Page 150 of His Hungry Wolf

“Huh,” he huffed looking at me suspiciously.

I couldn’t tell what Coach was thinking or what it would mean, so I put it out of my mind by giving it all I had in practice. I was on the verge of puking by the end.

“I gotta go, Coach. I gotta take my exam,” I told him staring at the giant clock at the far end of the stadium.

“Take it and get back here! We have more plays to go over.”

“Got it, Coach.”

I took off my helmet and upper pads before running across campus. Unlike the first time I did it, I was there at the beginning of class. There were no open seats left near Quin so I took one up front.

“Good luck, Mr. Rucker,” the professor said as she handed me the exam.

“Thanks,” I said before looking back for the only encouragement I cared about.

Quin smiled at me and mouthed, “You have this.”

I mouthed, “Thanks,” back.

It turned out that Quin had been right. I had never taken an easier exam in my life. I didn’t pretend it had to do with anything other than Quin’s preparation. It was like he knew what was going to be on the exam. The guy was incredible.

It did worry me a little that I was the first person to turn in my paper. I handed mine in before Quin did. There was no way that could be right. I probably hadn’t gone over my answers enough times. But that couldn’t be helped. I had to get back to practice.

Handing it in, the professor gave me a surprised look. I wasn’t about to do anything that would indicate that I found it easy. I knew that would be tempting fate.

But I did make eye contact with Quin on the way out. I gave him a cocky look telling him it had been a breeze. He stopped himself from chuckling and then returned to his exam.

Leaving the room, I considered waiting for him. He couldn’t be too far behind me. But, I had told Coach that I would head back as soon as I was done. Also, I didn’t want to be the douchebag hanging out in the hallway in his football gear and cleats.

Running back across campus I got there in time for the film section. There was a lot to go over. From there, the team had another walk-through of plays. Coach was preparing us like Quin had prepared me for the exam. So, by the time I got back to the locker room, I was exhausted. All I wanted to do was go home.

Turning on my phone, I found a message from Quin.

‘How was it?’

‘So easy,’ I wrote back. ‘It’s a good thing you stole the exam. I could never have passed without it.’

I thought it was funny, but Quin didn’t reply.

‘You’ll be there on Saturday, right?’

‘Wouldn’t miss it,’ he immediately wrote back.

‘I’ll put the tickets at ‘Will Call’.’

‘Okay. Thanks.’

‘No. Thank you!’ I said not knowing how else to express how grateful I was to him.

I knew that I didn’t deserve to have someone like Quin in my life. My life was a mess. I had a girlfriend I didn’t love. I didn’t want to leave my house in fear that when I returned my father would be gone. And my career was set to take me away from him.

Quin was an incredibly amazing guy who deserved so much more than someone like me. He was someone who would literally go down in history. On top of that, he was sweet, and thoughtful, and brilliant. Who was I compared to all of that?

“You’ll be at the game on Saturday, right Dad?” I asked him when I found him drinking in front of the TV.

“Yea,” he said without looking at me.

I didn’t stop staring at him. As much as I tried to put it out of my mind, I kept thinking about what he said about me not being his son. There had always been things that had made me wonder.