The Offer (Haruchai and Hummingbird)

[hummingbird]

There was something altogether weird about sitting in the office, even as a senior, it didn't matter where you stood legally, if you were a student you were a kid and that was how the teachers saw you, there were always one or two that put some effort into treating their students like adults but it was only for show, they were the authority in the classroom and had no problem letting anyone know it when they were provoked enough. Councilor Davies was bad for that, for trying to act like the students that sat in his office were adults, but the way he'd talk undid the whole illusion, he always tried so hard to sound calm, to keep his voice deep and soothing, and acted like he had all the answers to the mysteries of life, used armchair psychobabble buzzwords like validation, projection and defense mechanism.

He loved to put students under his microscope too, to over-analyze, judge, pigeonhole and diagnose everything they did, nervous about an upcoming exam? You're suffering from anxiety, here are a few exercises to help with that, bored in class? You've got ADHD, here are a few exercises to help with that, sad? Depression! And here are a few exercises to help with that. Rosie wondered what exercises he'd suggest to keep her from getting into a fight in the middle of a game and costing her team it's second loss that season, what he'd suggest that'd make Coach K's raging fury burn any less, if Councilor Davies would have some breathing exercises he'd tell her to do and supposedly save her from the firestorm she was going to walk into when she got home.

When he finally came out to fetch her he had a stone cold expression plastered on his pudgy face and was toweling his glistening brow off with paper towel.

"Well Miss Tavares--" he said and eyed the ice she was holding over the knuckles of her right hand, "You really blew it." he said and shook his head at her, threw the paper towel into the secretary's wastebasket and took in a deep breath.

"You're off the team." he said matter-of-factly and Rosie's brows shot up as a brick of disbelief fell through her, "And you're done with basketball with the Spartans."

"Wh--wait, cos-cos of that?" Rosie asked and couldn't stop tears from welling up in her eyes, angrily slapped them away and stood, "You can't do that!" she shouted desperately but his stern expression didn't soften.

"You savagely attacked a seventeen year old girl, what did you think was going to happen?" he asked and made himself emotionally inaccessible by crossing his arms over his chest, raised his chin, made her feel small, pathetic and helpless.

"I don't know--" Rosie said, her voice cracking, "That I'd be suspended for a few days or something?"

"You are suspended." he shot back, unphased by her gasping, pleading sobbing, "But you're not getting a holiday, you'll be serving your suspension here in school with Coach K." he said, pointing at the ground between them.

"Does he know about this? He can't, he'd never let--" she said quickly but Councilor Davies cut her short.

"He's been told." he said as if that was an end to it but Rosie wasn't having it, parted her lips to argue but he didn't let her, held up his hand, "And so has your worker." he said and Rosie felt sick, lost all the color in her face.

"Oh my God, why? What if he kicks me out?" she asked urgently but he only shrugged at her, said she should have thought about consequences like that before she lost her temper.

"You can't be serious!" she yelled, "They'll put me on the street!" she screamed and he held up his hands, told her to calm down.

"Hit the showers Rosie." he said coldly, "Before you make this worse for yourself." he said and stared her down for a moment before he took a few steps back and returned to his office.

Rosie ran her hands through her pixie short black hair and pulled, looked at all the faces of the faculty and a handful of students that had overheard everything and felt herself spinning, grabbed her ice and ran.

"Pix!" she heard Dylan, her boyfriend, yell after her when she came flying out of the office but didn't stop, ran to the ladies locker room where her things were and found the rest of her team long gone.

Given a moment of privacy she let the full extent of her grief hit, felt it wind her, make her gasp for air like she was drowning, made her knees weak and her legs tremble, forced her to sit down on the lengthy benches between the orange lockers and clutch at her heaving stomach. She didn't fight the sick feeling that returned and coughed up bile, spat it out onto the floor and rubbed her mucus saturated nose on her arm, snorted and made herself choke, the coughing spurt hurt and made her cry out, her voice sounded broken, like she had swallowed razor blades.

She heard a knock from outside and knew it was Dylan, screeched for him to go away and drew her legs up, smothered her mess of a face into them to try and hide her wailing but heard the knock again and hugged her legs so tight it hurt, prayed he'd get the hint and leave her alone; he had to know they were done, had to, she was done too, everything was, absolutely everything.

 

[Haruchai]

Elliot Kramer, affectionately known as Coach K, or just K, was the head coach of the Spartans. In the last five years he'd led the team to several State Championships, and he was well loved by the students and his players. Known as one of the 'cool' teachers, K was a huge motorcycle enthusiast, owning several bikes and riding them to school. Even giving students rides if need be.

K was a man with a strong work ethic, and a definite path was followed on his way to success. He took care of his players, and one of his best was Rosie Tavares. A lovely young woman, there had been a few times he'd had to pull some strings to keep her on the team, but he didn't mind.

This time might be different though.

K wasn't sure what had started the kerfluffle, but Rosie and another girl had some sort of physical altercation. Then that fat-fuck Davies had come to his office with that smarmy grin of his and told him that Rosie was going to be suspended, off the team, and blowing her chance at any sort of scholarship. K had been more surprised by the man's bravado than anything else. A good strong word from K and Davies big ol' nuts would shrink to the size of chick-peas... but K had been caught by surprise and he had to admit that Davies had some pull. He was a well liked counselor by the other faculty, even if most of the students and K himself could see through his facade.

After Davies had left he sat in his battered old chair and just laughed. What else was he supposed to do? He'd called in all his favors for Rosie already, and he wasn't sure what the hell to do now. If they suspended her, which they most assuredly had, then keeping her on the team was going to be difficult. Not impossible, but difficult. The home she lived in, that fucked up halfway house or whatever it was, was sure to kick her out if they learned she was suspended. The lady who ran the place, Mary Williams, was a shrew. He'd seen the way she treated Rosie, and though she'd swear up and down she wasn't racist, the girl's mixed heritage pulled on her nerves. More than once he'd heard her mutter about 'that half nigger girl' under her breath.

As he turned over the problem in his head, K heard the locker room door open and shut, the one on the girl's side. Dylan, her boyfriend, had followed, and she yelled for him to go away. The CCTV showed K that the boy eventually did wander off, and that Rosie was still on the bench. K would let her cry herself out a bit, and when she would slowly, inevitably, start to leave, K would call her to his office.

"Pixie, come in here and sit down a minute." he said to her softly, beckoning her to his open door.

 

[hummingbird]

It was a while before Rosie was together enough to get out of her team uniform for what she felt was the final time and wash the sweat of her last game with the Spartans away, and longer still until she was dressed and leaving the ladies locker room, so long it turned out that night had fallen and most of the school had been shut down. She looked to where the old payphones had once stood by the rear exit and longed for them to be there, she didn't dare have a cellphone, something that extravagant was too tempting a thing to get gutted over in the group home she lived in, and Carol, the point guard to Rosie's shooting guard, that always let her use her cell had long since bounced leaving Rosie unable to call home and see if she even had one to go to.

Rosie took her very large, white-rimmed sunglasses off and tucked them into her hoodie pocket, bowed her head and began to slowly meander toward the door when she heard Coach K call out for her from his office, she knew he was looking to go off on her for messing up so badly and didn't need to be dragged across the coals right away, if anything she needed a kind word, a hug and a nice big glass of ice cold Coke. She couldn't very well run from him however and pulled the over-sized hood of her hoodie down, took off her sideways Bulls hat and held it at her chest like a kind of shield as she went in with her eyes down and her head low.

"I'm sorry Coach--" she said quietly and shook her head, didn't give him her red, tired and hurting eyes, "I screwed up pretty bad and I'm sorry." she said and felt herself starting again, sniffled and rubbed her nose then her eyes, she wasn't going to cry in front of Coach K, that just wasn't done, there weren't any tears in basketball, he had yelled that at her and the rest of the team a hundred times.

"Can I just--?" she started to ask and anxiously folded the bill of her hat, shrugged a shoulder, "Can we just not do this today?" she pleaded and finally found enough strength to brave his gaze, "Please?"

 

[Haruchai]

Coach K could tell immediately by Pixie's body language that she was simply not up for this today, and yet, he had to speak to her. There was no other choice. She soon stood before him, eyes cast downward, and he felt a pang of sympathy. Then, on a whim, he stepped toward her and wrapped his arms around her.

"It's going to be ok." he told her softly, his hands rubbing her back as he gave her a squeeze. His head tilted down a bit and he closed his eyes as he breathed in the smell of her. She smelled so... good.

Coach K, unbeknownst to his players and students, was a pervy fuck. He'd rigged up a few things to some of the CCTV's in the locker room. They were placed for safety, and to cut down on theft. Sneaking firearms into schools was a real thing now, but K recorded some of the more risque activity and had his favorites on the team.

"There's nothing to be sorry for sweetie. But I do need to talk to you." he said, his tone changing just a little as he let go of her and stepped back, gesturing once more to the chair for her to sit. Letting go of her he walked behind the desk and sat in his own chair.

"I got a call from Mrs. Williams. The school is obligated to contact any guardian in the event of a suspension, and so... she knows. As a condition of your continued use of the group home, you must be enrolled and actively attending school. I don't think she ever liked you very much, and she's already said in no uncertain terms that you need to go and collect your things." K said, his voice full of sympathy.

"But, I have an offer to make you, and this has to stay between us, or else I could lose my job. My place is available to you if you want, and I hope you'll take me up on the offer. At least for tonight. It's late enough that I'm not sure other player's family's would take you in, especially by the time we go grab your things. Luckily I drove my truck today, so if you're willing we can go get your stuff and get you over to my place. Maybe order a pizza or something." he told her.

It was a Friday, which meant that any imposition on other players would at least be for the weekend, and her suspension was for two weeks. The next fourteen days at least, she needed a place to stay. Coach K didn't mind making the offer at all.

 

[hummingbird]

Rosie stiffened when Coach K enveloped her in a warm, affectionate hug and very nearly went with her knee jerk reaction, which would have been just that, a jerk of her knee, but this was her Coach, one of the only actual adults in her life to ever make her feel like she was worth something, like she was good at something, great even, special. It took her a moment to reciprocate but she did, she wrapped her arms beneath his and pressed her cheek into the warmth of his chest, closed her eyes and let herself drift, held aloft by the strength of his embrace, felt him breath her in and didn't know what to make of that but when he let her go, forcing her to stand on her own again, she felt somewhat abandoned and very sincerely wished he hadn't let go.

"But I made us forfeit." she argued when he told her she didn't need to be sorry for anything, "Over a boy--" she said and shook her head, got an ugly, bitter look on her face, "A fuckin' dumbshit boy." she said and lost that distasteful expression, frowned and ran her hand through her still wet hair, felt her lip tremble, felt her eyes begin to betray her again and pulled her Bulls hat back on, didn't yank it to one side like she always did, hid under the bill and held her head low.

"I know she knows, Councilor Davies said--" she croaked when Coach K told her Mrs. Williams, her worker, knew about everything that had gone down but stopped cold when he told her Mrs. Williams had said she needed to collect her things when she got home, that she was being thrown out for not being actively enrolled in school, lifted her head and forgot about hiding her bloodshot, stinging, crying eyes, gave Coach K the full brunt of her grief and disbelief.

"But--" Rosie said and shook her head, "But I'm going to be serving my detention here!" she shouted and put both hands on her head, swore loudly and fell into the chair in front of Coach K's desk, didn't care about crying in front of him anymore, her life was ending all at once and there wasn't anything she could do, first her game, then her scholarship and now her home?

It was all too much and she was on the verge of straight up bolting when Coach K offered to put her up for the night but asked she kept it on the down low for the sake of his job, stared a little dumbfounded into his sympathetic brown eyes and didn't know what to say, he kept on, told her he had his truck and could help her get her shit, said he'd order a pizza and for whatever reason she asked if they could get some Coke too, like she was going to take him up on his offer.

"I mean the drink, not blow--" she croaked to clarify, and rubbed at her tears, wiped her hands off on her skinny, thigh hugging jeans, ran her hands up into her hair and bent inward briefly, sat up and shook her head, "Sorry--"

"That's stupid--" she said and slid her hands to the back of her head, tugged at the nape of her lengthy, narrow neck and held her head low, "I'm stupid--" she said quietly and closed her eyes so tight it hurt, let her hands fall down between her legs and sat back defeated, stared down at Coach K's brass name plate and saw herself, held her own gaze and after a silent few moments slowly nodded, pulled her eyes back up to meet his.

"Yeah, uh--" she said and sat up, "I'd um, I'd like that--" she said and worried at her lip for a moment that he wasn't being real with her, didn't ask cos she was scared he'd retract his offer and leave her to spend the night in a shelter or something with only the things she could carry.

"Could you maybe come in with me when we get to the house?" she asked, pushing her luck, "She's going to bitch me out and--and I don't feel like she'd be as bad if you were there." Rosie said, meaning Mrs. Williams, "If she even lets me in, last girl that got the kick came home to find all her shit in the lawn in black bags."

 

[Haruchai]

Coach K had a little chuckle. "They're all dumbshit boys. What you need is a man. But tat is a conversation for another day. For right now we need to get you someplace warm and safe for the time being. I can't have my best girl staying in some shelter." he told her.

He'd called her that sometimes, his 'best girl', and the simple fact that he was taking her into his home only seemed to reflect that opinion of her. Would he have taken in just any of his players. Maybe. But Pixie was special, and K had, frankly, often dreamt of her in his home. In his bed. In need.

He closed his eyes momentarily and then when he opened them he smiled. "Of course we can get you some Coke. I know you didn't mean the drug, Pix. You've taken all the requisite drug tests, and have never acted like you were on drugs at all. We can stop and grab a couple of 2-liter bottles. Mountain Dew for me, and I won't place the order for the pizza til we're closer to getting to my place." he told her.

Then as she expressed her reservations about getting her things, K nodded. "I know a couple of deputies if it would make you feel more comfortable to have them there too. I'll definitely go with you and make sure Mrs. Williams doesn't give you a hard time. She's a bit of a racist bitch if I say so myself." he said, and by now was starting to stand.

Coming around his desk he reached out to catch her chin and tilt her face upward a bit so he could look at her face. "Keep your chin up Pixie. You're my best girl, and a champ. Don't let a little mistake get you so down." he instructed.

In that moment, with her looking up at him, eyes glassy with tears and the color a little high in her cheeks, she looked so beautiful. There was only one other way he thought she might look even better, but he tried to push those thoughts from his mind.

"C'mon, let's go get your things, grab that food and try to get you settled into a hospitable environment." he said, and rubbed her cheek with the pad of his thumb, marveling at the softness of her skin. But he let his hand drop and held open the door for her before he would start locking up. Luckily he'd driven his truck today and there was plenty of room for her and whatever stuff she might have.

Coach K was even nice enough to get her door for her and help her into the cab. Not that he didn't sneak glances at her curvy backside as she did so, but it was only natural... wasn't it?

Pulling out of the parking lot and heading to the halfway house, K let Pixie play whatever music she wanted on the radio and remained rather quiet. He'd made the cal to the deputies if she'd asked him to, but if not, he was preparing to face down the old bitty, Mrs. Williams.

 

[hummingbird]

A slight smile peaked through Rosie's despair when Coack K called her his best girl, she liked hearing that, had earlier that day when she hit a jump shot from the center circle, and only shrugged when he told her all boys were dumbshits, that she needed to date a man.

"I figure most people her age are." Rosie said with a shrug of her shoulder when Coach K told her Mrs. Williams, her worker, was racist, "Kind of don't even really notice."

When Coach K lifted Rosie's chin and made her gaze up into his eyes her miserable expression began to diminish, to change into a pretty mix of confused captivation, she felt like he had allure hidden in his gaze, a desire for something from her he shouldn't have, and when he tenderly touched her cheek she subtly pulled away. Rosie followed Coach K out to his truck and thanked him for helping her into the cab, put her seatbelt on while he went around to the driver's side and stayed quiet cos he did, texted Jess to see if maybe she could stay with her instead but didn't get a reply, figured Jess was pissed at her for making them forfeit and tried Angie.

cant, sorry pix was all she got back so she tried Leslie, her last hope, and Leslie told her she could hang but couldn't stay the night cos her sister had some friends over for the weekend. Rosie was going to tell her she was going to have to stay with Coach K, that he had given her a weird vibe, but didn't want him to get in trouble cos then she would, she'd had enough drama and was driving into more, told Leslie she'd maybe see her later and left it at that.

After a while the silence between Coach K and herself became uncomfortable, made her worry about how things would be overnight and maybe into the weekend, that maybe she was making a mistake and should just spend a night or two in a shelter until she could hustle enough scratch to get a hotel room or something. Rosie glanced over at him and found his attention on the road, looked out her window and watched him in the reflection, expected to catch him sneaking a glance at her but he didn't, had that hidden look he gave her earlier just been in her head?

Two black, industrial size garbage bags were stacked by the road in front of her group home and Rosie knew they had her shit in them, checked one anyway and found her clothes in it, dug through and found her shoes and other things, figured one of the workers had done it and hadn't helped themselves to anything, quietly lifted one up onto the back of Coach K's truck then the other. She hesitated at the open door of Coach K's truck and looked back at her home, very seriously considered going in and fighting her case but knew Mrs. Williams had gone home for the night and wouldn't be back until Monday morning, that only Janice and Till were on and a decision like that was out of their hands.

Trapped in the crushing consequences of her temper Rosie quietly got back into Coach K's truck and buckled herself in, didn't want to talk or anything so she put her headphones on and let the Weeknd smoothly serenade her during the drive to wherever Coach K took them next, she knew it was rude but it was all she could do to get the alone time she needed. Coach K probably understood anyway and if he really needed to talk to her it wasn't like he couldn't easily get her attention, so she rested her head against the headrest and closed her eyes, sang along with Abel in her mind and tried to make the whole world fall away.