A strange look rises on his expression. My bet is his mind went to a dirty place from the words I uttered, but all he says is, “Fair enough.”
He begins rotating the ring around his finger again and fixes his attention on the front of the room as an older woman with short dark hair, wearing a striped pantsuit, enters the classroom. She marches straight up the podium, sets her briefcase down, and focuses on the room.
“Welcome to American Literature,” she begins, her firm tone jarring for such an early hour in the morning. “The first thing you should know about my class is …” Her words fade as a student hurries into the room.
“Sorry,” he mumbles as he makes a beeline for an open seat while clutching a laptop.
“Well”—the professor looks at the classroom again—“I was just about to give my rules on being tardy for my class. However, since this young man has decided to do just that, let me make an example of what will happen if you’re late.” She strolls out from behind the podium and approaches the guy. “What’s your name?”
He shifts in his desk. “Sebastian.”
“Well, Sebastian”—she stops in front of him—“let’s give the class a demonstration on why not to be tardy, shall we?”
River was right. I don’t ever want to be tardy to this class. After putting Sebastian on the spot, she proceeded to ask him all sorts of questions about American Literature, why he made the poor life choice to be late, and why he’ll never be late again. I actually experienced some secondhand embarrassment from him.
“Thanks for the heads-up on not being late to this class,” I tell River as I stuff my notebook and pen into my bag.
I have about an hour between this class and my next, and I have plans to return to my dorm room to grab my laptop and give my hand a break with the writing.
He slings his bag over his shoulder. “No problem. I gave Lily a heads-up about this before she came here. This school is …” He wavers. “Well, a lot about it sucks, but the classes are excellent. Tough, but if you’re looking for the best education, it’s worth the toughness … Sometimes, anyway.”
“It’s worth it to me; trust me. I was supposed to go to the community college,” I say as we make our way out of the aisle and toward the exit. “I had a scholarship and everything, but that lovely little incident when we first met led to that getting revoked. But I lucked out when I got one here.”
I expect him to ask me how I got one here, but he just says, “What was your scholarship for at the community college? If you don’t mind me asking.”
“You’re fine.” I do my best to disregard all the staring that happens the instant we step foot into the hallway. “It was for cross country, track, and my excellent academics.” I throw him a grin because, while the scholarship did get revoked, I had to kick ass to obtain it.
His brows shoot upward. “Really?”
I nod, slipping the heavy bag higher onto my shoulder. “Yeah, really.” I playfully nudge him with my shoulder. “You don’t need to seem so surprised about it. North-siders can kick butt, too.”
“I’m not surprised because you’re a north-sider,” he explains as he stuffs his hands into his pockets while sneaking a glance around at the people nearby. A frown pulls at his lips, but it fades when he returns his attention to me. “It’s just that getting a scholarship like that is difficult. I know because I got one here.They actually don’t give out money for that due to the fact that, well, you know.”
“Almost everyone here has money.”
“Yeah. But, anyway, it gave me a secured spot on the team because, like Lily said, it’s hard as hell to get on any athletic team at the academy. And honestly, when you asked me to give you some pointers on how to get onto the team, I assumed you were just a normal runner who wanted to make the team. So, the surprise comes from the fact that you’re clearly not the average runner.”
“If I was, I probably wouldn’t have asked you.” I inch closer to him to move around a group of guys loitering in the hallway. “I’ve read all the info on the website, and I could tell it was going to be a pain to get on the team. Not impossible, but I’m definitely going to have to up my training until tryouts, which is in a few weeks, right?”
He nods, slowing to a stop in front of an arched doorway that appears to lead to another hallway. “I have class this way, and I have to hurry because I need to talk to the professor before class starts, but I’d be more than happy to help you. Just get my number from Lily and text me a bit later today, and we can meet up somewhere and go over stuff.”
I’ll admit, I’m a bit excited about this. Although, being who I am, a trace of suspicion resides inside me as to why he’s so willing to help me.
“Awesome.” I start to back away from him. “You know, when I first saw you, I thought you were going to be a total douche. And when we first met, I thought,Yep, nailed it. But you’re not so bad.” I smile so he knows I’m playing.
Well, sort of.
He sinks his teeth into his bottom lip, as if biting back a smile. “Gee, thanks.”
“You’re welcome.” I wink at him then spin around, feeling lighter than I have in a long time.
Of course, as I’m heading back to my room, my phone rings with an incoming call from my mother, which sends me into a mood dive.
“No,” I mutter, silencing her call. “I won’t let her ruin this for me.”
She calls me again as I’m entering the my room. This time, I allow it to go to voicemail on its own as I kick the door shut behind me.
Lily isn’t back yet, so I get a cup of water before heading to my room. I brought a few snacks with me when I moved in, and I mostly plan on eating in the cafeteria for breakfast, lunch, and dinner since my scholarship covers that, but I need to pick up more snacks when I head into town to work this weekend, particularly ones that have high protein in them. Although, those are generally expensive.
