The captain made the joke at the team dinner. It was about a kid on the JV team who had recently come out — a remark dressed up as banter, the kind that gets a half-laugh.
The freshmen were watching me. Three of them — Devon, Priya, Mateo. They'd joined that fall and I'd been the one who showed them how to file briefs and where to sit at tournaments. They were watching me to see what I'd do.
I didn't decide to walk out. My legs decided. Halfway down the corridor I heard footsteps behind me and I thought, oh god, I started something. But then I thought — good.
Leadership is something I had always thought of as a quality you announce. Like — captains have it, you know? You hold a clipboard and run drills. But that night, in a corridor smelling like cafeteria pizza, with three freshmen behind me, I learned something different.
I learned that leadership is just a thing you accidentally start by going first.
[draft continues]
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