Juice by Eric Walters Page B

meeting,” Coach Reeves said.
    â€œWe’re glad to be here,” Caleb said, “but we didn’t know it was your meeting. Mrs. Perkins just said we were to meet with our coach.”
    â€œYou are meeting with your coach. Your old, or, I guess, newest coach.”
    â€œYou’re our coach again?” I gasped.
    â€œAre you disappointed, Michael?” Coach Reeves asked.
    â€œNo! Never! Of course not! I just don’t understand.”
    â€œThat’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.”
    â€œGone where?” Robbie asked.
    Coach shook his head. “That will be determined by the courts.”
    â€œCourts?”
    â€œThe 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.”
    â€œI 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.
    â€œWhat 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.
    â€œThe 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.
    â€œTony 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.
    â€œI want to apologize to all of you,” Coach Reeves said.
    â€œYou want to apologize to us?” Caleb asked.
    â€œYes, 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?”
    â€œHe wanted us to become champions,” somebody said.
    â€œHe wanted you to be his ticket to a college coaching position or even the pros. He thought that if he could take a DivisionTwo 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?
    â€œYou’re all going to be interviewed by the police,” Coach Reeves said.
    My heart rose up into my throat.
    â€œWhat should we tell them?” Caleb asked.
    â€œYou 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?”
    â€œAnd if somebody did use steroids?” Caleb asked. I knew he was asking that question for me.
    â€œI’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.
    â€œI’ll talk to