that would be an easy task. I told Lila that if she continued to play like the animal she was, I’d kick her off the team and find a replacement, but she didn’t care about that, either. When the whistle blew for the beginning of the fourth quarter, Lila moved out to the field like neither myself nor Cal had said anything at all.
The fourth quarter was just a carbon copy of the first three, apart from Lila’s new habit of going out of her way to try and tackle me. A couple of times, we slammed into each other, and she tried with all her might to take me off my feet. She wasn’t able to get me down, but it would take the combined efforts of the entire team to drag her away. We got two flags for delay of game, on top of the one personal foul Lila had already gotten for roughing up a player on the other team. Most of her aggression had gone unchecked because it was against us and not the other team.
Our opponents moved almost half the field because of our delay of games, so getting another touchdown was easy. By the end of the game, my entire team was exhausted and frustrated. We stood in dejected silence while the spectators and opposing team left the game because Cal had gotten us in the habit of anticipating notes after games and practices. When the field was entirely empty and we’d all removed our helmets and pads, Cal moved to stand in front of us. I was so angry that I was snatching grass out of the ground in clumps.
“All right, well, I think it goes without saying that this game did not go as it was supposed to go, and I don’t typically like to place blame,” he looked over at Lila, “but we spent a lot of our time fighting amongst ourselves. Lila, I know you don’t like me, but it wouldn’t matter if I was the First Lady of the United States—she’d tell you that your attitude out there cost us the game.”
Lila stood up immediately and started to walk away. I jumped up off the ground and started after her.
“Dallen,” Cal called, but I ignored him.
I ran up to her and grabbed her arm. “Stop.”
She stopped in her tracks and looked over at me. “Let me go.”
“No. You need to get back over there now and be accountable for how you acted tonight.” I pulled her arm enough to whip her around. “Now.”
Lila did move, but it was only to come toe-to-toe with me and loom down over me. “Who’s gonna make me?”
I cracked my neck to the side, fury starting as a bubbling crater my feet and threatening to blow into a raging geyser. “I’m the only one standing here, aren’t I?”
A vile smile crept onto Lila’s face. “You think you can take me, Quinn?”
“I guess we’re gonna find out,” I hissed.
Lila pressed herself even closer to me, so I took the initiative and shoved her back. She looked at me with a wild, unyielding gaze, and stepped up. A second later, a flurry of bodies appeared between us. I couldn’t make heads or tails of who was pulling me back because all of the Widows and Cal had their hands on Lila, trying to drag her away. I pushed forward through the fray, trying desperately to get to where Lila was trying equally as hard to get to me, but whoever had me had a strong grip.
“Let me go!” I screamed.
“Relax, Quinn.” I looked over my shoulder, and Zeke was behind me with his arms wrapped around my torso. “It’s not worth it.”
“She fucking cost me the game!” I argued before trying again to break free of his grip, but he wouldn’t let go. “Zeke, get your hands off of me.”
“No, you’ll regret it.” He rushed around and stood in front of me. He put his hands on my shoulders and held me in place. “Stop.”
“She thinks she’s tough. I’ll show her who’s fucking tough!” I tried to bolt around him, but he kept his hands on my shoulders and refused to let me move.
The distance between Lila and me was getting wider and wider, until finally, Lila yanked herself free of the team and stormed off in the other direction. I stopped trying to get free of Zeke’s grip, but I was still fuming.
“I’m gonna let you go. Are you good?” Zeke asked. I didn’t respond.