Location: The Foyer
Date: Friday, February 1
Time: Post-Game, Press Duty
(@mccraysydney)
She’s gone this long without doing press duty, she hadn’t even thought to listen for her name until it had already come out of Wymack’s mouth. Maybe she should be thanking him: he isn’t throwing her to the wolves in a game where she’s had a red card, or even a yellow. Except for the fact that the Foxes lost, it’s as much of a softball as he can give her.
But, of course, they did lose. Glory’s got a scowl on her face that she can’t wipe off as easily as she wipes the sweat from her brow, can’t make herself look pleasant after a game like that. She doesn’t try, it could be a story either way: if she smiles, she doesn’t care that her team just lost; if she scowls, then she’s difficult with the press. What’s the point in trying? She doesn’t know how to play these games. Even after she signed her contract and joined the Foxes, she still can’t believe that anyone could want to talk to her.
The key, the media trainer had told them, weeks ago, is confidence. She’d scoffed, then, she hadn’t thought it would be a problem for her—she’d always been the stubborn one, the one who wasn’t afraid of anything. But as she takes her seat facing the gathered reporters, staring into the lights and the lenses of what feels like a thousand cameras, she feels herself faltering.
She’s just Glory Hoskins. Just a girl from Owls Bend, Indiana. She doesn’t belong here. She can’t.
“Tough game out there,” the first reporter says, and Glory imagines it’s supposed to be commiserating. “You guys looked strong against the Aggies, what happened?” Glory blinks, clears her throat. The microphone picks it up, and she just barely controls her wince. “Well, the Jackals are a better team than the Aggies,” Her voice sounds louder than she expects it to, echoing in the room. Her accent sounds thicker. She keeps going. “We just—lost. I don’t know what else there is to say. Obviously, I’m not happy about it.”
She doesn’t know how much of an answer it is, but it’s what they’re going to get, and she leans back in her seat, away from the microphone. The reporter turns their attention on Sydney, then, and Glory gets a moment’s reprieve. “I’m sure that first goal is one you wish you could take back. Sydney, why don’t you walk us through what happened there?”
On any given game night, Sydney would’ve been glad to take press duty for the game. As much as she hated the press, it was easy enough for her to fake a smile and get through the basic questions they always asked. She would’ve even volunteered for it if the mood was particularly sour in the lounge that night.
Tonight she wanted nothing more than to sneak out of the court so she can crawl into her bed and sleep for the next eighteen hours. And on the nineteenth hour, she’d be on the court, running drills by herself to make sure it didn’t happen again. But Wymack had other plans for her that night. Was this his way of punishing her for her shitty performance?
The one silver lining she can find in the whole thing is that she’s paired with Glory. Any of the other Foxes would’ve been too hostile after that game. The atmosphere in the locker room was tense enough after their loss and the last thing they needed to do was take it out on the reporters. Sure, she has no clue if Glory’s a ticking time bomb but Sydney can tell that she’s a better option than Beretta or Kent.
Of course, the first question they throw at her is about the goal. “It comes down to being in the wrong position at the wrong time.” In all honesty, she had no clue what happened. One second she’s searching for someone to pass the ball to and the next, the goal behind her is lighting up. She hadn’t seen the official replay of the goal, but she played every second of it over in her brain the entire time she was on the bench. “That first goal set the tone of the game and it’s completely on me.”
She hopes that it’s a good enough answer for the reporter, settles back into her seat, and looks down at her hands in her lap. “Glory, you’ve certainly made a name for yourself during your freshman season with the Foxes. Could you tell us a little bit about who you are? Maybe why you chose the Foxes?”
