I looked in my bathroom mirror, sighing at the dark circles forming under my eyes. Yesterday after my meeting with Mike I went to the lab with Caleb. He asked about my meeting and I hated lying, especially to Caleb, but I wasn't allowed to talk about it. I just gave him some vague description about observing human behavior and public perception. He believed me and, thankfully, didn't question me any further. Lydia had asked about it too, she tried to press for more information. Thankfully her sorority sisters pulled her off the phone to plan their annual Welcome Back Bash.
In order to make an educated decision I had stayed up all night doing research about Grayson Allen. I really wanted to know what I would be getting myself in to, more specifically, I wanted to know how terrible his reputation was. I had read every single article that had ever been written about him from ESPN to Deadspin. I had also watched interviews, highlights, and anything else with his name in it. I even read some Grayson Allen fanfiction, which wasn't half bad. One thing I could definitely deduce from my research was that he was certainly a polarizing figure in the world of sports. People either adored everything about him, or they wanted to fight him. There was no in between. I had looked at all of his social media platforms, and I was blown away by the numbers. 300k followers on instagram, 160k followers on twitter and he's verified, he had more followers than some celebrities, it was truly insane.
His coach was right about the evolution in his personality, but it wasn't gradual. I saw his demeanor change in one of the videos after they had won the National title in 2015. He was surrounded by reporters, heralded as the hero of the game for literally putting the team on his back to carry them to victory. The confidence he had when talking to those reporters was different, so different that I felt compelled to compare it to a video from when he first arrived on campus. When he first arrived he was shy, quiet, and seemed overall pretty tolerable. It's like after that game he just blew up, everyone was talking about him.
Also watching all of the interviews back to back allowed me to realize that Mike must put his players through a crash course on how to talk to the media. All of the answers that came out of Grayson's mouth were almost identical from interview to interview. No matter who they played, whether it was UNC or some throwaway team, he said the same thing, "Well, they're a great team...", "It was a battle..." "We had to play together..."
After over 12 hours of research I was pretty sure I had come to a decision. I was desperate for funding for my research. The only thing I was wary about was information about my family becoming known. I liked my privacy, but I felt like I had an obligation to continue with my research. I had already gotten further than I had ever thought possible with it, and with unlimited funding I could really get somewhere. Besides, how bad could it really be?
I yawn and check the time in my phone. I don't have class for a few more hours, I guess I could go get some coffee and head to the lab for a while. I quickly toss my dark hair up into a messy bun and change into clean leggings and a grey crew neck sweatshirt. There's not much of a point in wearing makeup to the lab, you just screw it up with goggle marks or get it on the microscope. I grab my keys and head down to my vehicle. I loved my SUV, it was a black 2007 GMC Envoy. Sure, it had like 150,000 miles on it, but it was mine. I had paid for it myself, my parents were thoroughly embarrassed by it and had offered to buy me any car I wanted but I politely declined.
I always park far away from the research center because I like to walk across campus. I stopped at Joe's in Bryant Center to grab coffee on my walk, and I decided to call Mike about my decision.
After 2 rings he picks up, "Good morning Natalie, how are you today?" I was weirded out when he knew it was me calling, but I remember that I had left my number with him before I left yesterday.
