Ask Kate for help

He walked nervously back over to Kate, wondering what she would say.

"What's wrong?" she asked immediately, seeing the obvious distress on his face.

Cheerlessly he explained the situation. "I'm not sure what to do," he finished lamely.

Kate frowned and a look of determination came over her face. "Wait right here. Don't say anything to Coach Vanessa. Let me handle this."

John nodded mutely.

Kate hastened back to the other girls and began speaking to them earnestly in low tones. They glanced over at him and back to her, listening. Then they began talking animatedly, nodding and giggling. A few of them cast furtive looks in his direction, with sly and/or embarrassed expressions on their faces. The giggling made him increasingly self-conscious. His negligence was embarrassing enough with them adding ridicule to it.

Finally, the group trooped over to him smiling broadly, and Tanya, the team captain, proudly handed him a sheet of paper. Puzzled, he lowered his eyes to read it. On it were the seven days of the week, each with a number after it:

Sat: 316
Sun: 307
Mon: 405
Tue: 314
Wed: 407
Thu: 335
Fri: 316

The top line had numerous erasure marks; apparently there had been some debate about that one.

"What does it mean?" he finally asked.

"It's your room assignment!" exclaimed Tanya proudly. "You can stay with us! We wouldn't even be here if it weren't for your fund raising idea. There's no way we're letting you get sent home early just because some stupid school bureaucrats don't consider you part of the team. WE consider you part of the team."

"Yeah," Kate chimed in, "and you'll be staying with me and Ilyana first. Room 316. Our home is your home. Until tomorrow anyway. Then Allison and Chloe get you."

Allison grinned.

"Just don't tell Coach," warned Kate, "She'd freak."

John was stunned. "Wow, this is just... You guys are amazing! Are you sure you're all okay with this?"

"Totally okay," avowed Chloe with a little too much conviction, "In fact some..."

But just then Coach Vanessa returned, forcing her to abort her remark.

"Alright, it's already 7pm our time and most of us haven't eaten yet so we need to get moving," Vanessa announced. "Drop your bags off in your rooms and we'll reconvene here in 15 minutes. Don't worry about unpacking; you can do that when we get back."

They all dutifully poured into the elevators, but as John made to follow Kate and Ilyana out onto the 3rd floor, Kate shook her head and whispered, "Just give me your bags and I'll drop them off. Don't want Coach seeing you come with us."

He nodded and let her grab his rollaboard as she exited, while he continued on up to a random floor and then back down to the lobby.

Dinner turned out to be a hurried stop at a nearby pizza joint, which was just as well since many of the girls were jet-lagged and tired. Kate and Ilyana were strangely missing, but when he asked Tanya about it, she just shrugged and said, "You know girls---always shopping."

When they returned to the hotel, Vanessa finally relinquished her grip on their schedules and declared that they had some free time, which they could use as they liked as long as they didn't leave the hotel. "Remember to get a good night's sleep! We start practice tomorrow morning!" she reminded them before heading off to her room.