Page 27 of Enemy Games

I got up to check since I was the project captain and somewhat in charge of this disaster.

“Are you okay?” I asked when I got close.

Her brown eyes flashed up to mine, and she giggled. “My body is so frozen that my eyes are melting.”

I shot Presley a look, and she shrugged.

“As long as you’re not injured.”

She waved me off. “I’m fine.”

And a bit odd.

“How are you doing?” I asked Presley as Pam offered us two cups of steaming cocoa.

Presley tugged down her scarf and took a sip. “Oh, you know. This whole experience could be better.”

Her smile never wavered, but I noticed it didn’t meet her eyes. She was being a better example than I was.

“We’re about halfway through!” Gary announced. “And I’m pleased to announce that the city’s trucks are finally heading our way.”

I cocked my head. “What?”

Trucks? What did that have to do with us?

“The snow plows have finished all of the priority locations and streets, and are coming to clear the parking lots, and they have some ATVs to clear the major paths.”

I swear my eye twitched. They had machinery for this? Why had we just spent three hours doing this by hand? We didn’t even have powered snow blowers to help.

“So, what is it you would like us to do?” Presley asked with more patience than I would be able to muster until I forgot this dreadful day.

“We have it from here. We greatly appreciate all of your help this morning.” Pam clapped.

Presley shifted just enough to meet my eyes discreetly, and they widened. Was she as close to losing it as me?

“Wonderful,” she said through a clenched jaw. She turned to face the rest of the players. “Well, you heard our boss. We’re all done here.”

Yup, she was cracking.

“Let’s head out, team,” I called and waved for the guys to follow me.

The eight of us trudged across our poorly scraped path to the parking lot we barely made it into this morning.

“I cannot believe they had snow plows this entire time. They can go through with ATVs and get the entire park in less than twenty minutes, and they had us risking our bodies for that?”

She continued mumbling as she marched past me. I completely agreed with her. We were college athletes. None of us could take risks that might lead to injury. We gave up so much to prevent anything that could cost the team. No skiing, snowboarding, surfing, trampolines, or anything that was likely to result in injuries that would prevent us from playing.

“What a waste of time. We could have been practicing or studying or sleeping!”

She stomped on, and her teammates surrounded her, sharing her sentiments.

“At least we’re done for the semester,” I said to Jackson.

“Yeah, you’re done for good. Now that the administration suddenly remembered this requirement, I’ll have two more to look forward to.”

“You’ll be a senior, so you can pick first.” I elbowed him. “Remember to choose something indoors.”

He chuckled and rounded the back of Coach’s truck to the passenger seat.