Hey everyone! So I was just thinking that in a couple chapters when I'm writing the Thanksgiving chapter that I may do a couple of flashbacks worked into it to give a glimpse into the years leading up to this point. Or maybe using some flashbacks as openers for some chapters? Let me know what you guys think. If you are interested I may try it out if you like how its structur
I am up and ready two hours before Alison's alarm will be going off. I have got to get a final draft together for my class so I am proofing over my paper one last time before putting it through my personal editor. After the practice that we had I definitely wanted to add some things about how people can be reached and supported and how that can affect the outcome of their abusive situations. I am as happy as I am going to be with it so I leave it open with a note asking Alison to check it over for me. I make her a green smoothie and leave it in the fridge for her. I hate leaving without making her a more elaborate breakfast but I have so much to do before break starts and before the meet tomorrow. Not to mention that I have to study for my math final. I did well on the last test and quiz though so I think that I should be okay. I head out the door with a bagel in my mouth and still zipping my coat.
I head first to my office to reply to and compose what feels like 100,000 emails. I make a call to the Stanford and UCLA scouts and even a few more local colleges who all promise to be there. They obviously all want Grace but I have a few other fairly promising seniors as well. With all of that taken care of I brainstorm some new team building exercises for us to do over break. I still hold practices during break even if they are a bit less physical. Everything seems to be in order here. I leave to go to the library. I get in a solid forty-five minute study session and head in to take the test. I don't have too much trouble and am the fifth person done so it didn't feel too early or too late. I head to my next three classes and stop at the store in between and pick up a copy of The Giving Tree to read to baby girl later. I manage to even grab a few groceries on my way home. When I open the door, Alison is on the couch looking at my paper crying. I drop my bags to the ground and kneel in front of her.
"Baby, what's wrong? Are you okay?" I ask. She grabs my hand nodding.
"I just read your paper." Emotion takes her voice before she can finish. She puts her hand on my chest.
"Your heart, Em. You just have such a pure heart, and I love you so much." Seeing her cry always makes me feel on edge, like I need to fight away whatever evil is making her feel this way. I kiss at her tears and wrap my arms tightly around her. She buries her face into my neck.
"Shh, shh, shh. It's okay." I don't know how else to comfort her.
"This pure heart beats only for you two. I hope you know that." I say kissing her mouth and then her belly. She wipes at her eyes.
"Your ideas are profound, Em. You could really do something with this." She says pointing to the screen.
"I know that I've dedicated all of this time to sports psychology but I have been thinking about doing something different lately." I say lightly, terrified of judgement.
"I will support you no matter what you choose, but honestly Em, I think that you are moving in a different direction too." She agrees.
"It's all so overwhelming." I say laying my head in her lap where she plays with my hair.
"It will be okay. You had a bunch of grants and stuff didn't you? Not to mention the money from our lawsuit against the Rosewood Police Department." She reminds me.
"Yeah, money isn't an issue when it comes to school. I just want to make the right decision. For all of us." I admit, squeezing her hand before walking over to put groceries away.
"It will all come together. It's going to be okay." She says confidently.
"I sure hope so." I breathe out.
She shows me the revisions that she has made to my paper and we discuss it further. I love having her here to help me, plus it feels like old times when we would study together. Her dimples haven't changed a bit since high school. They always seem to come out the most when she smiles at me. We talk about the swim meet and she says she's coming. It will be nice to have her there to calm me down if I get to stressed trying to get to every girl's event. I am so excited though overall. I know we will do well. I know I need to rest up though so we take a relaxing shower together after I read baby girl her bedtime story and sleep skin to skin all night long.
We wake early the next morning and though I am feeling anxious I slept so well that it is certainly taking the edge off for me. I make a huge bowl of fruit salad and a veggie tray to take with us and make Alison some pecan and pumpkin pancakes. She comes out all dressed in crimson and gold and looks so adorable that I have to kiss her over and over.
"Wow, someone is exuberant today." She smiles at me.
"I've just always loved seeing you in my teams colors that's all." I say kissing her more deeply.
"I've always loved being your little cheerleader." She says coyly before heading to the breakfast bar.
She thoroughly enjoys her breakfast and kisses me a thousand times to show me. We grab our bags and our snacks and head out the door. The sports center holding the meet is massive, this is the most important meet before finals. Essentially this is what qualifies us for semi finals. One end has two large pools and there are three smaller ones at the opposite side of the building. All of the girls agreed that they could get rides over there since its fairly close to the school so we could save some money not taking a bus. I find my the majority of my girls and wait for the rest to filter in. I see a car pull up and a lady in a fancy business suit and hairspray stiffened hair steps out still chatting loudly into her phone. Zoey gets out of the passenger side but her mom looks to busy to care. She covers the phone for a moment and turns to Zoey.
"You better make it worth my while to come back here!" She says and gets back in her car and drives away.
"Hey you!" I smile to her and extend my arm to her. I give her I quick side hug hoping to alleviate the sting of her mother's words.
"At least she's coming back right?" She says sadly.
"And, you're going to do great today!" I say straight to her face. She smiles a bit and steps over to say hello to Ali and Grace who have been chatting for awhile.
"Okay ladies, we need to get inside and find a meeting place and then find out where we are all headed. I will try to make it to everyone's events but its a big building and some of you may be going at the same time so I'm sorry if I miss it, I believe in all of you!" I beam at their excited faces and we head inside.
"You don't have to worry about making it to mine Coach Fields. My mom will be there and some girls' parents can't make it." Zoey says hurrying to catch up with me. For some reason her words sting a little.
"You have a big heart Zoey, always thinking of others." I smile to her and she shyly smiles to the ground.
I check us in and get a list of the events and locations. I pass them out to the girls and take a pen and mark down the most efficient way for me to get to everybody's events. One of my sophomores does have an event going during Zoey's so maybe I should just go to hers. I mean I was at both of her events last meet but I know her parents aren't here this time. I add her to the list.
I see the scouts from UCLA are already here so I take Grace over and introduce them. She has them laughing in no time. No one is immune to her charm. They are already wrapped around her finger.
I greet the scouts from Cornell and Villanova and point out my seniors and juniors. They of course want to meet Grace but I spend more time talking up a couple of my other seniors knowing that they want to stay in state. They would be lucky to have any of my girls, and I make sure that they know it.
The first part of the day flies by. The girls have placed in every event so far. I feel bad for the girls who have to enter the pool with Grace. She is at a level far beyond them. There is no competition. I think they all know that they are only really competing for second place. Today is no different, she even beats the record that she set last year. She is going to go places with talent and drive like that. Her events are done for the day so she starts dropping by the last few events that I can't make it to.
I leave Alison at our meeting point to talk to the girls who stop by to grab some snacks and take a break after or between their events. I am at my sophomore Ashley's event and she is doing super well. I still wonder how Zoey is doing but I know that she can do it. I watch that timer stoically glancing occasionally to Ashley in her lane. She's gaining and gaining. Neck and neck with two other swimmers. Come on, Ash.
"Yes, there it is! Look at you!" I can't contain myself as she places second and more importantly beats her own personal best time.
"You did it!" I beam throwing my arms around the girl.
"You got me here coach! I couldn't have done it without you!" She is ecstatic. Over her shoulder I see Grace run in with a worried look.
"Coach!" She shouts waving me over.
"You good here for a bit?" I ask Ashley, not wanting her to feel abandoned.
"Of course, thanks for being here!" She nods.
"What's wrong Grace?" I ask, my brow furrowing with concern.
"Zoey's mom cancelled on her right before she went out. She's devastated." Grace says and my stomach drops.
"Oh no, how did she do?" I ask, hoping that she didn't also do poorly in the pool because I know how hard it would be for her.
"That's the thing, they started her event and she wasn't looking so hot, dead last, but then a swimmer from Northeast tore a muscle and they had to stop the event and are about to restart it." Grace's urgency suddenly makes sense.
"Let's go!" I match her urgency and we take off.
I run through the halls just hoping to get there in time. I grab Alison and a few of the other girls who are finished with their events on the way. Everyone stares at us as we run past them but I don't care. We are all for one. I can see through the windows that the swimmers are about to take their marks as we bust into the gym and make our way towards them. Zoey looks up and freezes for a moment.
"Come on, Zoey! You can do it!" Grace shouts and a small smile creeps onto her face.
"We're here for you, Zoey! We've got you!" Ali yells and I grip her shoulders.
"You've got this!" I yell.
When the announcer calls the swimmers to their marks she bows down with a fierce determination. It is a look I know we'll. The look I used to get when Alison came to one of my meets. The look that Grace gets when the scouts have their eyes on her. It's the look of confidence you get when you know that someone is behind you no matter what, and the look you get when you know you're about to blow everyone else out of the water.
The horn sounds and we are all cheering as Zoey quickly establishes herself in second place. If she knew she was second to start out she would be so mad at herself but she hasn't been watching that senior from Overbrook for the past few years. She is the opposite of Zoey. Her start is unmatched. But, as she keeps going her speed decreases. Zoey just gets more and more into it. She has this in the bag.
"Oh my god, she's going to do it." I hear Grace say beside me.
When she taps that wall the last time, we erupt with applause like I have never heard. You would think that there were fifty of us rather than ten of us. I can't help the tears on my cheeks. Zoey placed first with 1.02 seconds to spare. I'm hugging Grace and jumping up and down and turn and kiss Ali right on the mouth not caring about blowing my cover with the girls anymore. I look to Zoey who looks up at her time and grabs her head in disbelief. She rockets out of the water and points to us. I point back to her as they pull her aside. I feel a hand on my elbow.
"Ms. Fields?" The scout from Cornell leads me away from my group.
"Did you you enjoy the events today?" I ask brightly.
"We did. What can you tell me about Zoey Stephens?" He asks excitedly.
"Oh, you mean my most improved, Overbrook slaying, hardest working freshman? What do you need to know?" We share a laugh and I fill him in on her improvements and work ethic.
"Well, we will be in touch. You let her know that we liked what we saw today though." He smiles and walks away.
After the awards ceremony we all stand outside, Zoey and I just a bit away from the other girls. We are quiet but comfortable. I want to tell her that her mom and dad are wrong for treating her the way that they do. I want to tell her that it isn't her fault. I want to tell her how amazing she is. But, I don't know that she is ready to hear all of that.
"I still can't believe it." She smiles at the gold medal hanging around her neck.
"Well, believe it girl, and get used to it. You are so talented. Don't tell her I said so, but you are even better than Grace was as a freshman." I reveal. She looks at me shocked then looks back to the medal.
"Thank you." She says it with such a depth that I know that she means more than just for what I just said.
I see her mom's car pulling up and she gives me such a quick hug that I wasn't prepared for it. She hops in her mom's car and waves as they pull away. I feel something in my coat pocket then. It is a piece of paper. Alison comes and wraps her arms around my waist then and reads over my shoulder.
"I wish that you and Alison were my parents. You're going to do really well together. That baby is lucky to have you."
I can barely finish reading from the tears in my eyes. I turn to put my hand right on Alison's belly.
"I love you, Shae." I whisper to our daughter.
I figured that just because their friends and family have to wait to find out the name of the baby doesn't mean you guys should too! Shout out to Haleb-Haleb-Haleb for guessing it and to the guest and Hashtag-emison and Drea82581 for almost guessing it with Sasha, you were strangely close haha.
And thank you all for your loyalty and support! I can't wait to read your feedback!