Chapter 78 – A Winning Scenario – Holly Hayfield

Sam wasn’t happy to see me go into the small gym without her. Perhaps that was for the best. Seeing her enter the gym with her baseball bat would’ve been a bad way to set the tone. After Kylie set the tone of the argument back in the student council room I needed to start things off on a better foot. This, after all, was my specialty at this point. Part of being a counselor would mean learning to resolve conflicts by understanding and talking to people. I needed to reach Kylie on an emotional level.

The small gym could really only be described as a small gym. Its name was boringly apt. It was meant as a secondary activity area and was about half the size of the main gymnasium. Minus the volleyball equipment, this place really didn’t have much. There were no bleachers, no basketball hoops, and no court markings on the floor. The only unique feature this gym had going for it were the large windows on the far side of the gym. With all the sunlight coming into the facility from those windows this place felt vibrant compared to the poorly lit school hallways. That aspect gave the gym a somewhat cozy feeling. I could see how Kylie would be defensive of this place.

Kylie wasn’t happy to see me walk into their office room. The office room was just a converted storage room in the back of the gym. There was a single table and chairs all around. Kylie was sitting behind the table. Other members of the volleyball club were sitting on the other side, closer to the door. They all had to turn back in their seats in order to see me walk in. Many of them had looks of disbelief on their face like they seriously weren’t expecting me to come visit them.

“Hi, we never met properly.” I said, “My name is…”

“Holly Hayfield…” Kylie said. “We know who you are. Come in. Have a seat.”

The girl that led me into the gym guided me over to the seat directly across from Kylie. I had to shift between volleyball club members somewhat awkwardly in silence. Once I made it to my seat they watched me try to get comfortable in this uncomfortable wooden chair. I pulled a form out of the bag I had with me. I reached across the table and handed it to Kylie. Kylie gave the form a brief look over.

“It’s a prewritten club registration form.” I said, looking between the members of the volleyball club. “This will allow you to…”

Kylie turned the paper on its axis and tore it down the middle. My chances of setting a better tone felt torn with it.

“I didn’t come here to argue with you.” I said. “I just want…”

“Good! Because I thought I made myself clear before!” Kylie said, “We will not be giving up our gym.”

“That’s not what I’m asking you to…”

“You’re asking us to make it so that anyone can just use the gym whenever they like.” One of the other members of the club said, “That may not be immediately kicking us out, but it’s the closest thing to it.”

“The details of my system are more…”

“It doesn’t matter what they are. How are we supposed to trust that?” A different club member asked.

“Exactly,” Kylie said, “No matter what, I can’t trust anything Val says anymore. Not that I really could before.”

“Can you let me finish a single sentence, please?” I asked in frustration.

They looked between each other and then stared at me in silence.

“Now, if you’ll listen to what I have to say then you’ll understand the situation isn’t as black and white as it sounds.” I said. “Yes, I want you to share. Yes, I’ve developed a system that you’ll need to trust me on. However, the alternative to working with me is having Valentina put the Student Corrections Authority to the test. I’d rather it not come to that.”

“So what, this is some good cop, bad cop routine?” Kylie asked.

“Kylie,” I said firmly, “If I get up and walk out that door right now then you’re left facing the Student Corrections Authority without anyone in your side of the ring.”

“We aren’t scared of them.” Kylie said.

Kylie’s fellow club members voiced their agreements.

“You think it stops with them?” I asked, “Are you so short-sighted? You don’t even realize what Val has created, have you?”

“What?” Kylie asked, “It’s just another stupid gang. Val thinks she’s so great now because she’s school president and all. She’s still the same old Val.”

I put one palm into my face and shook my head.

“This isn’t just ‘another stupid gang’ as you put it.” I said. “This is an official school function. The Student Corrections Authority was revived, with permission being granted by the principal and vice principal both. If you stand against them then you are standing against the school. You think that getting involved with Val is the worst of your problems? The moment this escalates the vice principal gets involved.”

“Then we’ll tell her that…”

“You seriously think she cares, Kylie?” I asked in a mocking tone, “Are you seriously delusional enough to think that the vice principal will think you’re anything but a waste of her time? Even if she listened to whatever you had to say seriously, who do you think she will listen to? Who do you think it was that made me a junior member of the staff? Who do you think gave me permission to create a legitimized club system for the school?”

For the first time, Kylie was silent. She was just now beginning to realize the weight of the situation. Her facial expression was blank and she stared at me in silence. A lot of her fellow club members were having this same revelation. Kylie looked away from me and then clenched her fist. She bit her lip as she thought of how to respond, but obviously couldn’t come up with anything clever to say. I let her sit there for a moment before continuing.

“I didn’t come here to bully you out of this place you’ve been using for so long.” I said in a calmer voice. “I came here to prevent this from slipping out of hand. Val was ready to condemn you and your club based on how you acted earlier. I don’t want to see that happen.”

“Why are you even pretending to care about our group?” Kylie asked, “Why even go through the trouble.”

“Is it so hard to believe that I’m not pretending?” I asked.

Kylie remained silent.

“We’re both seniors.” I said. “This club system will remain in service at this school even as we go off to college. I want the precedent to be set that we didn’t solve all of our problems with force. I don’t want the students to feel like they’re beneath someone else’s heel. Also, I’m training to become a counselor. I need to show people that I can talk heart-to-heart and come to a solution without relying on someone else to solve things for me.”

“That sounds nice, but it doesn’t convince me that this deal will be anything good for us.” Kylie said. “The cards are stacked against us, I know. You don’t fully understand our situation. Our group has become like a family away from home. We’ve all put up with the crazy shit that goes on at this school and use this place for stress relief. It’s wrong of you to try taking that away from us. If you really do care then you’ll tell Val to get off our backs.”

“Exactly…” Another member of the club said, “This is our sanctuary. It’s our place of peace.”

“I heard that your student council group was using the student council room before you even won!” One of the girls said, “It’s hypocritical for you to come here and try to kick us out for being here informally. We haven’t done anything wrong.”

“We go out of our way to make sure the gym stays spotless and clean.” Someone else said. “The janitors even complemented us for doing a good job here.”

They all had good points. I felt now that things were calmer they could finally speak to me honestly. This was the type of dialogue I wanted, not confrontation. I needed to properly organize their complaints in my mind so that I could respond in a structured manner. They were radiating anger, but in actuality they were scared. They felt their refuge from the craziness of this school was under attack. I could see how that would lead them to act this way. That was the angle that I needed to focus on.

“When the newly formed badminton club was registered we didn’t know anyone was using this gym.” I said. “It was an honest mistake and I’m going to correct it on both sides. When we’re finished here I’ll be talking to the leader of the badminton group over the confusion. However, I don’t plan to come to them empty handed. Let’s try to negotiate an arrangement.”

“What sort of an arrangement?” Kylie asked. “We use this place every day after school. We don’t want to be limited to only certain days at the whims of another group.”

“I know. That’s why I’d like you to expand your clubs operations.” I said.

Kylie blinked in confusion. The others looked between each other like this was some sort of joke.

“But you said…”

“An athletics club doesn’t have to stay confined to a single room all the time.” I said. “There are ways we can expand the amount of things your club does. For instance, you could commit some days to purely exercising on the school property.”

“Outside…” Kylie said, “What if it’s raining or freezing out?”

“Then you can have some indoor operations outside of the gym as well. Whenever it’s the badminton club’s turn to use the gym you can either choose to be outside or in a separate clubroom.”

“Separate clubroom?” Kylie asked.

“I’ll grant you permission to use one of the free rooms we have available. It’ll be better as an extended operation area than this cramped makeshift office.” I said, waving my hand around at the room we were in.

Kylie sighed.

“That’s a possibility, but it’s a step down. We’d be giving up a lot.”

“But you’ll be gaining more than you suspect.” I said. “You see, I came here with more than just that club registration form.”

I reached into my bag and dug around until I found the folded map of the school’s layout. The map was a copy that Lilith printed for me in the library earlier. I stood up and unfolded the map onto Kylie’s table. Kylie and the members of the volleyball club crowded around to see the map. There was an area highlighted on this map in yellow. This area was the same open-air spot that Val saved me from Candace and Black Brittney. I put my finger on it.

“Here.” I said, “This place beside the main gym is an empty area about the size of a classroom. This space has a great deal of privacy and usually no one goes there. It’ll be an excellent spot for a second volleyball area.”

“Moving our equipment back and forth there all the time wouldn’t be worth it.” Someone said.

“There’s more volleyball equipment that you can use.” I said.

“What? Where…?” Kylie asked. “We haven’t heard about this. I asked the P.E. teacher and she said we had everything here.”

“That’s because you didn’t ask the right person. I talked to the head janitor after lunch. She referred me to the extended storage manifest she had in her office. There’s far more equipment and I’m going to help you get it.” I said.

For the first time since my arrival the volleyball club was actually happy to hear something that I said.

“Where would we store the outdoor equipment on the days we’re back in this gym?” Kylie asked.

“The main gym’s storage room should still have enough space for everything you’ll need. You can put it there.” I said.

“Will the P.E. teacher allow that?” Kylie asked.

“She should. I plan to talk to her after I’ve talked to the badminton group about the arrangement. If not, we’ll find somewhere else to store it. This school is so oversized that there’s bound to be some place we can use.” I said.

Kylie put her hand on her chin.

“I still don’t know…” Kylie said.

“We’ll talk to the badminton group together, if you prefer.” I said. “I want us to talk calmly as equals, just like we’re doing now. We’ll at least come to a trial arrangement to see how things go.” I said.

The club members looked between each other.

“Before you make up your minds, how about some fun?” I asked. “How about a little skirmish volleyball match?”

Kylie raised an eyebrow.

“You…?” She asked, “You know how to play volleyball well enough to keep up with us?”

I laughed.

“Let’s break into two teams and you’ll see for yourself. Oh, and there’s one more thing before we start.”

“What is it?” Kylie asked.

“I want my friend Sam to join us. She’s waiting for me outside the gym.”

Sam was still waiting outside the gym along with a few members of the badminton club. I explained the situation to Sam and she agreed to leave her bat at the gym door. The badminton club girls came in at my invitation. They agreed to spectate, although they probably wanted the chance to scope the gym out. They agreed to a meeting with the volleyball club in good faith. We were making small, but important steps. This was a better outcome than having everyone shouting at each other.

Sam was excited to join my team. Kylie gave us a change of gym clothes for the occasion. Sam and I took turns using the club’s office as a changing room. Kylie didn’t know what to expect from either of us. Sam’s physique inside these gym clothes was obviously athletic, perhaps somewhat intimidating to Kylie’s team. My physique wasn’t as impressive but I was still in good shape. All of the training without my ankle monitor really paid off. While doing some warm up stretches I felt just as capable as I used to be.

The match started off well. At first I could see that Kylie and her team had some reservations. They stopped holding back when they realized that Sam and I could hold our own. It was when I scored my first point that things really went to the next level. It’d be a bad look if Kylie’s team lost with two non-club members on the opposite team. Both teams were fired up like they were out to prove something. Personally, I did want to prove something. If someone like me could perform at Kylie’s level then maybe that was indication that her club should spend more time on potential recruits.

In the end Kylie’s team won. This wasn’t an easy win for them either. They won by only a single point. Both teams were pushed to a sweat. Kylie probably didn’t imagine that two non-members could push her so far. It wasn’t like Sam and I were being carried by our team either. Sam somehow managed to score the most points out of any individual on both teams. Part of that was her slight height advantage over most the girls on our team, and some was her unmatched agility.

Kylie picked up the volleyball and came to our side of the net. One of the members helped her by lifting the bottom of the volleyball net for her.

“You two are surprisingly good.” Kylie said while panting. “How the hell were you able to keep up with us?”

I was still leaned over, breathing heavily. I stood up straight as Kylie approached.

“I have some experience playing this with friends from my last school.” I said. “I’ve also been doing my best to stay in shape. I’d like to be involved in athletics in college.”

Kylie turned to Sam.

“I played on the volleyball team at East Oak Academy for a while.” Sam said.

This was a surprise to both me and Kylie. Sam looked between our shocked expressions and laughed.

“It didn’t last long.” Sam said, “When I was kicked off the soccer team I was feeling empty. I thought volleyball could help fill the void, especially since I already had friends on the team. Alas, it didn’t do it for me.”

Kylie put a hand on her shoulder.

“I’d be honored if you’d come and play with us from time to time.” Kylie said.

“I already have a lot on my plate right now. Thanks though.” Sam said.

“There are other people who may be interested in joining this club.” I said. “You could sign the club registration form and then put up an official club recruitment poster on the cafeteria bulletin board.”

“You mean that registration form that I ripped in half?” Kylie asked with a half-smile.

“It’s nothing a little tape can’t fix.” I said with a smile.

I put my hand out to Kylie. She gave me a serious look, and then looked between her fellow club members that were crowding around us. Her half-smile turned into a full smile and she took my hand.

“I still don’t trust Val.” Kylie said, “But I’m willing to trust you.”