Break of Dawn

12 | crowded places

RORY WAS GETTING USED to having the guys drop by the office at the end of the afternoon.

Even though there were still new guys showing up to check her out, most of the ones she had already met would eventually come back. Sometimes because they needed her for something - and God did they need things - but most of the times they would just lounge around before their appointments at the Athletic Center.

For one thing, she'd realized they usually walked in groups. They came and went in packs of three or four - and considering most of the guys were at least 6 feet tall - that was enough to fill up her small office.

It was Thursday afternoon when three of them showed up at her door: Reggie Zveiter, Trent Milano and Shaq Lamour - the three starting linebackers that Aurora had figured out were a their own small clique.

"What up girls" Reggie, the six-foot-two, 240 pounds linebacker greeted as he made himself at home on the two-place couch. His black skin contrasting with the white Huskies baseball cap he wore backwards.

Reggie was obviously the captain of the defensive team. He had that whole aura of a leader, always walking ahead, the first to arrive and the first to talk. He was the only guy from the Dream Team Rory had met so far, and it was the biggest relief that he was down to earth despite his popular status.

Rory had dealt with enough football players in her life to know that smugness was a common trait - especially with the big shots - and had dreaded the idea of meeting the famous guys on the Huskies roster.

"What are you guys doing here?" Ariella asked from her honorary seat at the table, she hadn't been joking when she said the levels of testosterone in the building were high.

Besides the two of them, the female population at The Grant consisted of Yasmin, the executive chef at the kitchen, and Esther, a history student who worked afternoon shifts on the front desk. Everyone else, from the cleaning staff to the executive board, was a male. So it wasn't a big surprise that Ariella had clung on to Rory so much - she had made a habit of showing up at the office whenever there was a slot in her schedule. Ariella - or Ari or Ella, as she insisted - would sit at the table and fill out medical charts while Rory did her own work.

"We got tape at 6" Shaq, who had his braids tied up on the top of his head, answered as he took a place on the armrest of the couch.

Rory looked at the clock on her screen "It's ten past five"

"We got nothin' better to do" Reggie said spreading out on the couch, arms stretched. At that moment, Ariella got up and walked out of the room with her phone in hand.

"What about studying?" Rory asked. It was part of her job description to keep up with the players academic development. Mr. Clay had warned her how much of a hassle it was when the players started failing classes, that the coaching staff would be on theirs asses to fix the situation, even if there was just so much they could do.

"Nah, don't need that" Reggie answered, eyes trained on his phone.

"Guy's a genius" Trent chipped going to take Ariella's seat "His classes are hard as fuck and I've never seen him with a book"

"What's your major?" Aurora asked looking at Reggie.

"Neuroscience"

That was surprising. It was common knowledge that the science courses were the hardest ones at Lochlan. The course load was absurd, Rory would've never been able to keep up with it, and she wasn't even a student athlete.

"What about you two?" She said pointing a pen in the direction of the other two.

"Mechanical Engineering, both of us" Shaq answered nonchalantly.