“Not you. I’m talking to Amanda. I just spent the last five hours listening to your side,” Coach cut him off. Directing the conversation back to me, Coach said, “You were supposed to keep the players in the hotel. Nobody in, nobody out. So I will ask you again. What the hell happened?” Coach was on a warpath. He spat his words through gritted teeth, and his knuckles turned white from how tightly he was gripping the steering wheel.

“I’m sorry, Coach.” I started to try to explain the night’s events. “I, um, stepped inside my room for a moment.”

I tiptoed around referring to Oakley and my room as “our room,” and I did not want to volunteer the details of what exactly was going on inside the room that distracted me from playing warden. Although, the entire team knew what was up, so I was sure it was only a matter of time before Coach found out that Oakley and I were well on our way to bumping bellies instead of babysitting.

“There was a knock on the door and someone was yelling.”

“Kyle, it was Kyle at the door,” Oakley interjected.

“Yes, Kyle was at the door to let us know that Dale had snuck out by taking the back stairs. I honestly don’t even know how long he was gone, because I stayed at my spot near the elevators for most of the night,” I explained.

“Except for when you stepped inside for a minute,” Coach growled.

I sighed and kept explaining. “Kyle told us where Dale went, and well, you know the rest.”

“Yeah, I know that my star player got into a damn fist fight the night before a huge game. Over his publicist. Who was supposed to be keeping the team from getting into any fucking trouble,” he yelled.

We rode in relative silence the rest of the way back to the hotel, the tension-filled quiet only broken by Coach occasionally cursing or mumbling about how his team was full of idiots.

We walked into the hotel lobby all together, and I tried to apologize to the coach one more time.

He turned to look at me and spat, “Pack up and go home. You’re fired.”

I knew this was coming, but it still hurt all the same. “She did nothing wrong. Dale snuck out the fire escape. You can’t hold her responsible for this.”

“I can and I will,” Coach Howard yelled. “She should have called me the exact moment she learned of Dale’s behavior. She absolutely shouldn’t have brought you along. You had scouts today that were going to see you play. And now, according to league rules, I have to bench you for the most important game of the year—fuck—the most important game of your life, Mr. Davis.”