Second Lanark

Consequences - Part 17

We were just coming out of the bathroom at The Breeze, a mess of ripped pants, paper towel, and makeshift covering, when Mark walked up to me.

"Hey, can I talk to you for a minute?" he asked.

I looked at Lark and Tricia, then turned back to Mark. "Uh, not really. What's wrong?"

"My girlfriend just showed up here saying that the Ottawa Citizen is considering running a front page story on hazing at the university. The swim team is part of the story. Do you know anything about it?"

All of a sudden, I didn't feel quite so drunk. "No, why would I?"

"One of the sources is apparently a rookie from the team."

"Well, it's not me!" I stood up straight, briefly dropping some of the paper towel covering Lark. I quickly realized my mistake when I heard her squeak out a protest.

Mark looked Lark up and down, not really seeing her. It was the first time I'd never seen any predatory interest in his gaze and she was half naked. This had to be serious.

"I'm not accusing you," he said. "I'm wondering if either you or Faith have heard anything in the change rooms or at practice. This is serious. Our season could be done; the team could lose funding. People could get expelled."

I put a hand to my forehead, careful to keep the other on Lark's backside. What a night. 

"No, I haven't heard anything. And, I'm not accusing anyone of anything, but Cathy was really drunk that night and puked down the side of Ashley's van. She's the only one I can think of who might have been upset on the women's team," I said.

My mind flicked back to my conversation with Josh about his initiation. He'd agreed that if there hadn't been a good senior student in charge, it could have easily gotten out of hand. I looked at Mark and wondered whether he'd let things get out of control with the men's initiation.

"Have you asked the guys?" I suggested.

"Working on it." He grinned. "You and Tim looked pretty cozy. Maybe you can ask him if he knows anything? We need to shut this down." His grin faded and he looped his arm around his girlfriend as she approached us.

"You know anything?" Katie asked, her gaze borderline accusatory.

"No, I don't," I said, feeling increasingly singled out. "Look, I gotta go." I gestured to Lark and started trying to move us along. As an afterthought, just before we walked past them, I turned back and asked, "How do you even know about this?"

"I'm doing a co-op term at the Ottawa Citizen and some of the journalists were nosing around, asking me questions. I lied, of course, but this could blow up," Katie said, giving me a pointed look. "If anyone cracks, we're done. If they already have a source like they implied, we might as well bend over and kiss our asses goodbye." She looked up at Mark and then back at me. "Talk to Tim, find out what he knows."

Inwardly I groaned. Why? Why me? Why now? I had been desperate for a nice, drama free first year at university. So far, it was anything but.

"I'll ask someone on the guy's team. I'll see what I can find out," I said, before gripping Lark's pant-paper towel mashup a little harder as we shuffled away.

Once we were out the doors of The Breeze and headed back to Second Lanark, Tricia spoke up. "Will you get in trouble? If the story is printed, will you get expelled?"

"I don't know," I admitted. "I didn't plan it, but I participated and I didn't tell anyone that it happened. I'm not sure where they'd draw the line. Whether I got expelled or not, I'd probably want to switch schools if the swim program is gone. It's one of the reasons I came here – journalism and swimming. It was a package deal."