Free Player (What Happens on Campus Book 1) by M L Sparrow

when her friend said, “Derek likes you,” she snapped to attention.
    “What?”
    “You heard me.”
    Seeing the excited gleam in Riley’s copper coloured eyes, she shook her head. “Don’t get any ideas. I’m definitely not interested in Derek.”
    “Because of Parker…?”
    If she’d been wearing waders and towing around a fishing rod, she couldn’t have been more obvious. “Quit fishing,” she frowned, “and it has nothing to do with Parker. Derek’s just not my type.”
    “That’s fair enough,” she shrugged, “he is a bit slow.” She tapped the side of her head to make her meaning clear. “But very hot. He has nice biceps.”
    Closing her eyes again, Chloe brought an arm up to cover them. “Riley, I’m seriously not looking for a boyfriend. I just want to focus on school.”
    “Classes aren’t the only thing that’s important. You need to have the whole college experience: parties, friends, boys.”
    “And I will, but I don’t feel the need to cram it all into the first week.”
    “Fine,” Riley sighed, bouncing off the bed and beginning to pull clothes out of bags.
    A few minutes later, she heard a phone beep. Coincidently, they both had the same message tone, but Chloe’s phone was in her pocket and she hadn’t felt it vibrate. Propping herself up on her elbows, she watched as Riley read and typed a quick response.
    Looking up, she caught her looking and grinned. “Get your shoes back on, we’re meeting the others.”

Chapter Eight
    The first few days of class were pretty uneventful and laidback – being in the third year there were few people in his classes that he didn’t already know, except for a transfer here or there, but the professors still insisted that they spend the first class of the term getting to know their fellow classmates. Though he found those exercises ridiculous, he was dreading getting down to the hard-core stuff. He’d barely scraped through last year and he couldn’t afford to fall behind; his football scholarship was dependent upon him keeping his grades up.
    On Friday, Parker shouldered his rucksack as he walked towards the dorms after his last class of the day, glad it was all over for a couple of days. Next week, the real lessons would begin. He should probably get in some studying so that he didn’t start the term too far behind everyone else, but he hadn’t seen Chloe since Monday night. None of their classes coincided and he was dying for a glimpse of her. It was pathetic, but he dreamt of her, like a horny bloody teenager, and they hadn’t even had sex.
    Pulling his phone from his pocket, the first thing he did was text Jet to ask if he and Terri were hanging with Riley, since Chloe usually tagged along with her roommate.
    Jet saw right through him, replying with, WE’RE GOING TO THE BETA PARTY. DON’T KNOW IF CHLOE’S COMING.
    Going back to his room, he chucked his rucksack on the floor by the door. After Chloe’s comment about him being a slob, he’d made an effort to tidy up a bit, but it was stacking up again. Changed into a pair of grey sweats, he decided to hit the gym to clear his head before they went out tonight.
    Inside the gym, it smelt like sweat and hard work. Pop-music played over the sounds of people talking and machinery whirring. Walking past the bikes, he also bypassed the running machines – if he wanted to run he’d do it properly and go outside – ending up at the weights, where he found Dawson.
    “Hey,” his friend panted, arms trembling slightly as he lowered the weights back into the cradle.
    “Should you be lifting that much?”
    “It’s fine,” he huffed.
    “You’re gonna kill yourself one day,” Parker warned, even as he set the weights on the bench next to him and lay down.
    By the time he’d been there an hour, he was dripping with sweat, his arms were burning and Dawson had managed to muscle his way to coming to the party with them tonight.
    There was about an hour before he was due to meet the