Coming home had been another disappointment for Ty. He should've expected as much, but Meg had got his hopes up when she'd told him she'd convinced Father to put the game on. Unfortunately, he passed out before Ty switched onto Fale. He'd seen nothing from Ty.
But Meg had seen. She watched every second. Somehow Father slept through all her excited squeals and screams.
It didn't matter. None of it mattered. He tried to tell himself hundreds of thousands would've seen his performance, would know he had earned his All-American selection.
Sunday passed without much excitement. Even Ty was too banged up to get much training in, so all he did was enjoy a bike ride in the morning. The chill winter breeze did his aching muscles good.
Then the weekend was over, and it was back to school. Again the hallways were abuzz with talk of the team. Though finally they were paying attention to their success instead of their drama. It was about time.
Still, it was a mostly normal day. People usually kept clear of Ty, and he them. School was just a bridge after all, the classes steppingstones to college, the day an unavoidable obstacle before practice. Like a tax. There was one strange occurrence, however.
During lunch another freshman climbed onto one of the tables in the cafeteria and screamed loud enough you'd thought he was trying to shatter the windows. Confusion was the main response, though his little friend group laughed with him, pulling him back into their ranks.
When Ty looked over—curiosity getting the best of him—they met his eyes and all let out mini screams. Their eyes sparkled and their grins widened. They were looking at him with adoration. That's when he realised they were mimicking him.
It was probably meant to be endearing, but he found it mocking. He never intended to scream that way, though he knew he did it. One couldn't help it. It was guttural, instinctual. It was the kind of war cry that went back further than even gladiators, to a prehistoric time he bet. When a lone hunter one-v-one'd a sabre-tooth tiger. What had those idiots done to roar like that?
'Fucking freshies,' he muttered.
Thankfully that was the only incident, and the rest of the day passed as normal. Still, as always, it took too long to get to practice.
Rabbit was there, earliest of all, exuding energy. Ty was the next to arrive, finding the JV freshman sprinting up and down the stands overlooking the practice field. Rabbit rushed to his side after spotting him.
'C-Congratulations on the win!' he shouted.
Ty ignored him, dropping his bag before getting warmed-up.
'I-I was on the edge of my seat the whole time I was w-watching. I wish I could've been there in the s-stadium, it must've been the best!'
'Maybe if you were practicing instead of just watching from your couch you'd be good enough to watch from the bench,' Ty snapped. 'Even that would give you the spectator experience you're dreaming of … that is what you where you're best, right? Watching from the sidelines while your teammates do all the heavy lifting?'
'I… n-no I… that isn't…' Rabbit's mouth hung open.
Once Ty was finished with his stretches, he got up and ran past Rabbit, getting a few laps in before the rest of the team arrived. He already knew it wouldn't be the most thrilling practice, and he didn't need Rabbit to make it worse.
Practice was more lax that day. Sessions after games were always "no contact". They'd end up filled with stretching, and "physical" drills, but even then that was more like cardio. A gym session would follow the next day. Coach Long had said they already had their next opponent's film prepared, which was good. It was always something Ty looked forward to, especially on a day that wasn't intense enough to satiate his appetite.
It didn't help that bad news greeted the team once everyone arrived. Coach Long gathered the boys and let them get warmed up with their stretches. Benny, notably didn't participate. He stood beside Coach Long—never a good sign.
'Don't let me interrupt you,' Coach Long started. 'but I've got some bad news.'
He looked everyone over, pacing along the rows of boys. He stopped in front of Jay, looking down at him. Jay glanced at Benny then lowered his head. Their demeanour was more fitting for a funeral than a football field. A reminder that the gridiron could become a burial place in an instant. Ty's gaze drifted to Coach Hoang as Coach Long continued his speech.
'Benny won't be playing this week,' he said, staring down at Jay. 'At this point, even if we overcome our next opponent—who we now know, but that's an announcement for later—we're not sure if Benny'll be playing the game after.'
If there was a better way to cut through the team's excitement and drag them back to Earth, Ty didn't know it.
'Nothing's broken, but we'll need to reexamine him next week. As such, Benny won't be participating in practice until further notice.'
Benny stepped forward. 'I'm sorry I can't be out on the field with you guys this week, but I'll still be right by your sides every step of the way.'
'We gotchu Big Ben!' Deshaun shouted. 'Don't worry 'bout a thing, baby. We goin' ALL the way so you sit back and get healed up. We'll smash through whoever stands in our way 'til you ready.'
'If you're bragging like that, Banks, sounds like you're ready for some more punishment today,' Coach Hoang said.
That got the boys quiet and killed their smiles real quick. All but Ty's. Those training sessions were fun, he hoped they'd get back to them during the week.
That day's training might've been a punishment just for Ty. There was hardly any defending at all, just agility and reaction drills. Like high-kneeing over some mini hurdles before snapping around at the coach's shout of "BALL!". The ball would already be in flight and you'd have to lunge left or right to slap it down or, even better, catch it. That was fun, but not enough.
Of course Ricky was there, lurking in the wings, feeding information to the coaches. At least he had the decency to wait for the midway break before annoying Ty.
'Unless you're here to tell me I'm a ninety-nine like I deserve to be, I don't want to hear it,' Ty said.
'Ya know you make it sooo easy to hate you,' Ricky replied. 'And a ninety-freaking-nine? Skywalker's not even that high.'
Ty's head snapped around and Ricky looked as if he just shat himself. That was a name he regretted ever uttering around Ty.
'Am I higher than Skywalker?'
Ricky edged further back, ready to run if needed. 'Uhh, d-did ya hear the number one Tight End made it through? S-So did the third ranked Wide Receiver.'
Ty wasn't amused, and it wasn't lost on him what Ricky's avoidance of his question implied. 'I'm the number one Cornerback in high school. I don't give a fuck about a number three, and I just proved I can take out any fat, sluggish Tight End.'
Ricky laughed, a nervous reaction, like laughing in response to a tiger breaking out of its enclosure just as you were about to take a closeup. 'A-About that. I've got a vid you might wanna check out.'
That distracted the predator enough. Ty's expression softened. 'Show it,' he said. A demand, not a request.
Ricky stepped closer and miraculously kept his hands from shaking as he got his phone out and held it up to Ty. It showed a closeup of the Beanstalk, Jeremiah Byrd, with a microphone in his face. A country bumpkin from Indiana or some other shitty MID-west state. He was probably only ranked as the number one TE because he was nearly seven feet tall. Ricky pressed play.
'First off Jeremiah, I want to congratulate you and your team on the impressive victory. It looked like a breeze out there for y'all and you especially. 40–10 whilst sitting out the entire forth quarter? That's impressive.'
Ty guessed the reporter was male, even if they stood off-screen, allowing all the focus to stay on Jeremiah. He noticed the ANB Sports watermark in the bottom-right corner of the screen.
'Thank you,' Jeremiah said, wearing a fake grin. 'That means a lot, but of course I couldn't have done it without my teammates, it was a real team effort today. And my heart goes out to the Cougars, they played their hearts out and went out like champions giving it their all.' He turned away from the camera, giving the off-screen Cougars a patronising round of applause.
'With that out of the way,' the reporter continued, 'I NEED to ask—did you hear the comments of number one ranked Cornerback Tyrese Samuels after his and the Dons' victory over Desert Christian earlier today?'
Jeremiah laughed and shook his head, smiling at the camera. 'It's a bit hard to hear from somebody who's so far away, and I ain't talking about him being all the way over in Cali-forn-i-a, while we're here in the best state in America.'
Ty laughed, short, but genuine. It was a good dig, with a deeper layer too. Not many would pick up on it, but Ty did. Jeremiah had seen Ty's interview already, he probably knew what was coming.
'Well he said—and I am paraphrasing a bit—"I can guard someone no matter how big they are. … I've been proving that my whole career." What do you say to that? I mean, it sounds like it might've been directed at you, you ARE the tallest player in the tournament, and as Tyrese showed in the Dons' victory, he's willing to guard Tight Ends despite being undersized.'
Ricky held his breath. Ty's eyes narrowed. He was undersized, sure, but that didn't matter. Besides, his growth spurt would come sooner or later.
Jeremiah laughed again. 'Wow. He's got a mouth on him, doesn't he?'
'Oh yes,' the reporter said. 'There were some other … more explosive comments he made, but they were the kind we can't repeat on air.'
'Typical. Look, I don't have much to say to somebody like Tyrese Samuels'—bullshit, Ty thought, he'd be more than eager to talk his ear off during the gala—'because he's irrelevant. He's small and he's got heart and some skill, sure. But as soon as he faces some real competition, someone who KNOWS how to abuse a mismatch, he'll fall apart. The main reason it's pointless for me to talk about him, is because he'll fall long before he even reaches me. … BUT!' His smile widened and his eyes turned towards the camera, like he was staring straight at Ty. 'Someone that small, thinking they can guard EVERYONE no matter how big? Is nothing but laughable. If he keeps that attitude, and we do manage to cross paths in this tournament … well, I'm sorry but he's going to get fucked up.'
Ricky stopped the video there, with Jeremiah staring in the watcher's soul, looking like a murderous shoebill.
'That was basically it,' Ricky said, putting his phone away, watching Ty carefully.
But Ty wasn't upset, not even angry—he was smirking. 'He seemed interesting before, but if he's going to act like that, he's the one who needs to be careful of getting eliminated before facing me. He'd be lucky if that happened. One hit from even ME and those toothpicks he calls legs would get snapped in half.'
'Hahaha, totally. Uh, but speaking of worrying about getting eliminated, you should keep your focus on the team in front of you, right?'
'Yeah, so get out of my face with your shit.'
Even though Ty only stood to return to the field, Ricky still flinched away at the movement, laughing to himself afterwards.
Once the drills were finished, Coach Long led the team to the auditorium where they watched film for their upcoming opponents … the Kamehameha Kapalama Warriors.
Predictably, a series of restrained laughs and excited murmurs spread through the seated boys after the reveal of their opponent's name.
'Alright, alright,' Coach Long said. 'You better get it out now because I need you to take this team for the serious threat that they are.'
The boys took another minute to calm down before Coach got on with the study. Ty never cracked a smile. He'd never watched Dragonball other than just in clips and memes that were inescapable, but even he knew about the Kamehameha, everyone within a certain age bracket did. It made sense the word came from somewhere, but right now all he saw when hearing it was his next target.
He was silent through the film review, and ultimately disappointed by the time it was over and Coach ordered everyone to go home. None of the Warriors looked strong, let alone special. Well, they looked PHYSICALLY strong sure, but that didn't always translate into success on the football field.
For one they looked slow, and not many if any were the size of Fale. They didn't even come close to his explosiveness or nimble footwork. It was like Fale and the Eagles had been the perfect warm-up, and after them, dealing with the Warriors would be a cakewalk.
Still, Ty wouldn't take them lightly. Even if a JV or middle school team was put before him, as soon as they stepped on the field, he'd obliterate them with one-hundred percent effort.
Defeating the Eagles had given them the blueprint, and as Ty returned home, he vowed to smash through the Warriors on his way to the next challenge. Even without Benny he knew they could get it done, and he'd rather die than lose to such unexceptional frauds.