Page 18 of Necessary Roughness
I wasn’t sick, although seeing Knox’s handsome face up on the jumbotron brought back all the emotions and memories from Thursday night—including the nausea.
Bryson was staring at me. “Hold on a second, Sloane. Did you… did you not know who those guys were?”
I shook my head.
“Girl, don’t even,” Jayden muttered. “You’ve been coming to football games with us since our second year.”
“I don’t really pay attention to the game,” I explained. “And honestly, I’m usually kind of drunk.”
“That tracks,” Bryson said. “Last year, you and Troy spent the entire fourth quarter making out.”
“Please don’t refer to my ex by his name,” I said.
“He Who Shall Not Be Namedwas usually distracting you with his stupid mouth,” Jayden said. “But I still don’t believe you had no idea you were hitting on the captain of the football team the other night!”
I couldn’t believe it either. Even as I watched the first quarter of the game, it felt like a dream. Or a cruel nightmare.
By halftime, I was too embarrassed to keep watching. I apologized to the twins and walked home.
I tried to study that night, but my mind was elsewhere. I kept thinking about the situation and how insane it was.
I’d walked right up to the captain of the football team and flirted with him.
I’d taken him—and his teammate!—upstairs.
And then I totally blew it. The feeling of regret in my stomach was like losing a winning lottery ticket.
Ugh. What a horrible start to my senior year.
I was able to put it out of my head and study the next day. That was my real superpower: I was good at studying. I had an innate curiosity about the world, which meant I was interested in literally any subject I came across. A nature documentary about turtle mating habits? Sweet. A podcast about 19th century bridge building techniques? Sign me up.
Getting a head start on my reading assignments helped me forget all about making a fool out of myself at the party.
There was a hopeful feeling in the air as I walked to my first class Monday morning. Some students trudged across campus with their shoulders slumped, but not me. I loved new beginnings. Every class this semester put me one step closer to graduation.
It felt like I was striding confidently toward my future as a teacher.
Now that classes were officially beginning, I felt a lingering sadness about Thursday night. Getting drunk and throwing up wasn’t a big deal; everyone did that in college. Except for maybe Morgan. She had a stick shoved so far up her ass there was no room for having any fun.
But I regretted missing the opportunity to try something new and fun. That was the entire point of college! Once I was a middle school teacher, I doubted I would have many opportunities to have a threesome.
Oh well. Time to put it all behind me and get to work.
My first class was Education 401: Curriculum Design and Instructional Planning. I sat right in the front row and smiled the entire time, taking two pages of notes even though the professor was mostly outlining the syllabus and the expectations for the semester.
After that was Education 430: Teaching Students with Diverse Needs. I wasn’t planning on teaching Special Ed, but the class was required for my degree, and I still enjoyed getting a different perspective on my future students.
I stopped for lunch in the main campus cafeteria, then took my sandwich outside to eat. I closed my eyes and allowed the warmth of the sun to rejuvenate me.
Even though most of my classes were for my degree this semester, I still had two General Education courses that I had to knock out. Art History was the first one, held in a small classroom that could fit maybe twenty people. The seats in the front row were all taken, so I snagged a chair in the third row and set out my laptop to take notes.
I was reviewing the syllabus when my fellow students began whispering. When the chatter didn’t stop, I glanced up at the doorway.
And who was standing there? Knox Freaking Maddox.
“That’s the star quarterback!” the girl behind me whispered to another student.
“So what?” the other student said.
