Monday, September 2, 2013
7 AM
"Beep! Beep!" The sound of an alarm clock could be heard throughout the small room where the two young men were resting, without even bothering or making the slightest effort to stretch out a hand and turn off the alarm.
"Ugh," groaned a pitiful voice from a bed that had its entire body covered by the blanket, and a hand stretched out, crawling in search of the alarm's off button, but without much luck in his attempt.
Before his hand could even press the off button, another hand immediately went to the button and silenced the alarm, causing the strident sound in the room to finally cease for the person who remained lying in his bed.
"Time to get up, brother," Wyatt said as he brought a hand to his mouth, covering the yawn that came from there, keeping his eyes fixed on the bed in front of him.
"Five more minutes," Laquon groaned, still lying in bed as he turned to the other side of the bed and tucked himself in even more with the sheets, to the bewilderment of Wyatt, who couldn't do anything else but roll his eyes.
Heading toward the room's window, Wyatt didn't hesitate to open the curtains, letting the morning sun rays flood into the room, then heading to the edge of Laquon's bed and quickly removing the blanket that was over his body, letting the sun hit him directly in the face.
"Agh, the light!" Laquon groaned again as he brought one of his hands to his face, trying by all means to prevent the rays of light from falling directly on his face, but without much success.
"Come on, we have to go to class," Wyatt told him as he picked up his toiletries and opened the door to the shared bathroom to take a cold shower to start the day.
"You go ahead," Laquon told him while remaining in bed without much willingness to stand up.
"You know this wouldn't have happened if you had controlled yourself a bit at the party, right?" Wyatt reproached him while arching an eyebrow toward his friend, who simply replied:
"It's not my fault you got kidnapped by the fraternity guys; besides, my night went wonderfully," Laquon told him while a smile landed on his lips upon remembering what happened last night, just like Wyatt at the moment he arrived.
Flashback
With his phone charged, Wyatt prepared to leave the Alpha Tau Omega house and head straight to his room to continue resting.
Although he had read the message Laquon sent him, he believed that by this time it would already be safe to enter his room without anything that could traumatize him.
Upon arriving at the residence complex, Wyatt took the elevator directly to his floor, desperately seeking to take a shower to wash off the sweat and sleep until tomorrow, thankful that there wouldn't be training until Tuesday.
When the elevator reached the corresponding floor, Wyatt walked for a moment down the hallway he knew by heart until he reached the door of his room, but before he could even insert the key into the lock to enter, he saw the door open from the inside.
Slowly, he saw a girl emerge, who upon seeing him, a trace of embarrassment appeared on her face as she lowered her head slightly and prepared to make the walk of shame with her heels in her hand heading toward the elevator, while adjusting one of the straps of the dress she wore at the party.
Without giving her more than a second glance, Wyatt immediately entered the room, finding Laquon who was still asleep but with a barely perceptible smile on his face.
Deciding to leave his friend resting, Wyatt picked up some clothes from his drawers before entering the shower, to then, just like his friend, lie down on the bed and rest as much as possible to be better for Monday.
End of Flashback
"Jealous?" Laquon asked him with a smug smile, interpreting Wyatt's silence as a show of envy. Seeing the look of self-sufficiency on his friend's face, Wyatt simply rolled his eyes as he slammed the bathroom door shut and turned on the shower faucet.
"Don't feel bad, friend! If you want, I'll ask Amira if she has a friend for you!!" Laquon shouted over the noise of the shower.
Eight minutes later, Wyatt came out of the bathroom completely clean while putting on his clothes and picking up his backpack from his desk chair. "Don't forget there is a team meeting this afternoon," Wyatt reminded Laquon as he opened the door.
"Uh, I thought we had Monday off," Laquon exclaimed.
"There's no training, but there is a film session at the sports center," Wyatt replied as he closed the door and prepared to go straight to his first class of the morning, without listening to his companion's complaints.
Making a brief stop at one of the campus's many restaurants, Wyatt ate breakfast quickly while checking on his mobile the comments about Saturday's victory against the Georgia team.
ESPN: Clemson prevails against Georgia with a score of 37-31 with the debut of rookie quarterback Wyatt Sterling.
Curious about that title in particular, Wyatt didn't wait and clicked the link that was below in the description of the post, being quickly directed to the official ESPN page to read the note in more detail.
"There are debuts that are cooked over a slow fire, and then there is what Wyatt Sterling did Saturday night at Memorial Stadium. The rookie quarterback from Texas did not have the luxury of entering the field with the game resolved to gain experience; he was thrown directly into the fire of maximum NCAA pressure, in the last quarter against the fearsome defense of the Georgia Bulldogs, and the result was a clinic of maturity and game control.
Sterling, the number one recruit of his generation, entered the field with a minimal advantage of 31-28 and the huge responsibility of closing the game. What followed in the last 15 minutes was a demonstration of why experts labeled him a generational talent before stepping onto the university."
Upon finishing reading the note, a smile couldn't help but appear on Wyatt's face as he copied the publication's link and shared it in the family group he had with his parents and grandparents.
Wyatt: has shared a link to a publication đź“°
He didn't have to wait long before the rest of his family members responded to his message and shared other news they had also found about Wyatt's debut in Saturday's game.
Mom: has shared a link to a publication đź“°
His mother, unable to wait any longer, also shared the link to another news story, this one belonging to Fox Sports.
Maturity, clock control, and a duo of terror
The offensive coordinator, Chad Morris, did not give him a limited playbook for being a rookie. Sterling handled a controlled-tempo offense, mixing series of short passes and screens with a total dominance of the game clock. The Texan's precision was surgical, highlighting a key 3-yard completion to Stanton Seckinger on a crucial third down that kept Clemson's possession alive.
But what really generated debate among Fox Sports analysts was the wireless connection with wide receiver Laquon Treadwell. The pass in a perfect parabola that Sterling put to Treadwell in the last quarter—forcing the receiver to suspend himself in the air over the coverage—was pure technical poetry. These two already dominated together in the Under Armour All-America, and transferring that chemistry instantly to the collegiate level is something terrifying for the rest of the ACC.
Upon finishing reading the short article, Wyatt knew that his debut had not been a closed event that only a few people saw, but that its impact had reached several parts of the country and not solely in Clemson or its surroundings.
Paying more attention, Wyatt could also notice how most of the people around where he was sitting directed their gaze in his direction and began to whisper among themselves in their small groups.
"It's him, right?" a guy asked his companions, who was sitting a few tables away from Wyatt's, although just like most people in the cafeteria, he kept his gaze fixed on the table in question.
"Yes, it is; I still remember that last touchdown play he made," his friend responded excitedly as the 3-yard play from the previous game came to mind, in which Wyatt jumped over the entire line of scrimmage, landing in the end zone.
"Don't forget his passes in practically the entire game either; he barely missed two throws, and they weren't interceptions but incomplete pases," a third friend told them, who had also watched the game with them and had paid special attention to the game statistics.
Conversations like those could be heard across several tables among groups of students who were football fans or simply liked to discuss the most popular topics of the school.
On the other hand, while the men discussed Wyatt's sporting aspect, the female students on campus also talked about him, but their conversations didn't revolve much around Wyatt's sporting performance.
"He is so cute," said one of the many girls who were with her group of friends, while unconsciously biting her lip upon seeing the profile of Wyatt's face. "Don't forget his muscles," thought another girl, who also remembered how fitted Wyatt's uniform looked on game day.
"Do you think he has a girlfriend?" another girl asked her friends, wanting to know if there was any chance to make a move on the team's new quarterback.
"I don't think so," said another girl, who was the one who found out about everything that happened on campus, and nobody had told her or knew of Wyatt having a girlfriend or someone in his life.
"The last thing I found out was that he turned down a girl who made a move on him at Saturday's party," she whispered in a low voice to her friends, not wanting the rest of the people around them to hear them.
"Really? Who?" one of her friends asked curiously, wanting to know even more details about what happened.
Continuing with his path, Wyatt felt he had heard enough and stood up, ready to start with classes, beginning by arriving at the classroom.
Even as he walked along the campus sidewalk, Wyatt could feel the gazes and murmurs of the people around him, becoming increasingly aware of the popularity he had achieved just by having debuted in one game.
"If I'm like this, I can't imagine how it goes for Tajh and Sammy," Wyatt couldn't help but think as he compared the attention he was receiving now and imagining the attention two of the most popular players on the team would receive.
Sammy would probably enjoy it, since his personality reflected how much he enjoyed being the center of attention. Tajh, on the other hand, was more reserved, but even so, Wyatt believed he would have already gotten used to feeling the gazes around him and people whispering around him as soon as he entered anywhere in the university.
"I'll ask them later when we have the video session," Wyatt thought, entering the classroom, and just like in the cafeteria, immediately the gaze of all the students inside turned toward him.
Suddenly, someone started clapping slowly, so that then more and more people joined the applause, ending with the whole classroom clapping in the direction of the door where Wyatt stood.
"Good debut on Saturday, dude," said one of the guys from the crowd while the round of applause continued.
Once the professor arrived at the classroom, the applause ceased completely and the day officially began for Wyatt.
Authors thought'sÂ
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