CHAPTER FIVE
Is this a joke?
VANESSA
I love my Tuesday morning classes.
My first class of the day is intermediate film studies. We spend the morning analyzing classic films and highlighting common themes throughout cinematic history. This week’s assignment is for us to watch The Godfather and relate it to the themes we’ve discussed so far in class.
This class will be an easy A for me because I grew up loving movies. When I wasn’t behind a lens, I’d go see a show by myself. There’s something comforting about seeing a movie alone, no one around to influence how you feel about the film and being able to absorb what you’re watching.
And the popcorn. Nothing on this earth beats the taste of freshly popped cinema popcorn. It’s the perfect amount of salt and butter that is impossible to remake at home.
My second class of the day is my digital print lab. Every other week we get an assignment to photograph in a specific style and then the following week we develop the photos in our lab. For our first assignment our professor let us choose our own photography style. Some students love doing portraits, landscapes, or still life, but I personally love nature photography.
I’ve always dreamed of seeing my name appear under a photo in a magazine like National Geographic . If I could work with their environmental team and capture all aspects of wildlife, explore the world, and work at the same time…nothing could be better than that.
Growing up I always loved the outdoors. Anything to do with nature had my name on it. Hiking, skiing, swimming, there was literally no outdoor activity I wouldn’t try—even though my coordination isn’t the best, it was all about the experience.
I also thoroughly enjoy watching nature documentaries. The National Geographic channel was always on when I was home. Sometimes I would fall asleep to David Attenborough narrating about the changing seasons. Now that online streaming exists, I have access to just about every type of documentary possible.
My final class of the day is the one I dread the most and I’m currently sitting in, waiting for the clock to strike five so I can go home.My day goes from having an easy morning to counting down the minutes until I can leave campus. If only I had my morning classes, then Tuesdays and Thursdays would immediately be my favorite days of the week.
Unfortunately, I’m not that lucky.
I wish I didn’t have to take this social media class. I don’t really care for social media management, but since social media platforms have become so popular, our department head wants communication majors to take a class on how to properly manage an account.
Don’t get me wrong, I use social media apps just like every other young adult in North America, but I would rather spend my time in college writing articles to use for my portfolio so when I apply for internships I’ll have enough variety.
Yet here I am, sitting in a small classroom with twenty other students, learning the basics of Instagram and how to boost activity.
Journalism and social media is a fourth-year course, mainly for students who are majoring in communication or journalism. It’s a project-based class that runs for two semesters and Professor Miles is giving out our assignments today that we’ll be working on throughout the term.
“As you know, this is a two-part course spanning over both the winter and fall semester. There will be no exams, as this is solely a project-based class, and you will all be assigned a social media platform to run for the remainder of the semester. The assignments have been randomly assigned so there won’t be any favoritism.”
I zone out as she goes through the class list, my eyes feeling heavier than they should at this time of day. I idly pay attention as someone gets assigned to run the social media account for the student union, another has to follow the dance team all semester.
I’m lost in my thoughts when I hear her call out my name. “Vanessa Nichols.” I raise my hand and her eyes fall onto me. “You will be in charge of taking over the social media accounts for the men’s hockey team. They have a decent following, but their website is in desperate need of restructuring.”
Hockey?
Out of all things to cover, she assigns me the hockey team?
This has to be a joke. Does she have some secret vendetta against me? It could be that I had this professor last year for another media course, and I may have skipped class a couple times— okay, maybe more than a couple . Personally, I blame the university for setting classes that start before eight in the morning.
I’m sure anyone would be thrilled to be stuck with twenty overly handsome athletes for the entire term, but I would rather cover the community garden or the horticulture club. At least that way the content I’d be posting would look nicer in my portfolio.
But no, instead I’ll be taking photos and videos of sweaty guys in smelly jerseys. If I wanted an internship at ESPN then this would be perfect, but I don’t think National Geographic will care what the score of a college hockey game is.
This might be the end of me.
Am I being too dramatic?
Probably.
Professor Miles finishes giving out the assignments and proceeds with our instructions for the remainder of the semester. Our goal is to either create or improve the social media platforms we’re managing during the term. We have four checkpoints throughout each semester where we share our progression of content and followers.
It honestly isn’t that bad. It could be worse; I could be like Tess Michaels and have to be the social media coordinator for the robotics team.I’ve seen Terminator too many times to know why we shouldn’t play around with AI.
Maybe working with the hockey team won’t be so bad. Hopefully I can avoid Jake and save myself from an awkward encounter.
Oh man, I’m gonna need some luck.
After class I head over to the athletics building to meet with Coach Wilson. Professor Miles said it would be good to introduce myself to him before I randomly start showing up at his practices and games.
I don’t think I’ve stepped into the athletic building since freshman orientation. It’s one of the newer buildings on campus and looks the most modern, an eyesore compared to the other historic, brick buildings.
The building is on the other side of campus, near our arena and the indoor track. It’s all light gray walls and floor-to- ceiling windows, equipped with state-of-the-art machines and equipment for all of our sports teams. The first floor is filled with conference and study rooms, along with a small coffee shop. If I were an athlete, this would probably be my safe haven. But I’ll stick to my own study spots.
I take the elevator to the third floor and follow the directory until I’m standing in front of Coach Wilson’s office.
Okay, Vanessa, there’s no reason to be nervous. He’s just one of the most terrifying coaches in the league, nothing to worry about. If he’s mean and scary, I’ll reward myself with ice cream and a good cry.
I heard that after they lost the championship last year, he made half the team cry. And personally, I feel like I’m a little more emotional than his hockey players.
I knock lightly on the door and hear a grunt that somewhat sounds like a “Come in.”
Hesitantly, I open the door, making sure not to intrude in case I heard wrong.
Coach Wilson stands next to a whiteboard with what seems like hockey plays drawn all over it, but it’s all gibberish to me.
I look around, taking in the office. It’s lovely—well, as lovely as a coach’s office can be.
The athletic building is attached to our sports center where they hold all indoor sporting events, like track and swimming. His office has a huge window along the back wall where you can see right down into the two-storey weight room. I take a quick peek and can see some of the players on the team below working out, luckily Jake isn’t one of them.
Coach Wilson puts down the dry-erase marker he was using and turns toward me. “So how can I help you, Miss…”
“Miss Nichols.” I extend my hand out to shake his. He has a very firm grip. “My name’s Vanessa. I’m assigned to be your team’s social media coordinator and photographer for the term.”
Coach Wilson nods at my introduction. I take a moment to really look at him, since I’ve only ever seen him in photos in our school newspaper. He’s tall and muscular with ivory skin, built almost as if he’s a player on the team, except his hair is short and gray, and he’s sporting a thick, but well-groomed, peppered mustache.
“Normally the assistant coach runs our social media, but he’s a bit of an idiot. Last year I asked him to upload new video clips to our website and he damn near crashed the whole thing—which is why when Professor Miles asked if we could use a social media coordinator, I couldn’t say no. Maybe you can help with the turnouts of fans at our away games. The boys always have low spirits when we don’t see red and white filling the stands.”
“I will definitely try my best. I’ll start looking at the website tonight to get a better idea of what you want posted. If it’s okay, I would like to start attending some of your practices so I can get to know the players and build their online profiles so fans can get to know them and feel more connected to them.”
“Of course, I’ll give you a copy of our schedule for the semester. I’m not sure if Professor Miles told you, but you are required to attend every game, even away games.” Coach Wilson walks over to his desk, grabs a paper from a folder, and hands it to me.
“She didn’t, but that’s not an issue at all.” I smile at him as I tuck the paper into my bag. I didn’t realize this term assignment would take up so much of my free time. “I’ll do everything I can to improve the crowd attendance and work with you guys to expand your social media following as well. It was nice to meet you Coach Wilson, and I look forward to working with you this semester.”
“It was lovely to meet you, Vanessa.”
After my brief meeting with Coach Wilson, I head back home to process everything from today and start comparing my schedule to the hockey teams.
“So, you get to hang out with the Wolves every day until the end of the season? Remind me again of why that’s a bad thing?” Maddie asks as I stab my fork into the pasta she made us for dinner—pesto penne with sun-dried tomatoes.
I love living with roommates who can cook. If I offered to make dinner, I’m sure I would give them food poisoning, which is why I love that food delivery apps exist and anything I want I can get delivered to my door within minutes.
“You get to be surrounded by the hottest guys on campus all semester. I don’t see a single issue with this,” Sydney adds.
That’s the problem. I probably got one of the easiest assignments out of the whole class.The hockey team already has an Instagram and Twitter account. Apparently, hockey boys are all the rage right now. Everyone is obsessed with hockey guys whether they’re watching them on TV or reading about them in a book. Maddie has already recommended five different sports romance novels.
“Hmm, maybe she’s nervous because she knows that Jake is on the hockey team, and they have some unfinished business.” Sydney wiggles her eyebrows at me.
It was only a few days ago when I turned Jake down in his bedroom and tried to delete that whole encounter from my brain.
Boys are trouble with a capital T . Especially hockey boys.
They’re all the same. They’re arrogant, cocky, and think that everyone worships the ground they walk on. Especially Jake Shepherd . He thinks he is the prince of BCU, with every girl falling to their feet for him. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s hooked up with half of the campus by now.
The thought of seeing Jake again after I turned him down is a little entertaining. I mean, how many girls have turned down the great Jake Shepherd?