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I stood slowly as a feeling of unease settled in my gut. I had no idea if I was supposed to follow this man’s orders, but I wasn’t ready to get on Coach’s bad side either, so I walked out. The air in the hallway was cooler, quieter, and far less tense. It was a welcome relief compared to what we had just been a part of.

“You’re under-using him,” Delaney said, not wasting any time.

Coach’s jaw set. “We’re running our usual system.”

“Well, clearly your system isn’t working. In case you missed it, they’re getting their asses handed to them.”

I looked between them both, unsure of what I had to do with this whole discussion.

“The team was always going to struggle against Curry. It’s not what I have an issue with. You have an opportunity to build this guy because he is something worth showing off, but instead of doing that, you’re burying his talent, and I’m not going to stand for it.”

Coach crossed his arms. “We play as a team.”

“I’m not saying you can’t. All you have to do is give him the ball and some more carries. Let him build something people can’t ignore.”

Coach didn’t respond at all.

“You’ve got donors invested in this program and a new stadium going up. That’s momentum and clear growth. Wouldn’t it be a shame if all that had to suddenly stop?”

There it was, and Coach was as unhappy with the threat as I was. These guys always used their money to get what they wanted, and this time was no different.

“You don’t have to win,” Delaney continued. “But you don’t have to walk away empty-handed either.”

He looked at me and added, “Make it count,” before walking off.

I ran a hand over the back of my neck as I exhaled. “Coach?”

“You ready?” he asked, even though his eyes were still focused on the tunnel.

I hesitated for just a beat before nodding.

*

From the moment the second half started, things felt different. During the first play, the handoff came to me. I took it, cut inside, and drove forward for five. At the next play, it happened again. This time, I bounced outside, slipping past one defender before stepping out of bounds. Then it just kept happening again and again. The offense shifted around me, feeding me the ball and forcing the game through my hands. I leaned into it, knowing what was going on and not wanting to disappoint Coach. Then, midway through the third, we hit something that worked.

“Same look,” Ethan said. “Trust it.”

I lined up with my muscles tight and my breath steady. The snap came, and I took the ball. I feinted right, then I cut left, following the block as it sealed the edge. A defender lunged and missed. Another closed in, but I lowered my shoulder and drove through the contact. My legs kept pumping, refusing to go down, and then the end zone opened up in front of me.

I pushed forward, crossed the line, and earned a touchdown. The whistle blew, and for a brief moment the noise blurred into something distant, and then it came rushing back. My teammates closed in.

“That’s what I’m talking about!” Malik said, clapping my helmet.

“Let’s go,” Ethan said, putting his arm around my shoulder.

I nodded, still trying to catch my breath, and then the scoreboard shifted. We were still losing and trailing by a lot, but it was no longer empty.

The rest of the game followed the same pattern: I was at the center and had the team pushing where they could. Curry answered every time, and by the final whistle the result wasn’t close. We had gotten crushed, but we had something else. The guys didn’t look defeated as they walked off the field. Yeah, they were frustrated, but they were still fired up. We fought and scored, which was more than we had prepared for.

I, on the other hand, wasn’t in the same mood as the rest of them. The touchdown kept replaying in my head because it was tied too closely to the conversation in the hallway. But it hadn’t just happened like the guys assumed it did. Someone planned it.

“Trace.”

I rolled my eyes as my feet came to a stop. Dakota stood a few feet away from me with her notebook ready to go.

“I need a quote about the game,” she said ever so sweetly.

“I don’t have time for you right now.”