Page 3 of Silent Count
Not gonna lie; I like having the place to myself. The silence can be deafening to someone who can’t stand to sit in their own thoughts. For me, it’s a comfort. It means nothing bad is about to happen. No drama, no fights. No hurt and no heartbreak.
My room is organized and clutter-free. As a kid, my house was the opposite. My parents were addicts, borderline hoarders, with piles of trash and empty bottles covering every surface. Aunt Laura’s home was starkly different—minimalist and orderly. At first, the lack of chaos made me uneasy, but eventually, I found peace in it. I even crave it now. My psychology classes call it a trauma response—growing up in a house filled with garbage and gunfire rewired me to cling to control. Every folded shirt and cleared counter is my way of building safety. It’s not just tidiness. It’s survival.
But survival isn’t the whole story. I’m not the awkward girl I was when I first got here. I’m confident, fun, and maybe a little too busy, but I like who I am.
I go to the fridge to grab a bottle of water, then back to the table and sit down. I want to get a few things marked off in my calendar. I have my schedule perfectly planned and my study notes color-coded. Before I leave, I need to send my boss an email with my availability.
Ten minutes later, my phone dings. It’s Noelle, asking when I’ll be there. I make a stop in the bathroom to take care of business. I wash my hands, then check myself in the mirror. My hair is almost black, and my curls can be unruly at times, but they’re surprisingly in control today. I don’t wear much makeup, if any, and today was a no-makeup day. I splash some water on my face, then swipe some mascara on my long lashes.
I shake my head and roll my eyes at the fact that I’m putting in extra effort to look good tonight.
Yes, my past was chaotic, and I may have some minor OCD tendencies. That said, I’m pretty confident and generally don’t give much thought to what other people think of me. I’ve worked too hard to build my own confidence. There’s one person who—against my better judgment—makes my heart race, and I might care alittleabout what he thinks of me. And I’m one hundred percent sure he’ll be there tonight.
CHAPTER
TWO
BO
We’ve just finished practice,and I’m about to shower when Coach Pettys walks into the locker room and calls a meeting. We circle around him in the center of the room. Coach’s hands are on his hips, and I can’t tell if the smirk on his face is a good smirk or ayou guys are fuckedsmirk.
“Okay, boys, I’m gonna get right to it. At the end of last year, right after our spring training season, we were approached by the Sports Network about participating in a docuseries for this season. It took some heavy paperwork, but the university approved it.” He huffs a laugh, and my teammates clap, clearly excited.
Me? I have a feeling I know what’s coming, and I’m not exactly excited about it. I suspect that the camera crews will want to follow me around specifically. It’s not that I’m not used to the attention, but I really want to stay focused this season with minimal distractions. But with me being ranked the number one quarterback in college football, they will likely want to interview me a lot at the very least.
“So, with that being said, we have some changes we’re going to be making before the season really gets underway. Starting with a team curfew.” Coach’s assistant, Roger, hands him a paper. “For our away games, the schedule will pretty much stay the same. You will have your normal check-in time. Home games, we will now leave campus the night before and stay in a hotel. We will have a team dinner and an activity, likely a movie night, then a nine p.m. room check. That means, you will be in your assigned room, ready to sleep. Not chatting with your girlfriends all night, not playing games on your phone.” He pauses and looks around the room. “You can thank your previous teammates, Schuster and Smith, for this addition to the schedule this season. With all eyes on us, we have to stay disciplined and represent the school positively.”
Casey is standing to my left and nudges me with his elbow. “Did you know about this?”
I shake my head. “Not any more than you guys did.”
“I mean, I get why they’re doing it, and maybe I won’t hate it. But I like my girl staying with me before games.” Casey folds his arms across his chest.
“You like your girl staying with you any night, regardless of if we have a game or not.” I laugh and shove him playfully.
“Truth. Dude, Beck would have hated this so hard. Or found a way to get my sister in the room.” He laughs.
“Probably.” I smirk. “Honestly though, I don’t hate the idea of the curfew. I like quiet before games.”
Casey starts to speak, but Coach snaps his attention to us and looks over his glasses at us and raises his eyebrows.
Then he continues talking. “As far as the production schedule, you will be notified in advance if they want to record any of you individually. Roger will hand out the packet for you all to review. Look it over carefully, memorize it. You can direct any questions to Roger, and if he doesn’t know the answer,he’ll find it for you.” He takes off his glasses. “That’s it for today. Hydrate, eat, and get some rest. We’re going hard again tomorrow.”
Coach looks over to me. “Callaway, meet me in my office after you shower.”
“Yes, sir.” I nod, then turn toward my stall.
Casey follows. “What’s that about?”
I shake my head and shrug. “Not sure. Could be anything really.”
He slaps my shoulder. “Better you than me, man. I’m gonna shower at home. I’ll see you there.” He grabs his gear and leaves the locker room.
I look over at Coach and see he’s talking to a few of the other coaches, so I grab what I need and make my way to the shower.
Sitting in the coach’s office feels like waiting for the school principal to come in and issue detention. My hands are a little sweaty, my knee is bouncing, and I keep checking the time on my watch. While I was in the shower, I thought about every possible scenario that might explain why I’m here.
Now, I’m a confident guy. I’m a leader on the field, and I like to think that carries into my personal life as well. Things like school, sports, and friendships have always come easily to me. Don’t get me wrong; I work hard, and I stay focused. I’m a doer, not a sayer. Still, I’m not exactly sure why I’m here. Could be the show. Or it could be the psychology class that I’m surprisingly struggling with. I mean, I guess I can’t say struggling, but I definitely bombed the first test. In my defense though, I really don’t think I should be in the class to begin with. It has absolutely nothing to do with my business major, but whatever.
