Landry in Like by Krysten Lindsay Hager Page A

not knowing where my classes are, but just getting lost in the crowd. I almost had a panic attack at the open house. The whole place is huge and terrifying to me,” I said. I hoped he wouldn’t laugh at me or blow off my fears. If he acted like I was crazy, then I’d feel stupid and wouldn’t want to open up to him ever again.
    â€œI can see that. It is a big school, but after a week, you start to figure out where everything is and you get to know people and it doesn’t feel quite as large. And sometimes it’s kind of nice being a little anonymous. It can be good being just another face in the crowd instead of being front and center all the time,” he said.
    â€œDo you mean because of all the attention you get from basketball?”
    He nodded. “Yeah, it’s weird. Sometimes I don’t know if people want to hang out with me because of that or what. I forgot my paper at home one day and I told my teacher I could have my mom email it to me at lunch and turn it in. He said not to worry about it. I could hand it in the next day and he wouldn’t lower my grade or anything.”
    â€œWell, that’s nice.”
    â€œYeah, but there was a guy ahead of me who told him the same thing. Mr. Oxford said that his assignment better be an A paper because he was already knocking it down to a B. And if it wasn’t perfect, he’d get a C or lower.”
    â€œWow, so athletes get special perks, huh?”
    â€œYup. Is it like that at your school?”
    I smirked. “Hillcrest is known for its academic stuff, not its teams. Our basketball team is full of guys all shorter than me and even if they were each a foot taller… yeah, I’m not even sure that’d help them.”
    He laughed. “I don’t mean to sound ungrateful. I mean, I’m glad my teacher was cool with me handing it in late, but there’s all this pressure. During the season it’s like, if I don’t play well then…” He shook his head.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œI don’t want to say…”
    â€œYou told me I could tell you anything. Same goes for you. I’m not going to tell anyone or judge you,” I said.
    He stared into my eyes. “I’ve never told anyone this before, but sometimes I feel like if I don’t play well then… well, do I have anything else going for me? Without basketball, I mean, would anybody care?”
    I touched his arm. “Of course they would. And you have a lot going for you. You’re smart. You keep up your grades and play sports, too. That’s hard to do.”
    â€œYeah, but I have to work at it. I have to study a lot harder to get good grades.”
    â€œSome people study all the time and are still average students. So you’re definitely smart and you’re focused. You have way more — what’s the word my agent uses all the time? Drive — that’s it. She’s always saying all the professional models are so driven, focused, and ambitious. You have all of that. And I never hear about you getting in trouble. In September everybody was talking about your school’s football team getting in trouble for drinking at a party.”
    â€œYeah, by the way, I wasn’t there. It was all seniors and juniors.”
    I said he probably wouldn’t have done anything wrong even if he had been there.
    â€œWell, that’s true because my dad would have killed me and my mom would have stroked out, so, yeah, you’re right,” he said smirking.
    â€œPeople would still like you even if you didn’t play basketball.”
    â€œWhat if I completely mess up in a big game and we lose and it’s all my fault — like no question about it. I ruined everything. Would they still be okay with me?” he asked.
    â€œYup, they’d still like you. They might set your lawn on fire and toilet paper all the trees, but they’d eventually go back to liking you.”
    He