In the morning Mack overslept, and woke only after her players noticed she didn’t come down to the hotel’s complimentary breakfast, so one of the point guards came up to her room to hammer on her door. She answered, bleary-eyed and exhausted, her hair pressed flat against her face on one side where she slept on it. The light in the hallway hurt her eyes and made her head ache. Her mouth felt dry and papery. Even her breath tasted bad.
“Wha?” she grunted.
The girl on the other side of the door giggled, a sound that pierced Mack’s skull like a dentist’s drill. “Coach, no offense? But you look like shit.”
Mack stared at her. After a long moment, she realized she was expected to respond. “Do what?”
With a shake of her ponytail, the girl giggled again. “Bus leaves in a half hour. If you wan
