treacherous • alan bosley

a breakthrough

maisie stood with the coaches, watching the titan players' sorry attempt at a scrimmage. it had been about four days of these three-a-day practices and tensions were hitting an all time high. maisie had brought out her camera to get a couple shots for the article, but so far there had been nothing worth capturing.

"this is a real sorry sight, coach." the girl commented, shaking her head at julius and gerry. the two were currently at each other's throats, with the rest of the boys watching from the sidelines.

"i know," boone replied, watching as the boys began to break out into a fight. he looked over at coach hines, "doc?"

hines nodded, "i got this."

maisie watched as the coach walked over, pulling the boys apart and screaming in their faces.

"y'all didn't come out to practice! cause champions pay the price! lookin' like a bunch of bums out here!" he pulled them apart one by one, and they once again started to do drills.

this was their second practice of the day, and the boys were starting to feel the effects. they were tired, hungry, thirsty, and angry. it was officially a terrible day to be a titan.

maisie tapped her fingers on her camera, wondering if she should've even brought it out today. her article, so far, had not been what she wanted it to be. she wanted to talk about how even hard-headed, stubborn athlete males could learn to see past racial divides, but there was no evidence that that was true at all. it was disappointing, to say the least.

after another round of drills, blue started to complain, "coach, we need a water break. we've been out here all day!"

maisie looked at him with wide eyes, knowing he had just make a big mistake. she didn't know everything about coach boone and his methods, but he hadn't exactly been the most nurturing caretaker thus far.

coach boone stared him down, blowing on the whistle to have everyone stop, "what did you say?"

blue faltered for a second, realizing it would have been in his best interest to stay quiet. however he had already started and decided to double down, "i said we need a water break."

"you need a water break," coach raised his eyebrows, as intimidating as ever, "water is for cowards. water makes you weak-"

"does it?" maisie muttered, not daring to be loud enough for boone to hear. as much as she wanted to stand up for these guys, she trusted coach boone. she respected his authority, and even though she didn't quite understand him, she believed he knew what he was doing.

"water is for washing blood off this uniform, and you don't get no blood on my uniform. you must be outside your mind!" coach yelled, refusing to back down.

maisie chewed on her lip, knowing that dehydration was a hospitable instance. not to mention that it was one of the hottest days so far. it wouldn't be long until their thirst took a turn for the worse. she couldn't confidently say that boone fell on either side of the spectrum between strong and crazy. she didn't want to think that he would let these boys get sick, but boone never made his choices clear to anyone but himself.

"we are going to do up downs, until blue is no longer thirsty!" coach announced, blowing his whistle.

maisie scoffed,"yeah, he won't be thirsty, because he'll be dead."

coach yoast nodded in agreement, but seeing as he was no longer the head coach, he just had to stand and watch.

"why don't you go on over and help sheryl pour some water for 'em?" coach asked the girl, nodding his head over at his daughter.