Page 26 of Gamebreaker

"I'm not dead inside."

"Prove it. Smile."

"I smile."

"Not convincingly. You smile like someone told you to smile for a photo, but you'd rather be literally anywhere else."

"That's just my face."

"That's tragic. Have you considered therapy?"

Cam stared at me. I stared back. The girl was watching us like we were a tennis match.

Then Cam's mouth twitched again. Almost smiled. Caught herself.

"Go practice," she told the girl. "Keep your elbows in."

We moved to the next group. The awkwardness was still there, hovering between us like a third person, but we were covering it with banter. Thick layers of banter, like armor made of words.

A boy asked me to help with his shooting stance. I tried. Failed. Called Cam over.

"I'm useless," I told him. "But Coach Cam can actually help. She's professionally trained in ball-throwing."

"Shooting," Cam corrected automatically.

"Right. Shooting. Which is different from throwing because reasons."

Cam crouched down to the boy's level, and something in her posture shifted. Softened, just slightly. "Let me see your form."

The boy demonstrated. Cam adjusted his grip gently, encouraging. "Good. That's better. Try again."

He shot. Missed. But closer.

"Nice work," Cam said, and there—there was the beginning of a real smile. Small, but genuine. "You're getting it. Keep practicing."

The boy beamed and ran off to try again.

I caught Cam's expression before she locked it down. There was warmth there. Real warmth, when she talked to the kids.

We kept working. More kids, more drills, more terrible jokes from me and increasingly less controlled responses from Cam.

"If you tell me to bend my knees one more time, I'm going to stage a rebellion," I told her while helping demonstrate a defensive stance.

"What kind of rebellion?"

"A peaceful one. Very civilized. Probably just some strongly worded signs."

"That's not a rebellion. That's a protest."

"Fine. I'll stage a protest. About knee-bending tyranny."

"Knee-bending isn't tyranny. It's fundamentals."

"That's exactly what a tyrant would say."

One of the kids started laughing. Then another. Then Cam's mouth curved—really curved—and she was fighting a smile so hard I could see her jaw tensing.

"You're impossible," she said.