Chapter 2
Sara and Alexis got home late that night. Alex had told her sister what happened when they we're in the car. Sara was proud of how she handled it but Alex was hardly proud. She didn't like being told what to do, especially by a jerk like Jackson. Sara understood her frustration. Mrs. Flemm wasn't exactly fun that day either. They decided to go out for dinner and desert. Sara had talked about how the rest of her day went and Alex asked her sister about dropping Industrial tech again, but to no avail. They had got home at ten and after taking a shower Alex went to bed. Sara took a warm bath before she went to bed but thought about Alex. She was really worried about her. She wasn't as hotheaded as she used to be, but after reform school Alexis lost some of her freedom. She was afraid. One day Sara went to visit Alex at her reform school. She looked beat up and tired but she had only been there a week. Alex said she was fine but Sara could tell that wasn't the truth. Alex wasn't one for opening up, but that night she told Sara about something that was worrying her. She had told Sara that when she got really angry that she couldn't think straight. Some of the things she did was out of blind fury. Her first week at the reform school was rough. She didn't want to be there at all. She started some fights and back talked all the group leaders. She didn't do drills so she was stuck on clean up. But when she did those things she felt… relieved. A part of her wanted to be in trouble and be bad. She liked hurting people and she didn't care about the consequences. Sara wasn't sure what to say to Alex but she told her that she would visit more and that she should try to follow the rules. She got better but she wasn't the same. She would find a way to fix that in the morning.
Sara and Alexis got to school early the next morning. Alexis didn't like it but she needed to find her locker. On their way into the school Alexis heard a familiar voice call her name.
"Alex!"
"I wonder who that could be?" said Alex
Stiles had caught up to her and Sara. He was carrying a large sports bag over his shoulder and was decked out in some kind of gear.
"Hey, why'd you take off so fast yesterday?"
"Hey Stiles. Jackson had pissed me off ."
"Aha. Yeah that's kind of his forté."
" I'll say. Where's your wing man and what's the bag for?"
"Oh we have lacrosse practice this morning. And after school. Which sucks." Stiles looked at Sara, she had laughed at him and was giving him a friendly smile. He returned one back.
" Lacrosse? You mean like, the game with the sticks?" Alex said sarcastically.
"Yes, but it's a very aggressive sport. I probably get more contact than an NFL linebacker. Hey, uh, is this the lovely sister you've told me about?" Stiles said with a smile.
"Oh, well aren't you sweet! Hi Stiles, I'm Sara. I've heard a lot about you." Sara put her hand out to Stiles for him to shake. Stiles shook her hand but held onto it.
"You have? Well, I have hardly heard a thing about you! Like how beautiful you are!"
Is he serious?, Alex thought to herself. He is really hitting on my sister!
"Well that's nice of you," Sara said while easing her hand out of Stile's, "So you play lacrosse?"
"Yeah, it's dangerous sometimes. You never know when your gonna take a hit and not get up. But that's the price of it." At this point Stiles had put his hand on his waist, stood straighter and stuck his chest out a little bit.
Really. Alex rolled her eyes.
"That's nice Stiles, who's your coach?"
"Oh, uh, Coach Finstock. He's the economics teacher too. Yeah, he works us really hard in practice, but it pays off. You can't see it but underneath this jersey, there's a little six pack action going on."
"Oh gees Stiles would you look at the time! You probably should get to practice!" said Alex. This was getting a little out of hand.
"Well wait Alex, I just have a couple more questions to ask him. Who handles your equipment during your games?"
"Oh we just carry our stuff. It takes a while to load though."
"So, you don't have like a manager or anything to help out?"
"No."
"Hmm. Interesting. Thank you Stiles, I'm sorry to have taken your time."
"Don't worry about it. I kind of hold the team together so they wouldn't start practice without me."
"Okay Stiles. I'll see you in class!" Alex says and pats Stiles on the back. Hard.
"Oww! I'm going, I'm going! It was nice to meet you Sara!"
"Same here Stiles!" Sara waved goodbye.
"Well that's Stiles for you."
"He's… different. You to will be good friends."
"I hope so. What where all the questions for?"
"No reason. He was gripping my hand kind of tight, so I was trying to change the subject."
"Oh, sorry. Yeah, he may have a little crush on you."
"What! Alex!"
"Well I should go find my locker! This school is big, who knows where it might be!" Alex walks down the hallway and around the corner.
"This girl is gonna drive me insane." Sara says with a sigh. She walks into the main office then into hers and sets her suitcase down on her desk. Right as Sara is about to sit down, Mrs. Flemm comes to her door.
"Miss Jones, I'm glad you're here. I have some more files for you to look over. And you have some appointments with a few students today. I have the slips right here."
Sara collected the stack of papers and slips from Mrs. Flemm. "Thank you Mrs. Flemm, I'll take care of these right away."
"I assume you will. I'll leave you to your work." Mrs. Flemm turned to walk to her desk.
"Thank you. Oh wait a minute!"
"What is it Miss Jones! I have work to do as well you know?."
"I know, I just needed to know something."
"Yes."
"I just wanted to know, um, well, do you know when Mr. Finstock's prep period is?"
Mrs. Flemm looked confused. "Why in the world would you need to know that?"
"Well I heard he coaches the lacrosse team, but they don't have a manager."
"And you want to be the manager? I don't think you would get paid extra for that."
"No, that's not what I was getting at Mrs. Flemm. I thought I would ask him if Alex could be manager."
Mrs. Flemm raised her eyebrow, something she was accustomed to since the two had gotten there.
"Huh, you want Alexis to be manager? Miss Jones, if I we're you I'd bury that thought right now. Mr. Finstock is a very particular man. I don't think he would find Alexis suited for the job."
"Mrs. Flemm I understand that Alex's previous history could conflict with this but I'm trying to make sure she doesn't… open old wounds, so to speak. Trouble tends to follow her and I want to make sure she'll stay away from it this time."
Mrs. Flemm mulled this over. "Fourth period is his lunch. But Miss Jones, I would advise you not to get your hopes up. He is a very particular and somewhat brash. I should know. We dated for some time awhile ago. But no matter, I'll leave you to your work." Mrs. Flemm closed the door and walked to her desk.
Sara was pleased to see a nicer side of Mrs. Flemm. She would have to thank her later. Sara set down the papers and sat down at her desk. She turned her computer on and waited for the log on page to come up. Then Sara thought about something.
"Wait a minute? Mrs. Flemm. Isn't she married?"
When fourth period came Sara made her way to the economics room. When she got there the door was closed but she could see a man with his feet propped up on a teachers desk eating Chinese take out through a window on the door. His back faced the door and she could see he was watching a lacrosse video on an old T.V. Sara lightly knocked on the door and waited for his response.
"Yeah, what do you want!" He shouted without looking away from the T.V.
Sara jumped a little because she hadn't expected him to be so loud. She wasn't sure she should come in or not so she just opened the door slightly and poked her head into the room.
"Your Coach Finstock right?"
"That's what they call me. What is it?" He didn't turn around.
Sara made her way into the room and left the door cracked.
"I'm Miss Jones, the new counselor for the school? I wanted to know if you may need a manager for the lacrosse team."
"What for?" he was still turned around.
"Well, a manager could check inventory, keep stats, help with equipment, or help the coach and-
"Stop. Why do you want to be manager?"
"Well it's not me, sir, it's my sister. I'm worried she'll get into trouble if she doesn't have something to do and I thought this could benefit the all of us…. You'd be doing me a big favor."
Coach Finstock put his food down and took his feet off his desk. He paused the T.V. and turned around in his chair.
"And why do I need to do you a- whoa…" When Coach Finstock turned around his jaw dropped.
"What? What's wrong?" Sara wasn't sure what he was looking at but wiped away any possible particle that might be on her blouse or pencil skirt.
"Uh nothing, I uh, hmm," he was clearing his throat. " I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be rude, I just, uh, you are very pretty."
"Oh. Thank you? About Alex?" She looked at her outfit and noticed it may be a little provocative for a school counselor.
"Oh yes, uh, yeah it's fine with me I just need to see how her academics are and some other information then she'll be good to go. Just come by the coaches office later." Coach Finstock stood up and crossed his arms.
"Oh. Of course, I'll be sure to get those to you. When can she start?"
"Today. Right after school. That way she can get to know the players."
"Thank you very much Coach Finstock. I really appreciate it!" Sara extended her hand out for him to shake.
"My pleasure, and please," He shook her hand and gave it a squeeze. "Call me Bobby." he grinned at her then let go of her hand.
"Um, thank you…Bobby. I'm gonna go now." Sara went to the door.
"I'll see you later then."
"Mmhmm." With that Sara quickly slipped out the door and thought to her self 'that was too weird'.
When lunch came, Sara was anxious to tell Alex about the management position, but was nervous that Coach Finstock would refuse due to her past. When Alex came to the office she stood in the door way.
"Hey, I can't stay, I told Stiles and Scott I would sit with them today. I just came to tell you."
"Ok, that's fine, but can I talk to you for a sec Alex?"
"What's up?" she was about to head out the door.
"I made plans for you after school."
"Really? What plans?" Alex said with a little excitement.
"Well, let's just say that you, Alexis Jones, are the new manager for the lacrosse team!" Sara had a huge smile on her face.
"Er…What?"
"Yeah! Well it's not official yet but I'm sure Coach Finstock will agree when I explain some things to him."
"…Why?" Alex said.
"Why what?"
"Why! Sara, WHY in the world do I need to be managing a lacrosse team! Or anything for that matter!" Alex threw her hands up in the air then dropped them down again.
"Alex, calm down! I just thought It would be a good experience for you, that's all."
"Uh huh, You just think I'm gonna start getting in trouble again don't you? What is it Sara you don't trust me?"
"Alex, it's not that I don't trust you, I just think you need an outlet. After school activities will give you something to focus on and keep you busy. Just give it a chance. You get to be around a lot of boys.." Sara said trying appease Alex.
"Hmm, I would think you'd have a problem with me being around 'a lot of boys'." Alex said sarcastically.
"You'll be fine, because you know what? I trust you."
Alex thought about this. She knew her sister was only trying to help her though she didn't think any of this was the answer. But she agreed.
"Alright, but if I end up pregnant we know who's fault it is." Alex said while leaving the doorway.
"I'll be sure to sue Trojan for their faulty marketing then." Sara said
"Ha! Bye!" And Alex left the office.
Later, when the bell rang to end school, Sara gathered all of the paper's she needed for Alex to give to Coach Finstock. She was still worried that he wouldn't except Alex but she was prepared to do whatever it took. The only sport Alex really liked to do was track but that was out of season.
Alex came stomping into the office and looked very upset.
"I can't do it. I refuse to now!" she said loudly
"Why? What happened?"
"I told Stiles and Scott about the managing thing in chemistry and Stiles was like 'Really? Are you sure about that?' and I was like 'Why not? I get to boss you guys around some.' Then Stiles tells me that JACKSON is the FREAKING lacrosse CAPTAIN! I cannot believe this shit!" Alex says exasperated.
"Alex, tone it down okay? It's not that bad."
"Not that bad! I… HATE… HIM!"
"Alex? Breathe. Think about this, he'll be on the field most of the time, so you'll barely talk to him. If that doesn't help… you'll just have to get over it and squash whatever beef you have with him because you said you would do this. For me, your only sister that cares about you very much." Sara gave Alex puppy dog eyes. Alex tried to resist by looking away, but Sara prodded her with 'please?' and 'pretty please?' and finally, 'I'll take you shopping?'. And within an instant they were on their to Coach Finstock's office.
When they got to the Coaches office, Sara knocked on the door and a loud voice said to come in.
"Alex, could you wait out here?"
"I guess. I'll just listen to some music. But we're just wasting our time because he's gonna say no." she pulled out her phone and plugged her ear buds into it.
"You don't know that!"
"Whatever. They always say no nowadays."
Sara sighed and entered the room. "Coach Finstock?"
He looked up from his desk. When he seen Sara a smile grew on his face.
"Miss Jones, you can call me Bobby, please."
"Oh, well then, … Bobby… I have Alex's paper's."
"Good I'll take a quick look at those right now." He looked quizzically at the papers. "Grades are good." he said still looking at the papers. He looked through them quickly but one paper seemed to stop him short. The last paper, Sara knew, contained information about Alex's misconduct from her last school.
"Um, Miss Jones, I'm not sure I can-
"Coach Finstock, I know what it looks like but Alex is a changed young woman, and her past tends to be a burden on a lot of the things she does but she needs this. And I am prepared to do anything to have her get on the team."
Coach Finstock raises an eyebrow and smirks. "Anything, huh?"
Sara quickly rethought this. "Well not in the literal sense of the word, just anything reasonable to your standards that… won't get us fired."
"Hmm, okay. How about a date?"
"What? A date?"
"Uh, yeah. As in you and I get together sometime and go out for dinner. You know, like a date?"
"I understand the term Coach Finstock, I just don't know if-
"If not I'm not sure what else I could do. It's all I have to offer."
Sara didn't want to screw this up for Alex but this was too much. Way too much. This wasn't worth it. She could always find something else for Alex to do. Anything else! She didn't let it show but the thought of having to be on a date with this man gave her a chill. This was blackmail! She couldn't go through with this! She refused. She denied. She-
"Miss Jones? I do have a practice to get to with or with or without your sister."
She didn't have a choice.
"Come on. I'll walk with you to the field." Sara said to Alex on her way out of Coach Finstock's office.
She began walking towards the nearest exit.
"What! What do you mean? He said yes!" Alex turned her music off.
"Yeah. We should hurry though he said he want's you down there now." Sara had little enthusiasm in her voice.
"He said yes? Wait, what's the catch? Because there's no way he just agreed to let me be manager."
"Alex, there's no catch! At least not for you anyway." Sara tried to say the last part under her breath. But her sister had heard her.
"What do mean there's no catch for me? Sara what did you do?"
"It's nothing Alex. I… I just have a date next Friday."
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