Chapter 40

"I don't think Wasay is happy with you."

"Huh?" I looked up from my table of photographs. "Wa-say?"

Tami sat down, picking up one of the photos. "The W-S-A-A, Wasay"

I grinned, picked up two more pictures, and compared them. It was second period journalism, and Mr. Walker had me picking out pictures for a two-page photo spread on the plays for next week's paper.

"And why would Wasay be unhappy with me?"

"North Lincoln didn't show up for volleyball at Lake yesterday."

"And this is my fault?"

"Pretty much. That makes two teams that haven't shown up for volleyball with Lake: North Lincoln and us. And one that didn't come for cross country. You're playing havoc with some carefully calculated schedules."

"It's probably going to get worse before it gets better," Mr. Walker said as he looked down at my cluttered table.

"Why?" Tami asked. I picked up two more pictures.

"One of the Lake school board members gave an interview in the Seattle Times yesterday."

"What'd he say?" I asked, discarding a picture of me in favor of one with Peter and Traci.

"Pretty much that kids have no business judging an adult's actions."

I raised my hand in the air and started waving it around while making small grunting noises.

"Yes, Tony?" Mr. Walker said with a small sigh.

"Can I request an assignment?" I asked eagerly.

"What?"

"I want to cover districts for swimming."

"Huh?" Mr. Walker looked confused.

Tami got it before he did. "No way. I'll cover districts. Tony can come along and take pictures."

"Oh, God," he groaned and turned toward his desk.

Tami and I grinned at each other, then she gave me a small kiss, and I went back to my pictures.

I wondered if no one else showed up for the district meet if Lake won automatically, since they were the host team.

"... HIGH SCHOOL WELCOMES YOU TO THE FIRST ROUND OF THE 2005 WASHINGTON STATE FOOTBALL PLAY-OFFS." Luke's voice boomed from the speakers.

The two teams were milling just outside the gate to the field. Robbie and I had gone over to chat, but I think they thought it was a trap, 'cause they mostly ignored us.

"FROM WALLA WALLA HIGH SCHOOL, THE BLUE DEVILS." The other team yelled and started sprinting onto the field. The stands were completely packed, and about a third of them stood and started yelling and clapping. The Devils circled the field once, then formed up in the south end zone and started some spirited jumping jacks.

"AND THE HOST TEAM..." The rest was drowned out as the remainder of the crowd jumped to their feet and yelled. I lifted my arm up and circled my finger three times, then pointed at the field. We yelled and started jogging. We didn't circle the field, we just jogged to the opposite end zone and started our own warm-ups.

"... SHOULD BE A HELL OF A MATCH-UP." I wondered how much trouble Luke was going to catch for that slip of the tongue. "THE BLUE DEVILS ARE SEVEN AND ONE AFTER ONE OF THEIR BEST SEASONS IN YEARS. THE REBELS ARE ALSO SEVEN AND ONE IF YOU COUNT LAKE HIGH SCHOOL, BUT NOBODY DOES." The crowd laughed and clapped.

Both teams finished their warm-ups and jogged toward their sidelines.

I clapped Robbie on the back. "Ready for this?"

She grinned. I knew she was thinking, 'Born ready, ' but she just nodded. Robbie was born for this. For the first time I wondered what the future held for her. I mean, Tami was a journalist and I was a coach. It might as well be etched in stone. But Robbie... I grinned back, saving her future for another time.

"Captains!" the coach yelled, and we started walking toward the fifty yard line.

"Looks like we're outnumbered," I commented, noticing that Walla Walla was sending out three captains.