His grin increases even as Slater elbows him. “I sure did. I’m Bruce. What’s your name?”
I give him a blinding smile. “Aw, didn’t I tell you my name?” He shakes his head, and I continue. “My bad. It’s,” I pause. “Not interested.” Several whoops and hollers follow my declaration, and Bruce’s smile drops. “All right. Well, then. Have a great practice, boys. And don’t forget, we’re here to keep you safe.” I grin at Hayes. “I got it this time.” He shakes his head, and I follow him to the door. When we get to the door, Hayes opens it. I'm just about to walk out, but I look back for just a moment. Slater locks eyes with me and then gives me just the slightest smirk. It's really only one side of his mouth turning up the tiniest bit. I might have thought I imagined it, but when he gives me a tiny head nod, I know I didn’t. I walk out the door, grinning to myself.
“You might want to be careful,” Hayes says after a moment.
“Why?”
“I’ve heard about that guy. He's not very nice.”
“Slater?” I ask.
“No, the other guy. Bruce. There are rumors on campus that he’s a real jerk to girls.”
“Huh.” I take that in.
“I’m just saying in case he doesn’t take kindly to being rejected by you.”
I look up at him. “Rejected? I wasn’t rejecting him.”
“He was asking you out, and you rejected him.”
I wave off his concern. “No, he wasn’t. He was just being a flirt.”
“Well, either way, just be careful.”
I take in his words. “Thanks, Hayes.”
He looks uncomfortable. “I have three sisters; I would want someone to look out for them.”
“You have three sisters? Older or younger?”
He uses the rest of our walk back to tell me about his three younger sisters. “They sound wonderful, Hayes,” I tell him when we get back to the guard shack. We both clock out and step outside. “Thanks for training me today.”
He nods. “Are you good to go for your next shift, or do you think you need more training?”
“I think I’m good; you’re an excellent teacher.” I watch as his cheeks heat slightly, and I pull back. “All right. Well, I’m off. Have a good one.”
“You too.” I'm a few yards from the security shack when he calls out to me. “And don’t get into any more scuffles with certain soccer players.”
“No promises,” I call out without looking back. I make my way towards my dorm. I’m hoping to get at least an hour of sleep in before I have to get to my eight-o-clock class. When I get back to my room, I take the fastest shower and then drop onto my bed. I manage an hour of deep sleep before I have to get up. After throwing my hair on top of my head, I slip on a t-shirt and a hoodie, and throw my bag over my shoulder.
Connor is waiting when I get to class. “So much for quizzing each other.”
I drop into the seat next to him. “Hey, we have five minutes. Go.” He shakes his head but starts quizzing me. After a minute or two, I snatch the notes out of his hand and quiz him. Thankfully, our professor is a few minutes late. I hand him back his notes. “See, we’re totally ready.” He smiles and takes out a pen. I try to keep my breathing steady as our professor passes out the quizzes. I always get nervous and end up blowing quizzes and tests; I’m just not a good tester. I can know all the knowledge, but for some reason, I panic and end up notremembering anything, especially in this History of Civ. Class. It's slowly killing me.
“All right. You may begin as soon as you get your quiz,” our professor says. When my quiz gets to me, I take it one question at a time. Connor finishes before me, which isn’t a surprise. I finish a few minutes later.
“How’d you do?” Connor asks after we turn them in.
“Eh.”
“That good, huh?”
I pull out my notes as our professor starts waxing eloquently. I do my best to stay awake for the rest of class and the remainder of my morning classes. By the time I get to lunch, I’m dragging. I grab food and make my way to Evie’s and my regular table. “Hey, how was your morning?” Evie asks as soon as I sit.
“Fine. How about yours?”
“I mean, it’s Monday,” she says after a bite of food.
