Teacher's Pet

“For the last time – it’s Coach. And no buts!” he snapped. “Off the court, now!”

He turned to me, and his tone softened immediately; it seemed almost like he was feeling guilty about taking me off the court. Nonetheless, he did it.

“You, too, Eryn,” he muttered.

Tammy and I slunk toward the bleachers and sat at opposite ends of the bench next to the court. Now I felt dreadful. I couldn't believe that I'd let myself get drawn into her childishness. She and I didn't say anything to each other, and I didn't even look in her direction, but I could feel her anger burning brightly next to me.

Eventually, the game was over and with it, practice. Coach Vinson sent all the other players off to the showers and then he came over to talk to us. Once again, as he stood in front of the both of us, I couldn't help but notice he had such intense, beautiful eyes – eyes that one could get lost in for days…if they were into that kind of thing.

But I'd been played by a guy exactly like him before. Great looking, charming, cool, athletic – and he'd been a total narcissist and a manipulative, game-playing liar. And Wade Vinson, from what I'd read in gossip mags, wasn't exactly a model citizen. No. It would just not do to look at him that way.

But those eyes, that dark, thick hair, swept so stylishly back, those hard muscles that showed so clearly through his golf shirt…

Stop!

He looked at me first, and then Tammy. “Would you girls like to tell me just what in the hell is going on?” he asked. “Seriously. What was that about on the court there?”

“She started it!” snapped Tammy immediately.

I was about to object, but Wade stepped in before I could.

“Do you think I'm blind, Tammy?

Or maybe just that I'm stupid? I saw you throwing the ball at Eryn or trying to spike it at her face multiple times before she did it to you. Don't try to say that she was the one who started it.”

He then turned to me. “And don't think it means you're off the hook, Eryn. She may have provoked you, but that didn't give you the right to do what you did. When you're out on that court, I expect you to act like professionals, and professionals do not fight on the court. Ever.”

I slumped my shoulders and bowed my head. “I'm sorry, Coach Vinson,” I murmured.

“And, what about you, Tammy?” he asked her. “What do you have to say?”

“I'm sorry,” she whispered, the words crawled out of her mouth like creeping cockroaches.

“Now, whatever the hell is going on between you two sort it out like adults, do you understand? This isn't high school. Don't ever bring these petty squabbles onto my court again. Ever. Do you both understand me?”

“Yes, Coach Vinson,” I replied.

“Understood,” Tammy uttered.

“Good. Now get out of here, and you both better come back to the next practice with a much better attitude than the one you've got now.”

We stood and walked off, keeping a good distance from each other. I looked across at Tammy briefly, and she caught my gaze, responding with a venomous glare. She mouthed the word “bitch” at me. I just shook my head and sighed. I didn't want to descend to her level again.

After I'd showered and cleaned myself up, Leena and I walked to our cars together, chatting along the way. “That was kinda crazy what happened on the court today, huh?” she asked.

“It was,” I replied, “and I'm ashamed that I stooped to Tammy's level and did what I did.”

“She had it coming, though. She was antagonizing you the whole time, and she tried to do the exact same thing to you three times before you finally gave it back to her.”

“Still, it wasn't the right thing to do.”

“I think it was. You have to stand up for yourself, Eryn. You can't let people bully you. I think a lot of us got a great deal of vicarious satisfaction from seeing you give her a bloody nose. She's been a bitch to plenty of the rest of us.”

I sighed. “I just wonder what she has against me. I've never done anything to her.”

“Eryn, you're prettier than she is and you're a better volleyball player. That right there is enough for that petty bitch to hate your guts.”

“Seriously, Lee? I'm not prettier than her. She looks like she could be on the cover of Playboy or something. I don't.”