“Riley, I’ve been writing this mock grant for the learning center, remember?”
She bobs her head. “You’re writing a proposal for your grade?”
“Yes, that’s the one. So I’ve been doing all this research, and did you know that colleges have to offer accommodations for people who have learning disabilities?”
“I suppose that would make sense.” Her eyes grow wide as she gets exactly where I’m going with this.
“I want to tell Jack, Riley. At Western—or heck at any school—if he’s determined to have any kind of disability, they have to make special arrangements. It’s the law! He could do an oral exam, instead of a written one. Instead of a paper, he does a presentation. We haven’t done anything wrong…yet. I’ve changed some worksheet answers, but nothing’s graded. He gets one grade based on a final paper.”
“But you’re afraid,” she guesses.
I nod slowly. Each time I’ve approached it with Jack he’s shut me down. I don’t want the only member of my family to turn his back on me, but like Riley said. The only person who I’m hurting right now is Jack. “I am scared. He’s the iron at my back. He’s supported me and cared for me. I don’t want to lose his love or respect. And I don’t know what Knox would say either.”
“Oh, honey.” She places an arm around my shoulders. “This is tough. If you keep quiet, you’re hurting Jack. If you tell, you’re hurting him. Any way you slice it, someone is going to be unhappy, including you.”
But that’s no reason to stay silent.
???
Week 9: Warriors 7-0
“You look stressed, baby,” Knox declares over dinner. I tug my sweater down. The late October weather is chilly. “You worried about meeting my brother?”
That’s absolutely the last thing on my mind. Knox’s brother, Ty, is coming to visit him this weekend for the game and he’s staying over for a Halloween costume party that night. Really, I think it’s a test to see whether I can tell the two apart in person. I’m certain I’ll pass, although part of me wants to pretend, for a moment, that I’m confused. So Knox won’t bring it up again. But I won’t because that’s probably over-the-top mean.
"“No,” I answer tersely. I wanted to talk to Jack tonight but he said he had a study group for his stats class. I felt immediately relieved and then guilty for feeling relieved. It’s a vicious circle of awful. The sooner I confront the issue, the better for all of us.
“The game?” he presses.
“Should I be?” I counter.
He shakes his head and leans forward. “Nah, we’ll crush them.”
“They’re the number four team in the country.”
Knox’s unshakeable confidence would probably be irritating if he didn’t back it up every Saturday.
“What is the Warriors’ ranking?” He cups his ear.
“Number one.”
He winks. “That’s right.” A mischievous look crosses his face as he leans forward. “Why don’t we go back to my room and I’ll give you a nice rub down to help get rid of all that stress.”
“The last rub down lasted all of five minutes before you had me plastered against the wall.” I brush a hand over the back of my sweater—the tight red one that Knox likes so much. “I think I still have drywall in my shirt from that.”
His eyes gleam. “I like standing up. Good leverage.”
I should explain how it’s also nice to have a soft mattress at your back, but as long as I have Knox here, I might as well ask him a question that’s burned at the back of my mind all day.
“Knox, if something happened on the team. Like a guy got caught cheating or he got arrested for drunk driving, what would happen?”
“He’d be kicked off,” Knox replies immediately.
“No questions. No second chances?”
“No. Coach Lowe doesn’t tolerate that kind of stuff. If there’s a distraction, the distraction gets eliminated.”
God.
“What about if he had problems making grades?”
Knox leans forward and his face takes on a concerned expression. “You got something to tell me, Ellie?”
“No. I’m just, um, thinking about topics for a creative writing class on team unity.”
The side of his mouth curls up in slight disbelief.
“Really,” I insist.
I don’t think he believes me, but he doesn’t press. “A guy with academic problems would probably get suspended until he could get his grades up.”
“What would happen with the team?”
“It’s hard to say.” Knox drums his fingers lightly against the table top as he studies me. I try to look as innocent as possible. “It could mess with the team dynamic. If it was a player on my list, Coach Lowe would be pissed at me because I’m supposed to be on top of that. If there’s anything I should know about Jack…”
Inwardly I wince. I don’t want to lie to him, but I need to tell Jack first. He deserves that from me.
“If I had something I could tell you, I would,” I end up saying.