Page 18 of Campus Heat

Thing is, they were all telling the truth. We were a laughingstock at the last match. Even the players on the Cardinals team felt bad for us. We’d made fools of ourselves, and allowed them to wipe the floor with us. A grip was what we needed. Direction. Not an intricate strategy none of us could pull off.

Most of the guys didn’t have much knowledge about football, so they relied on the coach. But he knew even less than they did, and that made matters so much worse. Someone needed to step up and get an idea of what we were doing, otherwise we were going to drown.

“Guys!” Coach shouted, getting everyone’s attention. “I understand why you’re feeling down. You’re overwhelmed. We’re just starting out, yet we’re competing against established teams. We don’t have proper uniforms. Hell, we don’t even have a bus to get to our games. Of course we don’t have fans, and it’s obvious that we’re not going to win right away. It’s a process. I need you to keep believing in the process.”

“The process isn’t making us look good, Coach.” Lucas said. “You’re not out there with us. You get to watch from the sidelines. We’re the ones getting insulted and laughed at.”

“Do you think I don’t know how that feels?” Harris asked. “I’ve been where you are, and it taught me a tough lesson. If you quit now, you’ll never get to where you want to be. If you keep fighting, you’ll get there, eventually.”

“Or we’ll get more people making fun of us,” Malik said.

“The secret to getting everyone else to believe in you is for you to start believing in yourself,” Harris said, which turned out to be the last straw for Dylan.

With his helmet in hand, he waved Harris off and walked back to the locker room. Malik shrugged and followed, and Lucas wasn’t far behind.

“Hey, practice isn’t over yet,” Harris called after them, but they didn’t so much as slow down.

“You sound like one of those dumb motivational posters,” Cam said with a shrug before running off too.

“Have I really been that bad?” Harris asked as he watched the entire team walk away.

“You’re not a bad coach. You just don’t know what you’re doing. Maybe you should try watching some real football movies instead?” I said, trying not to sound like a dick. “Maybe footage of actual games too.”

“I think I need more help than that,” he muttered to himself.

With a shrug, I ran off as well. I was happy that we’d stood up for ourselves and left practice early. But at the same time, I hoped this day would help certain people get on the right track. Coach couldn’t stay on his basketball path if he wanted to succeed, but he wasn’t the only one who needed to work on improving.

“Hey, Ethan,” Malik called out as I walked into the locker room. “We’ve been talking, and this was a really hard practice for all of us. So we decided to have some fun tonight, and we were wondering if you’d join us for once.”

I gave him the look I usually gave when I was going to refuse but before I could answer, he grabbed my arm and pulled me out into the hallway.

“I know you’re the type who only has one thing in mind—the game—but you gotta give some to get some, man,” he said in earnest. “Believe it or not, these guys look up to you, and they want to hang out with you. So you’ve gotta find a balance. Give them something every now and then. You don’t have a girl, and none of us are buying the study excuse anymore.”

“I know, and you’re right,” I said, feeling bad about my past behavior. “I’m just not used to having friends on my team, so it’s hard for me to break out of my bubble. But I’ll make you a deal: if you keep reminding me, I’ll keep agreeing to come.”

“That’s what I like to hear,” Malik said as he wrapped his arm around my shoulder, and led me back to the locker room. “Did you know there’s a bar on campus? But even more than that, the bar has a bunch of pool tables.”

“I didn’t know that. So what does that mean? Since we suck at team sports, we’re going to try our hand at singles games? Will we be taking bets? Because I’ve gotta warn you. I play a mean game of pool.”

Malik laughed so loud it echoed through the tunnel, and for just a moment I could see why Elizabeth liked him so much. Everyone expected the big play from him, the flash, but he liked to do his most important work in the background. Just like he had done with me on that day. Also, he was just a really cool guy overall.

“Guys,” Malik announced as we stepped back into the locker room, “tonight is our night. Ethan has agreed to join us on our little adventure. And just so you know, I’ll be taking bets, because he claims to be the best pool player in the world.”

8

Elizabeth

Jenna and I stayed to watch a bit of the football practice. Then things got a little heated, and we decided to leave before they got out of hand. It was still early though, and we weren’t ready to lock ourselves up in our room just yet. So we freshened up and headed to the campus bar.

The minute my eyes landed on the pool table, things went next level. It was my favorite way to pass time, and the one thing my dad and I spent the most quality time on. When there was a pool table, we could connect like he would with a son, and I loved it. So I had more than enough practice.

“Girl, you look like you’re gonna bring the world down around us,” Jenna said, seemingly amused.

“I absolutely love pool,” I said with a dazzling smile. “It always reminds me of my dad.”

“Then we’re in for a fun-filled night.”

I got acquainted with the table while Jenna headed to the bar to get some cues. I looked at her for a moment and realized that she wasn’t herself. That date she’d gone on must’ve been really terrible to have such an effect on her. They usually didn’t affect her much, but it had been three days and she still didn’t seem to have gotten over it.