her phone as a light to see what’s inside. Everything is neat and tidy.
“God, he really is anal, isn’t he?” Phoebe calls out across the classroom. Trying to make a joke to cut the tension.
But Mel doesn’t laugh. There’s nothing even remotely funny about this. They’ve come so far tonight, worked their asses off to make things right with Coach and with each other. For nothing. He’s going to completely lose his mind when he finds out what’s happened. And Mel knows she’ll be the one who’ll take the brunt of it. She’ll be the one held responsible. She’s team captain, after all. What if Mel struggles without Phoebe in the same way she did last season? How could her team, and Coach, ever look at her the same way again?
She finds the Ace bandage and the ice bag. When she turns around, her stomach drops. Phoebe has hopped her way around Coach’s desk and is now sitting in his chair. She opens up his laptop. The glow of the screen in the dark makes a halo around her head.
“Phoebe! What are you doing?”
“Nothing … ,” she says, completely focused on the screen. A couple of clicks brings the sound of emails arriving to his mailbox.
“Are you crazy?” Mel hurries to put the things away in the supply closet without disturbing anything. “Turn that off right now!”
“I want to see if any of the scouts have written to Coach about me.”
“Are you completely insane?” Mel pushes the laptop screen down. “What does it matter anyway? You can barely stand, Phoebe!”
“Relax. I was only going to take a quick peek.” Phoebe says it so casually, like none of this is a big deal. Like the biggest problem they’re dealing with right now is Mel overreacting.
“If Coach finds out you went into his email, he’ll kick you off the team. You know that, right?” It’s outrageous that she even needs to say this. Mel begins straightening Coach’s desk, putting papers in a pile. “And he’ll kick me off too, because I was in here with you!” She finds a pencil on the floor. “Where was this?”
Phoebe shrugs. “I don’t know. And I doubt a misplaced pencil is going to give us away.”
Mel crouches down to make sure nothing else has been disturbed. “Forgive me if I override your judgment on this, Phoebe. You haven’t had the best record of making good decisions.” She feels anger building up inside her. “Just wrap your knee so we can get out of here.”
Phoebe snatches up the Ace bandage and begins doing exactly that. She’s gotten good at it. Slow, dutiful, pulling tight, making sure the bandage lies flat.
“Why are you being such a bitch to me, Mel?”
“I’m not being a bitch. But I can’t do this anymore, Phoebe.”
She wrinkles up her nose. “Do what?”
“I can’t pretend like this situation”—Mel lassoes the room with her pointer finger—“isn’t happening in order to protect your ego. I need to put our team first.”
“Because I haven’t?”
“No. You definitely, definitely haven’t.”
Phoebe laughs incredulously. “Um, okay. Whatever, Mel.”
“See? That’s what I mean. Not only did you ruin tonight, you’ve also basically guaranteed that we’re going to lose tomorrow.” Mel feels her eyes getting hot. “I was so excited to play with you. We had our plan. We were going to do it together. But now that’s over because of your stupid decision to play without your brace! I mean, how reckless can you be?”
“Who said I’m not playing tomorrow?”
“You think Coach is going to put you in?” Mel actually laughs. “Kearson’s playing. And you know what? She’s going to totally fail because she’s so afraid of you! She was practically in tears at the Psych-Up dinner asking me to pass along an apology to you.”
“I’m playing tomorrow.” Phoebe’s voice chokes with emotion. “I’m fine.”
“Great idea, Phoebs, double down on your bad decision. It worked out so well for us last season.”
“It only worked out for you, Mel.” Phoebe slumps back in Coach’s chair. “And I was okay with that.”
Mel doesn’t understand. And actually, she doesn’t care to. Phoebe is clearly delusional. “Do you think I owe you some kind of thank you? I don’t think what you did was noble. You made a bad decision—several bad decisions, actually—and all of us have to pay the consequences.” Mel feels herself begin to shake with anger. “I’ve worked so hard tonight to try to keep this team together. And the girls have stepped up in a big way. Except for you.”
Phoebe’s chin starts