Chapter 7

“Great practice everybody!” Coach Martin claps his hands together in excitement. “Coach K really put you through the wringer with those drills but it seems you all still had the energy to mess around during the scrimmage.” Coach Martin shakes his head but he’s smiling. He played in the scrimmage too. His powerful spikes are still unstoppable. Thankfully no one at North Ridge, or any other high school for that matter, has those types of kills.

“We are definitely going to kick butt Friday,” Tiffany says, panting from her place on the out of bounds line. We’re all in various stages of exhaustion spread out over the floor. Tiffany’s comment makes us all cheer, halfheartedly but still.

“Alright alright, before I let everybody go,” Coach begins and we all groan. He laughs at us. “No, this will get you all excited because it is time to vote for your team captains!” This perks everyone up and the chattering begins.

A cool, clammy hand smacks my arm and I look over at Emily.

“You going to go for it?” She asks and I shrug. It would be fun. I haven’t been captain since our freshman year, but by now our team is pretty much back to those same girls. Emily raises her hand before I can say anything. “I nominate Charlie as team captain!”

“Oh, yeah!” Other girls start to agree. Only Tiffany looks a little annoyed.

“Shouldn’t we do an anonymous vote on paper, like we usually do? Then Coach can tally up the results and tell us who the new captain is.” Tiffany smiles, perking up and looking at her friends on the team. Some of them avoid eye contact and others nod in agreement.

“Sure,” Coach obliges and Coach K steps forward. She rips up a piece of paper and hands us each section and hands out a couple of pens to share. “Everyone write down the person you want to be captain, in the event of a tie, both girls will be captain. Co-captains. And yes, you can write your own name.”

We spend a few minutes making our votes, Coach K shuffles through them and tells the results to Coach Martin who nods his head in acknowledgment. He clears his throat and we all stop chatting and move to stand in front of him.

“Your new team captain is…” he pauses for dramatic effect, “Charlie!”

“Oh my gosh,” I smile at Emily and she pulls me into a big hug. I look around at all the other girls. “Thank you guys so much! This is going to be such a great year!”

We all cheer, our energy renewed.

“Okay, everyone head on home. Same time tomorrow.” Coach Martin dismisses everyone and we all head back to the locker room to change and pack up.

“Hey, I have to run to my locker real quick, I forgot my Physics notebook,” I tell Emily once I've changed and have shoved my clothes into my gym back. I can’t believe I forgot my notebook, I need to be more careful with that thing.

“Wait up a second and I’ll come with you.” Emily grabs her stuff and follows me out of the locker room. As we walk back through the school building to get to our lockers, Emily pulls out her phone. “I’m going to text Elizabeth and let her know where we are so she can meet us upfront.”

“Sounds good,” I swing my gym bag between my legs as I walk, hopping from foot to foot. I bump into Emily and look up, “Oops sorry..” I trail off when I see why she stopped.

“What the-,” Emily stares at my locker which is covered in red paint and clearly has a note shoved in one of the slots. There are rose petals and leaves smushed into the paint and a few that have fallen to the floor. “I can’t tell if this is supposed to be scary or romantic?” Emily moves to get a closer look.

“Seriously what the hell is this?” I kick some of the leaves and rose petals out of the way and move closer to see the paint is still wet. I drop my gym bag and pull out my dirty t-shirt and wipe my locker off as best as I can. I walk across the hall and toss my shirt in the trash, I don’t want to bring that home and worry my mom. I kneel and scoop up all the rose petals and leaves and add those to the trash can as well.

“Here,” Emily hands me the note that was shoved into my locker. “Open it, maybe it will have the name of whoever did this.”

I open the note, my hands getting the red paint on them.

It’s not over.

“Well, that is ominous as hell,” Emily comments, leaning over my shoulder to read the message. “Who do you think did this? Axel? How would he get on campus? Especially after hours, that’s too creepy.”

“Yeah, very creepy,” I say and I honestly hope it’s just Axel. I don’t want to think about what else it might be if it isn’t him. He may be a bit aggressive but I can handle him. “He’s harmless, for the most part,” I add as an afterthought, I don’t think he would blatantly threaten me. This was probably his attempt to be romantic and intimidating.

“What did I miss?” Elizabeth comes skipping over to us. “What happened to your locker?” She looks at the remnants of paint on my locker and then at the note in my hand.

“Probably Axel,” Emily informs her. I nod in agreement and then toss the note into the trash as well.

“Whoa,” Elizabeth says after taking a peek in the trash can, “that’s kinda intense. You okay?” Elizabeth looks me over to check.

“Yeah, a little freaked out but I’m fine. Tomorrow morning, I’ll stop by the front office and tell them. Hopefully, they will let the security guards know and they’ll keep a better lookout for him.” I open my locker, trying to ignore the remaining spots of red. I grab my notebook and shove it in my backpack “Okay, I’m ready. Let’s head out.”

“Okay, are you sure you’re good?” Emily asks as we walk out to find her car in the parking lot. “Should we tell the police?”

“No, no, it’s fine. If it gets worse, I’ll tell my mom and she’ll help figure out how to handle it.” I wait by her car while she unlocks the doors then I climb into the backseat.

“You’re not going to tell your mom?” Elizabeth twists in her seat to look back at me. “Why not? You probably should.”

“I don’t want to bother her,” I dismiss the idea with a wave of my hand. “She’s been super busy lately, I don’t want to add to her plate. I’ll let her know if the situation escalates,” I promise them.

“Good, and let us know if you need anything,” Emily looks at me in the rearview mirror. I hop out of the car.

“Will do. Thanks for the ride. See y’all bright and early tomorrow morning,” I wave goodbye. I walk to my front door, ready to shower and relax before I have to sit down and do the homework that some of the teachers handed out on our first day back.