I Hate Football Players 3 | 18+

Chapter 44: Ellie

"Good morning everyone," Dr. Pearce greeted our Stat Methods course warmly. Based on some of the sleepy responses, the novelty of an eight am class had already worn thin for some students. He only chuckled and shook his head. "Must be Monday."

While yes, today was Monday, this morning I'd already noticed some differences. The small herd of girls that greeted us, well Logan, on the sidewalk outside our apartment was new. They wanted harmless photos, which he obliged without objection, even though he held a breakfast burrito in one hand, smoothie in the other, and a polite smile on his handsome face.

Logan also grabbed attention on the sidewalks, to the point where I was glad I'd left fifteen extra minutes to get to class. Pictures requested or not were taken, fist bumps offered, lots of unsolicited game advice, he'd had never been more popular... at least on U-Dub's campus.

I knew it.

I hadn't actually meant every aspect of our life changed once Logan became the starter when I'd said 'everything will change,' but our bubble of privacy would soon be popped. Logan of course took the attention with a grain of salt, he was polite but largely ignored the curious eyes locked on him.

Once we reached the bottom steps in front of PCar Building on the quad before my class, he leaned over and murmured in my ear, "Sorry about this."

"It's okay." I flashed him a smile because I'd expected the change. In fact, I braced myself for how this was only the beginning. "But I reserve the right to go postal on any fangirls who show up at our apartment or mail you their underwear."

My breath hitched when his face lingered nearby, but his eyes darted sideways and he pulled his head back. "Fair enough." He grinned, then just wished me, "Have a good day Ellie."

"You too." I followed his eye gaze and saw another small cluster of curious eyes around us. "I work tonight, then I'm heading to Monique and Darrius' place for an hour or so. But I'll leave dinner in the fridge."

"You're the best, Mrs. Hightower." He winked one ocean blue eye at me then turned and walked down PCar's front entrance steps.

Well, he for sure hasn't changed.

"Wednesday we'll start our work on programming," Dr. Pearce's voice broke through my comforted thoughts about Logan as she passed out some sheets of paper to the front row desks. "So please bring laptops preloaded with the software R and python. These are the install instructions, if you need any assistance then email me but not one hour prior to class. There's also some example code at the end, please run and verify that you get the same output."

I took one sheet off the stack presented to me, then passed it over my shoulder. While I turned and faced back to the front, Jake Anders slipped his large frame into the seat next to me. In the three classes I'd had so far, he sat on the seat right on the aisle, where his large frame trapped me in but he was a fairly nice guy. And in every class, his butt was the last one seated.

"Late," I whispered to his tired expression. "Again."

"Training, smart cookie," Jake whispered back.

While this Jake looked nothing like my brother, with his medium brown hair, light brown eyes, and easygoing personality, his name was obviously easy for me to remember. Jake's long, muscular limbs and large hands made sense when he told me he was a point guard on the Huskies' basketball team.

I shouldn't have been surprised because my brother Jake was mentioned in some top college football player lists, namely Sports Illustrated, but this Jake was highly amused when I told him he shared the same first name as my brother.