Playing Games

Welcome to the team.

It was Monday morning and Maria was in the principal’s office at school. She had been called in once she arrived and had barely slept over the weekend. Andrew, thankfully, was okay, his body and ego were both bruised but nothing that would last. Mona was furious but Maria was still in shock. She had never witnessed anything close to that level of rage.

Sat before her was Mrs Chapman, her principal, the leader of this school and Chases' mother.

She could see the resemblance. The woman before her had the same pitch black hair and piercing blue eyes as her son. Today she wore her usual crisp white shirt and dark suit. Maria wondered absent-mindedly if those were the only clothes she wore. She wondered what she would look like in jeans, or something bright. She couldn't imagine it. Maria didn’t know what his father looked like, but guess he must have inherited his frame, because despite his mother’s stern appearance she was not a 6ft tall, muscle-bound alpha male.

Maria stood facing her, her hands on her hips in outrage, 'how could you not do anything? He could have killed him! Why didn't you or the coach intervene?' Maria had been in the office for over twenty minutes, having been asked to give her eyewitness account. In truth, Chase's mother was curious to meet the girl that her son was so fixated on. It wasn't until her brother, the school's coach, had told her about Maria and the swimming incident that she was aware he even had a crush. It wasn't like him to be interested in one girl in particular.

Maria, however, was furious about no one intervening on Saturday.

After leaving, she had returned to her home with Mona, unable to see Andrew she had cried in her cousin’s arms, shocked and disgusted by the violence she had witnessed. She had learned by text that Andrew had been sent him just before she was called into the office. Apparently, he had been suspended for two weeks for fighting. More to her disgust, Chase hadn't received any type of punishment that she was aware of. Obviously, he was her golden child, spoiled and self-absorbed.

Maria planned to visit him at home after school today. He has asked her not to come over the weekend. Although she tried to insist Mona had told her not to, ' He needs some time Maria', her cousin had tried to reason.

Mrs Austin stood up facing Maria, she knew that her son had gone too far, she knew that Andrew was a valuable member of the swim team and that whatever rivalry was between them was most likely a product of her sons’ boredom. In truth, she too had been frightened by his behaviour on Saturday, but as her husband had said 'boys will be boys’ and told her, she was over reacting.

Chase had laughed the whole thing off, and now it was clear Maria was going to be a problem. He had a bright future ahead of him, she didn’t want anything to jeopardise that. She didn’t care about who started the fight, she already knew, she just wanted to meet the girl.

Even Mrs Chapman couldn't deny Andrew was a talented swimmer, but Chase had been approached by colleges. Hell, he’d been approached already by big name teams. This was the stuff of dreams, her son was well on his way to becoming a star, he didn’t need anything like this to get back to those teams, colleges or to turn up in a Google search result years later.

She nodded and Maria stopped speaking, 'Maria, I understand you're upset'. Mrs Chapman said and she walked around her desk towards the young girl. She was pretty. She couldn't deny that, closing the space between them 'but honestly, there wasn't much I could do,' she continued, 'Chase is one hell of an athlete, and yes okay, maybe he crossed a line but Andrew started the fight, he turned it physical and everyone saw him throw the first punch. You wouldn't be coming to me complaining if Chase was the one out of school for two weeks.’

'Mrs Chapman, am I mad? This isn’t normal behaviour, Chase clearly needs anger management, Andrew needs support, thankfully he wasn’t more seriously hurt! But he also has his future to think of. First, he isn’t Captain and now he’s out of school for two weeks, and let’s be real, he was brutalised in that fight. It should NEVER have gotten to that level, ' Maria interrupted. She saw a flash in her principal’s eyes as she did this, but she was too angry.

'I know that, but he wasn't,' she smiled, 'listen, Andrew is a big boy, he knew starting a fight with Chase might not go well, he chose to do it. Am I going to risk a teacher getting hurt or another student? No, because then I would have to expel him.

'I know you think I’m being unfair, but he started the fight and we have a zero-tolerance policy. But I concede, Chase went too far and, therefore, I am willing to overlook this suspension and not put it in his file. Instead, we will call it ‘sick leave’ from school. I will fully excuse it, I’m sure any doctor would support the fact he needs time to fully heal. And I am willing to reduce it to one week. Maybe he can use the rest of the week to think about not starting fights over pretty girls.' she finished satisfied.

Maria wasn't happy though, 'Your son is out of control, he needs to see someone for his anger or be punished, something.'

Now Mrs Chapman didn't like that. No, if Maria said it to her, others might say it behind her back. It would get around, 'you know what Maria, I appreciate you are new here’ her tone was cold and Maria flinched, ‘so I would think you would keep in mind Andrew needs to be on the swim team, and not to mention Mona, your cousin, needs cheerleading. I would hate for either of them to lose their spots. This is their final year after all, and colleges are watching closely’

'My advice? Be flattered by Chase's interest. Tell him you don't want anything. I don't care, but get this straight, he isn't out of control. He is fully under my control, just like you. And my job isn't to keep you happy. So, if you want to cause problems, then maybe Andrew should stay home for a few more weeks. We really will make it a suspension. Hell, you can stay home with him. Maybe even Mona’. She trailed off and Maria looked down at her hands.

Smiling, she continued, ‘that’s what I thought. So, Maria, instead of making trouble, why don’t we find something else for you to do? Now your file says you’re a dancer, I’m telling the coach to put you on the cheer team. I expect full participation from you, and I will make this clear, if you try to quit, try and get kicked off, or misbehave, anything, then Mona and Andrew will lose their spots.’

Maria was shocked, this was not the direction she had wanted, Andrew and Mona would both be furious, 'I didn't mean for that…' she started.

'Good, then it's settled, I want you on that team, in their uniform. I’ll be at the game on Friday and I expect to see you cheering your heart out.' And with that Maria was dismissed.