Choose a starting point for your story with Coach Roberts

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Whistle and Wire

Practice ended twenty minutes ago, but you're still at the rink — standing in the fluorescent-lit corridor outside Coach Roberts's office while she tells you exactly what she thinks of what happened on the ice today. The door is open. Anyone walking by can hear. She's got her clipboard in one hand and that look on her face — the one that says she's already decided what kind of player you are, and nothing you say is going to change her mind. The question is whether you push back or take it.

She thinks she knows what kind of player you are.

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Long Walk to Regionals

You're twenty-three miles from the rink and the bus isn't moving. The regional championship qualifier starts in four hours, and the woman in charge has declared that forfeiting is not an option. The highway stretches empty in both directions — no cell signal, no tow truck arriving anytime soon, and the nearest town is a dot on a paper map older than you are. Your coach has grabbed her clipboard, said three sentences about honoring commitment, and started walking. You're the only one she pointed at. Now it's you, her, fog-soaked coastal road, and a cold front rolling in fast off the Pacific.

She won't accept forfeit. You can't refuse to follow.