Coach Kinen seemed to be considering Danny. Maybe he was recalling all that hard work he’d done before he gave up trying to impress anyone. Or, maybe he was remembering that Danny had, in fact, given up. Danny tried to look confident, but he felt like a pathetic puppy, begging for a table scrap he’d never get.

When Coach Kinen’s eyes kept going, Danny’s shoulders slumped.

“Scott Port!” Coach Kinen shouted so everyone could hear. “You take running back on the next series! Let’s see if we can get someone who can hang on to the ball!”

Danny stood for a while by himself, not to be too obvious about wanting to get in the game. He felt a nudge and turned to find Cupcake, lathered with sweat despite the rain.

“Bro, he shoulda put you in.” Cupcake spoke under his breath as he fished a slab of mud wedged between his facemask and helmet. “I thought he was gonna for sure. Scott’s a speedster. He can’t run in this mess.”

“Doesn’t matter.” Danny shrugged and pretended to be interested in their defense. “I’m probably gonna fail Rait’s test anyway, so it just saves me from being ineligible for the big game and losing my mind.”

Cupcake peered at him through the raindrops like his body had been taken over by aliens. “Yeah. I guess that’s true.”

Cupcake walked away and Danny watched the Layton Forks offense sputter and have to punt. Jake Moreland signaled fair catch and muffed it, but somehow he got the ball back from under the pile of bodies. Scott Port glowed in his bright white uniform among all the mud-covered players in the huddle. He was like a beacon for the defense to zero in on, and that’s what they did.

Scott’s first carry went for negative three yards. His next carry he tried to cut too fast, slipped, and lost two yards. On third down, he slipped again, then fumbled a toss sweep, giving up the ball to Layton Forks on the seventeen-yard line going in. Scott jogged off the field with his head hanging. He made a beeline to Coach Kinen to take his verbal punishment like a man, but their coach ignored Scott and instead focused on the defense.

Layton Forks scored two plays later.

Danny thought it served Coach Kinen right, turning to Scott, a speed back, when Danny could have replaced Markle and given the team new life—which it desperately needed if they were going to pull out a win and head to the championship. But that’s not what happened, and now, given the bad weather and Layton Forks’ three-touchdown lead, you could almost stick a fork in this game because it was practically done.

Danny turned away and listened to the patter of rain against the shell of his helmet. He was aware of the ball being kicked off out on the field, and some shouting on his sideline, but he ignored the game because it had nothing to do with him.

That’s when Cupcake grabbed him by the arm and swung him around. “Bro, what are you doing? Coach is calling for you.”

Danny yanked free. “Not funny, Cupcake.”

“Bro—”

“Owens! Are you deaf! Get over here!”

Danny spun around and saw his coach scowling. Water dripped from the bill of his cap.

Danny bolted toward the coach, stopping in front of him in a state of total confusion. “Yes, sir?”

Coach Kinen looked him up and down like a used car before he huffed and then spoke. “You can’t be worse than what we’ve had already. Can you get me some yards if I put you in?”