Him & I

Bully

It's 8:00 a.m., this hell I'm in
Seems I've crossed a line again
For being nothing more than who I am
So break my bones and throw your stones
We all know that life ain't fair

----Bully, Shinedown

September 24, 2018

Grayson was anxious for training camp. He was not necessarily anxious for media day.

He and Cait had gone back to Duke over the weekend.  It was Homecoming and he'd met up with Luke and Marshall.  And it had been great to be back.  He knew Cait felt better that they'd gotten back there sooner than expected. He also knew that she wished Rae could have come, but Olivia had been in Detroit, so Rae had stayed behind to spend some time with her.

They'd done the usual.  Workouts in Cameron.  Football.  Shooters.  And it had felt like being a Duke student all over again.  Except he'd had to remind himself that he wasn't. 

And the day before, Cait had headed to New York and Grayson had gotten back to Salt Lake City, ready to get to work.  This was it, the beginning.  But it started with media day.

Dealing with the media was never his favorite thing. He knew he didn't have a choice, but that didn't mean he had to look forward to it. Posing for pictures was fine. But answering the interminable questions was trying.

He knew they'd ask about his past. They'd ask how he thought he could fit in with this tight knit team. They'd ask whether he thought he would see the court at all. How was he supposed to answer that one? Of course he wanted to play. But he couldn't fit in with a tight knit team if he said that he thought he deserved to play over guys that had been there.

He knew that some of the fans and the local media weren't sold on him yet, were still skeptical that the Jazz hadn't wasted the pick. Some of them were saying that without injuries, there was no way he'd get any regular playing time. That there was no way he deserved it.

But he needed to put on a smile and tell them all that he was just excited by the opportunity and that he'd do whatever he was asked. So he gave himself that talk on the short drive.

*****

While Grayson was driving to media day, Cait was in the office, dealing with a whole heap of stuff. Rae was arriving the next day and they had meetings later in the week with potential grantees who wanted to make a personal pitch for funding. Cait knew that Rae had put a lot more time into reviewing the proposals than she had and she felt like a slacker. She made a mental note to do some reading that evening when she got home.

They also had a trip to start looking at dresses for each of them to wear for the other's wedding. That should be fun, at least.

But Cait's day was interrupted by an unexpected phone call. It was from Connor's principal and she asked Cait to come to his school right away. She said she'd tried to get a hold of Jack, but hadn't been able to do so. "He's attending a meeting over in New Jersey," Cait had informed her. "Is Connor sick or something?"

"Physically, he's fine," the principal told her. "But your father listed you as the emergency contact. Apparently, Connor's stepmother is in surgery and can't be reached either."

"I'll be there as soon as I can get uptown," Cait told her. She called for a car and let Margaret know that she was leaving and asked her to keep trying to get in touch with her father.

*****

"You punched someone?" Cait stared at her brother, who was sitting miserably in the principal's office. "Connor, are you kidding me? Why would you do such a thing?"