Page 16 of Trick Play

Mya nodded. I didn’t expect her to share her opinion, especially in contradiction to our professor.

Mackey threw up a hand. “What do you want me to say? This is how it is in the real world.”

“No,” Dustin immediately protested. “It’s not at all. You can try that line on freshman and maybe sophomores, but Kennedy and I have real-world experience.” He glanced at Mya. “Have you worked in the industry yet?”

“I’ve interned the past two summers at marketing agencies,” she said.

He threw up an arm. “Exactly, we all know this isn’t how it works. If a large, time-sensitive project comes in, then everything else is put on the backburner. We’d have at least eight hours a day in the same workspace to get this done. That’s nothing like what it’s like for us now.”

I could hug him. He was saying everything I’d thought about for years.

“What would you like me to do, Dustin?” Mackey asked with more patience than I could have mustered.

“It’s not likely that we would be excused from our other classes’ assignments, and you can’t add more hours to your day, but maybe this can be our final project?” He looked at me and Mya. “We can submit our progress, like deciding on font, colors, images, and basic design. That is basically what the weekly assignments are, right?”

Mackey agreed.

“So, if this can replace our final, then it would balance out.”

I waited as she thought it over. His proposal was solid. It’s not like this would be any easier than what she had planned. We didn’t just have to worry about our grade, we needed the approval of an entire department, and they’d be spending their budget on our designs.

She seemed to think it over before speaking. “I think that is a reasonable request. A change like that will require approval from our department chair, but I don’t see why he wouldn’t agree. I’ll let you know as soon as I get word from him.”

“Thanks,” I said before turning toward the door.

Dustin fell into step next to me, and Mya moved to his other side.

“Thanks for saying all that. I wanted to, but confrontation isn’t my strong suit,” she said with a small smile.

“Yeah, you said what I’ve been thinking for years.” I bumped his arm with my elbow.

“No problem. Hopefully, we can get the exception approved.” He waved before heading off to his next class.

“Let’s exchange information next time, okay?” I asked Mya.

She agreed then went to the stairs.

I only had a few minutes to get to my next class. The one I was dreading even more than this overwhelming project.

Chapter 6

Ethan

I wiped my palms on my sweats for the third time in less than a minute. Why was Coach doing this to me? How could I be in trouble again? There was no way my grades had changed since I hadn't had anything due this week. I hadn’t been to a party in weeks since I spent nearly every spare second studying, and I hadn’t broken any rules.

If I wasn’t at practice, in class, or studying, I was with the guys. Usually playing video games in an attempt to give my brain some peace and time off.

I was a saint lately. A model athlete and student.

But Coach’s face was sending me into a downward spiral. He only got that look when something terrible happened.

Okay, there had been, like, two times when it was something really great, but those were the expectations.

Finally, he walked into his office with Coach Hiller. The two stood next to each other behind the desk separating us with their arms crossed and those serious expressions.

“Just say something. You’re freaking me out.”

Hiller looked at Weston, and they finally cracked. They smiled at each other before turning to me.