Naturally, Coach and Madeline were already there, along with the rest of the team. His eyes met mine. There was no sorrow in his gaze or any impression that he had something on his mind. My heart fluttered when my eyes drifted to his left hand and caught sight of the flashing platinum band. That ring was going to be the death of me. My stomach roiled like crashing waves as the feelings I’d kept at bay tried to emerge.
"Ladies, you have a meet this weekend." Coach clapped his hands, regaining my attention. "A very important one. Let us start off with stretching and then running two miles. I want you to hop straight into warm-ups. We will work floor and beam for the first part, and bars and vault the second half of the day."
He and Madeline stayed off to the side where they chatted and jotted stuff down in her notebook while we stretched for thirty minutes. Once warm-ups were finished, the team walked back into the locker room and the coaches went their separate ways. We pulled on shorts and slipped on running shoes, took a few sips of water, then made sure our hair was tight in ponytails. As I shoved my duffle bag into my locker, I felt the sharp corner of something lodged inside. Leaning in, I slid my bag aside and saw a familiar silver spiral.
Rage instantly boiled inside of my veins at the sight of our notebook. My locker was a disaster and needed to be cleaned so I hadn't noticed it in there the first time, but now that I had, I wanted to shred it with my teeth. How dare he put this in here. If he thought I was going to write my feelings in this dumb book after what he’d done, he had another thing coming.
I slammed the door shut and turned around to lean against it. Folding my arms across my chest, I dug my nails into my skin. I was furious. He thought he could write down a few heartfelt apologies and all would be forgiven. He was delusional if he thought I would accept a few fake diary entries. We were through. There would be no more Kova and Ria. That ship had fucking sailed the Atlantic and sank next to the rotting Titanic when he decided to get married behind my back.
Holly and Sarah were giggling and talking when Reagan sidled up next to me. I watched the way Hayden's twin walked out of the room, wondering what she’d done that caused the no dating rule to go into effect. Hayden wouldn't tell me, and neither would Kova, but I was going to make it my mission to find out.
"I'll meet you outside. Is that cool?"
Reagan studied me for a moment, then nodded her head before walking out of the locker room.
Once I was sure they had left the building, I reopened my locker and yanked the book out, then marched my way to Kova’s office. When I got closer, I heard him speaking in Russian.
He was on the phone with his wife.
Without knocking, I threw open his office door. Kova sat behind his desk with the phone pressed to his ear. He didn't have time to react. With as much force as I could gather, I chucked the notebook at him, aiming for his fucking head. I was terrible at throwing a ball, so I didn't expect it to hit him. I closed the door quickly, hearing him curse a few times, then I jogged outside.
"Why is there a no dating rule?" I blurted to Reagan when I caught up to her, but not loud enough for anyone else to hear. She glanced at me, then looked straight ahead, her brows bunched together as we walked side by side until we reached the track. "What did Holly do, and why is it such a secret? Do you know?"
"I don't know," she said.
"Don't bullshit me, Reagan. I have a feeling you know since you've been spending extra time with Hayden." She didn't miss my double meaning as she tripped over her footing and shot me a crazed, aggravated look.
A small smirk tipped my lips, but it wasn't malicious. I wanted her to know that I knew about her little secret, but not that I would do anything with it. I'd never throw someone under the bus like that, but it was nice to have it in my pocket.
Before she could speak, I said, "Don't worry. Your secret's safe with me. I think we both know by now I'm like a vault anyway."
Reagan chewed her bottom lip and glanced away. She stayed quiet until we reached the track. Our feet picked up simultaneously and we jogged next to each other.
"Why do you care?" she asked.
"I'm curious."
We’d completed one lap when Reagan finally said, "I don't know. I've asked both Hayden and Holly and they're very tight-lipped about it. They refuse to tell me anything. Eventually I gave up because I honestly don’t give a shit. I’m just nosy."
We completed another two laps. My head spun and the overthinking exhausted me. "What could it possibly be?"
"I don't know. It could be anything, really. You know how Kova gets. He can be a Nazi and his word is law, so who knows. It could be something big or something small. I mean, if you mess with his OCD schedule, and waste his time, he gets pissy. So who can tell with that guy. He's so hormonal, I swear."
This time I laughed. "Yeah, he totally is."
"I do remember Holly crying a lot and then missing practice for a few weeks. It was…" I glanced at her as she looked up toward the sky and squinted. "I would say no less than a year before you came to World Cup, but definitely over six months."
"She missed practice for a few weeks?" I was truly shocked she was allowed to miss so much time and still train afterward.
"It was also around the time another coach was fired unexpectedly. I was happy he was kicked to the curb. I couldn't stand him."
"Why?" I asked.
"Why what?"
"Why couldn't you stand him?"