3: The Panel Room

Sofia POV

I stood still when Coach asked us to go in, my body shaking, my heart racing. Nothing was adding up yet  just like always, I was about to face another challenge that involved my father, and I already knew this one wouldn't end well if I didn't act fast.

"Hold on, Coach  why is she here? What's her connection to me facing the panel?" the guy from the picture asked. That's when I remembered I was supposed to be introduced to the team today as the new interim coach. Shit. My life was a mess. I wished I could go back in time right now.

"She's supposed to be the team's new coach, but I'm not sure that will hold," Coach Peter said. "You should know there were already questions raised about bringing on a first-time female coach this late in the season. This photo just gave the ones who didn't want her here in the first place a reason to say it out loud."

That hit harder than the photo itself had. It wasn't just bad timing. Someone had been waiting for a reason.

"If you both claim there's no relationship, the story takes a different turn one that could cost Miss Sofia her career, and honestly, one the board might already be looking for an excuse to use."

My heart nearly dropped. I reached for the wall and leaned into it, tears clouding my eyes. Why did I have to be the one to suffer for this? Now I'd lose my dream and still end up with Adrian  still carrying the secret about him and Ruby.

"Miss Sofia." Coach's voice pulled me back. I had no choice but to let him see how vulnerable I was. I raised my head, tears rolling down, and saw pity in his eyes  but pity wasn't what I needed. I needed a miracle, or a solution.

"You have a few minutes before they call you both in," Coach said, and stepped away to take another call, leaving me alone with my own panic for the first time all morning.

A few minutes. That was all I had left before whatever this turned into became permanent.

I thought of my father's message from an hour ago *Nice game you are playing at* and Lily's voice on the phone, *a scandal alone won't be enough, you'd need something that looks solid.* I hadn't taken it seriously ten minutes ago. Now it was the only idea I had.

I turned to the stranger who was staring at me, equal parts confusion and genuine concern.

"I need your help," I said, looking at him.

"Me?" He sounded nervous and something about the way he'd been acting toward me all morning, careful not to offend, clicked too. I decided to use it.

"We don't know each other, and I know this is going to sound even crazier than it already is, but  can you be my boyfriend? Wait, wait, don't take that the wrong way." My whole body was shaking on the inside, but I needed every ounce of confidence I could fake.

"In there is the board, and the head of it is my father, who'll go to any length to make me lose this dream and fall in line with whatever he wants. After today, I'm sure I'll be emotionally blackmailed into a lot of things. Please , I don't want to go through that." I kept my eyes on him. There was this fear in his face, this concern, that didn't add up for someone who didn't know me at all. Underneath the panic, something nagged at me too small and stubborn, like a word sitting on the tip of my tongue. I didn't have room for it. Not today.

"What does this help?"

"A lot," I answered immediately. "It buys me time to clean up this mess and make better decisions. I know it's unfair to ask you this, and I promise it's only temporary  we end it whenever you want, we just say we broke up." Before I could say anything else, he dragged a hand over his head, hard, and didn't say a word.

The door opened. My father's secretary stepped out. "Jay Andrew, you're wanted inside. Alone."

Jay. That was his name. He looked at me, then at Coach Peter, who gave him a small nod to go ahead.

My heart pounded as he walked in. I'd already given up hope. I just waited for whatever came next.

Jay POV

Walking in, scanning the room, it hit me why I hadn't placed him sooner Marcus Robert. Her father. The same man I'd seen eight years ago.

"Take a seat," one of the officials said. I did.

"Jay Andrew, we called you in first because you're already one of ours, and none of this would be an issue if the lady in question wasn't our incoming coach on a probationary contract, pending board review at season's end. That's not nothing, given where we are. There've been concerns raised about this hire since before the photo ever surfaced, and this doesn't make those concerns easier to set aside." The man kept talking, but my attention was locked on Marcus, wondering why she kept ending up in pain because of him. His face was dark, controlled I could feel the anger under it even as I held his stare.

"Jay Andrew. Are you with us?"

"Yes, sir." Still looking at Marcus.

"What's your relationship with Miss Sofia Robert?"

It felt like the same spot, eight years back  the same disappointment at not being able to help her when it mattered, another request set in front of me. And just like before, I needed to help her out of it.

"She's my girlfriend." I said it clean, every word deliberate. The anger on Marcus's face doubled, but he held it back  I realized he didn't want the father-daughter part of this on display, not in front of the board.

A little whisper moved through the officials. Everyone except her father, who was still staring at me.

"Call her in," one of the officials said to the woman by the door. A moment later Sofia and Coach Peter walked in.

"How long have you been together?" Marcus's voice cut through the room, and it went dead silent. I wasn't ready for that one.

"Six months," I said, quick  not sure who was supposed to answer, but we needed matching numbers.

"Have either of you thought about what a coach-and-captain relationship looks like to your fans, knowing exactly what this final season means? Not to mention what it hands anyone already looking for a reason to say this hire was a mistake." He was staring directly at Sofia now. I could see her hand shaking.

"Our personal life has nothing to do with the game," I said, as steady as I could make it. "Sofia went through the screening process and qualified. She should be given the chance to prove herself."

"That's easy to say," one official cut in. "Harder to sell to a board that was already split on this hire."

"With respect," another official said, "a coach and her own captain,  that's not just a scandal, that's a conflict of interest. What happens the first time she has to bench him?"

"What happens if we deny it and something worse comes out later?" Coach Peter said. "Right now it's one blurry photo. People fill in the blanks themselves when we don't. But if it's real,  if they're standing in front of the cameras together, telling their own story, it's not a scandal about my coach anymore. It's a story about the team. We get to pick which one sticks."

"That's a decision for the next meeting, not this one," Marcus said, cutting it off before anyone could agree out loud. "We're not fast-tracking anything on emotion. I want a formal proposal in writing, and I want it to answer the conflict-of-interest question directly, not talk around it."

Nobody argued with that either. The room broke without a resolution, just a deadline proposal due before the tournament, board to reconvene. I caught Sofia's eye on the way out. Neither of us knew yet whether that counted as a win.