“It looks like Thad isn’t worried about losing his car anymore,” I said to Kevin even as I gestured my teammate to stay waiting, and took position myself again. With no Thad around us to impress for a party ticket, he was more than willing to skip his turn.

Another receiver lined in front of me, but he chose to avoid my angry gaze, which was even better than I expected. There was something precious in owning the enemy mentally. “Keep your mind in the game,” Kevin shouted, but his petulant tone hardly helped his newest teammate to keep his calm.

After a barely convincing fake outside, he started running a slant route, which was rather unimaginative in terms of the play. I just smirked as I forced myself physically, closer than necessary. One advantage of playing casually was that there was no referee to call for pass interference.

I was still expecting a hard contest for the ball, but when I took a step forward, the receiver stopped contesting, allowing me to get another easy interception. I threw the ball back to the center, but when I turned to wait, my guide spoke, her enthusiasm clear.

“Oh, they are discussing you. I’m sure you’ll make the team. And in this stadium, I’m sure we will receive a lot of Intent,” my guide suddenly cheered, making me send a glance to Thad and the coach, only to see that it was the case. They were still talking, their gaze carefully on the play.

“Maybe,” I said, not wanting to commit to it, or give a sign that I noticed their increased attention.

But I didn’t underplay my actions either, not even when Thad returned with a wide smirk, like he had a secret we didn’t know.

After that point, it was a downhill disaster.

A disaster for our smug quarterback, of course. Four forced fumbles and two interceptions later, the victory was clear, especially when the other cornerback also managed to deflect the ball several times as the opposing receivers lost their will to contest, not ready to face a loss in their first training.

And the inaccurate throws, getting worse by each repeat as Kevin got more and more frustrated hardly helped.

“I think we can call it a game,” Thad said after I managed to deflect yet another pass, turning the bet into a joke.

Kevin clearly hated the suggestion, but compared to the need to throw more, it was the palatable option. His helmet, hitting the floor loudly, was enough as an answer.

He left with a frustrated cry, not even bothering to pick up his helmet.

Thad chuckled as he watched him leave, though his good mood was understandable.

The guy just won a car.

“Okay, I like what I see,” Thad said. “Six new players for the practice squad.” There were seven of us. The receivers froze instantly, assuming that since the defensive players made him win a bet, one of them would get the kick.

Then, Thad surprised everyone else by slapping me on the shoulder, hard. “Welcome to the team, we can use a vicious little bastard like you.”

I struggled to hide my frown. Not due to his words, as being called a vicious bastard was certainly a perfect description of my personality. A point of pride, even.

No, my frown was about my invisible guide, cheering intensely at the news. I liked the opportunity to be a part of the team, but the whole point of me coming here was to use the practice squad as an excuse to delay things while I could do some research about the mysterious situation I found myself in.

I didn’t reject the offer, of course. Not only it was my childhood dream, but also, I didn’t have much hope to find anything useful by researching. Searching the net about the disappearance of Greek gods didn’t seem to be a fertile source of information.

“What a nice offer, when can I start,” I answered, matching his smirk. No need to dwell on the negatives. And, I had a feeling that dealing with the mysteries of the Divine System was going to be a stressful affair.

An opportunity to beat other people in a socially-acceptable situation was certainly appreciated.

Thad sent the other players to the practice squad, while gesturing me to follow. “Why the hell you’re not already a part of the team?” he asked as we walked. “We could have certainly used a backup like you the last year.”

“Not strong or fast enough to impress the scouts, at least not enough to make them take a chance on me,” I said with a shrug. “So I joined the chess team.”

That made him stop, his expression shocked. “You’re joking,” he gasped.

“Nope,” I answered with a shrug. “It’s one of the sports that actually gives scholarship, so when I failed to take the jersey, I decided to take an easier route.” It was certainly not the easier path if it wasn’t for the ridiculous PR attempt of the college, trying to sell an intellectual image to suppress their party school reputation.

Even then, I was only able to get it because no serious chess player would trust a new program. But there was no point sharing that particular detail with a defensive teammate.

“I don’t believe it,” Thad said.

“Well, you can ask Kevin whether he remembers me from the morning, when he egged the tournament.”

“Oh, I see,” Thad said, his smile widening as he realized I had an actual reason to ruin his day. “And here I was, thinking he stole a girlfriend of you or something? You were certainly vicious enough for that to be the case.”

“I don’t like weaklings,” I said. It was a bit excessive to call a teammate, but considering the clear bad blood between two teams, it didn’t seem like Thad would mind.

I was right, he just laughed again as we walked toward the area where the defense was practicing. However, we weren’t able to arrive, when a snotty voice cut our talk. It wasn’t a young snotty voice, however.

We turned, and saw Coach Spencer, with Kevin a few feet behind him. The coach looked at Thad. “You can go back to practice, I need to have a talk with our new player.”

From the way Kevin smiled, in a way he no doubt thought as intimidating, it wasn’t hard to guess what happened. He had gone to bitch about me to the Coach, and Coach decided to do him a favor by kicking me out of the team.

I wouldn’t have gone crying if he succeeded in that, though I would certainly make Kevin pay at one point, maybe even extending it to Coach Spencer if I could find an opportunity.

Just because I wasn’t sure how to feel about the opportunity didn’t mean I would let others attack me with no consequence.

However, that turned unnecessary when Thad interjected. “No need for it, Coach,” Thad said with a smirk. “I decided to recommend him for the team.”

Coach Spencer, with his fragile ego, clearly didn’t appreciate it. “You can’t do that,” he lashed out immediately, his vicious glare targeting me.

“Really, do you want to talk that with Coach Bill? I’m sure he would appreciate your opinion before deciding who to play in defense.” He smirked. “Please do, we failed to take a video the last time you tried giving your stupid opinions.”

Damn, I thought. The blood between them was even worse than I had thought.

Coach Spencer’s anger spiked even more, and his gaze toward me suggested that, from this point forward, I had two entitled rich assholes instead of just one, one being the head coach.

Such an exciting development.

“Don’t bother coming back to the practice team when that old goat rejects you,” Spencer growled before turning back with a frustrated twirl and walking away. Kevin followed him, though he was shocked that his genius plot had failed.

“Sorry about that,” Thad said as he looked at me. “He is an annoying fucker.”

“They are not the first rich assholes I had to deal with,” I said with a shrug. The worst he could do was to kick me out of the team, and if Thad’s reaction was any indicator, it wasn’t a very likely outcome. Even if it happened, hardly the end of the world for me.

My shrug earned another laugh from my new teammate. Then, we continued toward the practice area of the team.