Hop to It

Chapter 1: Making the Grade
The creaking of the door into his afternoon lecture betrayed Travis’ lateness to the lesson. The lecturer paused his presentation, a sentence about muscle groups cutting off as he looked towards the near absente student. The smattering of other students, all either half paying attention taking notes or busy being distracted found soon followed suit. Travis could only offer a smile back at them, hand offering a brief wave as he quickly made his way from the door to a chair. Satisfied that the interruption was over, the lecturer returned to their slides, with an obligatory urging for everyone to take notes for the exam that lay towards the end of the semester.
As everyone else reset to their previous positions, Travis furiously dug down through the workout bag he’d brought with him, throwing out his sweaty shirt and shorts as he tried to find book, a scrap of paper, anything he could use to take his notes.
“Come on its gotta be in here.”
He muttered under his breath, eyes locked in the bag lest he look up and see Mr Irvin staring at him.
SMACK
Travis turned as he felt the corner of a book drive into his shoulder before bouncing off into the floor besides him. Glaring back, he easily spotted the culprit, grinning from ear to ear.

“Piss off Coops”
Travis swore, drawing more attention back the larger student’s way. Coops didn’t say a word, his offering of a finger upwards said enough as Travis turned back to retrieve it. He wasn’t sure how Coops had managed to beat him to the lesson on time; he’d been running training drills like the rest of them, hell he was in the showers cleaning up afterwards too. It wasn’t something Travis really had time to think too deeply about, he was already lagging behind this lesson. He let out a huff as he settled into the desk again; book open and waiting for him to scribble some half assed notes onto it. It didn’t matter if he didn’t enjoy the lessons, or the subjects, it was about keeping appearances as the coach had told him. When it was all said and done, he didn’t care for the bit of paper at the end, no, his real passion was the sport.
Footy.
Just the thought of the game and being back on the field was enough to bring a smile back to the young man’s face as he looked towards presentation. With his eyes turned upwards, his hand reached across the desk groping for something not there.
He realised he was still missing a pen.

Chapter 2: Disciplinary Action
With Mr Irvin’s closing remarks, Travis was quickly on his feet to leave the room behind. He’d almost managed to make it to the door before he heard his name being called out.

“Travis Doyle, do you have a minute.”
Mr Irvin looked expectantly towards him and with a sigh and perhaps a faint cuss under his breath Travis made his way back towards him. He brushed of Coops’ jab as he went past, he’d get him back during training tomorrow. As the lecturer shut down his computer, he gave the restless student a look rather cold look; something about the dismissiveness of that glance seemed to cut through Travis calm focus to leave him feeling nervous. Or at least slightly cautious. Attempting to cut him off first, Travis started to speak.
“Sir I had training, then the books and then the..”
Despite being taller than the older gentleman, Travis was stunned when he spoke up.
“Cut the crap Trav.”
The words died in Travis’ throat as his lecturer looked up at him, the well-worn expression of disappointment on his face.
	“Sorry”
He stared a moment longer before he let out a sigh.
“Apology noted; but you’ll need to do better Travis. Everyone else is making the effort but you’ve got to get your act together. I’m sending a notice to Sarah.”

The mention of Sarah drew Travis back from his surprised stupor. That emu in charge of medical science and health courses had her feathered hands full most of the time, but she would always make time for a student in need. He’d heard the song and dance before from a few other lecturers, though he hadn’t expected Mr Irvin would be the one to call him to her attention.
“Please Mr Irvin, I’ll be on time next week.”
There was a finality in the way Mr Irvin slid his laptop into its case that suggested he wasn’t bluffing. When he spoke again, he confirmed it without a doubt.
“Check your emails, I cced you into the discussion; Sarah’s reserved a slot with her at 4:40. She’ll be in her office or available by phone if you’d prefer though.”
The battle was lost before he’d even had a chance to fight it seemed. Like a good sport, he accepted defeat here, and simply nodded.
	“Alright.”
Travis’s heavy footsteps followed the lecturer as the pair left the room. They followed for a while longer till the man seemed to escape his sullen shadow, leaving Travis to make his own way. For an hour and a half Travis restlessly roamed the university gardens, looping around multiple times with his bag still strung over his shoulder. His entire afternoon routine had been thrown by this meeting and there was nothing he could do about it. Not even seeing Coops bite the grass, tripping on his own feet on the Ovals practicing could improve his mood.
Yet when the time came, Travis was there outside her door. Tucked away in corner of the campus’ sprawling brick corridors was a door leading to a small, practically overstuffed office.Hearing him shuffling around outside, Sarah called out.
	“Travis? Come on in.”
As Travis squeezed past shelf overflowing with records and books and a filing cabinet half ajar, he wondered how Sarah managed to fit in here. But there nestled between a window looking out into another bit of bush, and a raised L shaped desk was Sarah; working away as the light off her screens reflected across the lens of her glasses.

With a punctual smack she pressed the enter key and looked up at Travis, a smile coming across her muzzle as she moved away from the screens. Even as small as she was, the roo woman still has some difficulty navigating her own office, tail brushing against every precarious stack of papers it could.
Not to be distracted however, Sarah gave her full attention to her charge of the moment.
	“So Travis, I’ve heard you’re having a rough time with the coursework.”
Travis let out a sigh as if trying to blow her statement away. But Sarah merely continued.
	“Well that’s not entirely true, you’re doing well in your practicals, and I’ve spoken Mr Ryan about your performance out on the field on Thursdays. He says you’re a consistent performer.”
His face lit up slightly. Praise was praise and who knows it might have been enough to get him out of this meeting.
	“Butttt, he did say you have trouble working with your teammates and he’s still disappointed by what happened at the last school rugby session the team ran.”
His face turned mellow again, as he recalled having to be pulled off Coops after the pair of them went crashing through a fabric football passing training net. In their defence the kids seemed to find it entertaining. Plus, Coops and he still had enough to go out for a beer even after having to pay to replace it.
 	“Come on Sarah that was just a bit of mucking about.”
She seemed to nod understandingly before speaking again.

“Mr Boots, please understand that I appreciate your enthusiasm for the game, but also remember that this is supposed to be an educational experience for you. My brother played profession but unless you can manage to make it to the major comps you’re going to be left up the creek without a paddle.”
It was Travis’ turn to nod, admittedly it was something that worried him. But his training was paying off, he just knew it. Taking a more formal approach he hoped that he could get her to see it his way.
	“Ms Colton, I know it’s been a bit poor lately, but I think things will pick up come next semester. I’ll get my head sorted once I’ve settled in after the mid semester break.”

Sarah nodded, her pointed ears twitching as she nursed an idea.
	“Actually, that reminds me. I’d like to recommend you to a friend of mine. He’s a personal trainer; but he used to play for the Bandicoots.