Page 47 of Scrimmage

“I’m starting to think Cole might tie you up in his basement,” she cackles. “He’s really laying it on thick.”

I pick the pepperonis off of my pizza. “I know.”

“Ya know, a big football player or two hanging around might give you a buffer. Good sex is also hard to come by. I know you have your whole ‘don’t fuck anything twice’ thing, but you’ve got to be running low on bodies. Doesn’t have to mean anything.”

I contemplate what she’s saying. Cole has been getting under my skin recently, and Koda comes off as scary. Alexi isn’t intimidating in the same way, but he’s cool and Cole is his number one fan. Alexi laughs like a good audience, and he surprisingly doesn’t seem the least bit judgmental. I’ve actually enjoyed some of his commentary in class. Koda did give me one of the best orgasms of my life.

“Fuck you. Alright. Fine. I’ll think about the Koda thing. IguessI can give Alexi a chance. For your sake.”

“Good, cause I invited them to study with us at the library Sunday.”

“Ugh. If he starts talking about football I’m kicking him out.”

“I’ll let him know.”

I can see that Penny considers this a win, and I’ll let her have it, for now.

Cole usually doesn’t join us on the weekend. He works doubles to make up for not working every day during the week. It’s nice getting a break from him. He’s been so overbearing recently. I’m not a child, and I’m not his weak ass girlfriend. We’re just friends.

Instead of buying a new sketchpad, I took some pages out of Penny’s. I’m still in denial that it’s lost. I’m not sure if that scares me or aggravates me. It’s not like it has my name on it, so whoever may have picked it up won’t know it’s mine. Unless they know it’s Penny in those sketches, then they might. Most likely someone tossed it and that’s probably for the best.

Some of my textbooks are spread in front of me as I draw an ancient Incan city based off of scientific research in our text book. Could I look at one on the internet? Yeah, but then I wouldn’t be able to really soak up the culture. It’s the daily life that I add into my drawings that mean something. People working in their different factions and their way of life sinks into the page.

“Holy shit,” Alexi says, leaning over my shoulder.

“This is my personal space, Alexi. I do fucking bite,” I growl.

He ignores me, per usual, plopping down in the seat next to me. “Man, I fucking hate Sundays. Saturdays are so exhausting.”

“Did you guys win yesterday?” Penny asks.

“Yeah. It’s all the social shit that bugs me. Press conferences and interviews. Thousands of people watching you. It drains you.”

“I’ll bet.” Penny nods. “Ashland got like that when we were on tour.”

“Tour?” Alexi glances between us.

Before she can say anything, I interrupt. “Penny said you’re really stupid and need help on our homework.”

Someone slides into the seat next to me. They’re large and warm and smell just like Koda fucking Armory. Since he took my phone number I haven’t heard from him. I should have immediately blocked him, but he’s piqued my interest. Instead, I just changed his contact name to Micropenis. But now he’s here sitting right fucking next to me being as irritating as Alexi.

“It’s true,” Alexi agrees.

I ignore Koda completely. “Your first problem is your notes."

“My notes?”

“Yeah.” I pull them out of his binder. “No one would be able to figure out what any of this means. There is no structure here. There are three entirely separate civilizations scattered around this one piece of paper.”

“I’ve been telling him that for years,” Koda mutters.

I turn and glare at him. “I’m sorry, are you participating here?” He smirks but goes back to unloading his backpack. “That’s what I thought. So, what you need to do here is rewrite these notes. Then I’ll be able to start helping you. Each civilization should be it’s own section. You should start from the bottom. Think about third class being the football team. You’re out there doing all of the work. Middle class would be the coaches. First class would be the dean.”

“Why the dean?”

“Because he profits the most off of having a fantastic football program and has other people do the work for him. ”

“Oh.” Alexi draws his brows together. “Never thought about it like that.”

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