Chapter 10
Chapter ten
Special Treatment
Jasmine Chamberlain
“I have to be honest, I don’t understand the appeal of football,” Saylor comments as she digs her spoon into a pint of white-chocolate-raspberry ice cream.
When I got home from the game a little while ago, I was welcomed with a much-needed sweet treat.
I woke up at three in the morning to do full glam before game day, then traveled a few hours to Alabama, cheered the whole game, and came back home.
I loved every second of it in the moment.
The high of my first game was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced.
The stadium was huge, and it wasn’t even as big as the Thrashers.
I bet the home game next week is going to feel electric.
After all the excitement wore down, though, so did my energy. So I came in, scrubbed my makeup off and the hair products out in the shower, then changed into my comfiest sweats, and sat down to eat ice cream with all the roomies.
“What’s not to like?” Marigold asks. “A bunch of guys hitting each other. It’s gladiatorial. I love it.”
I laugh. “That’s one way of putting it. I don’t know, I guess I’m not a huge fan of the game itself. I’m not a cheerleader because I love football, you know?”
They nod in understanding.
“I feel like a bunch of guys running into each other would get boring,” Saylor comments.
Aurora doesn’t say anything, but she’s faintly smiling from her spot in the corner of the couch.
Saylor is on the floor, her usual setup of textbooks and flashcards spread around her.
She’s been splitting her attention between work and interacting with us.
Marigold is up on the couch with Aurora, while I opted to settle onto the floor, my back leaned against the couch and a blanket draped over my legs.
“Well, hockey is more entertaining because they actually fight, but football is interesting too. There’s strategy involved. Once you understand the game, it starts to be more fun.”
“I didn’t know you were a sports fan,” I comment, craning my neck to look at her behind me.
Marigold looks down, poking at her pint of cherry ice cream with her spoon. “Uh, yeah, I got into it when I was younger.”
She doesn’t elaborate, and I start to wonder if it has something to do with The Traitor, Jameson.
“What about you, Aurora?” Saylor shifts the attention, likely sensing the change in mood.
Aurora shrugs. “I’m not big on any sport outside of dance. I enjoyed watching you cheer when they showed it, Jasmine.”
I smile at her. “Thanks! It was sweet of y’all to watch for me. I’m sure they didn’t show us a lot.”
All of the girls stayed home, promising to use their student passes to see me next week at the home game.
“It was like Where’s Waldo?, but searching for you instead. We’d be doing something, and one of us would shout that you were on the screen so we could all look,” Saylor says.
I laugh, but my eyes start to burn. This is exactly the kind of friendship I hoped for when I made that roommate post in the Thrashers Support Group.
I didn’t think I’d be this blessed, though.
To have them watching from here and my family at the game?
It’s too much for my tired brain to take.
I attempt to discreetly dab at my eyes with the sleeve of my hoodie.
“Are you crying?” Aurora asks in her straightforward way.
I sniffle. “Maybe.”
“Awww,” Saylor coos, and comes over to give me a hug.
Marigold squeezes my shoulders from behind.
“Sorry, I just got emotional because I didn’t expect y’all to watch the game and get me ice cream. It’s too much.”
“Don’t apologize.” Saylor smiles as she pulls back. “And it’s not too much. It’s barely anything at all, considering we’re friends and this is what friends do.”
“You’re the best,” I tell her, then look at the other two girls. “All of you.”
Marigold smiles, while Aurora looks uncomfortable with the praise.
“Okay, enough of the mushy stuff.” Marigold raises her brows suggestively. “I want to know if you flirted with any of the players during all this traveling.”
I laugh. “We don’t travel with the team; we have our own bus. But now that you mention it, one of the veteran cheerleaders said that usually the players come over before or after the game to talk to them, but they didn’t this year. So I don’t know what that’s about.”
“Maybe one of the guys got burned by a cheerleader, and the team is standing in solidarity,” Saylor says with a giggle.
“Or maybe they heard about how Jasmine hates Shepherd,” Marigold says wryly.
I roll my eyes. “I don’t hate him. I just find him obnoxious.”
“Either way, they may not like that you have it out for their star quarterback,” she teases.
“I doubt any of them even know who I am.” Though I wouldn’t put it past Shepherd to brag about beating me at chess, I can’t see him talking about me with his friends.
“Maybe it’s Saylor’s theory, then.” Marigold shrugs.
My phone buzzes next to my leg. The girls start to talk about which player was the cutest, though they couldn’t tell much with their helmets on.
I grab my phone and unlock it to find an email from Professor Kelton, the chess club sponsor.
The subject line is Schedule Change. I frown and open up the email.
Chess club meetings are at the perfect time for my schedule.
I’d hate for them to change, but maybe it’s temporary.
From: TKelton@
To: JasmineChamberlain@
Subject: Schedule Change
To whom it may concern,
All chess club meetings going forward will be held on Tuesdays at 6PM so as to not conflict with the schedule of some of our student athletes. Let me know if you have any questions about this change.
Best,
Professor Kelton
I grip my phone tight. There’s only one student athlete I know who would have enough sway to make a change like this happen. I could be wrong, but I doubt it. Shepherd Kingsley has special treatment written all over him.
“Jasmine, you okay?” Saylor asks.
I catch all of the girls giving me curious looks. “My chess club schedule changed. I have to move it to Tuesdays at six,” I explain.
Saylor turns to her laptop and clicks a few buttons, then frowns. “That leaves you no time to get from cheerleading practice to the meeting. You’d have to leave practice early or be late.”
I grit my teeth. “Exactly.”
Whether I’m on time or late, one thing’s for sure: Shepherd is going to get an earful about this.