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.

maisie nodded and walked off to greet sheryl. after all, these boys were gonna need a lot of cups and sheryl could only work so fast.

"hey, girl." maisie spoke casually, grabbing a sleeve of cups and starting to pour from the jug.

"he's killing 'em out there," she commented, staring at the boys intensely, "good. they need it."

sheryl had never been one for cruel and unusual punishments, but she saw the coach's vision. she hadn't very much liked coach boone since he took her father's job, but this was one thing she believed he could do pretty well.

maisie chuckled, "glad someone thinks so."

after about ten minutes and a brief discussion with coach yoast, boone finally blew this whistle twice and called the warmup. most of the boys ran over to get water, but alan had fallen to his knees and thrown up.

"jesus." maisie muttered, swallowing down her complete disgust and distaste of both seeing and smelling throw up. she decided to bring alan water, seeing as he seemed to having a hard enough time just sitting on the field. usually, she would've let someone else be the nurturing, kind hero, but something in her wanted to be that for alan. it was a strange feeling she refused to think about as she approached him.

she grabbed a cup and jogged over, kneeling down next to him.

"hey, sicko," she smiled lightly, handing over the cup, "want some of this?"

he looked over at her and smiled lightly. he grabbed the cup and sipped carefully, knowing if he drank too much he'd end up losing it on the field again.

"thanks," he said breathily, trying to regain some of his composure, "sorry about... you know, all this."

he couldn't say he wasn't embarrassed to have had the girl see him like this. he wanted to show everyone that he could keep up with the big guys, like julius or gerry. he just wasn't like them. he knew wasn't some crazy, monster athlete, but this was just a low for him.

maisie dismissed it with the wave of her hand, "oh, dude, don't worry about it. if i were in your position, i'd have thrown up about three times already."

she didn't want him feeling bad or thinking that she thought any less of him. he was clearly feeling insecure about being the only one who couldn't hold onto his breakfast, and maisie didn't want to add to that.

she stood up and offered her hand, which he gratefully grasped.

once he was up, they let go and he smiled, "thanks."

"oh, yeah," maisie replied, before giving him a
small shrug, "i just wanna know where that state of perfection went, you know-"

he cut her off with a laugh, shaking his head at the girl. he had previously told her that he lives in a constant state of perfection, but clearly that overt lie was tumbling down.

"and here i thought you were gonna be nice to me for one whole conversation." he replied, as they began to walk over to the water station.

maisie chuckled, looking down at the ground at they walked, "come on, bosley, i can't let you off that easy. what kinda girl would that make me?"

before they could fully reach the water station, a fight broke out. they slammed each other right into the table, taking every drop of drinkable water with them.

"quit it, jerks!" sheryl yelled, throwing her sleeve of cups at the boys, "come on, you're all acting like a bunch of sissies!"

alan and maisie shared a mutual look of exhaustion. maisie had been standing there all day waiting for something good to happen, but the day just kept getting worse and worse. she was annoyed beyond belief that she had even gotten herself to get out of bed.

"fuck this," she muttered, turning on her heels to head back to the dorms, "i'll see you later, bosley."

bosley turned to her with a confused look on his face as he called out, "where ya goin'?!"

"i'm not watching this bullshit!" she called back, shaking her head, "waste of my fucking time."

she didn't always like to have such a sharp tongue, but recently these boys had been bringing it out of her. typically, she liked to use softer words, but harsher explicitness made more of a point.

alan let out a huff. he wanted to protest her storming off, but had no real reason not to. he probably would've left with her, but practice was far from over.

•

maisie sat on her bed, scribbling randomly in her notebook. she had been bored beyond belief, but alan had her crossword book. he had taken it after their trip to the vending machine and outright refused to give it back until she found a better hobby. she didn't mind at the time, but it was starting to bother her now.

she heard a knock at the door and rolled her eyes. it was probably just yoast looking to give sheryl something, so she called him in.

"hey," gerry walked through the door, much to maisie's surprise, "saw you left practice early."

the girl shrugged, having no proper response for him, "didn't seem worth it to stick around."

he sighed, walking over and taking a seat at her desk. maisie knit her brows, knowing gerry hadn't exactly been the friendliest of peers to her. he wasn't rude or awful, he had just never really talked to her too much before.

she set her book down, turning to look at him, "is there something you wanted or..."

he looked at her a second, contemplating her question. yes, he had come in there with the intention of asking for her advice, but he also didn't want to acknowledge his struggles. he usually just liked to keep it all bottled up, but his old ways weren't working. he wanted the advice of someone who would actually be willing to talk to him. after all, guys weren't exactly vulnerable with other guys.

"how do you do it?" he finally asked, deciding to open up, "just get along with everyone? you know, like everyone?"

maisie knit her brows, surprised that gerry had come to her with this. she had started to believe he was never going to change, that he didn't even want to. it was like gerry had been gifted a conscience. it was strange.

"uh," she trailed off, trying to think of a good answer. she wanted to say something that would actually help the boy, not just the obvious stuff that he'd likely heard a million times before, "i mean, i really think it's just all about respect. you know, like acknowledgement of each other's experiences and lives."

gerry gave the girl a confused look, "what do you mean?"

maisie took a second, trying to put it in terms that would make sense to him. after all, he was essentially asking her how to not be racist. it was a heavy question, and something that was barely appropriate for her to tackle.

"well, like, i don't love football," she spoke, hoping her comparison would be able to translate with the boy, "and a lot of people say that football guys are arrogant jerks with rocks in their heads, but-"

"this goin' somewhere?" gerry asked, beginning to get slightly offended. he hadn't heard any such sayings about him or his teammates.

"did you hear me say but?" maisie retorted, giving the boy a hard stare. he backed down, putting his arms up and leaning back in his chair, "good. as i was saying, there are some... stereotypes, uh, rumors about guys like y'all, but i didn't let that taint my image of you as individuals. like, i could've come in here and refused to talk to any of y'all and been cold, but i gave y'all a chance."

"yeah, i guess." gerry said quietly, not wanting to admit how much sense that made to him. he understood exactly what she was saying, but there was still a slight mental block. 

"i mean, it's mostly just about what you want for your team," maisie continued, piquing the boy's interest, "cause this is your team, whether you like it or not. these were the cards you were dealt, and if you care about football and yourself and your pride then that's it: they're your pride. i would advise you to act like it."

he stared at the girl for a second, letting out a sigh. she was completely right. he had been thinking of this situation all wrong, and seeing people in ways that didn't necessarily exist. it was up to him to make some changes, and he knew he needed to start soon.

"thanks, maisie." gerry finally said, standing up with a smile.

"yeah, hope it helped." she replied softly, watching as he left her room.