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“I’m craving steak tips and mashed potatoes.” I groan at the thought. I can practically taste it. Maybe a celebratory meal is in order?
“I want a rack of ribs, coleslaw, and potato salad,” Griffin says.
“What about you, Thor?” I ask.
“That’s a tough question. I really like to eat.” Staring out the large window, he keeps running. “I’ll say my mom’s beef stew and dumplings. I can eat that for days without getting sick of it.”
I raise the speed of my treadmill so I’m running at a solid pace, and keep my breathing even.
“Fuck. We have to get through this next hour before we can eat,” Cooper whines.
“Think of it as the same as a game when you’re dragging, just depleted of energy. What are you going to do if that happens?” Thor asks.
“Suck it up and make shit happen,” Cooper answers.
“Fuck yeah,” I say, thinking about how I have extra incentive to kill this workout. I wish I could tell these guys about my news, but I told Coach Chubb I wouldn’t. As it is, I probably wasn’t supposed to tell Autumn either, but there was no chance I wasn’t sharing the great news with her.
After we finish our running we move on to plyometric exercises. We rotate through stations of squat jumps, tuck jumps, med ball slams, box jumps, lunge jumps, ladder work, and strides/sprints. By the end of four sets of twelve rep rounds, my quads are on fire.
Griffin reaches out, squeezing my shoulder. “Looking strong, man.”
“Thanks. My legs are on fucking fire.”
“Mine too,” Cooper chimes in.
“Not mine. You guys must be weak,” Thor says, smiling.
“Let’s finish strong. We’re almost done,” Griffin says to fire us up.
We move on to our weight training stations, starting with barbell back squats, which I have a love/hate relationship with. They build vertical pushing strength in the quads while also working the glutes and hamstrings. But they make my already burning quads scream. Gritting my teeth, I fight my way through the eight reps and do my best to ignore the pain.
“Motherfucker.” Griffin grits the word out in the middle of his set.
“You got this,” I encourage. He finishes his set, and I bump his fist. Somehow, the four of us make it through the rest of the workout.
“I’ve never been so happy at the thought of eating lunch,” Cooper says as we all down bottles of water.
“Yeah, now we just have to find the strength to walk to the dining area,” I say.
“The sooner we get there, the sooner we eat,” Thor points out.
Cooper heads toward the door. “Let’s go.” We start after him, following him out into the long hallway. I forget about the pain in my legs as thoughts of me being announced as the starting quarterback fill my mind. I can’t fucking wait to tell my family. They’re going to be so excited for me.
“O’Rourke!” Coach Chubb barks my name as we walk by his office.
“Shit,” I mutter, stopping in place. “I’ll see you guys in a few,” I say as they keep going. Turning, I move to the doorway and peer in.
“Close the door and have a seat.” He seems angry, and I don’t know why he would be. I pull the door closed behind me andquickly drop into a chair. “What did I tell you about sharing the news of you being the starter?”
“You told me not to.”
“You’re right, I goddamn did. So do you want to explain how it is that this happened?” He spins his computer screen around, and I see the post on one of the Silverbacks social media pages announcing me as the starter.
Mouth gaping, my gaze zig zags between what I’m looking at on the screen and him. “I don’t understand how that happened,” I say.
“Did you tell anyone?”
“Only my girlfriend. But I specifically told her not to share the news.”
