less.”
I shrugged and shook my head. “I don’t know. He said, ‘See you soon,’ when he left, but I don’t know that he’s actually into me like that. Really, until about a week ago, you couldn’t have convinced me that I didn’t hate him. We have more in common than I thought. He interfered so that I wouldn’t kill Lila yesterday, so I guess he cares a little, at least.”
“That girl is crazy,” Christine replied. She didn’t have much to do with MontRec, but her dad forced her to be involved with the establishment of the football team as a larger facet of MontRec’s programming. She’d met all of the girls on the team a handful of times and had seen a few games.
“She’s not,” I responded. “Yesterday, she was acting really weird, though. Something was up. I just wish I knew what. Anyway, I’m sure this guy will think about it more and think it was just a drunken mistake.”
She poked out her bottom lip. “I hope not.”
“Knock, knock.” I looked around Christine, and none other than Wright Johnson was standing in the frame of my office door. “Hope I’m not interrupting.”
“Not at all, come in.” I waved him in, and Christine stood to one side as he slid in. “Mr. Johnson, this is my boss, Christine. Christine, this is the commissioner of the Idaho Athletic Board, Wright Johnson. He’s overseeing our application for semi-pro status.” I bowed my head. “And probably here to yell at me for Lila’s performance yesterday.”
He laughed, and his eyes lit up. “Yell at you? Why would I do that? Lila’s trending on Twitter! I sold two hundred tickets to your final showdown against the Vipers in one hour this morning.”
Wright’s penchant for popularity and sales made me more than a little uncomfortable. I didn’t like that he seemed okay with the sacrifice Lila had forced on us simply because it got him more views on a social media platform. “With all due respect, sir, that’s not the kind of team I want to run.”
Wright crossed his arms. “Trust me when I say this, Quinn. No publicity is bad publicity. You want my advice? Continue letting Lila run rampant out there. The more people that see the show, the more clout your team will gain.”
“That doesn’t sound like clout. It sounds like negative energy,” Christine responded, and she got a smile from Wright that had nothing but malice behind the eyes.
“This is my business, dear. Believe me on this one.”
Christine looked over at me, and I mouthed, “Sorry,” before I turned back to Wright. “Um, Mr. Johnson, if you’re not here for that, why are you here?”
“I actually was here for that. I wanted to let you know that Lila’s display was huge for your team’s presence on the internet. I think we’ll live stream your next qualifier match.” He closed his eyes in satisfaction. “If we monetize the stream and allow ads, the revenue will be insane.”
I liked that our games hadn’t been televised up to that point. I was nervous enough that the Vipers game was going to be live. “I don’t know about that.”
Wright looked at me, now giving me his evil gaze masked behind a toothy grin. “Quinn, you can leave all of this stuff up to me. Don’t worry yourself with it. You just worry about getting out there and winning that next game. One more loss, and your journey ends. Do it for the fans!”
I’d been trying to put that thought out of my mind. Four out of five games was an uphill battle as it was, but I was hoping not to have to legitimately try to win against the Vipers. If we could have gotten more teams to agree to play us for semi-pro status, it wouldn’t have been so difficult, but we’re mid-season and just a little podunk team from Idaho. Not many people were willing to help out. Thanks to Lila’s actions, we had to win our next three games in a row, including the one against the Vipers. I’d be lying if I said those odds didn’t make me more than a little nervous.
“Whoa. Lots of people in here.”
All of our eyes shot over to the door, and my heart did a backflip. Zeke was standing there with a glass vase in his hand. The contents looked like flowers, but upon closer inspection, were actually tiny foam footballs on sticks, black finger tape spun to look like roses, and a few sprigs of