DROP FOURTEEN
The Clumsies kept true to their name. No matter how well a play Pickle and Cherry started, they couldn’t keep up and maintain it. They kept losing the skull to dumb, rookie mistakes.
Cherry got worn out, running up and down the field, doing her best. “I can’t score!”
“It’s okay, trust me, it’s not your fault,” Pickle assured her back at the starting line.
“Still,” Cherry panted, we were hired to give them a win. “I say we give it a try.”
“We are. But we can’t perform miracles, not with just two good players!” Pickle noticed they got the attention of a Clumsie, she was called Olivia, one of the girls Pickle met back at the Taf bar. She smiled at her, changing the subject. “Let’s just try a slide, I got your left, worry only about your right, okay?”
Cherry nodded and assumed the sprinter’s pose.
The stones started hitting the drum, and Cherry was on top of the skull in an eyeblink. Pickle covered her from two enforcers, and Cherry weaved through the Chain and threw herself forward into actually scoring.
The Clumsies’s fans went wild. The girls cheered and hugged her tight, smiles all over. “We can do it! We can win this!” they said.
Yeah… No. Pickle forced herself to smile back and to appear positive, but she was too good of a strategist to believe that. By Athena’s owly gaze, the game had been lost already. All they could do was stay true to their contract for this match, play well, and try not to get injured, ‘cause that would negate whatever little they might earn this day.
They all readied themselves for the next round. The Clumsies seemed focused, razor-sharp. Clutching their weapons, they were poised to strike.
Pickle pushed her bottom lip in a ‘hm.’ Would the Clumsies manage to surprise her? Emma, Olivia and Izzy certainly took this round seriously.
And then the stone struck, and two of the Clumsies fumbled their q-tips and tripped each other. They fell on the floor, and an instant-replay looped again and again for the audience.
Pickle slumped her shoulders in a deep sigh of resignation.