helm, I refused to let our field be only grass and spray paint. I saved up my salary for an entire year, and when I took over as office manager, I had legitimate turf installed. We didn’t have the funding for anything like stadium seating, but we had as much as a traditional high school field, if not a bit more. Our goalposts were pushers that I kept stored in MontRec’s garage and only pulled out for home games. They came bright orange, but I had them painted black with a red spider painted over the intersection between the post’s arms and stand. We had a single electronic scoreboard that was also mobile for use in other ways at MontRec. It had been set up near the corner of the Vipers’ bleachers at the head of the field.
I watched with anticipation as both sets of bleachers started to fill up. The team had talked me into posting the Vipers game on our official schedule, and once one person knew something in Montpelier, it spread like wildfire. The Vipers fans were overflowing off of their bleachers, but the Widows’ fans were nothing to balk at. There was little room left on our bleachers, as well. It was a packed house.
MontRec’s volunteer refs were present to officiate the game, and the Vipers had brought a ref of their own, as well. One of MontRec’s refs and the ref that came with the Vipers walked out to the center of the field, shook hands, and then called out for the captains. When I started to walk out, Hollie came and stood at my left and Lila stood at my right.
“We got your back,” Hollie said with a smile.
Lila said nothing, but when I eyed her, she nodded. I took a deep breath and started out. “Okay. Let’s go.”
Zeke didn’t come with backup as I had. He sauntered out to the middle of the field with a cocky swagger in his step. I held out my hand to shake when we reached the middle of the field, but Zeke didn’t return the gesture.
He smirked. “Sorry, I have no respect for someone who makes a mockery of my sport.”
I pulled my hand back. “I’m going to wipe that shit-eating grin off your face.”
“All right, folks, let’s keep it civil,” the Vipers ref started in a professional manner that clearly intimidated ours. “I’m not going to insult you by running down the rules for you.” He looked at me. “You’re home, so you get the coin toss.”
“Heads,” I replied. He nodded, fished into his pocket, and returned with a coin in his hand. He flipped it up, and we all stepped away to let it drop to the turf. It bounded back up slightly and then landed, heads up. The ref looked at me, and I smiled at Zeke. “We’ll kick.”
Zeke shook his head with a smile. “That confidence is going to be your downfall.”
The Vipers ref pulled a regulation whistle to his mouth and blew, holding out an arm toward the Vipers. “The Vipers will receive!”
We all turned to head back to our benches, and Hollie looked sideways at me. “Are you sure that was a good idea? We might have done better with the first possession.”
“No. I want it to hurt.” I clapped my hands as I reached the Widows. “All right, ladies, this is it! There’s nothing to it but to do it. We’re not facing anything new out there. Another team between us and victory.” Alec handed me my helmet, which had my gloves and mouth guard resting inside. I grabbed it from him and knocked it against my head. “Let’s kill ‘em!”
“Yeah!”
We got our helmets on, and I pulled on my gloves and put my mouth guard in. Alec reached out and took the grill of my helmet in his hands, pulling my head to him. “Don’t go out there and get so confident that you break yourself. I’m not dealing with your whining if you can’t play football.”
Alec knew me well. I did okay with fluffy words of love and confidence, and he could have gone with that, but when I played football, I was in beast mode. It was much more effective to give me an incentive not to be an idiot. I tapped his head a couple of times and then turned and led my team onto the field. Everyone was down in position to begin when Zeke stood up and put a hand in the air. The