Dream on, Addie.
Me: Remind me.
Dad: Your stepmother's birthday present.
Me: Oh. Right. Okay. Sure.
He was talking about finding old college photos of her. I hadn’t forgotten; I just had no interest in it.
“Is everything okay?” Erin enquired softly. “You seemed a little disturbed.”
“Oh,” I laughed, “I’m already disturbed.”
“Oh my god, the Yorks,” Carrie, the mean girl with short blond hair, was sitting with us at our usual dinner table in the dining hall. I tried to like her, but she changed the vibe, making it more tense, and I became cautious about how much I revealed about myself and my opinions because I trust her. I didn’t fully trust Erin and Mila either, but at least they were open and friendly.
Oh, yes, the Yorks. The blonds with the perfect jawline.
“Has James York contacted you yet?” Mean Girl Carrie asked with that tone of ‘I hope he was joking when he asked for your number’.
Honestly, it had crossed my mind that he was joking because I couldn’t see out of all the girls here at Castlehill, why me? It seemed strategic and disingenuous.
I cleared my throat. “No, and I hope not, because it’ll be a busy year and…”
“He’s coming over,” Erin shrilled, and I thought, man, she needs to get out more.
“Adina,” the tall, nice-smelling man towered over me.
“Ah, yes,” I looked up at him as if I had no idea who he was.
“Can I have a word?” he cocked his head to the right, as if that’s the direction he wanted me to go with him in.
I shrugged, “Sure,” and swallowed back my nerves as I grabbed my bag that contained my knife to make sure he didn’t try something stupid. But then I painted him with the same brush as the Warwicks. Not all hot, rich jocks were the same, as I was sure some of them were nice and respectful. I should give him a chance.
I glanced back at Mila and Erin and shot them an exaggerated look to lighten the mood as I walked behind the York. He led me outside to a shady corner away from the lampshade. Even though my hot cheeks cooled in the night air, I remained cautious of this man’s intentions.
He stood over me, placing a hand on the wall behind me, reminding me of Ezrah Warwick. I wanted to tell him to cut to the chase because I was hungry and was eager to stack my plate with beef casserole.
“Um, so ah, I’m sorry I haven’t contacted you after asking for your number,” he didn’t seem genuine, but he found apologizing difficult.
“Oh,” I shook my head and slid slightly away from his body, which was leaning towards me, and all I could smell was his cologne.
“Anyway, do you want to go for a walk after dinner? You know, so we could get to know each other,” he asked, then kept glancing at the door as students were coming and going. A distracted man was never a good sign.
“Um, I’d rather we got to know each other in the daytime,” I replied, “since I don’t actually know you, and considering that other families in this shithole were bad people, I think we should have a date or whatever in the daytime.”
He exhaled impatiently. “Okay, lunch. At Scholars?”
“Sure. Where’s that?” I asked as my nerves fluttered about in my stomach, then backtracked. “Wait. I’ll check my schedule to ensure I don’t have class, but going on memory, I think that’s fine.”
“Cool, it’s down Dingle Street,” he told me, then stepped away, raising his eyebrows at a guy waiting by the door who responded to the greeting as if they were up to no good. Immediately, I knew something wasn’t right. “See you at midday.”
“Okay,” I replied, even though I wanted to pull out of the date because I thought he had more of an interest in the students coming and going than in me. Like, I was invisible to him.
My heart felt heavy as I walked back to my table, and the girls were waiting eagerly to hear what I had to say. “He’s just in one of my classes,” I lied to cover my back in case this thing turned into a disaster. “No date.” But caught a smirk from Carrie, who seemed relieved that James York wasn’t interested in me.
“That’s a shame,” Erin stated, as I casually searched for him in the mass of students sitting at tables and couldn’t see him.
Eager to change the subject, “I’m going to get a plate of food.” I was so hungry, and if I don’t eat now, then I might punch someone. Avoiding the curious and sympathetic gazes of the girls, I left to grab a plate as my stomach rumbled.
