Chapter 17：You Become the Captain

The sound of the conversation was loud and clear on the phone. Cire's face was white as chalk. It took her two seconds to realize that the conversation that was playing on the phone was between her and Dawn. Her eyes and mouth became wide and froze, aghast at the events unfolding. She stared at the phone and suddenly lunged at it. She crashed on the Coach first and tumbled a little and then extended her hand to the place where the phone was kept for all to hear.

"Cire!" The Coach shouted at her for behaving like that. "What are you doing?" he said in an angry voice.

Cire didn't answer him. She had to take the phone and smash it on the floor before the rest of the conversation could be heard. She didn't know what explanation would she give of her action but all she had in mind was to slam the phone on the floor.

But to her horror, the Dean was quick to react. He lifted the phone immediately from the table sensing her action. He had seen too many such kinds of students in his life. His voice was strict and raucous when he said with a raised eyebrow, "Stay still or I will suspend you."

The conversation on the phone carried on:

"Hello, Cire!"

"I would like to see your shots with one wood. I haven't seen you use them at all."

Niall and Elize were motionless. The impact of exposing them to the Dean left them so stunned that they were not able to speak at all. Their faces were ashen white. It was as if every wisp of air from their lungs was knocked out of their body. Tears welled up in Elize's eyes and a sudden feeling of heaviness expanded through her core. Niall looked up slowly towards Dawn who was standing there with her head low. She refused to believe that the truth was getting exposed so badly and that too in front of the Dean. She pressed her hand to her mouth.

The way tables had turned was unbelievable. They wanted to remove Dawn out of the team but what just unfolded was beyond imagination.

Dawn looked at their white face from the corner of her eyes. On the inside, she shook her head at them for underestimating her. When she had listened to three of them talking about her and plotting against her from a distance, her mind went into an overdrive on how to save herself. And the only thing that she could think of was recording the conversation if they tried to be nasty with her. So when she had gone to keep her 7-iron back in the golf bag and pick 8-iron, in between she had taken her phone out and put it on recording. Unbeknownst to the girls, she quickly slipped it in her skirt. What followed next was according to how she had planned.

She wanted Cire to answer the question to make sure in the recording that she was the one who had broken it.

The conversation was still playing and a smile tugged at her lips when she heard Cire saying that on the phone.

When Elize found her voice, she said hoarsely, "Sir, this is a trap. We— we haven't done this."

But the Dean ignored her. He listened to the entire conversation very carefully and at places where he was not sure, he replayed it.

As and as the truth was getting exposed, Cire, Niall and Elize were seen shrinking in their places staring at Dawn, while Dawn was standing with an innocent face. They had messed with the wrong person this time. Dawn looked up at Niall and slowly showed her the middle finger.

When the entire recording was over, the Coach looked pale. He didn't know how to handle the situation. Somehow he said in a gravelly voice, "So now I understand why Niall was asking me to get her sister in the team." He shook his head and looked at the Dean. This was one of the most horrific incidents he had faced.

The Dean cocked his head and looked at the three of them with narrowed eyes. He grunted, "Last year I had denied your sister to be inducted in the team because her performance was not up to the level we were scouting for, so this is the plan you came up with, Niall?"

Niall blanched. Her mouth opened and closed like that of a fish.

The Dean's eyes shifted to Cire. He said shaking his head, "I didn't expect that from you. You are the Captain of the team and this is how you behaved? Do you know how many applications are there to get into this group? Did you think that this is some family stuff that you could orchestrate? And who the hell are you to take these decisions?"

Cire licked her dry lips. Her throat had choked and the mind was numb to the extent that she couldn't even say a word.

The Dean ignored Elize. He cleared his throat and turned to the Coach. He said, "Brandon, I will take disciplinary action against Cire and Niall and suspend them from the team. Find their replacements."

Dawn didn't expect that and was slightly stunned but she kept quiet.

Then he looked at Dawn with hopeful eyes and in a sweet yet authoritative tone said, "I am sorry that this happened with you Dawn. How about you become the Captain of the team?"

The smile that had refused to leave Dawn's face became wider. She had already anticipated this.

"You can't make her the Captain," Cire said in a harsh protest. Her face was red with anger.

"Shut up!" The Dean spat at her.

Dawn bit her lip and after a short pause, said, "Thanks for the opportunity Sir, but I think Elize would be a better choice. I am new and would like to focus on my practice first."

The Dean narrowed his eyes. This girl was letting go of an opportunity of a lifetime. "Are you sure?"

Dawn pursed her lips and bobbed her head. She was in no way going to accept the Captain's position. She wanted to stay under the radar and knew that as a Captain, she might have to even mingle with the media. That was a thing she never wanted.

"Okay! In that case, you can claim the position whenever you are ready."

"Thanks, Sir," Dawn replied politely.

Elize's mouth fell to the ground.

But Dawn knew what she was doing. By suggesting Elize's name, she had quieted her for all the time she was there in the group. Elize would never go against her after this incident for two reasons. First, she knew that Dawn could claim the position anytime she liked and that would keep her from opposing her and second, who the hell would want to get into a tricky situation now that she knew what Dawn was capable of.