ME
Do you know how hard it is to get coaches for women’s teams?
KIM POSSIBLE
Fair enough.
YERSIE
Anyway, I don’t feel well so I’m actually going to stay home.
CAY
Same.
ROSE
Same.
ME
Gym. Ten minutes.
I’ll bring Monsters.
“I told you she’s evil!” Harlowe groans, her arms trembling, shoulders quivering as she holds a plank. Her fists are clenched so tight her knuckles might burst through the skin, and the flush creeping up her neck tells me she’s probably got about thirty seconds left before she collapses.
I let out a slow, controlled breath, my own body starting to give in to the burn. My legs are shaking now, every muscle screaming for mercy, but I force my focus back to the clock on the wall.
“First day back,” I mutter. “And she’s putting us through hell already.”
Meredith Kaiser knows no mercy. Where Coach Cole is a little more… accommodating, Kaiser is an absolutemonster. She doesn’t care if we’ve just returned from break, or if we’re running on three hours of sleep, or if we’ve maxed out every muscle in our bodies. Her workouts are relentless.
And she isterrifying.
Normally, I’m all for it. You can spend hours on the ice, but you won’t see real improvement without putting in the work in the training room. It’s part of the sport. But today?
Maybe it’s just because Darcy made me cut back on ice time, but after squats, deadlifts, box jumps, and RDLs, this feels excessive. I haven’t lifted a weight in a week, and instead of easing us back in—just a little, for the love of god—Meredith’sthrown us straight into the deep end.
“Shut up or she’s going to make us do T-Drills!” Bailey hisses. I force a tiny chuckle through my clenched teeth, but it quickly turns into a strangled gasp as another round of pain shoots through my abdomen.
In sync with the sporadic twinges in my muscles, the fluorescent lights above flicker, once, twice, before giving up entirely, plunging into darkness. A collective gasp ripples through the team, followed by an uneasy shuffle of feet. Someone lets out an embarrassingly shrill scream.
“Oh my god!” Bailey shrieks. “It’s the ghost!”
Harlowe’s voice breaks through the dark, pleading. “Does this mean we can stop?”
The darkness looms over us, deceiving me into the relief that I can stop. But just as I’m about to drop, a low, menacing voice cuts through the gloom.
“No!” Kaiser calls out, her tone unwavering. “Clarke, keep everyone on track. I’m going to go see what’s going on.”
I glance around the room, but all I can make out are the faint silhouettes of my teammates. A sigh slips from my mouth, my abdomen ablaze as I nod.
“Yes, Coach.”
As the seconds tick away, all that can be heard is the struggling sounds of our breathing. I want to give up. Weallwant to give up. But no one dares. Because if Kaiser comes back to any of us collapsed, hell will burn a fuck of a lot hotter.
Though, right now, I don’t know that anything could burn more than my abs. I suck in another slow breath, the flame from the plank relentless, when a familiar voice rings out from somewhere near the front of the room.
