“You came! Come meet the team.” Daziel grabbed my hand and towed me toward a loose crew of others. Paz jumped from my shoulder to Daziel’s and chittered excitedly as he ran up and over Daziel’s head.
“Are you sure? I don’t want to get in the way before the game or anything…”
“I want you to meet them.” He bubbled over with excitement,and my shyness increased as we approached his teammates. I knew some of these boys—like Ezra, of course—but most were strangers. For the first time I’d be in the position of being Daziel’s betrothed instead of the other way around.
“This is Naomi,” Daziel proclaimed, interrupting their huddle, beaming proudly. Everyone ignored us, which was about what I’d expected.
Everyone had their residence hall written on the back of their jersey, beneath their team name, the Fiercest Figs. I peeked at Daziel’s. It saidTestylier House.
The sweetness of this was so sudden and intense I had to blink very rapidly to maintain my composure.
“Here’s the deal,” Ezra said, in his element as team captain. “The other guys are faster, stronger, and smarter than us.”
“Isn’t this supposed to be a pep talk?” I murmured to Daziel.
“It’s a ‘here’s the deal’ talk,” Ezra said. “But you know what we have that they don’t have?”
“Spirit?” I suggested.
Ezra glared. “Your input is unnecessary. What wedohave,” he continued, “is no fear of pain.”
“What,” I said under my breath.
“No pain!” the boys all cried, like (1) this made sense and (2) was something to be proud of. “No pain!”
I looked at Daziel. Like the rest of them, he was pumping his fist in the air, looking delighted. “No pain!”
The corners of my mouth quirked up. Okay. This was kind of cute. Bizarre. But cute.
Ezra delivered a not-very-empowering speech about how they’d win no matter what, even if it meant playing dirty, thenbacktracked and said they couldn’t play dirty because they already had two strikes, and also the other team played dirtier and one of their front men had a nasty habit of kicking knees, stay away from him. Then, with a final “No pain!” they clapped their hands together and looked toward the other team on the opposite end of the field.
Daziel kept holding on to my hand, even though I suspected the game was about to start. I tugged free. “I think I better go. Have fun, okay?”
“It is not aboutfun,” Daziel said seriously. “It is aboutwinning.”
We were going to have to have a talk later about Ezra’s speechmaking. “Hm. Good luck, then.”
“Hey,” a voice called from the other team as I started toward the bleachers. “Is that—do you guys have the demon?”
I stiffened and turned.
The opposing team approached en masse, matching scowls to go with their matching red uniforms. The boy wearing the captain’s epaulets stepped forward. “You can’t have a demon play.”
“Whatever,” Ezra said dismissively. “It’s fine.”
“It’snotfine,” the opposing captain said. “That’s cheating.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. He’s not even any good.” Ezra used the same tone as when he decried the Sanhedrin’s ability to do anything. “He gets distracted half the time.”
“I don’t!” Daziel protested.
“Look!” Ezra pointed behind Daziel. “A tabby cat.”
Daziel turned.
This didn’t appease the School of Engineering’s team. The fight snowballed until the umpire made his way over, besieged as each side made their case. He was a slim man with ginger hair anda cleft chin. He took one look at Daziel and shook his head. “It’d be an unfair advantage.”
I’d stayed uninvolved until then, but at this, anger bubbled up. “Oh, come on. This is ridiculous. He’s played in the games within the School of Humanities.”
