“Then why’d you do it?”
Good question.
No answer.
Because I wasn’t gonna tell Coach:
Sorry, I’m distracted because a girl fixed my jacket collar and now I apparently have emotions.
“Again,” Coach ordered.
We reset.
Andre passed.
I rotated.
Too late again.
Whistle.
“Jesus Christ,” Coach snapped.
The gym went quiet.
And there it was.
That pressure feeling again.
Heavy and immediate.
The kind that always came before my fathercalled.
ROWAN
The journalism lab was chaos.
Everyone suddenly cared about internships now, which meant people were acting like caffeine-fueled raccoons.
I was editing a draft interview piece when Professor Bennett stopped beside my desk.
“You’re applying for New York?”
Straight to business as usual.
“Yeah.”
“Good.”
She flipped through the printed pages in my portfolio. “Your writing’s strong. But this?”
She tapped one paragraph.
“Too safe.”
That hit immediately.
Because she was right.
