Invictus
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Captain Canada
Topic author - Posts: 5639
- Joined: 01 Dec 2018, 00:15
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Captain Canada
Topic author - Posts: 5639
- Joined: 01 Dec 2018, 00:15
Invictus
Season I | Chapter VIII - Just A Friend
Bianca attempted to keep her focus on the slideshow being presented before her, but her attention keeps veering in and out as the day continues to drag on. She ordinarily is a pretty attentive student, but towards the end of the fall semester, angling into the winter break? All bets seem sort of off.
Her motivation has taken a nose-tail for the most part. Her scholarships are more performance-dependent than grade-dependent at this point. As long as she maintains her superb GPA, she's a shoe-in for every academic opportunity she could ask for. Not to mention her athleticism affording her even more post-secondary opportunities.
She found herself drifting back to her age-old debate - where she would be committing to at the end of the athletic season. She was one of the few girls on the track & field team that had waited this long.
Mainly because she could afford to wait it out - the offers weren't going anywhere. She had shown her stuff all the way to the State Meet during her junior year last season. Her impressive 200-meter dash times had landed her on the podium as a junior. Picking up the 100-meter dash as one of her runs as imposed on her by her coach helped surge her stock as well.
"Your strides are so long and powerful, Bianca. We're no longer talking small-school stuff here," she remembers her coach selling her in her office during their end-of-season meeting. "You said you wanted to go to Penn State, maybe Michigan? Here's your in."
Since then, both the Nittany Lions and the Wolverines have respectively offered her elaborate scholarship packages to run for them. Pitt, North Carolina, and Miami had also thrown their hats in the fray. The decision had been eating at her for weeks, if not months.
The projector at the front of the classroom went black, snapping Bianca from her anxiety-infused trance to pay attention. As she often did, she stuffed the decision to the back of her mind, knowing it would be picking at her incessantly for as long as she would let it.
Zane studied the film on his iPhone carefully, huddled over the small screen with the brightness cranked all the way to its fullest. Coach Shazier had given him a list of professional and collegiate wide receiver he wanted him to study. "Try to emulate how they use their releases to gain advantages throughout the construction of their routes" he said.
This was something Zane had done on occasion in the past. He often would look at highlight packages of some of the stars in the league, like Davante Adams and Mike Evans to get some ideas on how to attack shading from cornerbacks.
Now he had him studying players closer to his archetype. According to Coach Shazier, Zane possessed good size that allows him to play inside as well as outside. Add in his impressive speed and equally impressive catch radius, and there was a solid receiver within him. Enough to start early in varsity. Enough to be a solid collegiate wide receiver after next year.
"Watch how Justin Jefferson manipulates his speed and tempo to pace his routes. That's what you need to start thinking when you're approaching your medium-length routes" he said. Zane made sure to recognize that it wasn't just about watching highlights. It was about critiquing and understanding what these superstars were trying to accomplish with every fibre of movement.
As he continued to jot down mental notes, a text thread popped up on his phone with a buzz.
Bianca.
"Don't make fun of me, but I think we should have a real conversation about going out on a date"
Zane blinked, his heart thudding enough for him to notice. He exited out of the tape Coach Shazier had sent him, and went to the text thread. Staring at the message, Zane paused a moment before typing a response.
"I'm sorry, is this your roundabout way of asking me out?"
Three bubbles popped up, disappeared, and then reappeared. The text popped up. "Did I not just say not to make fun of me? Also, I'm not asking you out. I'm just saying I think you should ask me out so we can stop tip-toeing around it."
He breathed a moment, a ghost of smile inching across his face. He would be lying if he hadn't thought about it since Bianca had somersaulted into his life after the season ended. They had come to spend more time talking and texting than not, hanging out on occasion, and going out for coffee.
However, her standoffish tendencies often reinforced Zane's initial notion that this was a purely platonic relationship, and he had made peace with that. She wasn't flirtatious outwardly, never saying anything that can be misconstrued as such. But, sometimes he would catch her looking at him.
Interpreting, contemplating, diagnosing. He had thought it was all in his head.
Clearly, he was wrong.
Bianca attempted to keep her focus on the slideshow being presented before her, but her attention keeps veering in and out as the day continues to drag on. She ordinarily is a pretty attentive student, but towards the end of the fall semester, angling into the winter break? All bets seem sort of off.
Her motivation has taken a nose-tail for the most part. Her scholarships are more performance-dependent than grade-dependent at this point. As long as she maintains her superb GPA, she's a shoe-in for every academic opportunity she could ask for. Not to mention her athleticism affording her even more post-secondary opportunities.
She found herself drifting back to her age-old debate - where she would be committing to at the end of the athletic season. She was one of the few girls on the track & field team that had waited this long.
Mainly because she could afford to wait it out - the offers weren't going anywhere. She had shown her stuff all the way to the State Meet during her junior year last season. Her impressive 200-meter dash times had landed her on the podium as a junior. Picking up the 100-meter dash as one of her runs as imposed on her by her coach helped surge her stock as well.
"Your strides are so long and powerful, Bianca. We're no longer talking small-school stuff here," she remembers her coach selling her in her office during their end-of-season meeting. "You said you wanted to go to Penn State, maybe Michigan? Here's your in."
Since then, both the Nittany Lions and the Wolverines have respectively offered her elaborate scholarship packages to run for them. Pitt, North Carolina, and Miami had also thrown their hats in the fray. The decision had been eating at her for weeks, if not months.
The projector at the front of the classroom went black, snapping Bianca from her anxiety-infused trance to pay attention. As she often did, she stuffed the decision to the back of her mind, knowing it would be picking at her incessantly for as long as she would let it.
***
Zane studied the film on his iPhone carefully, huddled over the small screen with the brightness cranked all the way to its fullest. Coach Shazier had given him a list of professional and collegiate wide receiver he wanted him to study. "Try to emulate how they use their releases to gain advantages throughout the construction of their routes" he said.
This was something Zane had done on occasion in the past. He often would look at highlight packages of some of the stars in the league, like Davante Adams and Mike Evans to get some ideas on how to attack shading from cornerbacks.
Now he had him studying players closer to his archetype. According to Coach Shazier, Zane possessed good size that allows him to play inside as well as outside. Add in his impressive speed and equally impressive catch radius, and there was a solid receiver within him. Enough to start early in varsity. Enough to be a solid collegiate wide receiver after next year.
"Watch how Justin Jefferson manipulates his speed and tempo to pace his routes. That's what you need to start thinking when you're approaching your medium-length routes" he said. Zane made sure to recognize that it wasn't just about watching highlights. It was about critiquing and understanding what these superstars were trying to accomplish with every fibre of movement.
As he continued to jot down mental notes, a text thread popped up on his phone with a buzz.
Bianca.
"Don't make fun of me, but I think we should have a real conversation about going out on a date"
Zane blinked, his heart thudding enough for him to notice. He exited out of the tape Coach Shazier had sent him, and went to the text thread. Staring at the message, Zane paused a moment before typing a response.
"I'm sorry, is this your roundabout way of asking me out?"
Three bubbles popped up, disappeared, and then reappeared. The text popped up. "Did I not just say not to make fun of me? Also, I'm not asking you out. I'm just saying I think you should ask me out so we can stop tip-toeing around it."
He breathed a moment, a ghost of smile inching across his face. He would be lying if he hadn't thought about it since Bianca had somersaulted into his life after the season ended. They had come to spend more time talking and texting than not, hanging out on occasion, and going out for coffee.
However, her standoffish tendencies often reinforced Zane's initial notion that this was a purely platonic relationship, and he had made peace with that. She wasn't flirtatious outwardly, never saying anything that can be misconstrued as such. But, sometimes he would catch her looking at him.
Interpreting, contemplating, diagnosing. He had thought it was all in his head.
Clearly, he was wrong.
Last edited by Captain Canada on 30 Oct 2025, 13:09, edited 1 time in total.
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redsox907
- Posts: 2812
- Joined: 01 Jun 2025, 12:40
Invictus
ayy be easy on the young pup, he ain't had a Dad around to teach him this ish.
He ain't a QB that's supposed to read the play, he just goes out and executes the plan. Now that he's privy to the game plan, Zeke gonna haul it in like a game winning touchdown.
Last edited by redsox907 on 30 Oct 2025, 11:04, edited 2 times in total.
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Captain Canada
Topic author - Posts: 5639
- Joined: 01 Dec 2018, 00:15
Invictus
She just brought it up as an option. Zane just respecting friendly boundaries, unlike all these other savage protagonists
You were cooking until you got his name wrong
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Captain Canada
Topic author - Posts: 5639
- Joined: 01 Dec 2018, 00:15
