Ty took his bike and rolled it to the front yard. Before he could hop on and ride away to the school to meet the team at the pickup point, the front door opened and banged shut.
Meg hurried out, crying: 'Ty! Wait!'
He sat on the back before looking back at her. He let his questioning expression do the talking.
'You're always in such a hurry to go,' she said. 'I never get to say goodbye.'
He looked beyond her, at the cramped house they called home. 'I don't get how you aren't itching to get out of there,' he said.
She stepped back, flinching. 'Where else would I go? I can't come with you.'
'Yeah. It's tough convincing our mother or our father to give a shit, isn't it?' He sighed. 'But I don't know. Couldn't you just go to the library or something?'
'But you wouldn't be there.'
He looked away, hiding his frown.
'When can I come see you play again?' she asked.
'I don't know. When you can convince someone to take you. I doubt that'll happen, though. … but you definitely need to come watch me win State soon. Even if you gotta get your own bus or something. I'll let you know.' He pushed off, starting down the street.
'Good luck!' she called after him. 'I know you'll win.' She watched him go until he darted around a corner and disappeared from view.
Ty pushed himself, racing towards the school. He wasn't racing anything visible, not to anyone else. Only he saw the train screaming past alongside him. He grit his teeth and hunched over his handlebars, pushing faster. He had to be FASTER. As fast as a speeding bullet.
He reached the school's parking lot much earlier than he needed to. He skidded to a halt before the bike rack. After securing his bike, he walked over to the bus, still catching his breath.
Coach Long greeted him with a smile. 'Always one of the first to arrive. Good to see you, Tyrese. How'd you sleep?'
'I can barely sleep before a game,' Ty admitted.
Coach Long nodded. He didn't look surprised or disappointed. 'Mastering those nerves can be tough. It's something you'll need to get a handle on, though. A good sleep the night before is one of the most important parts of anything you do.'
"Nerves?" Confused, Ty handed over his bag, and Coach Long slotted it into the undercarriage. What did Ty have to be nervous about? He WASN'T nervous, not about anything. CERTAINLY, not about facing that shitty Bullet Train or the rest of his shitty team; if they beat the Bears, they could beat anyone.
Bella was the only other person on the bus—aside from the driver, of course—when Ty climbed aboard. His feet carried him to the back, as his mind wandered, thinking about the game.
It'd be a battle of speed. Ty couldn't help but think of the first game of the season. The Monsoons had been a team full of speedsters, full of track and field athletes pretending to be football players.
Take away their Receivers' speed and they were nothing. The Mater Dei Monarchs would be the same.
Ty couldn't help an exhalation of amusement. First, they took down a couple of fake kings and now they were going to dismantle an entire team full of them.
'What's so funny?' Bella asked.
She shocked Ty from his thoughts. He looked at her. She sat on the seat just in front of him, fully turned around to face him, her arms resting on top of the seat's backrest, chin on top of them.
'Just thinking about how easy it'll be to crush the Monarchs,' he answered.
She rolled her eyes. 'As easy as last game?'
'Did we lose last game?'
'God. Why are you always so arrogant!? This is serious. These guys aren't gonna be easy.'
He leaned forward. 'I'm serious too.'
She leaned back, cheeks darkening.
'It's not arrogance if you can back it up,' he said. 'It's going to be easy because I'm going to crush them with my full strength. Just like last week. The score might've been close, but at the end of the game, one team was crushed, and that team wasn't us.'
Her mouth opened and closed wordlessly a few times before she finally said. 'Th-This guy's really fast.'
Ty laughed. 'Good. We always face people who think they're stronger than me, or someone who's bigger. But this guy … if it's a battle of speed he wants, he can have it. I'll show him that NO ONE is faster than me.'
Bella chewed her bottom lip. There was that arrogance again, but everything Ty said always carried so much conviction, it was hard not to believe him. Plus, he'd rectified his few mistakes so far … but this was a new foe. What if it was one he needed two chances to beat? Like Warren and Downey?
JJ's arrival saved her from these tough questions as his hand landed firmly on her head. He ruffled her hair, messing up a half hour of work in just a few seconds.
'Morning, Coach Short, hermano.'
She glared up at him as he took his seat next to Ty. She turned away, fixing her hair as she sunk further into her own seat. 'You know I hate that name,' she grumbled. JJ just laughed.
'Hey, JJ.' Ty and JJ bumped fists.
'You excited?' JJ asked.
Ty shrugged.
'Man. How can't you be? My blood is PUMPING. I couldn't sleep at all last night. Don't even think I'll get a nap on the drive there either. This is the farthest we've ever come.'
'We've still got a lot farther to go,' Ty said. 'This train isn't stopping until the National title.'
JJ hung his head back and let out a whistle. Bella peeked out from behind her seat. 'That's gotta be like … ten more games. It's practically a whole other season,' JJ said wistfully.
'More games just means more teams standing in our way. More teams to crush.'
Whilst one's dream centred around the simple fact of playing more games with their family, the other dreamed of glory in the gridiron coliseum. And Bella was there, watching both as they tried to shape their dreams into reality.
The bus eventually filled up with the rest of the team. JJ made sure Ty wasn't kicked down from the back of the bus to the front, deeming him an honorary senior. Bella left of her own accord.
As the journey began, Deshaun turned to Ty. 'You gonna keep that fast motherfucker covered?' Deshaun asked.
Ty glared at him like it was the most insulting thing he'd ever heard.
'You better answer me 'fore I slap that nasty look off your face, Freshy,' Deshaun warned.
'Maybe you shouldn't ask stupid questions.'
Stephen laughed. 'See, this is why you can't let a freshy sit back here. Look what happens to them. You wouldn't get that kind of disrespect if he were at the front of the bus.'
Others chuckled, but Ty turned his gaze upon Stephen. 'What about you? Can we rely on the offence now? Or was last week a fluke?'
'Ohhh I really wanna fucking hit you, Freshy,' Stephen snarled. But he thought better of it, shaking his head. 'You saw their D-Bees—none of them are big enough to match me. It'll be fine.'
'Plus,' Chris said, injecting himself into the conversation, 'their run defence should be a lot weaker than Warren's. I'll have more impact this game for sure. We've got this. We just need the defence to do what it normally does and shut them down.'
Ty leaned back in his seat, eyes closed. 'Then we're all in agreement—as long as we do what needs to be done, this game's an easy win.'
'Finally, this Freshy's talking sense,' Deshaun said. More laughter filled the back of the bus.
JJ stared down the rows of seats, his expression still one of contemplation. 'Hey Donte,' he called.
Donte looked back, and JJ beckoned him over. Donte stood and traversed the moving bus down to the back end. The shift in focus was enough to make Jay raise his cap and let everyone KNOW he was paying attention instead of pretending to sleep. 'Sup?'
'Coach said Mater Dei's offence is all-or-nothing, right?' JJ said.
Everyone nodded, even though the question was directed at Donte.
'Then even with a fast receiving core, they need time for their plays to develop,' JJ continued. 'I know their O-Line's strong, but you're gonna play an important part today. If you can cut their time short, you're gonna help your hermanos, Dee and Ty, a lot.'
Donte rubbed the back of his head, grinning. 'Hah, you know me, I'll do my best.'
'Ayyy, big Don the Don!' Stephen stood, clapping Donte on the shoulders, jostling him. 'See? This is the kind of guy you get when you make them sit at the front as a freshy.'
The others laughed again, Donte joining them. Ty wasn't laughing. He didn't need help, but he said nothing. He let them have their moment. Looking out the window, game time drew ever closer as the bus rolled on.
Eventually, they made it to the parking lot of the field they'd be playing at today. Stands stretched high on either side of the field, but each end had nothing but a few rows of ground level benches.
There was barely a cloud in the sky. Another hot day, typical of a California fall. A gentle breeze did what it could to ease the heat, which wasn't much. It was a perfect day for football, but to Ty, that meant every day.
Today, however, the opposing team's bus was waiting for the Dons, and it must've been for some time as all was quiet around it, the Monarchs having already disembarked.
The Dons filed out of their bus one by one. Coach Norman and Coach Long helped pass along the bags to everyone stepping off.
The only problem with sitting at the back of the bus, Ty found, was it took too long to get off. But when he finally did and had his bag in hand, he turned towards the field. Gripping the straps of his bag helped still his hands.
'Hey,' Deshaun said, 'is that fucker one of the Monarchs?' He spoke to Stephen—Ty overheard—and as he did so, he pointed out a tall, slender boy standing at the end of the car park, just before the entrance to the field.
The boy had his back to the Dons, but held a phone above his head, angled like he was taking a selfie.
Nate Langford grinned up at his camera. He panned past himself and zoomed in on the Dons in the background. 'Look at these jokers, mon. These are the clowns imma 'MBARRASS today. Be on the lookout for plenty of highlights coming out later. You know how I do.' He laughed, bringing the phone back down. 'Don't blink or you'll miss it, yeah? That's the Bullet Train we talking about. Put some respecc on my name.'
Still laughing, he signed off, then turned to the Dons. His grin could've been spotted a mile away.
Ty stepped forward and said: 'Yeah. That's the fucker.'
Nate locked eyes with him, his grin somehow growing. He extended a hand, pointing a finger gun straight at Ty. Then—bang—he pulled the trigger.
Laughing again, Nate swaggered off to the field. Ty's face contorted into a grin of his own. This game was slowly turning into what he thought would be the most entertaining of his life.