Page 5 of Player
It's Emery who interrupts our silent duel. "We should probably get settled..."
Immediately, Pia chimes in, "You're right! There are lots of things planned for this afternoon and I want to explore the campus a bit more."
Her chatter doesn't interest me at all; I maintain eye contact with Dixie. It's possible that getting into it with her might ease my sentence a bit... because as far as I'm concerned, being exiled to this damn college is the equivalent of a prison sentence without parole.
The young woman finally loses interest in my case to follow her friend one room down the hall. Fuck, they’re my neighbors. They enter, and I remain frozen in place.
"Couldn't you be nice for once?" Emery asks me.
I don't even bother responding to that. Anyone who knows me knows that the adjective "nice" is far from describing me.
"Pfff... same old, same old," my friend sighs as he pushes open the door to another bedroom.
The disappointment in his voice doesn't escape me, butagain, I'm so used to disappointing those close to me that it certainly won't make me change.
I am who I am, period. There's nothing more to say.
That evening,the OMU athletic department booster club welcome us officially. We’ve been on campus for summer workouts for weeks, but now it’s official. Cuts have been made, rosters set, and it’s time to get to work. I count about ten freshmen also survived summer practice to join the Jaguars along with Emery and I.
A guy I don't know calls out to me, "Glad you're with us, Player!"
He brings his cup to his lips before continuing, "Fuckin’ five-star recruit, young man! Back in the day, you could have jumped straight to the pros even. Seriously though, with you on the team, we're going to crush the rest of the conference!"
He punctuates his statement with a pat on my shoulder before raising his glass in my direction and taking another sip. How I hate these kinds of remarks. He's placing a responsibility on me that I could really do without.
In truth, if it had been up to me, I would never have started playing football. Simply put, it was my father who introduced me to it, and I hate everything related to him. Now I have to admit that I feel good when I'm on the field, it's the only place where I can express my rage. The majority of our new team members dream of getting to the NFL, but not me. All that matters to me is releasing my frustrations on the field.
"Well, well!" Emery whistles, having stayed close to me. "Your reputation precedes you."
I hold back from telling him to fuck off and prefer to down the contents of my glass in one gulp. It's probably not a brilliantidea to have spiked the punch, and I'm sure if Coach knew about it, those responsible would be in for a rough time. But since no one's going to rat out the deception, the players are enjoying themselves to the fullest.
Emery isn't one who handles his booze well, in fact his eyes are starting to sparkle, but I'm not the type to give good advice so I say nothing.
"Good evening."
A female voice pulls me from my thoughts. A group of girls approaches us, cheerleaders who’ll be working the sidelines for the crowd during our games.
"Well hello there," Emery greets them.
If there's one thing that interests my friend at least as much as football, it's women, and he has understood that university represents a rich and varied pool, almost inexhaustible, to add to his list of conquests.
Emery makes conversation while I watch the scene without participating. I couldn't care less about all these girls.
A silhouette in the distance catches my attention. The brown hair reminds me of Dixie's. I think about my new neighbor. She seems just as unbearable as other women her age, but at least she had the guts to stand up to me...
I move away from my friend and the girls surrounding him to get another glass of punch. As I swallow the orange liquid, I depressingly realize that my future prospects at OMU are far from thrilling, and my neighbors certainly won't help make it any easier to swallow.
3
DIXIE
In accordance with university policy,room assignments are made randomly. It's common knowledge that at OMU, it's impossible to change housing. Under the pretext of social diversity, they force us into cohabitation that isn't always ideal, something I'm currently paying the price for.
While Pia and I live on the same floor, in fact right next to each other, she's not the one I share my bedroom with... unfortunately for me. My new roommate, Keri, is a rather reserved young woman. At least, that was my first impression, but when I enter our room after a late night walk , I find her sprawled on her bed, three quarters naked with a guy I've never seen before.
The couple doesn't react to my arrival, and the sound of their heavy foreplay turns my stomach. Even though I'm dying to go to bed, it's clear that the two overly hormonal lovers have no intention of moving.
I let out a sigh. "Please, don't mind me..."
