Mark My Words

74 | Bad News

The moment they arrived at USW's entrance underneath the shelter of their designated umbrellas, Drew led the way across campus to the athletic center. They pocketed their phone as they crossed the park at the center of campus, where the rainy winter atmosphere cast a glossy sheen across the bricks. In the dour weather of Seattle, the sky became a nearly solid sheet of thick, grey clouds overhead. Drew leant forward to glance past the edge of the umbrella. They had another two hours of daylight, but even now it felt like they were on the brink of nightfall.

They glanced back at Rosalie, who seemed all too chipper about the place. Drew supposed it was easy to be brainwashed about the dreary side effects of Seattle when she'd been dreaming about it for years. For Drew, it felt more likely that USW would fall short of all those high hopes, but like Rosalie, they had done their fair share of research. USW wouldn't disappoint, and nor would their scholarships.

A full ride for a Division I school? It wasn't even a question at that point. Drew would take the men or the women's teams, whichever bit first.

At the awning over the athletic complex entrance, Drew closed their umbrella and said, "I'll text you guys later."

"Okay. Tell Coach Heather we say hi," Rosalie said.

"Will do, Captain," they said with a smirk.

They pushed through the doors and walked across the freshly polished tiled flooring. The structure wastage and lined with wide, open windows—not that it mattered, since the natural light that did come in during the winter had to be supplemented with the bright, florescent chandeliers.

Drew followed the instructions from Coach Heather's email up to the second floor. There was an interior balcony that overlooked the entrance atrium, and as Drew circled around it, their eyes lingered on the framed team photos on the wall.

They checked the time as they drew near Coach Heather's office. They had a few minutes still, so they studied the pictures on the wall and listened as one of the girls from the team opened the entrance door and said something along the lines of, "Joanna and Rosalie, I'm guessing? Come on in!"

Drew leant out from the hallway to peer past the glass railing on the balcony. The girl looked spritely, eager, and Nigerian. Drew recognized her from the team roster, even this far away, and spent a little too long watching the exchange between the Huskies' team captain and the Knights' captain.

"Drew?"

Drew straightened and turned back around. Just down the hall, Coach Heather was leaning out of an open office door. She was wearing a high-collared white athletic jacket, which only emphasized her tanned skin and bright eyes. Coach Heather tipped her head to the side with a smile and gestured for Drew to come over.

"Come on, come in. You're right on time," she said. "How was your flight?"

Drew cleared their throat before saying, "It was fine, yeah. We just got in three hours ago."

Coach Heather put a hand on Drew's back as they entered the office, guiding them along. The office was narrow with an unreasonably tall ceiling. Drew glanced up to the ventilation system visible high over their heads, painted white to fit the color of the walls. The wall opposite that of the door was almost entirely comprised of windows to the indoor arena space. They could hear the sound of the girls down below juggling soccer balls through obstacles to the beat of their voices chanting what sounded like a Husky drill.

Drew crossed their arms as they watched through the window. Coach Heather closed the door behind her before she came to join Drew at the window. Next to the Coach's desk was an old, ratty couch likely dragged in from some college kid's apartment. The threads were showing in patches, and Drew wondered just how many soccer girls came to Coach Heather's office just to hang out on that couch.