Beyond the Point(44)
There was a long pause, and in it, Dani knew she had to make a decision. She could walk away, or she could push back against what was an obvious attempt to brush this under the rug. Without a doubt, if she made any demands, her relationship with Coach Jankovich would never be the same.
After taking a deep breath, Dani decided to push forward.
“As the team captain, I felt it was my duty to bring this to your attention before I take it up the chain of command,” Dani said with authority.
“Oh my God! You people!” Coach Jankovich laughed derisively. A square smile appeared on her face that looked forced and awkward. She stood from her chair, narrowed her eyes until they were dark slits. “I don’t know what you’re playing at here, but I can guarantee one thing. If you think you can come in here and make threats, you can think again. What did you do? Did you tell them all to write your name down, so you could lead your little revolution?”
“What?”
“You and your little cult. I bet you did this. Put the camera there. Sent the e-mail yourself.”
“Coach, you and I both know that that’s ridiculous.”
“The only thing that’s ridiculous is the fact that all of my work is going to go down the drain because of this trash.” Picking up the photos off her desk, she gripped them tight, crushing the pages.
Dani bit the insides of her cheeks, hard. How could someone be this paranoid? This blind?
“What makes you so scared of the truth?” Dani asked boldly. “That’s one of your players. And when she finds out what’s happened, she’s going to be crushed. Don’t you care? Aren’t you concerned about her at all?”
“I’m concerned about the big picture,” the coach said.
“You’re concerned about yourself.”
They stood, facing once another across her desk, refusing to blink.
“You’re dismissed.”
Dani turned to leave. She took a halting step, feeling a surge of pain.
“And you can forget about being captain,” the coach said, then lifted her chin toward Dani’s hip. “That is, if you can even play anymore.”
LATE THAT EVENING, Dani sat next to Hannah on her bed, the two of them poring over the photos. By this point, every male on campus had received the zip file, of that much Dani was certain. It was only a matter of time before the women on campus started to get wind of the fact that naked photos of a female cadet were being passed around like common pornography.
“We have to tell her,” Dani said to Hannah. “Before we do anything else. We have to tell her.”
Hannah shook her head and groaned. “This isn’t going to go well at all.”
“Where is she?” asked Dani.
“I don’t know. I never know.”
“Well then, let’s go to her room. We’ll wait.”
WEST POINT ALMA MATER
*
Hail Alma Mater dear, to us be ever near Help us thy honor bear, through all the years.
Let duty be well performed Honor be e’er untarned Country be ever armed, West Point, by thee.
Guide us, they sons aright, teach us by day by night, To keep thine honor bright, for thee to fight.
When we depart from thee, Serving on land or sea, May we still loyal be, West Point, to thee.
And when our work is done, our course on earth is run May it be said, “Well Done, Be Thou at Peace.”
E’er may that line of gray Increase from day to day Live, serve and die we pray, West Point, for thee.
Between
Three Months After Graduation
Fall 2004
11
Summer 2004 // Fort Bragg, North Carolina
Avery woke up naked in bed with a twenty-six-year-old enlisted soldier named Josh Ramirez. Pushing a white-blond hair off her face, she stared at the Tilt-A-Whirl ceiling, wondering how much she’d had to drink the night before. She’d lost count somewhere around her seventh gin and tonic. A heavy arm fell across her stomach and a face covered in day-old stubble nuzzled her neck. Avery sighed loudly. It was time for Josh to leave.
“What’s your exit strategy?” she asked.
The man kissed her neck and traced his fingers across her hip. “I was hoping for seconds,” he mumbled into her ear.
Avery wrapped the scratchy comforter she’d bought at Target over her chest. “Well, that’s too bad,” she said. “Because I was hoping for breakfast.”
She kissed him on the cheek, then turned to put her feet on the floor. The air mattress had partially deflated overnight, making it awkward for her to stand. Fighting the headache already building behind her eyes, Avery slipped into a robe and then walked out the door into the hallway, where she let out a silent scream and stamped her feet.
She couldn’t believe Josh was still in her bed! It was Sunday, for Christ’s sake. At the beginning of their relationship—if you could even call it a relationship—they’d agreed to one rule. One rule! No one stays over; no one gets caught. How hard was that for him to understand?
When she’d moved into her Army quarters four weeks ago, she hadn’t considered that living across the street from another second lieutenant could make life so painfully awkward. Living on post meant that she was close to work, and could wake up at 0550 and still be at PT by 0600 every morning. But now, Avery deeply regretted her choice to live among her coworkers. As a part of the Signal Corps, she planned wartime communication strategies with her neighbor Lieutenant Erik Jenkins during the day, and waved to his twenty-three-year-old wife from the opposite kitchen window at night. There was no way Josh would leave undetected. Did he realize that her reputation was on the line? If someone saw her, an officer, with him, a first sergeant, it could mean the end of her career.