"Hey, Tess you busy?" Whitney asked that Friday night at around 11:30.

"No, it's 11:30 at night," I laughed, "And I can't go out because I have a game."

"Want to go see if we can get our hands on the security tapes?" she asked, "Robby's working."

"Let's go," I said, jumping out of bed and slipping on my boots.

"He said nobody's around so we can look through whatever we want," she said.

"Thank you so much Whit," I said as we walked out of our dorm hall and over to the Student Center where the Safety office was located.

"It was no biggie, I just-" she began to say as we walked across campus.

"I don't need to know," I said.

"It's nothing bad, I just met up with him and-" she replied.

"I don't care, I just need to get those tapes," I said.

"Alright then," she sighed as we walked into the student center.

"How can I help you?" a guy, who I assumed was Robby, remarked after Whit rang the bell.

"It's me," she replied, poking her head in the window.

"Oh hey," he said, looking up for his computer, "You here for the tapes?"

"Yeah," she said, "This is Tess."

"Hey Tess, Robby," he said, extending his hand, "Come on in."

"Thanks for your help," I said as we walked in the door to the side.

"No problem," he said, "Want to do it yourself?"

"Yeah," I said, pushing him aside and typing away on the computer.

"What date are you looking for?" he asked.

"November 13th at the gym at around 8:00 pm," I said, scrolling through the folders until I found the 13th of November, "Now to find the right angle."

"Where was it?" Robby asked.

"In the corner by the locker rooms," I replied.

"Camera 7," he said, pointing to the feed.

"Alright then," I said, fast forwarding through the footage until I found the right time, "This is the same feed Kayla had."

"Try 8," he said.

"There! I've got it. Mind if I take a screen-grab and put it on this flash-drive?" I asked.

"All yours," he said.

A few clicks later, I had taken a section of the video and uploaded it onto my flashdrive.

"Thank you," I said, taking my flash-drive from the computer.

"Well I'd say you owe me one but, uh, Whit already took care of that," he said.

"I don't need to know," I said, wincing, "You staying here Whit?"

"Yeah," she smirked.

"See you later," I said, walking out of the office.

My mind was racing as I walked back out of the student center and to my dorm room. It was finally going to be over and I could finally wipe that smug smirk off her bitch-face and finally have Taylor to myself again and hopefully, she'd get kicked off the team.

I put the USB drive in an old, small purse and put it under my mattress where nobody would look to find it. I didn't want to go to bed quite yet though, I couldn't help but wander out of my room and over to Taylor's, where I was praying that he was alone.

I stood there for a good five minutes before lightly knocking on his door. After no answer, I turned the handle just to see if it was unlocked and he was there, asleep and not aware I was knocking on his door.

I wasn't prepared for what I saw when I opened the door. He was laying there in bed, sound asleep with Kayla fucking Lewis laying next to him with her head on his chest and his arm was around her, holding her close.

Just like he was holding me two weeks ago.

I think I stood there with my fists clenched and tears in my eyes for what must have been five minutes before turning around and running out of the room. At that point, I didn't give a shit whether tomorrow was game day or not, I ran back to my dorm and grabbed my fake ID and went down to the bar. I drank until closing time, which I think was 3:00. I couldn't even remember the number for the cab company, I blindly dialed Whit's number, which was the second most dialed number on my phone after Taylor's.

No answer.

I called her three more times before I gave up.

Now I was screwed.

There was no way in hell I was calling Taylor, I was more pissed at him than I had ever been before. This time I wasn't just angry, I was upset, crushed, devastated.

It was right then that I somehow I remembered the speech that Coach Carello had given us during Welcome Week, that we could call him and his wife anytime we needed them because they were there to be our honorary parents or older brother and sister, which was a better comparison considering they were only eight years older than the oldest of us.

"Hello," he answered.

"C-coach, i-it's Tess," I slurred, "I-I k-know I'm g-going to get sc-scratched but-but I need a ride," I continued.

"Where are you?" he asked.

"D-downtown, the-the Grille," I replied.

"I'll be there in five minutes," he sighed, "Stay inside," he added before hanging up.

Matt Carello was a hell of a coach, his personality made him the perfect coach for a group of girls. He didn't do drama, he couldn't stand it and he blew it off so well unless it affected the way we were playing. I knew I'd get scratched tomorrow but there was no way I was walking home five miles and I knew the cab company was closed at 3:00 AM.

Five minutes later, his black VW sedan was pulled up in front of the bar and I stumbled out to his car and into the passenger side door.

"I-I'm sorry," I said.

"You can explain yourself in the morning," he said, clad in a sweatshirt and sweatpants and slippers.

"Okay," I said as we rode silently back to his house on the edge of campus.

"Mace got some blankets out for you if you want them," he said, showing me to the couch in the living room.

"Thanks, coach," I said quietly as he went back to bed.

I laid there on the couch and stared at the ceiling for a good hour before drifting off to sleep. I really fucked it up this time. Sure, I figured Matt knew that I drank, along with the other underage girls on the team but it was another thing for him to have to pick me up drunk from the bar downtown.

I woke up that morning at eight when he and his wife, Macy, got up, I'm sure he told her to make noise to wake me up because I deserved it, I really did.

"How you feeling Walters?" he asked as I sat up on the couch.

"Twice as shitty as I look," I replied, rubbing my eyes.

"Want some coffee?" Macy asked as I walked into the kitchen and sat on a barstool.

"Yes please," I replied.

"Care to explain why you were drinking downtown last night?" Matt asked, standing across the bar top counter from me.

"It all started at like 11:30," I replied, "Whit and I went over to Safety because her fling works at the desk and said we could look at security footage from the night Kayla's video was. So I got the video and took the flash drive back to my place and then went over to Taylor's."

"And?" he asked.

"He was with her, they were asleep and he was holding her and," I sniffled, tears welling up in my eyes, "And I'm ninety percent sure they had been having sex because he definitely didn't have a shirt on and she had the covers pulled up to her shoulders but I-I-I couldn't tell and, and he was holding her just like he was holding me two weeks ago," I sobbed, letting the tears run amuck all over my face, "I-I know that isn't an excuse but I didn't, didn't know what to do so I just went out."

"I'm sorry Tess," he said quietly.

"It was all supposed to work out," I sniffed, "It was going to be over on Monday when I talked to his coach and showed him the video."

"You never know what really happened Tess," Macy said.

"I don't even want to know," I said, shaking my head.

"Well, you know that you're not playing today," he said, "I'm pretty sure you knew that as soon as you downed your first drink last night. But I'm not going to tell the team the real reason, I'm going to tell them you weren't feeling well, okay?"

"Thank you," I said quietly.

"Don't mention it," he said, "Now, Mace is making breakfast but after that, I can give you a ride back to your dorm if you want."

"Thanks, Coach," I smiled.

"Don't let them get in your head," he said.

"I'm trying," I said.

###

***