if only

3

"Good morning, Ms. Eversteen." students greet me as I walk through the hall.

I try to unlock my classroom door with my hands full.

"Need some help?" I hear the familiar voice.

I turn to see him holding two cups of coffee. He replaces my keys with a cup and unlocks the door.

"Thank you," I breathe out heavily, setting everything on my desk.

"You should take your glasses off. That's one clue for the kids knowing you have a hangover." he points out, grabbing them from my face. "You look like a wreck."

"Thanks," I say, clearly annoyed but then realize my attitude. "I'm sorry," I apologize. "Thank you for the coffee, I needed it."

"No problem," he hands me my keys. "Will I see you at practice later?"

"Oh, I don't know." I shake my head, plopping down on my chair. "You saw me last night, I'm not good anymore."

"I believe you have a lot of skills, Ms. Eversteen, and I think you can show those skills to my girls." he says lowly, making me feel good about myself. "You can help me bring lady tigers to playoffs as you wanted."

"I don't think it'll be the same." I become discouraged. "I won't be able to play to win."

"Trust me," he blinks slowly. "In the end, the people you trained won by working hard. Just like teaching, you become proud when they do good."

I stand up, turning him away to push him toward the exit.

"I'll try to be there, but I'm not making any promises."

-

"I knew you wouldn't let me down." he smiles as I walk up to him with my workout clothes which I hadn't put on since my last volleyball season. "And you came prepared."

"I had Kourtney drop it off for me on her way to work." I tell him, dropping my gym bag on the bleachers. "What are we doing today, coach?" I say, feeling a bit weird saying it.

"Hey Harry," I hear someone call him from behind me and I turn around even though they didn't call me. "Some of the JV girls had some questions about the first away game."

"Alright," Harry nods at the man.

"Hi, I'm Ms. Eversteen, I teach English to Juniors and Seniors." I introduce myself, reaching for a handshake.

"Oh right, yes," Harry steps in. "Rylee, this is a friend of mine helping out with the JV girls. This is coach Payne."

"You can call me Liam,"

"Okay Rylee, I will be right back. Can you take over here?" he pats my back when I give him a look that I wasn't comfortable being left alone with these girls. "Just introduce yourself and I should be back in time to start practice."

Harry walks off with Liam by his side and I turn to the group of girls, stretching but keeping their attention on me.

"Hello ladies," I start, flashing a smile. "Some of you may know me from English, I'm Ms. Eversteen and I used to be in your shoes."

"You played volleyball?" a girl steps forward.

"Yes," I nod at the girl, trying to remember her name. "Quinn, right? You sit by the door in my classroom."

"Yes ma'am," she smiles with her hands on her hips. "Were you a good player?"

"I was co-captain with my best friend." I continue telling my story. "We got so close to playoffs until something happen which caused a lot of tension between the girls on the team."