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She wasn’t sure why, but Franny spared a glance at Jade, who looked at her. Slowly, their faces transformed. This time, the heated expressions weren’t directed at each other.

“I wonder what it says about the boys that it took both of us,” Jade said, directing her finger between herself and Franny, “being extremely distracted for one of you to win with those trash-ass hands.”

A few snickers sounded around the table. Behind Byrd, Coach Landry guffawed.

“We’ve been doing this for weeks, Byrd.” Franny laughed condescendingly. “And this is the closest you’ve gotten to winning since Dunn and I sat our asses down at this table.”

Jeremy Bell’s answering laugh was gleeful. “We played every week for six months straight last year, and he didn’t win once.”

“Well, look at that,” Jade said as she leaned back in her chair, confident and biting. “It looks like the boys would be better off shutting the hell up.”

“I agree,” Franny backed her up.

Jade looked over at her, tilting the bill of her cap up just a little bit to send her a wink and a small, appreciative smile.

Franny closed her eyes, taking a screenshot in her mind. It was a small gesture, one that probably wouldn’t mean a thing the next time they saw each other. But it meant something to Franny now. Losses be damned.

13

They never had practices on Sundays. Most of the coaches, including Landry, were adamant that Sunday be a day for rest, family, and watching football instead of coaching it. So when 9:00A.M.on Sunday rolled around, Jade was surprised to find herself getting a call from Coach Landry asking for an all-hands meeting at the school.

They didn’t meet on the field but instead in the gym room that had been repurposed as the football team meeting hub. Jade was, as always, the first to arrive, after Landry himself.

“Is everything all right, Coach?” she asked, leaning a hip against his desk with her arms crossed.

Landry’s head was buried in a playbook, and when he turned to look at her, she could see the harried look in his eyes. “Season starts in six weeks, and I just got word last night that our first game is against West Beaufort.”

For all the pomp and circumstance, Port Royal had nothing on West Beaufort when it came to sheer domination. Greenbelt and West Beaufort had something of a rivalry, dating back decades. But for the past ten years, Greenbelt hadn’t won a single game against the other school. The discrepancy couldn’t be chalked up to more money and better facilities either. West Beaufort came from the same type of school they did. But there was something about that team andthat place and that coach that led them to the championship game time and time again—whether they ended up winning or not.

Normally, Greenbelt played West Beaufort somewhere about halfway through their season. It was about the same time morale started running low for the boys as well.

“This is a good thing,” Jade argued.

“How do you figure?”

“We’ll have spent months doing nothing but practicing by then, the boys will be ready, eager for a fresh kill. I think West Beaufort is the perfect opponent to win against to show everybody how we’re coming this year.”

“It could be.” Landry put a thumb to his chin. “And if we lose, all that morale could be gone like that,” he said, snapping his fingers.

“Then we won’t lose.” Jade shrugged.

Landry shot her an exasperated look. “Okay, we won’t lose.”

“No, I’m serious. Look.” She bent over, gently easing the playbook from his hands. “The scrimmage showed us that our defense is strong this year. We washed Port Royal because the boys were eager and ready to run those plays into the ground. We have a good base. All we need is a tactic to take us over the edge from great to winning.”

“You have one?” Landry asked.

“Not yet, but I will.”

Landry kept his eyes on her, narrowing them. “After this is over, stay back for a few minutes, will you? Let’s see what you and I can come up with.”

“What are you two huddled over there together so close for?” Coach Carr asked good-naturedly. The rest of the coaches slowly filed into the room and took seats. Intent on showing some type of power, Jade stayed standing where she was cocked against Landry’s desk until the rest of the guys were sitting.

“Wait, where’s Lim?” she asked quietly as Landry stood from his chair, preparing to speak at the front of the room.

“Lim isn’t a coach, Dunn,” he answered. “She may be trying to get there, but she doesn’t actually have what you’ve already got. Did you forget?”

She had to pause for a moment at the weight of those words. They were an objective truth, one that made it clear that Jade was in the lead in… whatever messed-up competition she and Lim had going on. The moment the words left Landry’s lips, Jade found herself floating. But a wink after that, she realized that something about the truth of that statement made her feel cold.