9

M y body is still frozen in place when he slams the door, leaving me frightened, but I also immediately feel the loss of his presence in a way I don't understand.

The slamming door seems to break the spell my body was under, only I'm not prepared. Benny catches me before I hit the ground. I didn't even register that my legs were no longer supporting my body.

I just sit there in a crumbled mess when the trembling begins. This trembling is also different than anxiety where I get all cold and clammy. I'm warm, and thankfully, not sweating, but I feel all wrong. A small sob slips through my lips and every man in the room flinches. That was weird.

"Leera, can you stand? Let me get you in a chair," Benny says softly. Who knew this big hulking man could be gentle. I've watched clips of their games; they're savage on the ice.

I rise onto unsteady legs, but I'm able to hold my own weight. Instead of sitting in the seat with these men, I rush over to my things and begin to hastily pack everything up. This is not how this was supposed to go. Of all the possible things that I thought could go wrong, having a strange reaction to the team captain and pissing him off without muttering a word was NOT on that list. Maybe I'm just getting sick . It has nothing to do with that man. Yea, that's it.

"Hey, it's ok, you don't have to go," Benny nearly pleads.

Drawing my eyebrows together, "I'm sorry but did you just see the same thing I did? I don't know what you guys did to get on his nerves, but you didn't have to make me the punchline. This was just a class assignment I was trying to get done." I'm gasping and ranting and on the verge of a full-blown panic attack, but I don't have time for this. I have to get out of here.

I've thrown my things into my bag without even putting them in their folders. I'll deal with that later I have to get out of here. Benny is still trying to convince me to stay when I barrel out the room and move as fast as I can in this damn skirt. Why does photojournalism have to be such a broad spectrum? None of the wild animals we encountered were even a fraction as terrifying as that monster of a man.

But why did he look at me like that? He looked like he was having a similar reaction to me, but whereas mine was shock and attraction, his seemed to turn to anger and pain. What could I have done to him to garner that type of reaction?

I'm still shaken up as I barge through our dorm's door, effectively scaring the shit out of Zoey. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, what's wrong?" she asks, flying from her bed.

Using my arms far too much as I speak, I recount the entire moment since she saw me last, dropping onto the bed dramatically as I say the last word. I'm fiddling with my fingers, staring at my lap waiting for something, anything. I slowly peek up and Zoey's mouth is so wide open it looks like when someone dies screaming in those scary movies. Snapping my fingers in front of her face, "Earth to Zoey, come in Zoey!" She slowly closes her mouth and stares for another moment before breathing out a small, "Whoa . . ."

"I just tell you the weirdest, craziest, and scariest moment of my life, and all I get is whoa ?" I stand and start pacing the room. "Oh my god my assignment! What am I going to do with my assignment? Just turn in some pictures and the interview with Coach?" I'm screeching now, and the panic is still climbing higher.

"Okay, okay, okay, this will be okay. Let's just think about this." Zoey says calmly. That's almost scarier than what I just went through, well that's a lie, but seriously, she's never the calm one.

I stop and take a deep breath, hold it for five seconds, and release it. This will be okay. There may not be a logical explanation for what happened, but I can use my logic to find a solution.

"Thank you, Zoey. You're right. This will be okay," I say as I grab my bag off the floor by the door. "First things first, I need to go through my stuff, see what I have, and decide what my next step is."

When I've sorted through all my papers and straightened out the ones that were slightly abused by my frantic escape, I decide that I have enough to turn in a pretty decent interview with Coach. Especially with that shot from the end of practice. "I've got it! I'll pitch it to Sinclair like this was the plan. Like the pre-season interview was set to focus on Coach while I follow up with the team just before the season!" Since Zoey has been listening to me rant and move about the dorm for the last hour, she just nods here and there.

"I can use my press badge and I'll . . . where's my press badge?" I begin to rummage through my bag, but I already went through it all. "Dammit! On top of everything I've lost my press badge?!" It was my turn to roar. Can't something just go right today?!

Realizing I've done all I can today, I accept defeat, and choose to figure it all out tomorrow. I grab my vitamins off my shelf and take them when I remember I'm nearly out of my doomsday stash my dad bought for me.

"Hey Zoey, do you know what kind of vitamins these are? I've looked everywhere and can't figure out which brand they are."

She takes the bottle and looks at the capsules, then shakes her head. "No, sorry. We never took vitamins, so I'm no help, but they just look like your standard multivitamin. Any brand should do."

I nod because that all makes sense. Why was I making such a big deal about something so simple? " Thanks Zo. I'm just gonna hop in the shower."

I let the hot water run over my body and try to sort through my thoughts. I might have gotten my papers sorted out and organized, but my mind is still a shitstorm.

Roman had terrified me, but my physical reaction to him was something I'd never experienced. I wasn't sure I ever wanted to experience it again. But another part of me definitely did, without a second thought. I had to find a way to see him again. Even if it's just to apologize for whatever that was, even though I'm still kind of terrified of him, I have to know if my reaction was to him or some weird episode completely unrelated to the strange encounter.

While I finished my shower, I planned to present my idea to Professor Sinclair. I'll write up an amazing piece about Coach with the photos I snagged and propose a part two the day of the first game. What could be more hyped up than the first game of the season? Not only would it be the first game of the season, but news articles said it's against their number one rivals, the Augusta Vultures.