Calibrated Kickoff

I set two steel ballpoint pens upright into the spiral binding of an open notebook, spacing them five inches apart to form goalposts. The folded paper football stood upright on its pointed edge against the oak desk, stabilized beneath the light touch of my left index finger. I dropped low into a crouch to align my trajectory dead center between the pens. Loading tension into my right thumb and forefinger, I released a sharp flick against the lower crease. The dense paper triangle snapped into the air with a crisp pop, spinning cleanly through the uprights before dropping onto the leather blotter.