I Lost 90 Pounds, Only to Find He Tried to Give Me Away novel · Chapter 20 of 32

Chapter 20: Conflict of Interest

The hearing was Monday at four, in Satterfield Arena.

"If we're going to argue about fairness," the director's email said, "we'll do it where people can see."

Maybe a hundred people came, scattered in the sloped seats.

Betsy and the fourth floor in front, the guild in back.

The director sat at a folding table on the stage with her reading glasses on their beaded chain and her WORLD'S OKAYEST GRANDMA mug.

The coach sat at one end of the stage with his clipboard.

Carver and Sutton sat behind him in their varsity jackets.

Sutton had her phone in her lap, face down.

She didn't look at me once.

Our five sat at the other end.

Beck sat next to me.

He'd worn a collared shirt under the hoodie.

He looked like a kid at a funeral.

"Coach," the director said. "Your request."

The coach stood up.

"Beck Ormsby is on the varsity roster," he said. "He holds a varsity scholarship. He's been in our strategy meetings. He knows our drafts and our calls."

"Putting him on the other side of a challenge match is a conflict of interest. It's not personal."

Somebody in the fourth floor section said, "It's a little personal."

"Miss Swann."

I stood up.

I'd written notes on an index card, and I didn't look at it.

"He hasn't been in your strategy meetings since September sixth," I said. "That's the day he brought you forty pages about what Carver posted. You dropped him from the starting five that night. For team chemistry."

"He hasn't played one varsity game since. He hasn't been to one varsity practice. You stopped telling him the practice times."

The coach's face went tight.

"Is that true?" the director asked him.

He didn't answer fast enough.

"And on Saturday," I said, "Carver Satterfield played the open bracket final against us. On another club's roster. Same rule. Nobody filed anything about his conflict of interest."

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