Juice (7 page)

“Are you disappointed, Michael?” Coach Reeves asked.

“No! Never! Of course not! I just don't understand.”

“That's what I'm going to explain. They asked me to come out of retirement for one more year, and I agreed. Coach Barnes is gone. His assistant, Tony, is gone.”

“Gone where?” Robbie asked.

Coach shook his head. “That will be determined by the courts.”

“Courts?”

“The chief of police called last night. He wanted the school to know—for you all to know—before the press conference. Yesterday, as part of a large-scale police operation, Jessie McCarthy, along with a number of other professional football players, was arrested and charged with the illegal possession, use and sale of steroids.”

“I saw that on the late news last night,” Robbie said, and a couple of the other guys nodded in agreement. I hadn't seen or heard anything.

“What hasn't been announced yet is that, as part of the investigation, Mr. McCarthy revealed his source of illegal drugs.”

I knew what he was going to say.

“The man who has been working as your strength coach, Tony, was subsequently arrested for trafficking in steroids. A search of his apartment, and this office,” Coach Reeves said, gesturing over his shoulder, “revealed massive quantities of steroids.”

I glanced around the room. Lots of the guys had their eyes on the floor. People looked uncomfortable, upset, scared. Nobody looked surprised.

“Tony then revealed that he was not operating alone. Coach Barnes was part of the steroid ring, and this included selling and distributing steroids to high school students. This has been confirmed at his old school.” He paused and looked around. “And I hate to think it, but I suspect it also took place here as well.”

Nobody answered.

“I want to apologize to all of you,” Coach Reeves said.

“You want to apologize to us?” Caleb asked.

“Yes, this mess is all my fault. I should have known better. My instincts told me this was wrong. Why would he want to come to this school? To this town?”

“He wanted us to become champions,” somebody said.

“He wanted you to be his ticket to a college coaching position or even the pros. He thought that if he could take a Division
Two school and make it the Division One champion, that everybody would notice and he'd be on his way. The problem was that he didn't care what, or who, got in his way or who he had to hurt to get there.”

He looked back at the wall. “Winning isn't everything. There's nothing wrong with being a good loser. It's better to lose fairly than to win by cheating.”

What was going to happen now? What was going to happen to me?

“You're all going to be interviewed by the police,” Coach Reeves said.

My heart rose up into my throat.

“What should we tell them?” Caleb asked.

“You should tell them the truth. The sign of a winner isn't that he doesn't make mistakes, but that he owns up to those mistakes.” He paused. “Doesn't anybody have any questions?”

“And if somebody did use steroids?” Caleb asked. I knew he was asking that question for me.

“I've been assured that if they tell the truth, no charges will be laid against them,
and we'll be here—I'll be here—to help make things right.”

Everybody sat silently. I knew it couldn't be just me—could it? It didn't matter. Slowly I got to my feet.

“I'll talk to them,” I said. “I'll tell them whatever they need to know.”

Robbie got to his feet. “I'll talk to them too. I'll tell them the truth.”

Another guy stood up, then a fourth and a fifth and a sixth, until eleven of us were standing.

“I want you to know—all of you—how proud I am. This was the first step, and that's often the hardest step, toward us putting things back in order. I want you all to go home now.”

Slowly, silently, everybody shuffled toward the door.

“Michael, could I have a word with you?” Coach Reeves asked.

I moved off to the side and waited until the last guy had left. I felt so awful. I'd let him down. He must be so disappointed in me.

“This is going to be a tough year,” Coach
Reeves said. “Thank goodness I have a good captain to help me make this work.”

“After what I did, you still want me to be the captain?” I asked in amazement.

“Now more than ever. You made a mistake and you probably did it because you wanted to help the team, to lead them to victory.”

I nodded my head.

“Coach Barnes was pretty slick. Slick enough to fool me, so why not you too?”

“It was Tony who convinced me.”

“The words may have come out of Tony's mouth, but they belonged to Coach Barnes. He used those words to seduce you with your own dreams. And do you know the scariest part?”

I shook my head.

“He's not alone. There are people like him everywhere. They're not coaches, they're drug pushers. They spend their time convincing kids, even middle school kids, that they need these drugs to compete or win or get to the next level. People have to stand up to them.”

“But…but…I didn't.”

“Yes you did. You did it today.” He put a hand on my shoulder. “When you stood up right here, right now, you were showing leadership. Everybody makes mistakes. We're going to need a good leader to make things right.” He paused. “I don't know how we'll do this season, whether we'll win it all or lose every single game. What I do know is that no matter what the score is, we'll walk off the field with our heads held high. We'll walk away knowing that we played the game fair and square and to the best of our ability. Do you know what that makes us?”

I shook my head.

“Winners.”

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