The amphitheater in the middle of campus was packed with booths representing various student organizations. Volunteers were ready to hand out paraphernalia and point out buildings for lost freshmen. The clumps around the tables were buzzing with enough energy to power a small town, with most of the talk centered on either Friday's Exy or Saturday's football games. Neil got a small stack of magnets pressed into his hand as he passed. He sorted through them as he walked. There was one for every fall team with schedules printed on each. Neil kept the Exy one, tossed the rest into the trash, and buried his magnet deep in his pocket where he didn't have to look at the dates. Wymack had gotten the finalized fall schedule a few weeks ago. Palmetto State was facing Edgar Allan on Friday, October 13th. It felt close enough to choke Neil.

He detoured around students toward one of Palmetto State's three dining halls. Two were for the general student body. The third was for athletes only, justified to the general populace because of teams' training schedules and nutritional needs. All three halls were set up as buffets, but the athletes only ever had one unhealthy thing available a day whereas the regular dining halls' menus frequently boasted pizzas and a wide selection of desserts. The meal plan included in Neil's contract gave him limitless access to any of the halls, but Wymack strongly recommended he stick to his own.

The dining hall was busy when Neil arrived, though it might have just looked busy because it only sat a hundred people. He swiped his meal card at the front register, collected a tray, and tried to pack in enough food to fuel him through the end of practice at eight o'clock that night. Afterward he was free to return to the dorm, since he'd scheduled most of his classes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

His room was empty when he showed up, so Neil settled at his desk with his syllabi. It was only the first day of school and he already had three assignments: a short paper, a fifty-page chapter to read, and a page of questions about said chapter. Neil debated for a minute as to which one sounded least painful. Five minutes later he was still uninspired, so he put his head down on his desk.

He didn't realize he'd fallen asleep until a gunshot jarred him awake. Neil bolted upright so fast he sent his pile of textbooks crashing to the ground. Too late he realized the crack he'd heard wasn't a gun but the lock snapping undone on the suite door. A bemused Matt stood in the doorway.

"Hard at work already, I see," Matt said dryly.

"Something like that."

"I'd say it gets easier, but." Matt shrugged. "You should probably cut back on your late practices now that classes are in session."