Gaining Strength

When the next team practice session rolled around, Ty was definitely sore thanks to his private training. At the same time, his revenge-fueled fire was hardly more than a flickering flame instead of the firestorm it had been building into over the weekend.

JJ and Rabbit—like always—were the other two early birds at practice. Rabbit waved Ty down and hurried to his side.

'Hey! Great game last weekend, you guys were awesome.'

Ty looked down his nose at Rabbit—the only person on the team he could do such a thing to—as he walked past him. 'Hm, Thanks. I can't say the same for you.'

Rabbit bit his lip as the JV team's loss was brought up. He looked away, chewing his lip for a moment. 'Well … y-you can't win every game. B-But we're gonna win the next one! I-I promise.'

JJ came over and slapped Rabbit on the back. 'I'm sure you will, hermano. Hey, Ty, let's keep that kind of play up and keep this new winning streak alive,' JJ said with a grin. 'Hopefully, this next game is even better for us as long as the others shake off that rust from the last game.'

'I'm s-sure they will. And I promise we'll win too.'

JJ chuckled and clasped Rabbit's shoulder firmly. 'You hermanitos on the JV team just keep doing your best. Win, lose, or draw, you're all getting better every game. It's a good thing too; you guys will have to take care of the team once me and the rest of the seniors are gone next season.'

Ty shuddered. JJ's words were like icicles stabbing into his brain, where they melted and showed him the nightmare of Rabbit and the rest of the JV team playing alongside him next year.

Ty left the other two behind and moved away to warm up on his own.

Soon, the coaches would appear and start to get things set up. Bella was with them, of course, though she stuck to the sidelines, watching the trio of players get in some extra exercise before practice began.

Eventually, the rest of the team arrived without any absences, and overall, the mood was back to being optimistic and excited now that the whole team was back together, and the Dons were back to their winning ways.

As the drills got underway, the coaches kept a close eye on the players, and whilst they appreciated the fact the boys were in a good mood, they made sure to keep them in line and focused.

'Hey, hey, hey. I'm loving the energy today, let's just make sure we're keeping it all on the field, yeah? We have to put this energy into good use, guys.' Coach Long clapped his hands loudly.

For today's practice, both JV and varsity squads were decked out in full pads, playing against one another, practising certain situations and plays with full contact. Only the QBs were excluded from that full contact, of course. And Chris was also an exception to that too, everybody else just having to tap those players.

Chris wasn't the biggest fan of this, but Coach Norman explained they were taking extra precautions with him for another week just to be super safe. He also said they knew how elusive Chris was, and it was better to be working on the O-Line's blocking right now, along with their run schemes to see how far they could get before anyone touched Chris anyway.

These reasons didn't exactly appease Chris, but it's not like he could argue with the coaches and get them to change their minds, so he bit his tongue on any further complaints he had.

The varsity team's offence would be going against the JV team's defence throughout training, and the opposite was happening on the other half of the field.

Whilst Ty was training, Bella watched him closely. Whenever he had a moment of rest between plays, he'd look up and always find her nearby.

When there was a drinks break for everyone, Ty took his water and sought out Bella. 'Is there a reason you're watching me so damn much today? I'm finding it hard to focus with you trying to glare a hole through me.'

Bella scoffed. 'Funny. Why wouldn't I be watching the players? I'm watching everyone.'

'You ain't watching them like you're watching me.'

She glared at him. 'I'm just watching you, is there a problem with me seeing how the best CB on the team plays? I need to show the JV players some of the techniques you use to keep your man locked down. You'd be a good example to learn from … at least the way you play, obviously I don't want them picking up your shitty personality.'

'Tch. Whatever.' Ty gulped from his bottle and then looked across at the JV team. 'They're not good enough to copy what I do. It's not as simple as stealing my techniques.'

'God, you're such an arrogant asshole.' She stomped off, calling the JV defence together.

Ty shook his head and returned to his bag, finding a certain brat waiting for him. He sighed loudly. 'What do you want?'

Ricky smirked. 'Are you ever in a good mood?'

'Not when you're around.'

'Aww come on. You know I've helped you guys out.'

'You've barely done anything. We'd still win without your "input" if you can even call it that.'

Ricky stood up with an exaggerated sigh. 'Well, if you're gonna be like that, I guess you don't want to hear what happened in the game between the Bears and Vikings.' Before he could walk away, Ty reached out and snatched his arm.

Ty pulled him around, standing up again as he stared down at Ricky. 'Who won?'

Ricky struggled out of Ty's grasp, squirming free before he answered. He rubbed his wrist angrily. 'You know you could ask nicely for once, wouldn't kill you, unless you're some stupid ass monster that's allergic to saying please and smiling.

'Tell me or I'm going to kick you through the fucking goalposts.'

Ricky stepped back. Ty had a look on his face that said he was being dead serious. Ricky gulped. 'U-Uh, well, it was a super close game. It went to overtime! (OT) But…But Warren won. 48–42.'

Ty's expression softened. 'The Bears won…' Ninety total points were scored throughout the game. Both teams were offensive powerhouses, he knew that already. But the Vikings had managed to push the Bears to overtime, even so, they fell to King Denzel in the end. 'Their defence couldn't stand up to the run game in OT.' Ty said it as if he'd already accepted his assumption as fact.

'A-Actually, it was a walk-off touchdown reception,' Ricky said.

'Huh? Did they throw a screen? Or play-action?'

Ricky shook his head. 'Lemme show you.' He stepped closer to Ty again and stood beside him, getting out his phone. He brought up a short video from his scouting forum and played it.

Noise exploded from the phone as the crowd was split 50/50, one side cheering for Warren, the other chanting "de-fence", encouraging the Vikings.

'Watch right here.' Ricky pointed out the Receiver and CB pair nearest to the camera.

That rabid mutt, Isiah, was the Vikings' CB in the picture, his dirty, blond locs sticking out the back of his helmet.

Meanwhile, the Bears' Receiver was none other than number 14 whom Ty had been matched up against during most of their game. For once, he didn't look tired or bored while on the field.

'Who is that? From the Bears, number 14,' Ty asked.

Ricky looked at the footage closely. 'Uhhh… I don't know?'

Ty glared at him and grumbled but quickly turned his attention back to the video. After the ball was snapped, the opposing chanting from the crowd became unintelligible noise as the play unfolded.

Number 14 kept his focus and determination as he pushed forward and gained inside leverage against Isiah.

'Outside,' Ty mumbled as he watched. Ricky glanced at him but held the phone steady.

A moment later, #14 shimmied then darted to the outside, it looked like the beginning of a stereotypical corner fade route that Ty—and any fan of football—had seen countless times as the Receiver would aim for the back corner of the endzone, and it'd come down to a contest between the Receiver and CB of whoever could catch the ball at its highest point.

The results of which largely came down to whoever got the better position, and how well the pass was thrown.

But Isiah was all over it, he'd seen it plenty of times too, and it seemed like he'd been expecting it. That was when #14 snapped to the inside instead and burst across the back of the endzone.

Isiah was left behind. The ball was thrown high over the middle. #14 left his feet, caught the ball on his chest and came down with it inbounds for the game-ending touchdown.

Ty watched in silence as half the crowd erupted, the field becoming obscured by the supporters in front of the camera jumping up with their hands raised. The video soon ended.

He reached forward and held the phone steady as he scrolled the footage back to the moment just before #14 made his moves.

'Hey, what are you—'

'Shut it. Can this fucking thing play in slow-motion?'

'N-No.'

Ty growled but slowly dragged the video forward, watching as #14 cut to the outside first. Even knowing the eventual outcome of the play, Ty swore that the route looked exactly like #14 was aiming for a fade to the outside—if Ty was defending that play, he would've jumped the outside route and given up the touchdown as well.

Ty lowered his hands and stepped back. #14 hadn't played like that when he was defending them. He remembered the few catches he had allowed in his game against Warren. They'd all come when he had been too focused on stopping Denzel and the run … at least that's what he'd thought.

'How many touchdowns did that guy have?'

'N-None. Uh, aside from that one. But… that was his only catch.'

'Well, what the hell was that?! Why haven't you told me about that guy before?'

''Cause he doesn't do anything! Bro just sits there and doesn't even move half the time. That team barely even throws in any of their games, they just run with Denzel most of the time. He had five touchdowns that game.'

Ty frowned deeply. Was that guy supposed to be their secret weapon? Was he a better player than Denzel? But, why would he never get involved?

'The Bears lost in the State Championship last year, right?'

'Y-Yeah.'

'Was that guy playing?'

'I-I don't think so. If he was, he didn't do anything. Denzel was a one-man army last year, that's why they got destroyed. Everyone else played like bums.'

Ty looked away, grinding his teeth. This shit didn't make any sense. He shook his head. 'What about Marshall and that other prick? How many did they score?'

'Marshall had three. Isiah had two.'

'One less touchdown reception, and he gave up the game-losing touchdown. Stupid bitch.' This news brought a small smile to Ty's face briefly. 'Hm, well, thanks for that … maybe you're not such a shitty brat after all.'

Ricky's eyes clouded with rage, even after showing Ty that video, Ty was still an ungrateful prick. 'Fuck you, dumbass!' He kicked Ty in the shin and then ran away. 'That's the last time I help you!'

'Ah! You nasty little shit!' Ty was hobbled for a moment before he went to chase after Ricky.

'Samuels!' Coach Hoang shouted. 'Stop screwing around! Assistant Coach Long needs you.'

Ty ground his teeth loudly, watching Ricky disappear around the corner. He groaned but made his way over to Coach Hoang and Bella, glaring at them both. 'What is it?'

'For the rest of practice you'll be participating with the JV team,' Bella said matter-of-factly.

'…What?' Ty said with a voice so cold it could stop the polar icecaps from melting.

'Don't waste your breath arguing about it,' Coach Hoang said. 'Just do as you're told. The DBs will benefit from seeing how you defend up close, and you'll get the benefit of defending the varsity Receivers.'

Ty narrowed his eyes and looked across the field to Stephen as he was grouped with the rest of the varsity offence, the giant was easy to pick out of a crowd. Maybe he'd be a good replacement for Marshall right now. 'Fine.'

Ty stomped over to join the JV defenders, answering Rabbit's bright smile with a dark scowl. The fire within him—blazing in the shape of a crown—grew hotter and larger as practice drew on.

Once again Ty was fired up, but his thoughts were locked on his potential future meetings with Marshall, Denzel, and now, that dopey-looking bastard too.