For the first team practice after the Dons’ loss to the Bears, EVERYBODY arrived at least ten minutes early.

Coach Long laughed and clapped his hands together. ‘Now that’s what I like to see. Looks like everybody’s ticked off about losing, huh? Good. Let’s get to work and fix that.’

As such, practice started a few minutes earlier than normal, and even for warm ups, the entire team’s intensity was shifted up a gear from their usual outings.

‘I can see the fire burning inside you all. The loss is eating you up, right? That’s good!’ Coach Long said. ‘We’re going to use that today. Let’s get to some drills.’

Coach Long would spend most of his time with the defence that day, and of course, after the poor performance they just showed, they’d be focusing on stopping the run, AGAIN.

Whereas over with the offence, a majority of their focus would be on rushing and blocking, they’d also give some time to working on catching in traffic and through contact.

As the defence went through their drills, they would shed a block from Coach Long or an assistant, then tackle a dummy.

Ty wasn’t the most thrilled with the focus being on run defence and tackling, but, he wasn’t totally against it either, seeing as he still had some frustration to vent about their loss. Picturing Denzel’s smug face on the dummy was almost therapeutic every time he speared into it.

While offensive players would either take the ball and ran through a narrow path of cones with sharp turns and cuts, or, for the Receivers, they’d have to catch a ball well over their head. Throughout it all, both sets of players would be getting whacked by heavy, foam arms from multiple assistants.

‘That’s great!’ Coach Long called out. ‘Keep that energy. And keep that loss in mind. Don’t let it drag you down, let it push you forward to even greater heights. It’s just one loss, it doesn’t mean much. We’re going to see them again in regionals, so you better be ready to pay them back for that loss.’

As the varsity and JV teams were mixed together for this practice, Ty and Rabbit inevitably ran into one another, with Rabbit coming over to Ty while they were both waiting their turn for the drill.

‘H-Hey… I-I just wanted to say s-sorry… about you guys l-losing and everything.’

Ty glared at him. ‘Shut it. I don’t need your fucking pity,’ he growled.

‘S-Sorry… I just…’ Rabbit lowered his head. ‘Sorry. N-Next time we come against them… I’ll…I promise I’ll be strong enough to help.’

‘Tch. You could NEVER help us against someone like them.’

Ty ran forward, launching himself into the drill and left the other boy behind. Coach Hoang watched the interaction with a frown.

JJ came up behind Rabbit, putting a hand on his shoulder. ‘Oi, don’t listen to him. He’s still dealing with the loss, he doesn’t mean that. You just keep doing what you’re doing, you’ll make it off JV in no time.’

Rabbit looked at JJ with a strained smile but didn’t say anything.

The intensity stayed high throughout training, and as the drills shifted to one-on-one tackling between the offence and defence, Coach Hoang watched on closely.

‘Don’t ease up now. And don’t forget about what’s in front of you, guys. There are still other teams out there that’ll kick your asses if you overlook them and focus on your revenge against Warren. These other teams aren’t pushovers!’

Ty and Chris were matched off against one another.

At the blow of the whistle, Ty sprung up and rushed forward to cut Chris off. He stretched his long arms out wide, almost taking up the entire confines of the area they’d be given to work within.

But his arms felt heavy. His whole body had felt like lead even before practice had started—the after effects of yesterday’s workout with JJ.

Decisively, Chris didn’t shy away from the contact and burst towards one of Ty’s outstretched arms.

Ty shifted his weight, putting his shoulder into Chris as he tried to wrap his aching arms around the boy, but Chris’s legs never stopped pumping, and he broke through the tackle, leaving Ty in the dirt.

Though once the drill was over, Chris quickly turned around and offered a hand to Ty to help him up.

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Ty looked at it, then looked away, tearing up some grass as he cursed under his breath and pushed himself up.

Chris shrugged and sighed, moving away.

Ty moved over to his bag, getting a drink. As he did so, however, he was disturbed by a familiar, and annoying, whiny voice.

‘They were right before,’ Ricky said, ‘about not getting complacent and stuff, and focusing on the next game, too. This team might kick your butt as well.’

Ty side eyed him, taking another gulp from his water before he acknowledged the kid. ‘What do you want? Just here to gloat about shit? If you’ve got some more footage just hurry up and show it.’

‘Well, you guys did go pretty viral getting run over by The King like that.’ As Ty growled Ricky hopped back. ‘Whoa! Relax, relax. I’m here to help, promise. I meant it when I said you guys could be in trouble next week.’

‘Well hurry up and spit it out then! Who are we facing next week.’

‘The Downey Vikings. They’re the only other undefeated team in the division… uhh, outside of the Bears. But, instead of a star HB, it’s their WR you need to watch out for.’

Ty laughed. ‘Then what’s the problem? Of course we won’t lose if their best player is a WR. I’ll shut them down. We only lost last week to that stupid fucking king dickhead, because he’s a shitty RB and how am I supposed to deal with that shit?’

‘It’s that cocky attitude that makes you lose, you know.’

Ty, again, stepped forward towards Ricky, he quickly put more distance between himself and the angry, older boy.

‘Whoa! Wa-Wait! I’m serious when I say you guys might lose! This WR is different. He’s the best in this region, and he might even be the best in the state!’

‘So what?! I’m the best fucking DB in the NATION.’

Ricky gulped. ‘Yeah? You really wanna prove that? Then beat this guy. Embarrass him, make him your bitch! Uhh, th-then you’ll be a little closer to a 90…’

Ty scoffed and started walking away.

‘H-Hey! Watch out though, this team is good! Even outside of their star!’

Ty didn’t respond. His heart was pounding. He could feel the strength returning to his numb arms and hands as the fire spread throughout his body.

This upcoming game would be his message to the world, that his loss was a fluke, a fluke and a mistake that he’d never let happen again. He’d prove it by destroying Downey.

As practice wound down for the day, most players were exhausted, having given it their all for hours. Even so, Coach Long urged the boys over to the school gym to cool down and pump some iron.

JJ, drenched in sweat, was still as motivated and full of energy as ever, rallying a large group of both varsity and JV boys around him.

Ty was one of those who were still pumped and raring to continue, though he wasn’t sure if his body was up for what his mind wanted to do. He moved closer to JJ and told him as much.

‘Hey. I don’t think … my arms are messed up after yesterday or something. I can barely lift them let alone any extra weight.’

JJ laughed and slapped Ty on the back. ‘Yeah, maybe we went a little too hard for your first proper session at a gym. But don’t worry about it, if your arms aren’t working, just focus on your legs.’

JJ looked around at the dozen boys that had converged around him. ‘Hey, Jamie, can you run Ty through some squats and stuff, be his spotter for the day and he’ll spot you too. Oh, and Max, you work legs with them too.’

Ty groaned and ground his teeth as Rabbit was forced upon him, but his attention was soon dragged away by this Jamie he’d never heard of before.

A fresh-faced kid that Ty couldn’t recall seeing before stepped forward. A bit of peach fuzz clung to Jamie’s upper lip, a poor excuse for even a first moustache. With his long, narrow head, and his large eyes, and the way he gawked at people, Ty couldn’t help but think of a dumb fish when looking at him.

But, he was well built, especially for someone who must’ve been a freshman on the JV team. He was just a couple of inches under six feet, but had large, strong shoulders and stocky legs.

JJ, whilst acting more like a coach and trainer as he made sure everyone else was doing things correctly and weren’t overexerting themselves. Though when he had some time to workout himself, he spent most of his time focusing on legs as well, joining Ty and his little group.

As time wore on, more people started to leave the gym and head home. Though not too long after the time in the gym started, JJ was surprised to see Deshaun walking towards the exit.

‘Hey. D! Deshaun! Where you going, hermano?’ JJ wiped his face with a towel.

Deshaun adjusted how his bag sat on his shoulder, looking around the gym. ‘I’m just going. Shit man, what’s it matter?’

‘We gotta keep training. C’mon. I know we lost to them again, but, we can’t beat them if we don’t get stronger.’

Deshaun sighed. ‘Naaah… you do that. Imma do me. I’ll focus on the field. Besides.’ He looked towards Ty who was sitting at a leg press machine, watching the conversation. ‘Looks like you’ve got someone to take my spot.’

Deshaun turned and left before JJ could respond.

‘What… Deshaun!’ JJ cursed under his breath before heading out after Deshaun. Across the gym, Stephen dropped his weights down loudly and made his way out after them.

Jay raised the towel off his face as he lay across a bench in a corner, but he soon dropped it back down and went back to sleep.

Chris continued his box jumping, headphones on, he hadn’t even reacted to the walk out.

Rabbit stammered and hesitated a bit, but soon left Ty and Jamie to go out after JJ.

Ty shook his head, staying right where he was. ‘Fuck that noise,’ he muttered. He had no time to worry about others. He could only focus on himself, and the rivals in front of him. “I’m not losing ever again.” He reminded himself of his promise. The first obstacle in his way was Downey, and he had to crush them first before he could focus on his royal revenge.