High Point University

“Ohoho.” Jerica leaned back on the couch dramatically. “So you do have something I can kick your ass in.”

She wasn’t at all sure that that was true. She’d never actually tried wrestling before. But she’d been in plenty of fights before. And if Carter could do it, it couldn’t be THAT hard to figure out. Just a fight without the fists. Easy.

“I didn’t sleep last night, or I’d take you on right here.” Jerica tipped her beer back and realized she was out. Again. How many had this been? It didn’t matter. She reached forward and grabbed a fresh beer off the table, then looked at Carter. “Lucky thing for you, too.”


Rek was delighted that Bo actually seemed interested. He perked up and took a step nearer.

“I do!” He said eagerly. “It’s actually one of my mains. I’m a performance major. I ADORE piano. I can definitely teach you!”

He grinned broadly, already excited about the idea.

“And I’m totally down for that arrangement. You can come over and cook, then we can make Jerica clean up while we play piano,” Rek winked. “Win-win right there.”

Rek leaned back against the wall, afraid he was coming on too strong. “I mean. If you actually want to. No pressure.”

Carter laughed and nodded. "Oh, yeah, for sure. Luckiest I've ever been."

He watched Jerica down another drink, and he could feel Kayla starting to go limp. He looked over his shoulder, and it looked like she was falling asleep. So she was a sleepy drunk, then. Meanwhile, Jerica just wanted to fight all the time. And he was between them both. What a time.

"Don't bet on it ever happening," Carter said before taking another sip of his drink. He took in a deep breath and looked at Jerica again. "But you can dream."



Bo laughed. "I mean, maybe like, once a week or something? We don't have to figure out the deets right now," he said, still in the bacon shuffle.

"But yeah! My grandfather knows how to play piano, but he never taught me. I can remember his playing just echoing off the walls of their house, though. They had a super pretty grand piano. It was a whole vibe."

Spoiler

“You think so?” Jerica raised both eyebrows, looking at him challengingly. She set her beer down, her pride starting to drown out the way her body still ached. “Changed my mind. I’m ready to go now, Roomie.”


“Wholesome.” Rek grinned, still just SO pleased that someone actually WANTED to learn an instrument rather than bemoaning how they’d been forced against their will to take lessons as a child.

“I have a cheap piano at my place — hated the sound of a keyboard — but it’s nowhere near a grand. I want one of those so badly.” He sighed longingly, thinking about how obscenely expensive they were. “Some day.”

It had even awhile since Daniel was at a party. He had forgotten how quickly people showed up - and how easy it was to get lost in the chaos. By the time that Elias's clicker comment had registered, Elias was already off greeting people he knew at the door.

He could have asked Elias more about the chicken when he got back from greeting his friends. He probably should have. But sometimes it was just easier to go with the flow, so Daniel did exactly that.

"Sure," he said. "It's been awhile since I've held a chicken."


Benji got to his feet.

He didn't know if he should take Dr. Lordshire up on his offer. He already had a part-time job with The Skeptic. Even if he was exempt from the homework for his philosophy class, he would still be doing work in some form. What if there was more work as a substitute TA then there would have been as a student?

He bit his lip.

James had said yes. There had only been one TA before. That meant the work for one person would be divided between two people.

Benji dusted himself off and fixed his backpack straps.

"I'll do it, too," he softly said, just as aware as James was that people were getting upset with their noise.

"First: not your roomie. Second: I don't want to, so I'm not going to. Third: look at her."

Carter gestured to Kayla, now sleeping soundly on his shoulder.

"You want to disturb this?" he asked, lowering his voice just a little.



"They're so pretty," Bo agreed. "Oh, to have money..." he laughed. "I think there is a grand piano somewhere on campus, though. One of those: 'free to play' situations. You know what I'm talking about? I bet there is one. You just gotta find it."

"Oh, so now you care about interrupting naps?" Jerica scoffed, looking at him skeptically.

Hadn't heard anything about disturbing hers, even though she was certain she'd needed one more than Kayla. Kayla just seemed like a lightweight who was dumb enough to fall asleep at a frat boy's house. And now Jerica was going to have to spend the rest of the night watching her to be sure no one touched her and needed to have their teeth kicked in.

"I guarantee you're a lot more smitten with college girls than I am." Jerica sat back on the couch, picking her beer back up. She was getting too aggressive. Everything within her wanted to keep picking at him until he got angry enough he tackled her off the couch -- she tended to have that effect on people -- but she was turning over a new leaf this year. "I think you're just scared of getting your ass kicked."

"FRESHIE!"

The soul drained from Jerica's body in an instant.

J.R. flopped down on the couch just to her left, sitting so close their sides and legs touched. She tensed as he threw his arm around her shoulders and tightened it -- not enough to hurt her, but plenty tight that she could feel his muscles flexing against her.

"I didn't know you know Carter!"

Jerica took a deep breath. She was getting tired of this. All she wanted was to have a few beers and relax. She deserved it. She'd earned it after the hell she'd endured over the past twenty-four hours.

"Lotta things you don't know about me." She forced herself to look him in the eyes, rather than shrink away like she wanted to. It was like he threw a big wet blanket over her ego, instantly subduing her the instant he walked in. And she was tired of being cowed.

"Ohohoho, there's that sass!" J.R. reached around her and yanked the beer out of her hands. "You run your mouth too much, Freshie, you know that?"

Jerica turned a bit in his arms, raising one finger. "Rude."

J.R. raised his eyebrows. And then as if on cue two of the teammates appeared out of nowhere, standing over her threateningly. J.R. looked at her challengingly. "What was that?"

Spoiler

"That's what I thought." He mockingly patted her face with the hand still wrapped around her shoulders, taking another drink of her beer. "Good girl."

Jerica was still glaring, but she deflated.

"Thad, Chad." J.R. nodded to the teammates ahead of them, and they moved further down the couch to take their spots on the other side of Kayla. He looked at Carter, pulling Jerica a bit closer. "Did Ansley here--"

"Ainsley," she cut in.

"Tell you she made the team?" J.R. finished.


"Oh, man, I'll have to look into it." Rek smiled. "That's the dream."

He took another drink of his beer, glancing around to see if there was anything he could help with, but he still didn't know what he was doing when it came to food. But, he saw a sink full of dishes.

"So, besides cooking, what else do you like to do?" Rek asked, setting his beer aside as he walked to the sink and dumped some dish soap on top of the mound of dishes, then set to work washing.

"Here ya go," Elias said, basically tossing Nugget on to Daniel's open arms. Nugget the chicken let it happen, gracefully flying in the air until Daniel caught her.

"Her name's Nugget. I've had her for a whole one day.," he continued on, patting her head. He then started to activate baby voice like Daniel was holding a baby and not a chicken. "Aren't cha just the cutest little chicken? Yes, you are. Yes, yes, you are."

He then looked up over at Bo, chatting away in the kitchen.

"Hey, Bo! Toss me some chicken food!" he said.

He actually didn't really know what chickens ate, but Bo probably did, especially since he magically walked in the apartment and saw that there was a chicken pen house full of newspaper, hay, nibbly water bottle, blanket, heat lamp, and a bag of chicken feed. Either Nugget's parents came by to drop off her alimony, or Bo bought it because he always knew what to do.

Lordy beamed at the children, "Excellent! Alright, well you two can follow me then. Morri, catch up after you finish with those books, aye?"

"Only if you promise to behave yourself." Morri responded, not taking his eyes off of his collection.

"Oh shove it. Come along kids!"

Lordy made his way out of the library into the warm afternoon sun, expecting the kids to follow along. His office building wasn't a far walk away, but he really did want to enjoy the outdoors a little more, so he took slow steps.

"I don't have a lot to look through, it's just that I'm awfully busy for the rest of the day. I do appreciate you both taking time to help me out. Do you have any classes for the rest of the day? I can talk to your teachers and tell them I needed to borrow you," Lordy scratched his beard, "I mean if they're any of the arts & science teachers, I could just fire them if they don't excuse you."

James, at this point, had accepted that he wasn't going to be getting more reading done for the time being. As Lordy started to hurry off, James quickly slipped his laptop and books back into his backpack, gave a quick glance to Benji (with whom, he was surprised for taking up Lordy's offer as well), and then hurried after him. Professor Morrigan stayed behind, and James couldn't help but envy him.

He trailed behind Lordy as they left the library, and slowed beside Lordy to match his pace. Apparently, Lordy was in no rush to get there.

"I don't have more classes today," James said, glancing around them. "No one needs to get fired on my behalf."



Carter could still feel the buzz as the football jocks walked into the apartment, but being drunk never made him an idiot. He was aware of what was going on.

He'd already pieced together that Jerica was in sports, had probably gotten hazed based on how she looked in class that morning and made it on some team, but this was confirmation. She'd made it onto the football team. Carter knew how competitive college football was, and if she'd made it in as a freshman, and as the only woman on the team, it was likely she stole a coveted spot and stepped on many, many toes. He remembered what Rek said. She was competitive, and he could already tell she pushed people's buttons, especially while drunk.

But Rek also said she was aggressively loyal, once you earned her friendship. And J.R. seemed to assume he already had.

He had a feeling that playing along would be mutually beneficial.

"Oh, she already told me this morning," Carter said with a smile. He reached over and elbowed Jerica lightly. Just a friendly jab. Nothing near as not-so-subtly threatening as the shit J.R. was trying to pull.

"I bet you're all psyched to have her on your team."

As he said that, he reached into a crevice in the couch, pulling out a hidden can of beer. He handed it over to J.R., and J.R. did exactly what Carter wanted.

"Here," he said, giving a short but meaningful glance to Jerica to let her know he was in control of the situation.

J.R. pulled his arm away from Jerica so he could take the can and open it. Carter reached out his own drink and tapped it against J.R.'s drink.

"To a victorious football season," Carter said with a little laugh.

J.R. seemed to think it was funny enough to laugh too. And Chad and Thad brought out drinks, which they aggressively added to the clinking cheer.

"Hell yeah!" Chad and Thad said in unison. Then all the football players threw their drinks back and chugged. Carter was glad to see J.R. leaning away from Jerica, giving her space. Carter only sipping his drink as he observed.

"Hey J.R.," Carter said. "I think Bo's almost done with breakfast in the kitchen."

J.R. dumb jock eyes widened. "Yes. I'm starving," he said, getting up from the couch and taking long strides to the kitchen.

Carter watched him for a second and nodded to himself, pleased.



Bo glanced over at Rek, noting that he started washing dishes. He was grateful for that - even if most of the dishes weren't his, and all borrowed from Carter.

"Well, I mentioned to Jerica already that I go to the gym pretty often. I like weightlifting. I got into it when I was a teen, with my dad, and I don't know, I just think it's fun. Not to like, bodybuild or anything, but it's just nice to lift heavy things. I don't know how to explain it, haha," Bo said, continuously adding more bacon to the finished pile until he was almost through the whole pack.

"I also like to ride around a bit sometimes, on my motorcycle. Helps me relax and clear my head."

Jerica sat in a perplexed silence as Carter took control of the situation, without J.R. even seeming to realize what was happening. But she saw. And she saw that Carter knew exactly what he was doing, too. Stroking J.R.'s ego, getting him to leave Jerica alone -- even managing to get him out of the room.

The tension melted from Jerica's shoulders as J.R. finally left. She let her head fall back to rest against the couch, wiping the rim of her bottle before she took a drink of the beer.

And then she looked at Carter.

She certainly wouldn't consider him a friend by any means. At least not yet -- more of a drinking buddy in the making. But it was clear that being a friend of Carter was going to work in her best interests. And she was amazed at how coolly he'd handled J.R.

"That was..." She nodded, not quite sure how to express her appreciation without having to admit that she'd needed his help. "Good."


"Cool!" Rek said, grinning at him. "I've always thought it'd be so awesome to ride a motorcycle. Bet you pick up lots of girls."

Rek gave him a wink.

"And that's cool that you lift. It's never really been my thing, but Jerica really likes it... which I'm sure you already know since you mentioned it to her." Rek shook his head a bit. "I think she gets off on being fitter than others... me, not so much. I like to hike. And swim. And just enjoy nature without having to strain myself too much," Rek chuckled lightly.

Carter only nodded, and took another sip of beer.

"Do you know what position you'll be playing yet?" he asked, changing the subject. Chad and Thad were dense as hell, but they were still there.



"Those are great too, though!" Bo said. "I think it's just good for people to be active at least a little, everyone gets to go at their own pace. I've never been super great at swimming, but I love hiking. You know, there are some trails not too far from here at Blackhoof Park. Have you been?"

"Halfback." Jerica smiled a bit, grateful that he was willing to move on.

She rubbed the bruise on her collarbone she knew fully well was visible past her collar. It was one of the few that she was certain had come from tryouts. One of the linebackers -- Tyler, she was pretty sure -- hadn't even attempted to get on the right level for her and just slammed his shoulder into her chest.

"Turns out, I'm not so great at stopping linebackers," she smiled sheepishly.

"HAH!" Thad scoffed. "You got your ass handed to you, Freshie."

Not by you. Thankfully she kept the comment to herself and instead ignored him, looking at Carter. "But I'm quick. Coach says I might make it as a starter, depending on how these first few months of practices go. You should come to a game."


"Ooh, yeah, those are good!" Rek agreed, nodding. "I personally like Spruce Hill, a couple of hours north of here. There's more wildlife to watch. You should check it out if you haven't already."

"Oh, of course. I come to games all the time," Carter said. He saw Chad and Thad nod in agreement like it needed confirmation. "I'd love to see you in action."



"I definitely will," Bo said, putting the last of the bacon on the bacon plate. It was a sizeable stack of bacon now.

At that moment, he saw J.R., one of the football guys, push past Elias and Daniel and others into the kitchen. Without announcement, he made himself at home and grabbed a paper plate from a stack off the top of the fridge, and came right up beside Bo.

"This smells amazing," he said, reaching past Bo and grabbing a handful of bacon.

"Careful, it's--" Bo only got halfway thru his warning before J.R. hissed and hastily dropped the bacon onto his plate.

"Hot..." Bo finished. He decided he better make it so everything was ready to eat. He turned off all the burners and pulled out serving spoons and forks, sticking them in the eggs, the hashbrowns, and by the bacon. The muffins were straightforward.

As soon as Bo had all the food set up on one side of the counter, J.R. started piling more onto his plate buffet-style. Which was perfect, because that was what it was.

Bo nabbed a piece of bacon and chewed on it, watching as J.R. grabbed a fork out of a drawer, pulled another beer from the fridge, and sat on a stool by the little bar.

With half a piece of bacon sticking out of his mouth, he turned back to Rek. He shoved the rest of the bacon in and shrugged with a closed-mouth grin.

"I'm probably going to make more hashbrowns in a bit, but you mind if I steal a spot beside the sink to help with washing?"

"A shame, really," Lordy said, slightly disappointed, "Well don't be shy if you need a favor like that in the future."

They stepped into the building and made their way up the stairs to Lordy's office. He turned the knob and stepped in, he always left it unlocked. He picked his cane up and rested it on top of the table in the middle of the room. Stepping to the one file cabinet he had in the back of the room, he grabbed a nearly empty manila folder and tossed it next to his cane.

"Alright, so what I'm going to need from the two of you is very simple," Lordy flipped open the folder, "In here there are a few dozen prompts for questions and essays that I'm going to be assigning. I need you to look through the syllabus and match each of the prompts to their respective weeks and organize them by date for me."

He pulled a couple of chairs to the front of the desk and invited them to have a seat.

"And also," from the second drawer of his file cabinet, he pulled out a bottle of whiskey with a few glasses and placed them on the table, "What did you all want for dinner again?"

Jerica smiled. Then was instantly annoyed at how easily pleased her ego was. She didn't need Carter's approval. She didn't need anyone's. She shrugged and coolly took another drink of her beer. "Yeah, that could be cool. Is the wrestling team intercollegiate? I could come to one of your game--er, matches?"


Rek watched as one of the jocks pushed his way into the kitchen and rudely started loading up a plate with Bo's food without even asking. Bo didn't seem to mind. But Rek already had a vaguely negative opinion of the jocks already.

He still hadn't managed to get a straight answer out of Jerica -- and, knowing Jerica, he might never get her to admit to anything. But it wasn't too hard to figure out. The state she was in this morning -- the way the huge men whisked her off right after class. He'd bet his last dollar that she'd made it onto some team and was getting hazed. And that she'd be too stubborn to let anyone help her and just decide it was worth it.

"Hey?" Rek asked, turning towards the jock. He was wearing one of the football hats. "Did some girl make the team?"

The jock stopped and looked at him suspiciously. "What's it to ya?"

"Nothing," Rek lied, shrugging. "Just saw a girl this morning in the team's sweats, and was wondering if she'd earned them."

He honestly hadn't even noticed the pants in class -- he'd been too busy trying to figure out why she was so bruised and dirty. But she'd made a lazy effort to wash the mud off them by stomping on them when she was in the shower and letting the soapy water carry some of the muck away with it, and he'd noticed the logo when he transferred them to the washer.

"She ain't earned nothing yet," the jock snorted. "But yeah. She's... surprisingly... okay at running. Guess Coach is letting bitches join the team now."

Rek felt himself prickle a bit but forced himself to keep a neutral expression. Before he could respond, Bo tried to shoulder his way next to the sink. He looked up with a bit of a grin. "Nah, man, you should eat. You earned it! I can handle the clean-up."