Going to Philadelphia

You get up at the reasonable hour of eight, grabbing a quick breakfast before heading back to your room. After getting some studying done, you pack up the big duffel that you need for the upcoming away game at UFranklin. Although you were originally scheduled to travel with Jack and the twins, Daphne stepped in after recent events and swapped you with Keegan, putting you in the car with Jason, Javier, and Charlie.

“Yo Alex, what’s good,” Jason calls out, waving to you as you approach his car.

You pop the trunk and toss your bag in, getting into the backseat next to Charlie.

“Got stuck in the boy’s car,” you say. “Couldn’t Daphne have swapped Jack with Keegan instead?”

“Naw, you saved us from two hours of that jack-shit talking out of his ass,” Javier says.

“Good one,” Charlie laughs, and the two of them fistbump.

Jason passes Charlie the aux, and a second later, the four of you are off, racing towards Philadelphia with some hard rock blaring over the speakers.

You reach the City of Brotherly Love a little before one, only stopping by a Wawa’s for a quick pit-stop. Your car pulls into the parking lot of some local fast casual place by campus, texting the group your location, and the four of you head in.

You guys are the first to arrive, so you grab a table for eleven, shooting the shit and taking orders from the two other cars so that food will be ready by the time they arrive. Before long, the whole team’s seated around a big table, plates with generously heaped food steaming in front of each of you.

“Eat up, we’re going to need plenty of fuel for this big game,” Daphne says. “I’m not expecting much of a crowd, but the first away game is always a good test. How are we feeling?” She looks explicitly at you, Mars, Valentine, and Jack, the freshmen on the team.

To nobody’s surprise, Jack’s the first to pipe up.

“Ready to crush them, that’s what,” he smirks, stuffing his face with a fistful of fries. “They’re a bunch of losers, just like their namesake. Obese as hell, amirite?”

Daphne simply nods at that.

“Okay. Glad we are optimistic,” she says. Has she taken his words at face value, or is she poking fun at him? You can’t tell for certain.

“I’m not feeling nervous,” Val says. “Home or away, this is the same as any other game to me.”

You nod in agreement, adding: “I’ve got a good feeling about this. {if FranklinTactics == 1} We’ve put in the work to study them, and we know how to pick them apart now.{endif}”

“That’s the right attitude,” Daphne says. “The Franklin team is young, like ours, but they have a lot of talent. Let’s show them what we’re made of!”