SEVENS

SUPRISE SUPRISE

"It's one of a kind." Jean told me as we marched across the campus. He was talking about the rugby field. "Dad paid for it to built here. Pulled his signature 'I'm charming let me do what I want' smile and got the a-okay from the school. I'd be mad he was such a show off but the fields nice so I ignore the special treatment I get for it. He pays for its upkeep and an extra yearly donation to the school so he and his old olympics pals can use it on the weekends."

    The St. Josephs campus was several square miles of clean cut grass, staged trees and colonial brick buildings. But despite all that the rugby field was visible from nearly every end of the campus.

    Jean hadn't said anything about weather or not Pierre had been allowed to choose the resting place for the field but I didn't care enough to ask. Crowning the hill on the south side of the property I could imagine it looking much like a beacon at night with all the floodlights on. That thought was a little imposing. The morning light shining through the trees was enough to wipe away images of it on game nights and I was able to stop my heart from taking off.

    There were other places for other sports on campus, like the tennis courts by the library and the swimming pool at the bottom of the rugby hill. But there wasn't a football or soccer or lacrosse field so everyone shared the rugby field, thankfully being on the rugby team pushed us to the front of the waitlist.

Jean and I got to the locker rooms before the rest of the group who had gone to: "fuck your mom Hamilton, stop asking questions" according to Phoebe.

"The locker rooms are divided into the rugby half and the community half." Jean explained swiping a key card over the door handle. "My dad uses this half when he visits to relive his glory days but he's gotten old and used to the money so he had to make sure this part was up to his standards."

Jean flipped on the lights when we answered and I was able to see what he meant. Locker rooms were locker rooms but this was by far the most expensive locker room I had seen. The lockers were made of dark wood, the floors were printed tile and the counters around the sinks were marble. As we walked through the locker area we passed several alcoves of cushioned chairs. There were also open faced armoires between some of the lockers full of clean towels. If mom was here we would have stolen them.

"I think it looks stupid," Jean said. "But dad based it off of his university locker room in France so I guess that's where the tile comes in. Showers are single stall, the locker areas have heated floors but they're broken at the moment so it doesn't matter anyway."

"Then why tell me?" I didn't care but as we stopped in front of a floor length mirror I got distracted and let the question slip. Jean stopped and glared at me through the mirror. He was only taller by an inch or so. Our height and lanky build wasn't the only similarity we shared though. Our faces were eerily similar and I was surprised that nobody had noticed even in the twenty four hours since I moved into the dorm. The only difference might have been our noses but with mine bent out of recognition it was hard to say. I looked at his reflected eyes.

"Because it matters to my dad and that's important to me."
I thought about how Pierre had said that Jean didn't care for his father's career. "That doesn't make sense." I wouldn't boast about my apartment even if my mom thought its peeling paint walls and torn carpet was heaven in a complex building.

"Tough luck."

"Fuck you—"

"Listen it's not my fault you don't understand how to have human emotions. I love my dad. If he were here he would tell you all of the things I just did and so I am telling you because its something he's proud of and it matters to him and matters to me." Jean didn't look more than annoyed. His hands were tucked in his pockets and he was looking around at the different sections of the space like he could imagine his father talking about each part but when his eyes fell back onto mine in the mirror I saw more than just annoyance. I wanted to know what it was. I stayed silent. Soon he spoke again looking away though.