Follow Me Home

"What happened?!" Noah Cooper burst into my bedroom, alert and ready in his pajamas. His eyes searched, checking the room for an invader. I sat upright in my bed, panting and covered in a cold sweat. The kitten scampered awake at the activity, awaking from her spot on the bed and running to where Agent Cooper stood. He looked up at me, confused.

"Nothing." I said after a moment, clutching the bed sheet to myself. "I just had a bad dream."

"Oh." He paused to catch his breath. "Is this your cat? Your parents didn't mention you had a cat."

"My parents don't know I have a cat." I corrected him, climbing out of bed to retrieve the animal. His face twisted.

"You took in a stray?" I scooped him up just in time to avoid his disapproving look.

"She needed a place to stay and I live in this big house all alone. Well, I did live alone. She has her shots." I climbed back into bed, letting him snuggle into my arm.

Agent Cooper slumped a little as he realized there was no immediate danger. He approached the foot of my bed and plopped down, resting his head in his hands with him elbows on his knees. I scooted my feet away from him.

"A bad dream?" I heard him half mumble from inside his hands.

"Yes."

"So you're....Will you be...You good?"

"Yeah."

He looked up from his hands, letting out a little sigh and standing up. With one last judgmental look towards the kitten, who was fast asleep next to my head, he trudged back to his room, mumbling a goodnight.

~~~

I slept through the rest of the night without any other visits from Agent Cooper. We didn't speak about it the next morning as we went for our run, or as we drove to school. In fact, we hardly spoke.

As we walked into school, Sam stood by the doors with his usual group of guys.

"Carolina." He said, with a solemn head nod. This was not his usual spectacle.

"Everything ok?" I asked, cutting across the hallway. I could practically feel Agent Cooper's annoyance as he followed.

"Coach had a heart attack last night." As Sam spoke, the rest of the team looked down at their feet. "He's alright but, well...he's not coming back to the team. We're through." Sam wrung out his fists.

"Well that can't be, the seasons hardly started." A few of the boys looked up. "There has to be someone else who can coach. It's your senior year." Sam had been playing on varsity football since his sophomore year. He was counting on scouting to get to college, just like I was.

"We've already asked Kyser," Kevin said, referring to a science teacher. "But his wife just had a baby. He says it's not the right time. Everyone else..."

"Cooper!" Sam exclaimed, his eyes lighting up. I turned a little to look at Agent Cooper behind me, who looked just as confused as I felt. "You could coach us!"

"Oh, he can't." I cut in, shaking my head a little. "I mean, he doesn't even play-"

"He was just telling us yesterday about his college recruitment. You played in college didn't you?" Kevin asked. Slowly the excitement spread around the circle of boys. Their heads rose like toys coming to life in a factory.

"Well, yeah I did." Agent Cooper rocked back and forth a little.

"You said you'd love to watch a practice sometime," Sam grinned. "This way you could watch 'em all." The boys started talking excitedly amongst each other. "What do you say?"

Agent Cooper looked at me, then at the boys. "Well, I'm not technically a staff member at the school but...I'd love to."

The let out a series of collective cheers, complete with some jumping and light punches. Sam turned to me, wrapping his arms around me in a bear hug and swinging me in a circle.

"Castillo!" He drew out the O sound, "You saved our season."

I smiled a little threw my teeth, but Sam turned back to the guys before he could see it was insincere. I swung my bag over my shoulder, taking quick strides down the hallway and away from the bear pack of boys. Behind me, Agent Cooper trailed ten paces behind as he tried to scoot away from the back-pats and high fives. I didn't wait up.

"Carolina!" He called out, but by the time he got away, I was entering the girls bathroom. I slammed my bag on the sink, hunching over it and letting out a massive groan.

And now, he's the football coach.