Coach scanned all of us once more before his eyes locked on mine, and a subtle tilt of his chin told me it was my time to take over.

I jumped up, pulling on my helmet as I yelled, “Who are we?!”

One by one, my teammates followed, and a chorus sang back to me, “NBU!”

“What do we want?!”

“What all champs do!”

“How do we win?”

“Fight with class!”

“And if all else fails?”

“KICK THEIR ASS!”

I threw my fist out, swallowed up in the next moment by teammate after teammate piling theirs on top.

“Rebels on three. One, two—”

“Rebels!”

I high-fived my brothers as I passed them, knocked helmets, smacked their asses with words of encouragement, and lifted Riley up in a spinning hug before telling her to go give ’em hell.

And though I still didn’t look where those pom poms waved on the sideline, I could feel an all-too-familiar pair of brown eyes watching me as I jogged to the end zone for our first set of drills.

Sweat dripped into my eyes by the end of practice, every muscle screaming for relief as I dragged my ass into the locker room. The heat was brutal, adding to the misery Coach Dawson, our Defensive End Coordinator, had dished out for nearly three hours. I’d run so many sprints and tackling drills I felt woozy, but I held my chin high as I marched side by side with the rest of my team.

Riley slowed down at my side, nudging me with an elbow. “You killed it out there today.”

“I could say the same for you, miss forty-two-yard field goal.” I arched a brow. “You know, the chart was already made. You didn’t have to show out like that.”

“Didn’t I, though?” She grinned.

Riley Novo was the only girl on our team — the only female playing in college football at all at the present moment. She’d had to overcome a lot last season to gain the respect of the team, mine included, but it hadn’t taken her long to win us all over. Now, we protected her like she was our little sister.

Well, except Zeke — who protected her like she was his whole damn life.

On cue, Zeke swept in behind her then, tucking her under his arm as he ran his knuckles over her already-frazzled hair. She swatted our kick returner away, but then she was back in his arms, leaning up for a kiss that made my heart ache as I tore my gaze away.

I used to have that, too.

Now that practice was over, I didn’t have anything to focus on, no reason to keep my eyes from continuing to drift over to where the cheerleaders were wrapping up their own practice. They all wore matching brick-red shorts and small white crop tanks, and a short scan of them was all it took for me to find Maliyah.