I’d been seeing Dr. Valentine for a while now—it was already October!—and though she’d encouraged me to take deep breaths during our little team “chats,” I still stressed out about them. Maddie had just hit the ball into the net right after I’d hit the last two sets out of bounds, and the rest of my teammates weren’t exactly killing it this practice either. I braced myself for an epic tongue-lashing.Instead, Coach said, “I can tell by your tired play that midterms are this week.”I’d had two today. My biology test had gone okay, but I wasn’t sure about the political science exam.Coach folded his arms across his chest. “Get out of here, go study, and get some rest tonight.”We stood there for a long moment, stupefied, before he jabbed his finger toward the locker room. “Out of here!”I shared a surprised grin with Kaitlyn as we jogged to grab our water bottles.“Lucia.”As I swiveled back to Coach, I gulped. I knew his kindness had been too good to be true.He approached me with his typical hard-set jaw and piercing gaze.
