Maybe today was the test I had to pass to get onto the starting lineup. That was probably why he wanted to discuss it after the drills. This could be the make-or-break moment.
I had to make it. I had to do well in front of Keaton and his camera. I had to show everyone that I wasn’t just dumb – I had some worth. I had to prove myself. I had to work out all this anger and fear and confusion that was inside of me before I exploded.
I watched Aiden run forwards and tackle Caleb. He just about bounced off. Caleb squared his shoulders and hit his own chest. He looked like a warrior squaring up for battle. He was telling us he wasn’t going to be defeated.
We’d see about that.
I rushed him next. Our bodies collided hard, the padding helping to lessen the blow only a little. He staggered back a few paces and his feet dug into the ground, keeping him stable.
Fuck. He was going to be hard to move.
On the one hand, I was glad to have him on our team. On the other…
He was going down.
I went back to the back of the line behind Aiden again and watched. Player after player on our side tried to take him down and failed. Each time, he was getting more tired though. He had to be. No one had enough stamina to withstand getting hit again and again.
Aiden went for his second try. He yelled as he ran forwards. When he hit Caleb, they both staggered backward and then stopped. Aiden grinned and clasped hands with Caleb before walking away. He was congratulating him on not getting knocked down.
I wasn’t going to do the same.
I geared up to face him again. He looked at my face and something in his blanched. Good. He was scared of me. He should be.
I was going to take him down.
I ran at Caleb as hard as I could, slamming right into him so hard it hurt. He fell to the ground and I got up as quickly as I could. I bared my teeth in a grin. I had him. I was stronger than everyone else. I knocked him down.
I turned to see if Keaton had been filming. I wanted to know if he’d got it on camera.
Then out of nowhere, the world turned upside down.
I registered a moment later that I was lying on my back. I was looking up at the sky. I couldn’t breathe.
My brain started to put the pieces together. My lungs grappled for a breath. Caleb had tackled me back. He’d winded me. I was breathing again –
And a rush of pain flooded through my body, making me roar.
My foot was trapped underneath Caleb where he’d taken me down. He scrambled up and I could reach it. I sat upright, grabbing onto my ankle and howling. Fuck, it hurt bad. Real bad. Like maybe career-stopping injury bad.
The team doctor jogged across to me and set his bag down. I looked up to see my teammates gathering around me. Everyone had gone quiet. All I could hear was my own breathing, ragged now. At least I wasn’t screaming anymore. I wanted them to think I was strong. That I was okay. That I wasn’t hurt so bad things were going to change.
The doctor touched my ankle and I hissed, pinching my face together to avoid screaming again. What if I couldn’t play?
Would they take my scholarship away?
Would they do it now? Or wait a year to see if I would recover and then take it?
Was I going to be able to play again at all?
“Let’s get him onto a stretcher,” the doctor grunted. “You and you, help me lift him.”
A stretcher? No. Not a stretcher. “I can hop,” I said through gritted teeth.
The doctor shot me a look. A look that told me not to be an idiot.
Didn’t he know that was all I was capable of being lately?
I was lifted bodily onto a waiting stretcher. I slumped my head back onto it. This was it. Everything was going to be over. He hadn’t even told me what was wrong with my ankle. I didn’t know if it was broken. Maybe just twisted. Could a twisted ankle hurt this bad?
