ANASTASIA
I arrived at the arena well before sunrise for my first official day as the Titans’ photographer, and my hands were sweating because I was incredibly nervous.
I kept telling myself that I could not afford to mess this up, especially after everything that happened at my old job.
Mr. Hunts was already waiting for me near the front desk, and he looked up with a warm smile when he saw me. He walked over and handed me a clipboard with a detailed schedule attached to it, and he tapped the top page with his pen.
"Good morning, Anastasia, you are right on time," Mr. Hunts said, nodding in approval. "This is your schedule for the week, and I need you to look it over carefully because things are going to move very fast around here."
I took the clipboard from him and looked down at the times, and my eyes widened when I saw the note at the bottom. "The travel schedule says we leave tomorrow morning?" I asked, looking up at him in surprise.
"Yes, we are traveling with the team for the away-game road trip tomorrow, and I know it is sudden, but we don’t have a choice," Mr. Hunts explained, sighing softly as he started walking away. "The team is already behind schedule because of the previous photographer scandal, and we need media content ready for the sports blogs immediately."
"I understand, I just didn’t expect to be thrown into the job so quickly," I said, following him down the corridor.
"You will do fine, Anastasia, your portfolio proved you can handle the fast pace," he said, and then he stopped outside the main office doors to introduce me to several staff members who were walking by.
An older woman named Martha smiled warmly at me, and a couple of the social media managers shook my hand and told me they were relieved to have a new photographer on board. Most of the staff members were surprisingly friendly, and their positive attitudes helped me relax a little as the initial panic in my chest began to fade away.
Once the official practice session started, I moved down to the edge of the rink and focused entirely on taking photos. The cold air from the ice hit my face, but I barely noticed it because I quickly got lost in my work, adjusting my lens and tracking the players as they moved on the ice.
Some of the players cooperated completely, holding their positions for a split second so I could get a clean shot, but others kept making jokes and trying to distract each other during the drills. One of the younger offensive players kept striking ridiculous, dramatic poses every time he spotted my camera lens pointing in his direction, and his antics made everyone around him laugh out loud. I couldn’t help but smile as I captured the moment, and for the first time in weeks, I found myself genuinely enjoying what I was doing instead of constantly worrying about my career.
Things became much more complicated when Cassian arrived on the ice. Instead of joining the rest of the team for the skating practice immediately, he skated straight toward the boards where I was standing and stopped right in front of me, spraying a small cloud of ice chips.
"Hey there, Anastasia, did you miss me?" Cassian asked, leaning his arms on top of the boards and flashing his usual dimpled smirk.
I rolled my eyes dramatically and adjusted the settings on my camera, refusing to look directly at him. "Go away, Cassian, leave me alone so I can do my job," I said, keeping my voice flat.
"Come on, that’s not a very nice welcome for your favorite rookie," he joked, but he stayed exactly where he was anyway and spent several minutes telling ridiculous stories about the team’s last road trip, trying hard to make me laugh.
"I am actually working right now, Cassian, and you are supposed to be practicing," I kept reminding him, pointing toward the other side of the rink where the coaches were gathering.
"Practice is boring, and I’d rather make sure you get my best angles for the team website," he replied, and my strict warnings only seemed to encourage him to stay longer.
A few minutes later, Thiago came in and noticed Cassian standing beside me instead of participating in the drill. Thiago skated over with an incredible speed, his eyes fixed on the rookie, and he stopped a few feet away with a furious expression on his face.
"Brooks! What the hell do you think you’re doing?" Thiago called him out loudly, and his deep voice echoed in the entire arena, causing the rest of the team to stop what they were doing to watch. "Get your ass back on the ice and join the line right now."
Cassian didn’t look intimidated at all, and he turned around slowly while keeping his arms relaxed. "I was simply welcoming the new photographer to the team, Captain, just trying to be polite," Cassian complained, and his casual tone made several of the younger players laugh out loud from the center of the ice.
Thiago did not find it funny at all, and his jaw tightened as he stepped closer to the boards. "Stop wasting time and get back to work, or you can spend the rest of the day running solo conditioning drills," Thiago told him, and his strict tone made it clear that he was not joking. Cassian sighed and finally skated away to join the rest of the players, while Thiago gave me one last disapproving look before turning back to the practice.
After the intense practice ended, I sat down in the empty media room to review the photos and I let out a long sigh of relief when I realized they looked absolutely great. The action shots were sharp and clear, and I knew Mr. Hunts would be pleased with the results.
While I was packing my equipment back into my bag, I overheard two equipment staff members talking loudly.
"It’s just weird, you know?" one of them said as he dropped a bag of pucks on the floor. "Thiago usually reviews every single photographer hired by the team and approves them personally before they even get an interview."
"Yeah, I know," the second staff member replied, nodding his head. "Apparently, this is the first time in three years someone has been hired without his involvement, and Hunts just bypassed him completely because we were desperate."
I stood completely still, holding my camera strap as I listened to them walk away, and I was still wondering why Thiago insisted on having so much control over the media staff when my phone suddenly buzzed in my back pocket.
I pulled it out and looked at the screen, and my heart skipped a beat when I read the text message from an unknown number.
Hope your first day wasn’t too boring. - Cassian.
I stared down at the message in complete confusion because I had never given him my phone number, and I had no idea how he had managed to get it so quickly.