Page 26 of The Third Baseman

At the bottom of the hallway was the unofficial NCAA office – set up by the A.D. to help student athletes get into NCAA colleges. He had a small staff who liaised with scouts, advised on tutoring, scholarships, and counselling. I never spent any time in there because I never had plans to go to college. In fact, I don’t think I’d ever walked further down the hallway than Coach Barr’s office.

“Oh, that’s cool though, right? Least you’ll keep your grades up.”

His face told me he didn’t quite agree with me. “Yeah, I guess, it’s just what I have to do. But I’m busting my ass on the ice as well as off. I just need to keep my grades up so I can keep my scholarship for Michigan, and hopefully I’ll get drafted next year then I can relax.”

“You’ll get there, dude.” I stopped in front of Coach Barr’s office and I thumbed to the door. “This is my stop.”

Mason turned to face me, slapping me on the shoulder. “Good to run into you, man. See you at the next game.”

“For sure,” I replied, as he took off down the hall.

I stood where I was, watching until he disappeared through the doors, but mostly procrastinating my own meeting. I’d never been nervous before going into Coach’s office, but this felt way more official than any other time I’d been.

I was pulled out of my musings by loud yelling from the direction that Mason had walked, but all I saw was a small, familiar looking girl leaving the NCAA office, carrying an alarming number of books. So many books that I was once again thankful I didn’t have to go through college. A couple of jocks who were waiting on the benches which lined the hallway looked up and came to the same conclusion I did – that noise definitely hadn’t come from her – so promptly went back to whatever they’d been doing seconds before.

Another loud eruption was followed by a flash of the orange jersey belonging to the football team, as Josh Ridley, one of the second team reserves, stormed out. Mason stepped out of the way, but the girl wasn’t quite so quick, and Josh checked her shoulder so hard that she fell forward. She might have been able to hold her balance, but she was no match for the weight of the books too, and they all came crashing to the floor.

I frowned for a second then sprinted forward as Josh purposefully kicked the books out of her reach as she tried to collect them. I wasn’t quick enough off the draw however, as Mason got there first and pinned Josh against the wall.

“What the fuck is your problem, man?” he growled at a struggling Josh, whose feet were almost dangling under Mason’s strength.

“She reported me! Bitch got me benched,” he snarled.

My jaw ground hard. My sisters might be annoying pains in my asses, and my mom might like to lecture me on not swearing, but it didn’t take growing up in a house of women to understand what wasn’t acceptable to say to one. And if someone spoke to my sisters like that, they’d be drinking through a straw for a month.

I stood next to Mason and stared at Josh. “What did you get benched for?”

Josh’s eyes and lips narrowed, but the answer came from an angry higher-pitched voice behind me. “He refused to come to tutoring.”

My nostrils flared and my eyes never strayed from his reddening face. “Then it’s your own fucking fault. Apologize.”

“Get fucked, Reeves,” Josh choked, as Mason applied more pressure to his neck.

“Apologize, Ridley, and then you can go.”

Josh was turning a deep shade of red, though I wasn’t sure if it was from anger, or his windpipe being cut in half.

“Apologize,” tried Mason again.

“Fine. Fucking sorry.”

“Not good enough.” Mason dropped Josh to his feet, but held onto him as he stared down at the girl still on the floor.

“I’m sorry I kicked your books,” he snarled.

The girl on the floor rolled her eyes but said nothing. Mason let go of Josh, with a slight shove that had him storming fast toward the stairs.

“See! That wasn’t so hard!” Mason called after him, then tutted. “He’s such a dick.”

“Yeah.” I nodded, and peered down to see the girl still gathering up her books. I dropped to help her. “You okay? Sorry about that. The guy is a douche.”

Her eyes shot up to mine as she swept back the thick brown hair which had come loose from her ponytail, and I nearly fell on my ass. Vivid green eyes, the color of the Malibu Ocean on an early summer morning, bored through me with all the annoyance she’d aimed at Josh. But with each blink of her thick black lashes it lessened, until she let out an enormous sigh.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” She took the book I was mindlessly holding out for her. “Thanks for helping.”

My tongue had caught somewhere because I’d been rendered speechless, but she didn’t notice as she glanced up at Mason and smiled. “Thanks for that, I appreciate it.”

“You’re welcome,” he nodded, and then looked at me. “Dude, I have to go.”

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