Chapter 258

Hearing this, Samuel's expression softened a bit, "Now that's what I like to hear. Look, I'm not saying I can't handle you being into another guy, but if you're gonna fall for someone else, he'd better be a hell of a lot better than me."

Losing to some loser would be a slap in the face.

Seeing Samuel obsessing over this all evening, Alice leaned against his arm and said playfully, "I'm perfectly happy liking you for the rest of my life. As long as you don't cheat on me, we're in this together forever."

She wasn't the type to jump from guy to guy. She really did like Samuel, and she felt that as long as he didn't screw up royally, she could never bring herself to leave him.

Hearing Alice's confession, Samuel felt secretly pleased.

That Willie thought he stood a chance? What did he have going for him? Alice only had eyes for him!

At this thought, Samuel grew increasingly smug. If he weren't behind the wheel, he would've pulled her into his arms and kissed her senseless.

---

"Hey! You guys quit goofing off and get back to work. The competition's right around the corner. If you don't bust your asses now, you'll be crying about it when you're out on that field."

Alice called out sharply to several team members who were slacking off.

She knew the recent high-intensity training had been brutal for them.

But there was no way around it. With the competition coming up fast, and after all the time spent fixing the disaster Aria had made of their training, if they didn't push harder now, she had zero confidence they could pull off a win.

The slackers could only groan and drag themselves back to training after Alice's scolding.

Gregory walked up beside Alice and watched the team members training seriously, nodding with satisfaction, "With you guiding them, they've come a long way recently."

"Gregory, what brings you by?"

"Just checking in, and I wanted to talk to you about the competition in a few days. Do you know who their coach is?"

Alice rolled her wrists, unconcerned, "Doesn't really matter who their coach is. I just need to make sure our guys are ready."

In Alice's view, no matter who was coaching the other side, what mattered most was that their own team had their shit together.

"It's Aria. Their coach is Aria, and word is they've been prepping hard for this one."

Alice, who'd been looking indifferent, immediately frowned when she heard Aria's name, "Aria? Wasn't she fired? How is any team still willing to take her on?"

After the whole mess where Aria had tried to frame her blew up so publicly and even hit the news, Alice had figured her career was toast. She never expected Aria could land another coaching gig.

"Her uncle might've been forced out of office, but after all those years in politics, he's still got connections. Getting Aria placed with another team wasn't exactly a heavy lift for him."

Bringing up Aria's return to coaching, Gregory frowned with obvious irritation.

In his view, someone with Aria's twisted personality and shady track record had no business coaching again.

Hearing Gregory's explanation, Alice felt pissed but knew there wasn't much she could do about it, since she didn't have any political pull herself.

But she knew Aria's nature—the woman would do whatever it took to win. If they were going up against her team this time, they'd need to watch their backs and not give her any openings.

"It's fine. Aria's not our problem anymore. Where she coaches is none of our business."

Gregory patted Alice's shoulder, "I know. Aria can't hold a candle to you ability-wise, but she plays dirty. I'm worried she'll pull something. This competition means everything to us."

Gregory's tone turned serious. The way Aria had tried to frame her last time proved she was the type who never forgot a grudge.

"I know. I'll keep my guard up."

Alice nodded, already running through what kind of stunts Aria might try to pull during the competition.

Over the next few days, Alice's training became even more intense. Everyone complained daily but didn't dare slack off, knowing how much was riding on this competition and that they needed to bring their A-game.

Before long, competition day arrived.

At the opening ceremony, Alice and Aria led their respective teams onto the field for pre-game prep.

Aria stared at Alice with ice-cold eyes, "Bet you didn't expect to see me back on the field, did you?"

Alice glanced at her coolly and said flatly, "You're right, I didn't. I figured after you got caught trying to frame me, your career was done. Never thought you'd manage to land another coaching gig."

She'd been naive back then, thinking that reporting Zach would leave Aria without a backer and unable to pull her crap anymore.

Aria smirked smugly, "On this field, we're settling both old scores and new."

Aria's eyes narrowed slightly, thinking about how because of Alice, not only had Mia shaken her down for money, but her entire career had nearly gone up in flames.

If Zach hadn't called in some old favors, she wouldn't be coaching this competing team right now.

This time she was definitely going to crush Alice and get her revenge!

Seeing Aria's cocky expression, Alice's lips curved mockingly, "That depends on whether you've actually got what it takes. Last time you coached, you nearly turned the team into a complete joke. Not satisfied with wrecking our team, so now you're moving on to destroy another one?"

Thinking back to the disaster of Aria's last coaching stint, Alice's eyes gleamed with contempt.

She knew exactly what Aria was capable of. No matter which team she coached, she'd never get it right. In a fair fight, she didn't stand a chance.

The key was watching out for her dirty tricks.

Getting mocked like that, Aria's smug expression instantly darkened, "Alice, don't get too full of yourself. I lost last time, but this time, I'm taking you down!"

Alice shrugged casually, "We'll see about that. Just try not to lose again, or you really won't be able to show your face anywhere!"

After dropping that parting shot, Alice didn't give Aria a chance to respond. She led her team around the field once before heading off to prepare.

Aria watched Alice's team leave, her eyes narrowing with undisguised hatred.

She'd ended up like this all because of her!

"Coach Clark, we should get ready too. The official competition kicks off first thing tomorrow morning."

Aria pulled her gaze away and looked at the two people behind her, "Don't forget what I told you to do. When we win this thing, you'll definitely get what's coming to you."