Page 34 of Campus Heat

His words hung in the air.

“That’s good,” he added.

A bunch of confused glances greeted him.

“It means we’re getting close, and close is dangerous.” His voice hardened slightly. “Hell week starts at six a.m. on Monday. We’ll watch a film in my lecture hall, highlighting every mistake, every hesitation and every missed angle.”

He pointed at the floor and continued. “Conditioning, not punishment. I want to prepare you for what’s going to come.”

“Six a.m. is criminal,” Lucas mumbled.

A few of the guys laughed, but then groaned.

“Okay,” Dylan said. “If you think it will help.”

I nodded before slowly getting up. We weren’t being praised.

We were being challenged.

14

Elizabeth

The first thing I noticed when I stepped onto campus was the noise. It wasn’t the usual hustle and bustle we had all gotten used to. There were no shuffles of backpacks as students shoved past each other. You could usually hear students sipping their first morning coffees, but even that had died down. And the half-awake conversations were basically nonexistent.

But the sound that was there was loud and rhythmic. Like they were having an early morning prep rally. It was deliberate and intense, like a statement demanding to be made. Confused, I rounded the corner to Havenport’s main quad, and when my eyes landed on the commotion, I stopped short.

A fraternity had lined the brick walkway leading to the administration building as if they were on a parade route. There were fifteen or maybe even twenty guys standing shoulder to shoulder. They had red and blue lettered jackets thrown over sweatpants, and each of them had a large cup of coffee in their hands. They all had their phones out, waiting for a viral moment to fall into their laps.

That alone made it clear they weren’t hanging around for any good reason.

Then they said something that gave it all away.

“Twentyyy-four to seventeen!”

The chant rolled down the line like an exaggerated sing-song.

“Defense is optional!” one of them shouted.

“Rose for MVP! Most Valuable Pick,” someone else added.

The crowd erupted in laughter, but my reaction was nowhere near the same. Something in my stomach dropped hard enough to physically hurt. And suddenly I felt sick. Their behavior was disgusting, and yet they didn’t seem to care.

A few of the guys came into the gauntlet, and the sight broke my heart. Their backpacks hung low. They all wore headphones and fixed their eyes on their destination.

Dylan was the first to react. He blew a kiss at the loudest guy, bowed dramatically and said, “Autographs later, boys!”

Lucas clapped once and spread his arms triumphantly. “We’re flattered, really. We had no idea that we actually had a fan club!”

The frat boys got even louder, hurling one insult on top of another. Not paying any mind to the fact that no one could understand what they were saying when they spoke over each other.

Malik walked past with no reaction at all, but I could see that he was clenching his jaw. And finally, was poor old Cam. He was a few steps behind the other guys. He pulled his hoodie over his head despite the mild weather, and glued his gaze to the pavement.

One of the frat boys stepped out with his phone held high and said, “Hey kicker! Maybe you should try aiming for the posts next time!”

Cam didn’t react. It was the right thing to do, but it made things so much worse. My heart shattered at the sight, but I didn’t follow them. If I wanted to find out what happened, I’d need to do it in another way because the guys already had enough on their plates.

Suddenly Jenna slid up behind me, desperately trying to catch her breath. “Have you checked your phone?”