He gives me a jerky nod, like he’s been expecting this since that first and last two-a-day when everyone treated me like a joke. And that only makes me angrier. Because he’s seen it this whole time, and it’s been his job to fix. But he’s cared more about making a crowd of whiny babies happy so he can keep his cushy job coaching losers to failure because everyone’s given up on winning for so long, they don’t even know what to do with it when it lands in their palms after a perfect spiral.

I open my mouth to say more, to tell him that I’m going to run this game my way, but then the ref calls out, “The coin toss will take place on the center of the field!” and I let myself melt back onto our bench, kicking up a little extra dirt in my cleats as I leave him behind me.

Because he can’t even get a coin toss right, Devlin calls “Tails,” and of course we lose. Kennedy’s captain looks directly at me and says, right into the mic, “We’ll kick. I wanna see what their girl can do.”

Devlin smirks, and as I feel the frisson of glee on both sides at the expectation I’m gonna fall on my ass—literally or metaphorically, I guess—I open my mouth to snap about how I’m not “their girl,” only to have someone else’s voice cut me off.

“Yo, she can do anything your bitch ass can do with her eyes closed, punk.”

Miguel. Dear God. As the ref turns to control my foulmouthed teammate while the rest of the guys jeer, the urge to kick so much ass that he’ll never have to eat those words pumps fast and furious through my blood.

And with that in mind, defense lines up.

For this, at least, the team actually tries, as anxious as everyone else is to put me on display. Dan makes the catch and runs it up to the forty-yard line, so at least we’re in good field position.

He has no idea how much he’s about to regret that.

I exchange a glance with Miguel before sizing up the defense. This could go one of two ways. Either Kennedy’s going to try to intimidate me because they think I’m a wee little girl who’ll go absolutely numb at the sight of five or six big strong boys clambering in my direction, or they’ll go weak on me and focus their defense on the guys who actually frighten them.

Let’s find out.