After Ty returned home from his second victory, he came back to the same house he always did. Nothing had changed, and he felt foolish to think something would’ve.

His sharp teeth crunched right through the core of the apple he’d been eating, his eyes stared a hole into the TV as it displayed the top ten big hits from last week's NFL games. His father was parked right in front of the flashing images, sipping a beer while he watched.

Ty felt like walking over there, stepping right in front of his father and saying, “Hey, Dad, don’t you wanna ask how MY game went?” but he said nothing, and he didn’t move from his spot in the kitchen.

Even with his most recent game ball sitting atop the TV, no one had noticed it or asked about its sudden appearance.

Only Megan had mentioned it, saying that it was a nice spot to have it displayed, and that she wondered how many more he’d bring home this year.

Ty wondered that too—though he expected to come home with such a prize after every game this season—he more so wondered how many he’d have to collect for anyone else to notice.

“If I flood this house with my accomplishments, and bury you under my awards and trophies, will you FINALLY say something then?” He gnashed the last chunks of his apple.

So what if they didn’t notice? Life moved on, and Ty moved along with it. Finally, that boring life had passed on to another day of training, even his regular routine couldn’t compare to a real practice session.

He heard a car pull up outside, and slung his bag over his shoulder. He didn’t even say any goodbyes as he opened the door, and his father didn’t look over or say anything either.

Even when Megan called out, “Have fun at practice, Ty!” no one else’s voice questioned hers, or joined it in sending him off or wishing him well.

He walked out without looking back and got into Coach Long’s car, hardly saying a word throughout the short drive down to the field, staring out the window the whole way. He never noticed the concerned looks they gave him or how many times Bella opened her mouth to say something to him only to silently close it again.

When they arrived at the field, Rabbit and JJ were already there, of course. The two of them had been working together in the gym, though Ty couldn’t imagine Rabbit being able to lift more than the lightest weights available.

Ty warmed up on his own while things got set up. After everyone arrived, Coach Long called them over for an announcement.

‘Bring it in, boys. Let’s have a great practice today, alright? But first I just wanted to say that the upcoming game this weekend will be the first away game for both our varsity and JV team. It’s nothing too far away, just out to Norwalk, not even thirty minutes away to play against the Lancers. But if ya parents are busy and can’t drive ya there, or you don’t have a car of your own, speak up, and we’ll all work together to figure out some sort of carpool. There won’t be a team bus for this trip—that’ll come if we make it into the state championship.’

Ty wasn’t too fazed by the announcement, he would just get a bus if need be, however…

‘Samuels.’ Coach Hoang approached him after Coach Long was done talking. ‘We’ll give you a lift to the game this weekend, don’t worry about that.’

‘Alright. Thanks, I guess,’ Ty said. He still thought it was strange how Luke spoke on behalf of Coach Long when it came to offering him lifts.

‘Oh, and while we’re here… defence! Gather round,’ Coach Hoang called the rest of the defence over so that he could lay out the game plan for this weekend and what they’d be focusing on today.

‘So, from the scouting report—’ Ty couldn’t help but shudder upon hearing Coach Hoang say it like that. Did this mean that brat was officially a part of the team’s staff? He hoped it was from some other source.

‘We’ve learned that our opposition likes to run a very aggressive style of defence, prioritising blitzes. We’re going to emulate that today to help our offence get used to such an all-out assault so they can hold up against the pressure.’

‘What about the offence we gotta prepare for?’ Deshaun asked.

‘Good question. They’re pretty balanced all around and don’t have a lot of tendencies that stick out, so we’re going to stick to our own style of the CBs playing man coverage with a loaded box of players in the middle to cover the run, and a Safety or two over the top to cover anything deep.’

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There were muted, nonchalant words and grunts of acknowledgement from the surrounding players, though Ty wasn’t thrilled about the prospect of today’s training.

‘So, what? We’re taking a backseat while the focus is on the Defensive Line and LBs?’ Ty said.

Coach Hoang shook his head. ‘Of course not, no singular group will ever receive more attention than another, in fact, when I say that we’re going to be practising blitzing, that includes you DBs.’

‘What?’ Even Deshaun seemed a little surprised, and Ty’s scowl only deepened.

Coach Hoang laughed. ‘Don’t look so happy about it, Samuels. CB and Safety blitzes are still a part of the game, and it’ll make you an even more flexible and well-rounded player.

Ty’s jaw was clenched tightly. He didn’t interrupt, so Coach Hoang continued.

‘A great way to defend a pass is to never let the pass happen in the first place. You’re quick, I’m sure you’ll be good at this.’

Ty sighed but nodded.

Deshaun chuckled. ‘Though this ain’t really our style, why the switch up now?’

Coach Hoang shrugged. ‘Like I said, it’s to help the offence get used to this kind of defence. Plus, if we can get good enough at this as well, that’s a great benefit, it’ll be a nice secret weapon for us to use whenever our opponents have gotten a little too comfortable with our more routine schemes.’

Again, the surrounding players quietly agreed. Then, Coach Hoang blew his whistle and ordered everyone into position.

The drill the DBs ran was simple enough: when the ball was snapped to the QB, he would have to quickly scan the field and find which DB it was that was blitzing him, then he’d have to throw a pass to the receiver they left unmarked.

Sometimes there was more than one defender bearing down on the QB, though, in those instances, an RB stayed by his side to offer a little extra protection.

Jay was unfazed by any amount of pressure, and he was the one QB that completed a pass every single time the drill was run, and the one QB that no one could lay a hand on before he’d released the pass, no matter how fast Ty and the other DBs ran.

Though of course, if they ever did get to any of the QBs before they could find the open man, the DBs didn’t tackle them, that’d be too reckless for practice, instead, the QBs had two red flags hanging from their hips, and the DBs had to snatch one of the flags to win the drill.

Ty struggled the most out of the group, though what frustrated him the most, was that Rabbit was the best out of everyone, varsity team included. Jay was the only one Rabbit couldn’t get, but even then, he got closer than anyone else.

When they were told to take a break, Ty trudged over to the bench, sat down, and picked up his water bottle. This practice wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be, even if he was getting a bit frustrated with it. The bursts of sprinting were good, he could feel himself growing.

‘Ya know, I really would’ve thought you’d be better at that,’ a high-pitched, irritating voice said to him.

Ty didn’t say anything, staring straight ahead with the expression of someone who just had a bird shit on them.

Ricky leaned over the back of the bench, his face only inches from Ty’s. ‘Maybe I should lower your overall just a bit.’

‘What do you want?’ Ty grunted.

‘Aww, come on, I know ya wanna know who you’re facing next,’ Ricky teased.

Ty sat in silence, still not looking at the annoying boy for a while longer. Though eventually he sighed and rolled his eyes, glaring at that stupid, smug face before he said: ‘Who is it this time, who’s their best receiver?’

‘Hey, hey. No need to look so mad, I’m sure you’re gonna win, this team is a pushover… though… I don’t know, their star Wideout is pretty good, the winner of the game might come down to who wins the 1v1 between you guys.’

Ty sat up further, his attention fully focused on the young scout. ‘Who is he?’

‘I never got his name, but he wears number 80. He’s a freshman too, so he’s got a lot of potential as well… I don’t even think he played much in middle school, but he’s good, real shifty, and fearless.’ Ricky laughed.

Ty narrowed his eyes and waited for Ricky to continue.

‘He doesn’t really run routes either… well, not like most people do, he just does what he wants out there. Oh! And don’t ever think something’s uncatchable for this guy.’

‘What do you mean?’ Ty pressed.

‘Eh, you’ll see it during the game I’m sure. Anyway, you SHOULD win… but maybe I’m overestimating you, I don’t know. If you’re like… hmmm…’ Ricky looked Ty over inquisitively. ‘Let’s say a 78 now? Then this guy is a 76. No wait, maybe a 77… 76 and a half?’

Ty sighed and stood up, letting Ricky ramble on with his stupid ratings.

“78?” Ty scoffed and held back a laugh as he returned to the field to resume training. “What a joke.” He’d never taken that rating seriously, but now he knew for sure that the kid was full of shit. There was no way a 78 could do the kinds of things that Ty had done over his first two games.

But, to further prove that point, he’d just have to crush this new prodigy even harder than the enemies he’d defeated so far.

“We’ll win by our biggest margin yet, and I’ll destroy this rookie and end his career before it even started!”

With a new promise and goal in his heart, Ty looked forward to the future. His heart and soul burned with a fire that would only grow greater and hotter the closer game day became.