but it’s not my business. You’re the only Angeline I’m interested in,” Brandon said.

“I want to believe you, but you’re the only person who hasn’t known about it all along. Who else would go and take it to the county for prosecution?” she demanded.

“Tori, I swear to you that I never said anything and would never betray a confidence between us. I absolutely promise,” Brandon said. “If you don’t believe me and want to stop seeing me ... It’s too soon to even call it breaking up. If you just don’t want to see me again, fine. Just say so. But don’t go trashing my reputation, because I didn’t do anything.”

He turned to walk away and Tori caught hold of his sleeve. He turned to face her again.

“Do you promise, Brandon? I really liked being with you. I don’t want to break up. I just am so ... fucked up.”

He heaved a big sigh and wrapped his arms around her.

“I don’t know what all happened, but I promise you I didn’t and would never lie to you about this, or anything else. I’m sorry your friends were hurt. I kind of like them all.”

The two leaned against the back of Tori’s car and he kissed her. Not a big deep kiss, but enough to let her know he was sincere. After a moment, she pushed him away.

“We’re still on school grounds. They’ve been tightening up on enforcing PDAs this year,” she explained.

“Be honest with me, Tori. Like I’ve been with you. You really broke up with him ... them ... didn’t you? I don’t want to be led on, either.”

“We broke up,” she said. “I broke up with them because I wanted to find a guy of my own without competing with a bunch of other girls. I still love them. All of them. They’re my real friends and my teammates. I would ... I shouldn’t even say what I’d do if I found out who hurt them. I wouldn’t be kind. That’s what it means to be an Angeline.”

“I’d like to be the guy you found, Tori. I’ll do everything I can to ... well, to help you.” She gave him a hug and turned to her car.

“I’m sorry I went ballistic on you. Um ... If the offer is still open, I’d love to see you Saturday. I’m ... uh ... available all day. Just let me know when.”

“I understand things came to a head while we were out of town Tuesday night,” Coach Neil said as he sat with Dennis in the coaches’ office Friday morning. He and Dennis hadn’t had a chance to connect this week because Dennis had been busy most mornings at DMACC. School there was closed for the day.

“My lawyer says things were all clear and there won’t be any further questions asked,” Dennis said. He was studying a video of the team they’d face Friday night. The Lions were a formidable opponent.

“Wow! Look at the height of that team!” Neil said, looking over Dennis’s shoulder.

“Yeah. They are going to close us out under the basket. Fortunately, they don’t have a bunch of great shooters. They’re only hitting half their free throws and barely thirty-five percent of their field goals. But they’ve been playing all 3A teams, too,” Dennis said.

“I studied the boys’ game, too. We’re facing the same thing. What’s your strategy?”

“Draw fouls and hope our free throw game is on. And hope my three-point shooters are hot. Not sure what else I can do, but trust in the girls,” Dennis said.

“My thinking exactly. I don’t know if the guys are up to this, though.”

“Coach? Say, about what happened at the board meeting. I really appreciate you getting the message to us on Sunday. It gave us a chance to prepare,” Dennis said. “If you don’t mind my asking, when did you find out about what was going down?”

“I got a call from Dr. Jones on Friday, just before we left for Woodward Academy. Sorry I couldn’t get to you before Sunday. I had to talk to the other coaches and chose Janet to talk to you.”

“I really appreciate it. I think that will be a relief to Tori, too. She was worried about something she said, but that wasn’t until Saturday.”

“No. Everything was in motion at least by Thursday.”

“Thanks.”

“Hey, Tori,” Dennis said when they got to the locker rooms. “I wanted to tell you that you can relax about Brandon. The whole thing with the accusations was in motion back as far as at least Thursday. Nothing you said could have affected it.”

Tori threw herself at Dennis and hugged him. Then she backed away and glanced down the hall where Brandon was just coming into sight.

“I wish I’d known that before I blew up at Brandon last night after practice. I need to go patch things up. Be right back.” She took off down the hall to intercept Brandon before he entered the boys’ locker room. Dennis went into the training and therapy room. It wasn’t used much because the school didn’t have a physical therapist on staff. In the room, Rosie was waiting for him.

“You ready?” he asked.

“I’m so excited to get back on the court, you wouldn’t believe it!”

“Good. Let’s get you taped up. The ankle’s been looking good this week. Any pain?”

“Nope. I’m good to go.”

“Well, we’ll probably need you tonight, so I’m glad you’re fit. We’re missing six who got the flu this week. Fortunately, our front lineup is still all healthy.”

The game against the Lions was a brutal slog. They were three minutes into the first quarter before the Lions made the first score by dropping a three-pointer. That lit a fire under the Angelines and they returned with a two and exchanged scores with the Lions until they took the lead at 8-7. At that point, they managed a layup and Tori hit two free throws to lead at the quarter 12-7. It was the highest scoring quarter in the game. True to Dennis’s prediction, the Lions effectively blocked any approach to the basket. Natalie was called for an offensive foul when she tried to drive through and Dennis waved her off of further attempts. She responded by sinking her first three-pointer to end the half with a 22-17 lead.

That was the high-scoring half. In the third quarter, the Angelines hit one basket—a short jumper by Janice on the inbound under the basket—and four free throws, while the Lions scored only once. That extended the Angeline lead to nine, but the Lions came back strong—for this game—in the last quarter with two scores in the first four minutes while the Angelines had none. With the lead whittled to five points, Dennis called a timeout and got his team in to talk to them.

“Stay calm,” Dennis advised his players. “I’ll be shifting Amy, Janice, Judith, Rosie, and Leanne in and out as the rest of this plays out. I want you all fresh and fast. Tori, Natalie, and Diane, I’m going to need you three to be the constants. I hate to do this, but we’re shifting strategy. I want you to play keep-away.”

“What? What about the shot clock?” Natalie asked.

“Don’t worry about the clock. I’ll watch it. Just make sure you maintain control of the ball and keep it out of their hands. When they approach you, turn away and get rid of the ball. Post position, Diane, you’ll be on the move all the time, left, right, and back. Be ready to be a relief valve if a guard gets in trouble. Guards, stay well back from the circle. Got it?”

“Got it!”

“Who are we?”

“Angelines!”

Dennis watched the shot clock carefully. At twenty-nine seconds, he called time out for thirty seconds. So far, the Lions hadn’t gotten close.

“Okay. Same strategy. You’re doing great. Wait for the fouls. They’re getting frustrated.”

The girls hit the court again and true to Dennis’s prediction, one of the Lions gave up waiting for something to happen and fouled Amy. They weren’t yet in a shooting situation, which required seven fouls on a team in the half before there were free throws. Tori took the ball out of bounds and threw it to Natalie with a reset shot clock. Dennis called timeout again before the clock ran down.