My lecture went by quickly, too quickly. Much to my neighbor's dismay, my leg shook the entire time and was partnered with the clicking of my pen. As everyone gathered their belongings, I sat stiffly in my seat. It wasn't until students started coming in for the next lecture, that I made my way from the hall. If anything should be called the walk of shame, it should be this. Having sex is not a shameful act. Leaving the next morning after a satisfying night of sex is not a shameful act. However, walking to my dad's office to get yelled at and judged for my latest one-night stand; I could practically feel the shame radiating off of me with every step I took. My lower lip sat pinched tightly between my teeth as I got closer to my destination. The further from the main campus I got, the emptier the halls were until it was just me and the chilled winter air to keep me company. The feeling of my heart as it thumped in my chest made breathing quicken as I k

I could feel his eyes on me with every step that I took. It didn't help my confidence at all that I was a dripping, red mess. I'm sure the sight of me panting and perspiring like a pig was enough to make him lose interest. After him seeing me like this, there would be no way that he would want anything to do with me. The sound of a whistle had me sigh in relief. I had been out there for half an hour longer than the team had been, but while they were running drills, I was doing conditioning. My muscles were loose like limp noodles from the excessive cardio. It felt horrible to my body but amazing on my lungs. It had been proven that workouts caused a release of endorphins. That was something I only partially understood. I never enjoyed the way my body would ache, tense, and knot after. But man, did it feel good mentally. Taking a deep breath after a hard cardiovascular workout felt different. It reminded me of the feeling you would get when taking that first full inha

It was a long week. Longer than any that I had ever lived through before. Monday, I woke up feeling like I had been hit by a train from my intense cardio session on Sunday. Each day after, it progressively got worse until I decided to just skip my Thursday classes and take a recovery day. Instead of school, I spent the day standing in the dorm showers, under the hot water, until my muscles felt like they had melted. They tightened back up after I cooled off again. For a couple of hours though, it didn't feel like they were made of concrete. For a while, I debated telling my dad who it was. Then I watched the team scrimmage, and I saw how much Caleb loved the game. It was a reminder of how good he was at it, and my mouth snapped shut. The worst part about the past four days was Diana. During the scrimmage the afternoon before, the cheerleaders were out to cheer them on. Her smug face, as she watched me run suicides along the sidelines, had me ready to gear up and tack

The sun was brutal for early winter as it beat down on the field. My shoulder's toasted under the intense rays of hell, and I was positive I would leave with a darker sunburn than I already had from earlier in the week. I could taste the salt of my sweat as it poured down my face. My eyes burned from it, and I found myself squinting as my blurred vision worsened from the additional and unwelcomed liquid. My thighs ached as I pulled the weighted object behind me up and down the field. I wasn't sure if it had been ten minutes or an hour as my legs shook. Each labored breath got harder and harder to suck in until I felt like there wasn't enough air left in the world for me to fill my lungs. I was determined to win, and prove my father wrong. Prove to him that I could take it. I was not a quitter. The way he watched me instead of focusing on his team reaffirmed his concern for my well-being. As a father, it was only natural for him to be concerned even if he was the one

I woke up the next day after sleeping through my alarm, unable to move my legs without my body screaming in agony. My phone lit up with a text from Chloe asking me to meet her for coffee since I had already missed my class, and I reluctantly pulled myself out of the safety of my blanket to get dressed. As much as I didn't want to leave my room, I was desperate to talk to her about everything that went down with Caleb. I didn't really care about the fighting with my dad and Selena after. My thoughts were consumed by the memory of him kissing my forehead in front of the team, and how he took over my punishment. It made my heart stumble out of rhythm. As sore as I was, I couldn't help but admire the way that winter was approaching as I walked to FIX. The campus landscape crew had cleaned up all of the fallen leaves. The ones that remained on the trees were a beautiful array of browns, yellows, and oranges as they ruffled in the chilled breeze. The quad was busy