#panthers59

[mspriss-2u]

Before the Fame

*As promised the Luke Kuechly story I have been working on. Enjoy*

Summary

Janelle Johnson is a freshman at Boston College. She comes from a small town with barely 400 people, but she has always been a big dreamer and is excited to embark on her new journey. An assignment from one of her classes helps her to form an unlikely relationship with Luke Kuechly. Their relationship has its fair share of blissful moments and challenges, especially with Luke growing in stardom on the football field.

 Chapter 1

Janelle was an eighteen year old girl with big dreams from Bath, North Carolina. Yes, it is barely up for honorable mention to even be a town with a population of less than four hundred, but it was her little community on the river right off the waters that she will always love. Her father was a fisherman from the time she could remember, so she was a lover of the water. Her mother had died during her sophomore year of high school losing her battle to ovarian cancer, so it was just her, her father and younger brother. However, people always told her that she was the exact embodiment of her mother, with her smooth dark brown skin, tall frame, beautiful hazel eyes and go getter personality. Janelle smiled while in her thoughts as she thought of how much this moment would have meant to her mother. Brenda Johnson was always Janelle’s biggest cheerleader for her reaching her dreams. She remembered her mother always telling her how smart, kind, beautiful and determined she was. Janelle soaked up those words to help push her to go for her goal towards becoming a physical therapist, but first she had to get this Biology Major done. It was her first year at Boston College and Janelle was absolutely over the moon to be starting this journey.

Janelle shook herself out of the trip down memory lane to pack up her things for her next class. She was currently well underway in her first semester at Boston College and she learned fairly quickly that the library would probably be her primary place to retreat for all things requiring peace and quiet, as the girls’ dorm rooms seemed to be always crammed with chatter and noise and her dorm mate was obviously very popular socialite oncampus already. However, she did find that Sundays were fairly quiet in the dorm, so she took that time to sleep in and do some studying in her room.

She glanced down at her phone and realized that she only had 7 minutes to book it halfway across campus to her World Literature class. Mr. Weinham was not a professor you wanted to piss off with multiple tardies. Janelle made it right in the classroom as soon as Mr. Weinham was getting up to shut the door to get class started. He gave her a stern look, but gave her a fair pass to come in before he closed the door. Janelle sighed in relief and sat in the seat in the back corner of the room. It wasn’t even 2 minutes later two other students walked into the room. “Please leave, you are late.” Mr. Weinham said in a dismissive tone and then proceeded with his lesson as the students stood in shock before slowly walking out.

It was getting near the end of class, when Mr. Weinham brought it to the class’s attention that another assignment was coming up.

“So, we have a group assignment coming up, as you are aware from your syllabus,” Mr Weinham stated as the room erupted into collective groans.

“I’m always delighted to be the bearer of wonderful news,” he said dryly.

“To display even more of my genius nature, I have decided to pick your groups for you,” he said as he pulled out a piece of paper, no doubt having the groups listed on it.

“I will leave it on the desk for all of you to take a moment to look at it. Once you have found the names of your partners, please group up to collect information and a literature piece that you want to present on as a group. You have approximately 15 minutes left in class, so I expect you to all come to a conclusion on the literature piece today and bring me a paper with your group member names and the name of the piece before you leave today. This will be the attendance count for today, so make sure it gets done,” Mr. Weinham announced before going back to his desk and letting everyone line up to look at the list.

Before Janelle could make it to the list of names, she heard her name “Janelle Johnson?” a random person in the room called. She looked to find the voice and acknowledged it was her. The girl walked over to her, “Hi I am Frieda Lopez, we are signed up in the same group, along with a Luke Kuckly….Kooeckly…umm not sure, but there can’t be many Lukes in this room,” she said with a slight chuckle. Well it wasn’t long before both the ladies figured out exactly who he was, as he walked over to the two of them, no doubt hearing them making horrible attempts at pronouncing his last name. “Hey ladies, I couldn’t help but hear you were probably looking for me. I am Luke Kuechly,” he said politely. “Oh sorry about that, I tried to give it a shot. Nice to meet you Luke, I’m Frieda.” Luke and Frieda took a seat next to Janelle who had already sat back down in her desk trying to figure out what literature pieces they could limit it all down too. “And your name is?” Luke asked as he sat next to Janelle. “Oh I am sorry, I am Janelle. I was just trying to quickly look over some pieces I thought were interesting.” After introducing themselves, their group finally settled on a topic and exchanged information. Janelle picked up that Frieda was a go getter and perfectionist, so she had her fill out their form and turn it in for them. They had all decided that they would meet next Wednesday afternoon, as that seemed to be the time all three were free. Janelle left class pretty satisfied with the group that was picked for her. She still didn’t have a good read on Luke. He seemed like a nice person, but after the initial introductions, he let Frieda and Janelle take the reins on picking the project and just voiced his agreement and then he hurried out to his next class. Janelle was excited. She had met a few people in her classes already, but this assignment had potential to allow her to get to make some actual friends, especially with all the time they would be spending together. This college thing may be alright after all.

 The next day brought another ridiculously early alarm and an onslaught of classes. Janelle had managed to fully awake by lunch time. She was lucky enough that her last class was cancelled for the day, so she went back to her dorm room to drop her things off and then made plans to grab something from the Student Union afterwards. When she entered the room, she caught sight of her roommate, Callie, with one of her friends. They seemed to be in a good mood.

“Hey Janelle, I see you are back early. Cancelled class?” her roommate asked, while curling the last few strands of her hair.

“Girl yes, and I am too glad about it! These teachers are not playing with these assignments,” Janelle said with a sigh as she lugged her stuff on her bed and sat down.

“Well, we are getting ready to go to the pep rally for Homecoming.” Callie said as she finished up her hair.

“Oh yeah and I heard the entire football team will be there, especially that sexy beast Luke Kuechly. I just cannot stop looking at him,” Callie’s friend said gushing like a fan girl. If Janelle could remember correctly, her name was Beth.

“Oh yes, I heard that he is a sweetheart, but he is hard to crack, but I do like a challenge.” Callie said with a smug look on her face, as they both got their sweaters to leave.

“Well have fun ladies!” Janelle said as they said their goodbyes and headed out the door.

Ugh, pep rallies sucked. Janelle hated them in high school and could imagine them being even worse in college. She had nothing against football, but basketball was her everything, if she really had to choose one sport. Ask her about her Miami Heat and she could speak for days. As Janelle thought about it, this pep rally probably meant the Student Union would be packed, so she decided to opt for the stand alone café closer to her dorm. It really was a nice place, but since it was out the way from the Student Union, it didn’t get as many customers.

“Welcome to Olive Oil Café ma’am, how can I help you today?” the server asked. Janelle gave her order and paid and sat down at a table that faced the students standing outside engaging in the festivities. She may not be one for pep rallies, but people watching proved to be a good hobby some days. As she sat down to eat her lunch, she laughed at the mascot doing his ridiculous routine with someone playing the opposing team’s mascot. Afterwards she saw the coaches get up to give a few words and then of course some of the primary football players. When they called up Callie’s favorite player, Luke Kuechly, Janelle realized that was her group mate. She thought his name sounded familiar when Callie said it, but now it made sense. Well at least he wasn’t a loud mouth Janelle thought to herself as she sipped on her drink while watching the festivities. He kept his speech short and sweet and then let them go on to the next player. Janelle was growing bored with watching the crowd, plus she wanted to get back before everyone dispersed so she finished up her food and then trucked it back to her room. It was the weekend after all and she thought it may be nice to take the rest of the day to watch something frightful and suspenseful…hmmm World War Z it was.

[mspriss-2u]

Before the Fame

Chapter 2

It was Sunday afternoon, Janelle had just come from church and was trying to get out of those awful stockings. ‘Why do Southerners do this to themselves again?’ She thought to herself. Church had been an ongoing aspect of her life since she was a child. Her family was the typical Southern Baptist. Another draw to Boston College was despite it being primarily composed of Catholic followers, it did not press any of its students to follow the Catholic way, however they did include several classes and activities that promoted meditation, learning about different religions, and overall spiritual well being. Her 10th grade teacher was the first to tell her about Boston College. Mr. Hamil was a biology teacher at her old high school who had sold her on going to Boston College. He was the most brilliant person she had ever met and by far the kindest. He had helped to secure her an internship as a physical therapist aid her senior year of high school, which only solidified her desire to do physical therapy. But the most wonderful thing him and his wife did was provide support during her mother’s passing. To say that she would have been lost was an understatement. Her world was rocked, her father was barely able to keep functioning enough to ensure her and Brian had food on the table. Janelle always believed good a person doing even the smallest of good in the world could transform a life, and the Hamils had proved just that.

Janelle changed into something more comfortable and then decided to get to the Student Union for a bit. She knew it was practically a ghost town today, so it would be easy to get in and out. When she reached the door the to union, she wasn’t paying attention so she bumped into someone. “Oh, I’m sorry!” she said looking up from her phone. “Hey, it’s fine, Janelle, right?” said the voice. She looked up to find that she had ran into her group mate. “Yeah, that’s it. I’m sorry, my dad was writing me so I wasn’t paying attention. By the way, congrats on the win yesterday,” she said as they moved to the side to clear the door way. “Thanks, it is always nice to get a win over Notre Dame. So you came to the game yesterday?” he inquired. “Well not exactly, my roommate seems to be a big fan and she was going on about it yesterday. I’m not big on football, but I hear you guys are beasting it this year, so kudos to you,” she said giving him a small smile. “Well maybe one day, I can change your mind about coming to see a game. It is really worth it to catch at least one during your time here,” he shared. Before either one could say another word, one of Luke’s fellow teammates, or at least see assumed, came up and interrupted their conversation. “Hey man, I’m ready! Sorry about that,” he said and then looked toward Janelle. “Well hello chocolate goddess, I am Kasim. It is nice to be in your presence,” he said clearly trying to flirt. Janelle gave a small blush and laughed. “Hi, Kasim, I’m Janelle, nice to meet you,” she said acknowledging him. “Man, Luke you didn’t tell me you hung around beautiful women like this,” he said still looking at Janelle like she was the Mona Lisa. Janelle snuck a glance at Luke’s face and his happy countenance appeared to be a wall of indifference now. “Well we only just recently got to know each other. He is my group member for one of my classes. I’m sorry to cut this short, but I really do have to go. Nice to meet you Kasim, and Luke I will see you in class tomorrow,” she said ending the conversation and leaving to grab her food inside the union. Janelle had to admit it is always flattering to have guys give her compliments and try to ask her out, but she just wanted to take a break from it for awhile. Her 11th grade year, she was in a relationship with a guy who turned out to be a complete jerk, but he was able to play on her open wound of needing to have someone there. It took six months before she could finally see the light and walk away, but she never wanted to experience that again, so better safe than sorry.

“Hey, Janelle!” she heard from across the Union. That could only be one person, because she only has the volume of loud or louder.

“Hey Trina, what’s up?” she asked waiting to hear the latest and greatest from the CNN master of Boston College. Don’t get it wrong, Trina was a great person, but sometimes she was a lot to handle all at once.

“Girl, I am glad I caught you. They having the mid-semester celebration next week at Jarrell’s house. I really don’t want to go on my own,” she said, though Janelle knew Trina had tons of friends.

Janelle huffed in annoyance.

“Look, I know you are not a party girl, but I don’t think it would hurt to show your face for at least an hour or two.” Trina pleaded. She reached in her pocket and pulled out a decked out invitation.

“From what I have heard from upper classmen, Jarrell always has the best party of the year,” she shared in excitement.

Janelle gave a sigh, it really wouldn’t hurt to check it out, as this would probably be the ONLY party she attends this semester or better yet this year.

“Alright, alright, I’ll go. I will meet up with you there just in case I get bored early. You better be glad we cool, because you know this isn’t my thing,” Janelle said begrudgingly.

“Awesome! Girl, we are going to have so much fun. I can’t wait. Well, see you soon girl!” Trina said and made her way off with an excited squeal.

Man, I just wanted to get food and get back to the room. How in the world do I keep running into folks? Janelle thought quietly to herself.

She quickly booked it to her dorm room in order to avoid any more stops. Today was always her day to get in some studying and finish up some extra notes before the school week began. She entered her dorm room somewhat relieved that she didn’t have any more interruptions, before she heard the squeal of her roommate, who jumped out of the bathroom.

“Oh, I’m sorry Janelle, I didn’t mean to scare you.” Callie said apologetically.

Janelle took a deep breath to calm herself, “It’s fine, this is your room too, I’m just not used to you being here at this time.”

Janelle walked over to her side of the dorm room and asked curiously, “So why are you here this early?”

“Trying to get rid of me already, Janelle?” Callie said with a playful tone.

“No, I’m just curious. Plus, you are beaming and I feel like you really want to tell me something with the way you are bouncing around the room.”

“You really are good at reading people. I’m just excited because Mark Herzlich asked me on a date today,” she said giving her signature excited squeal.

“Umm so who is this guy? Should I know him or have you introduced me to him?” Janelle asked trying to figure out where she has heard that name.

Callie looked at Janelle in disbelief. “If I didn’t know you, I would seriously think you lived under a rock Janelle! He is one of the football players, guaranteed to enter the NFL draft this year, plus he is dreamy. I can’t believe you never heard of him,” she said. Callie then grabbed her phone and searched for a moment through her phone, then she turned it to show Janelle a picture of Mark.

“Oh, well he is nice looking. I really can’t say I have seen his face on campus, but congrats to you girl. How did you even meet him?” Janelle asked.

“Well we got a chance to go to one of the after parties last night, which was why I was so late getting in. He was there and it was like magic, he was drawn to me and I was drawn to him. He talked with me the whole time I was there,” she said beaming as she told her story.

Janelle just nodded her head. Well either he is actually interested or he sees fresh meat before he jumps ship. She thought to herself. Of course she would not ruin her friend’s moment, but she hoped this guy would be decent to Callie.

“Good for you girl. Where are y’all going for your date?”

“Umm not sure yet, but he is supposed to text me later today so we can plan something for this upcoming weekend,” she relayed with a smile.

“Alright, well I definitely want to hear how that turns out for you.” Janelle said as she went over to grab her food and started getting some books out to start studying.

Callie hadn’t stayed long, she was out the door about 15 minutes later, probably visiting Beth or one of her other friends to gush about with her story.

Janelle plugged in her headphones and let the tunes of Spotify put her in the mood to learn about molecular structure and bacteria.