Chapter 232 - The Jacket
"I was worried about him," she said. "You were there, and I took it out on you."
Fiona studied her face before looking back at her wrist.
"He’s never been like this with me."
Roxie frowned. "What?"
"Zac."
Fiona flattened the tape around her skin.
"When we dated, he barely called. If I got mad and left, he let me. When we broke up, he said okay and went to practice."
Roxie stayed quiet.
Fiona looked at her.
"He cares about you more. That doesn’t mean you get to treat every girl he knew before you like competition."
The first part of the sentence reached Roxie before the warning did.
Zac had never chased Fiona.
He never begged her to stay or fought to bring her back. He had accepted the breakup and continued with his day.
Roxie hated the relief she felt after everything she had done.
"I’ll do better," she said.
Fiona nodded once. "Good."
Coach Miller blew his whistle.
"Break is over. Get on the floor."
Roxie returned to her position.
When the music started, she forced everything else from her mind.
She called the first count clearly enough for her voice to carry across the gym. Angela and Karen moved with her, and Fiona entered the transition on time. Roxie caught Karen’s foot, lifted, and locked her arms while Angela secured the other side.
Karen rose without wobbling.
They moved into the next count.
Fiona hit every turn. Angela’s hands landed where they should. Roxie entered each stunt without rushing or hesitating. When Karen came down, all three bases caught her cleanly and moved into the next formation before the beat changed.
Coach Miller never stopped the music.
Roxie felt the routine return to her body. She stopped thinking about the soreness in her legs and trusted the counts. Her voice remained steady while they moved across the mat.
They reached the final stunt.
Karen rose above them. Roxie held her position and stared forward through the last beat.
The music ended.
Nobody had fallen. Every count had landed.
For several seconds, the team remained in position while everyone waited for Coach Miller to speak.
He gave a restrained nod.
"Again tomorrow."
It was the closest thing to praise he had offered.
Roxie lowered her arms and breathed through the ache in her shoulders. Sweat ran along her spine, and her legs trembled from the final hold.
For the first time in days, she felt like herself.
The feeling lasted until Kendall approached.
"Keep that up at VCU."
Roxie wiped her neck with a towel.
"That’s the plan."
"Good, because if you lose focus again, you’ll be the reason we lose."
The satisfaction left Roxie’s body.
She looked at Kendall. "Mind your own business."
"The routine is my business."
"We finished it."
"Today."
Roxie threw the towel into her open bag.
Kendall pursed her lips before looking at the old school jacket hanging beside Roxie’s locker.
"Did you see the team chat?"
"I’ll check it."
"You need the jacket before we leave."
"I have a jacket."
Kendall looked at the one hanging beside them.
"That thing?"
"It has the school name on it."
"It looks five years old."
"It still works."
"We’re going to VCU. You want the team walking in there looking like a fucking mess?"
Several girls near the lockers became quiet.
Roxie felt the attention turn toward them.
"I said I’ll deal with it."
Kendall studied her face.
"Do you even have money for it?"
The air inside the locker room changed.
Roxie stared at her.
Kendall opened the small pocket of her bag, pulled out a folded hundred dollar bill, and held it toward Roxie.
"Here. Pay me back later."
A zipper closed somewhere behind them. Someone dropped a bottle into a bag. Shoes scraped against the floor.
Every sound reached Roxie while nobody spoke.
No one at school knew about the grill.
No one knew she washed dishes until her hands hurt or left through the back so nobody would see her uniform. They did not know about the babysitting job either. Roxie had spent years making sure they never found out.
Students at their school did internships arranged by their parents or volunteered because college applications required it. They did not work closing shifts to keep the electricity on.
Roxie wore old clothes carefully and never let them look worn. She turned down shopping trips by saying she already had plans. Whenever someone asked where she lived, she described the road and changed the subject before they asked about the house.
Everyone assumed she had money because everyone there had money.
Kendall held the hundred dollar bill between two fingers in front of half the team.
"I don’t need your money."
"You need the jacket."
"I’ll buy it myself."
Kendall kept the bill extended.
"Then buy it."
Roxie’s hand tightened around the edge of the bench.
She wanted to slap the money from Kendall’s fingers. She could already picture the bill falling between them and Kendall’s face changing when Roxie stepped closer.
Coach Miller had watched her throughout practice. One more problem could give him a reason to pull her before VCU.
Roxie kept both hands beside her.
Angela stepped between them.
"Put it away, Kendall."
Kendall looked around her. "I’m trying to help. She’s acting like everyone choosing one jacket is some personal attack. If I didn’t know better, I’d think she couldn’t afford it."
Roxie’s heart struck hard against her ribs.
Nobody laughed.
That made it worse.
She could feel the girls looking at her jacket, her practice bag, and the shoes she had cleaned until the old marks disappeared. They were checking everything now because Kendall had given them a reason.
Poor.
Roxie had worked for every small thing that kept them from seeing it.
Kendall had placed one hundred dollars between them and made everyone look.
Angela stepped closer to her.
"No, you’re being a cunt."
"Grow up, Angela."
Karen moved beside Roxie and looked directly at Kendall.
"What the fuck is wrong with you? Your mom doesn’t love you enough, so you come here and act like this?"
Kendall rolled her eyes, but her mouth tightened.
"I’m trying to keep the team from looking cheap."
Cheap.
The word remained inside Roxie’s head after Kendall folded the bill and put it back into her bag.
She walked toward the exit without looking back.
Angela stared after her.
"I’m going to cut off her ponytail while she sleeps."
"That would require spending time near her," Karen said. "You’d give up before finding scissors."
Roxie forced herself to laugh.
"Kendall likes making everything dramatic."
Angela turned toward her. "She had no right to do that."
"I said I’m fine."
Karen watched Roxie more carefully.
"Come with us tomorrow."
"I’ll check my schedule."
"You always have something," Angela said.
"I know."
Roxie picked up her practice bag and put the strap over her shoulder before either of them could offer to carry it.
She followed them out of the locker room while Angela continued insulting Kendall.
Eighty dollars.
Possibly more once they added the school name.
Roxie could ask for an extra shift at the grill without anyone here knowing. She could return something, though she had bought almost nothing recently. She could skip groceries for a few days and eat whatever remained from the picnic.
She could use Mr. Robinson’s money.
Her grip tightened around the bag strap.
Using it now would feel like admitting Zac had been right at Raven’s Point. She could not afford the jacket without someone else handing her money.
Mr. Robinson had given Zac access to an entire account because he knew it too.
The girls reached the main school entrance.
Roxie stepped through the doors and stopped.
The black Tesla moved toward the curb.
Students near the entrance turned to watch it. The car rolled quietly past the buses and stopped directly in front of the gym doors.
Zac sat behind the wheel.
He parked, climbed out, and looked toward Roxie with a grin that said he knew exactly how many people were watching him.
Several cheerleaders gathered near the doors.
"Is that the new Model Y?" someone asked.
"Did Zac borrow it?"
"He already got another car?"
Zac leaned against the open driver’s door.
"It’s Roxie’s."
Everyone looked at her.
Roxie felt exposed again, but the attention had changed.
Minutes earlier, Kendall had held a hundred dollars in front of the team and asked whether Roxie could afford a jacket.
Now Zac stood beside a new Tesla and told everyone it belonged to her.
Roxie looked toward Kendall.
She stood near the edge of the group with her bag over one shoulder. Her eyes moved from the car to Roxie, and the look on her face gave Roxie enough strength to smile.
Angela grabbed Roxie’s arm.
"You own a Tesla?"
Roxie kept her voice calm. "Apparently."
Karen looked from the car to Zac. "Is he your designated driver now?"
"He looks comfortable," Angela said. "You might never get it back."
Zac closed the driver’s door and walked around the front.
"She still needs her license."
Roxie looked at him.
Someone behind Angela spoke.
"Is that why you’re always walking to school?"
The question would have frightened Roxie ten minutes ago. Now she saw Kendall listening.
Roxie looked at the clean black paint and the key card in Zac’s hand.
"Yeah. I told my dad I didn’t need one, but he insisted."
The lie came out smooth enough that nobody questioned it.
Dad.
Her stomach rolled.
The word felt worse because it worked. Nobody thought she was poor now. She was another rich girl complaining that her father bought her an expensive car she had not asked for.
Zac’s grin weakened for half a second.
He knew what the word cost her.
He opened the passenger door without correcting anything.
Roxie said goodbye to Angela and Karen, placed her practice bag in the back seat, and climbed inside. From the sidewalk, she probably looked wealthy, secure, and bored by the attention.
The door closed.
The voices outside became muted.
Roxie’s smile disappeared.
Zac got behind the wheel and shut his door. He looked at her before touching the screen.
"What happened?"
"Drive."
"Rox."
"Just drive."
His eyes moved toward the group outside. Kendall remained near the entrance, watching the car while Angela spoke to Karen beside her.
Zac started driving.