Hissy Fit (The Southern Gentleman #1)(17)

“You mind if I allow my JV team to play? They need the practice and the reward. We’ll forfeit the game,” I said to the other coach.

He nodded once. “I saw what happened. Brutal but effective.”

I shrugged. I didn’t want to talk about it to be honest.

I also needed to go get Raleigh, but I had three more innings to get through before that happened.

Allowing my JV to play had been a spur of the moment thought. And honestly, they looked excited as hell to be doing it. The bragging rights alone were going to burn for months.

This game, the senior game, was a big deal. It was the last home game that the seniors would ever play in this stadium. The next time they arrived, it would be as a guest, not a player.

I had a feeling that in about forty-five minutes, I’d be hearing it from the superintendent, the principal, as well as almost all of the senior parents.

Yeah, this was going to be fun…not.

***

Raleigh

I hovered next to the exit, standing next to Morgan who was as stiff as a board in his seat.

He did not look happy to have to wait for his ride, and even more, he could hear a few of the girls snickering about what had just happened behind him.

I wanted to throat punch every single one of them.

Though, with both the principal of the high school and the superintendent of the entire district at the game only a few hundred yards away, I was not going to act on my instincts—which was give the girls a piece of my mind.

Instead, I stayed next to Morgan and tried to think of something to say that would make him understand that it was okay.

“In high school,” I said. “The senior class voted me as prom queen. The guy I had a crush on took a girl, my arch nemesis, to the prom. And she went out of her way to spill punch on me and my dress. It wasn’t just a glass of punch, it was the whole punch bowl. She then informed me that the only reason my date asked me was so I’d be there to accept my award. The punch was spur of the moment—but that decision cost me eight hundred dollars that I didn’t have since I was forced to pay for the dress which was a rental. I was made the laughing stock of the school.”

Morgan’s startled gaze met mine.

“I used to have the biggest crush in the world on Coach McDuff,” I told him, seeing his eyes widen more and more as I spoke. “He laughed at me.”

Morgan’s mouth fell open.

“He saw me there, red Kool-Aid dripping down my dress, and he laughed.” I swallowed, remembering as if it were yesterday. “It broke my heart.”

“You should’ve punched him in the junk,” Morgan murmured.

I snorted. “I couldn’t even look at him, Morgan. I don’t think you understand the intensity of my crush.”

And it definitely wasn’t past tense. I saw the moment he understood.

“You still like him?” he asked.

I nodded, and felt the first trickle of blood down the back of my throat, announcing an impending nose bleed.

I groaned and started to search through my purse for a tissue.

“Every single day I do something stupid and embarrassing in front of him,” I told Morgan. “But you know what?”

I pressed the Kleenex to my nose and hoped that it wouldn’t be a bad bleed.

Then again, with it being the middle of spring and the thousands of pollen particles floating through the air, I didn’t have high hopes.

“I went to school and did it all over again the next day.” I paused. “Ezra’s—Coach McDuff’s—entire senior year, I sat behind him in one of my classes. He never once noticed me.”

Morgan’s eyes turned sad.

“I had a crush before this,” he gestured at his body. “I haven’t had the courage to talk to her since.”

I leaned against the chain-link fence and contemplated what I was going to say next. “I know that you think that this is the end of the world…but maybe when you get older, you won’t think the same way. Kids…they can be cruel. I know that something Ezra found funny when he was eighteen isn’t something he finds funny now. He would not laugh if the same thing happened to me now as he would have back then. The same applies to you…kids will be kids…but eventually, they do grow up and get out of that stage where they’re all assholes.”

Morgan snorted. “I’m not sure as a teacher you’re allowed to call kids assholes.”

I shrugged. “If the shoe fits…”

Morgan sighed. “I don’t think my ride’s going to get here any time soon.”

I frowned. “I’d take you home, but I’m fairly sure your wheelchair isn’t going to fit into my Honda.”

Morgan’s lips twitched. “No, I don’t think it’s going to, either. But my grandma will be here…she will just be late.”

“Is that you trying to say that you should go back in and continue to watch the game?” I asked hopefully.

Morgan shrugged. “I guess it won’t hurt.”

I winked at him, then turned to gesture toward the field. “Let’s go.”





Chapter 7


Yuck Fou.

-Text from Raleigh to Ezra

Raleigh

I was a nervous wreck as I was waiting for Ezra to get to his truck after the game had finally finished.