Page 29 of Fighting Spirit

Ruth

I’m a toad, asshole.

ROWAN

a toad carrying that whole team.

Ruth

thank you???

ROWAN

You’re welcome, they should take a lesson on maintaining energy levels.

He’s not wrong. The team came out hard in the first quarter, but by the time we were nearing the end, it was obvious how badly everyone was flagging. I wince, thinking about how hard the coaches are going to ride them to up their stamina before the Beaufort game.

Rowan seems normal; he’s not talking like anything’s gone down over there. Maybe nothing’s happened yet?

ROWAN

How do you run so much in those feet without tripping over?

Ruth

digging for secrets again?

ROWAN

I don’t need secrets, based on today’s performance we could take a nap at the halfway line and still beat you into the ground.

Ruth

I’m sorry, but remind me who’s beaten you three years running?

ROWAN

a bunch of guys that just graduated.

I scoff at his text. He isn’t wrong. There’s been a sense of tension around campus, the creeping knowledge that most of our bestplayers left at the end of last season and we don’t have the roster to fill their shoes. Beaufort’s been hot on our heels for a while, and some people are betting that this may be their year, that maybe the best days of the Allbreck dynasty are behind us.

Ruth

touché.

ROWAN

at least you’ve got spirit down.

Ruth

Well there’s a reason you keep trying to get me to cave, how old is that Duck costume anyway?

The Beaufort duck is notoriously bad. The costume looks like it hasn’t been washed in at least ten years, and half the students that wear it can barely do a cartwheel. I mean, the Gunthers haven’t always been stellar, but we’ve never stooped as low at that.

ROWAN

it’s a Mallard.

---