call it what you want

3. for the children i guess?

The next Monday after the devastating loss the coaches sat in the office as Ted drew on the whiteboard. Vic and Beard in the chairs opposite him.

"Crystal Palace kicked our booties last weekend. And this here, is our current offense that we are running, and I think it stinks!" Without missing a beat Ted began wiping the board aggressively clean. Beard and Vic simultaneously sent a thumbs down. Ted wiped his hands looking back at his companions. "Now, you may be wondering why'd I draw all that up there just to erase it and that is because I believe in symbolic gestures."

"As do I." Beard yawned before revealing he never went home last night,

"Party boy! Party boy!" Vic cheered mockingly, patting his shoulder.

Beard simply stuck up a middle finger in her direction as Ted continued speaking. "Now, look, our whole offense right now is all give-and-go. Give the ball to Jamie and everyone else can go to hell." Vic rolled her eyes.

"I'd give anything to take his ego down even a little bit." Beard subtly nodded his head.

"So, I am officially on the prowl for any new ideas, you hear?" Ted looked between his fellow coaches.

Nate was near the door taking out the trash and he began standing up but had second thoughts before leaning back down. "You got something Nate?" Ted points over the boy, the other coaches lean forward looking at him.

Nate stuttered for a minute. Vic didn't know what to think about Nate, she thought he was far too nervous for his own good. Getting in the way of himself.

Ted began pushing the boy. "Come on now. You're one of us. Let's go. Fire away. What do ya got?" Nate explained his play, which involved using Jamie as a decoy while Sam takes the ball.

Now this, I can get behind.

On the pitch they ran the play seamlessly, the boys gathered around Sam hyping him up and jumping up and down.

A wicked smile grew on Vic's face seeing Jamie stare at the boys celebrating. He was mad the attention wasn't on him and Vic loved it.

Back in the locker room Roy came in telling Ted about how Jamie and his 'side pricks' have been messing with Nathan. She knew exactly what Ted was trying to do, use Roy as a building block for the team, use him as an inspiration for the team to be better. When Ted told Roy he wasn't going to do anything about the situation, something in Roy switched, next thing she knew she saw Roy following Jamie into the workout room.

"You sure this is gonna work?" Vid leaned back in her chair, cocking her head at her uncle.

Ted looked between her and the locker room. "Yeah. Yeah I think it will."

"I really, really hope you're right."

—

The next day at training there was a man Vic recognized as Trent Crimm, a reporter that attended the press conferences. Ted and Beard had ran out to talk with the boys leaving Vic standing next to the reporter. She knew the man was going to speak to her and was just waiting for him to get it over with.

"So," Trent began causing Vic to sigh. "how did you meet Ted?" It wasn't common knowledge that Victoria was Ted's niece but it wasn't something she was ashamed of, she loved her uncle but didn't want it to seem that she got where she got just because of him, she got here because she knew what she was doing, not because of Ted.

Vic didn't bother meeting Trent's eyes. "He's my uncle."

"Oh," Trent scribbled down something in his notepad. "I see. He's how you got this job I'm assuming?"