At Mason.
MASON
Coach changed the schedule again.
We weren’t scrimmaging today.
We were sitting.
Which somehow felt worse.
“Film review,” he said.
Everyone groaned quietly.
We watched clips from yesterday.
Every mistake slowed down.
Every hesitation magnified.
Andre muttered, “I hate slow motion.”
“Slow motion is truth,” Coach replied.
Luca leaned toward me.
“You’re on every third clip,” he whispered.
“I noticed.”
“Yeah,” he said. “That’s not good.”
I didn’t respond.
Because I could see it.
The hesitation.
The second guessing.
The slight delay before passes.
It wasn’t big.
But at this level, nothing small stays small for long.
Coach paused the video.
“You’re playing like you’re being watched,” he said.
Silence.
He wasn’t wrong.
ROWAN
Mia shut her laptop suddenly.
