MH
I shudder. Yeah, I’m getting thehellout of Ivy Gate.
Last night after four sangria pitchers and two bingo wins, I found myself back in Ty’s apartment with two plants. Asher called me again to make sure I didn’t see Miles. I told him I won two plants at bingo, and named them Ernest Hemingvine and OscarWildflower. I don’t really remember what we talked about after that; in fact I think I fell asleep while on the phone with him. I can only hope I kept some of my other budding thoughts about him to myself.
I ignore the creepiness of the email as I angrily reply to Miles.
I know everything you’ve been up to. You won’t get away with it.
I make it to Renner’s class just in time to avoid another disappointed glare. The first drafts of our short stories are due before winter break and today is a peer review of what we have done so far. Renner pairs us off into groups of two and I’m thankful I don’t end up with Annica. My peer reviewer is a girl named Sasha with blue hair and a lip ring.
“Mine’s not totally fleshed out yet,” I say, handing the pages to her. I had added on to the story. While on the front lines looking for George, Josephine begins to receive letters again. She writes back to George urging him to tell her where he is so she can find him. She comes across a medic who says he can help her, but his reasons are selfish and she doesn’t fully trust him.
I haven’t written the ending yet.
“That’s okay—neither is mine,” Sasha replies. I start to mark up her story, thoroughly impressed with the writing, and really loving the plot, when she interrupts me. “Who does she choose?” she asks.
Her question feels loud in a quiet room full of working students and startles me slightly, causing my pen to slip over a word. “I’m sorry?”
“Your story—who does she choose? The medic or the soldier?”
I look around for peering eyes and ears, specifically Annica’s. “Probably the soldier.” I lower my voice when I say it, and go back to writing.
“Why is she so mean to the medic who is helping her? She basically just met him. She doesn’t even know him.”
“Because the medic has his own agenda; he doesn’t care about his cousin.”
“They’re cousins?” she asks, confused.
“No, I didn’t mean to say that. I just meant the medic doesn’t care about the soldier.”
“It seems like he cares about the main character, though.”
I sigh with annoyance. “He doesn’t.”
“That’s not what it sounds like, especially when you wrote—”
“You don’t know him,” I interrupt, a little bit too abrasive.
“Okay... sorry,” Sasha says. I sigh, feeling rattled and embarrassed for snapping at her like that. She starts to mark up my paper, and I go back to hers.
When I get back from class, Adrienne isn’t here. Part of me is relieved, because I have no idea what to say to her. I thought about it on the entire ride back to Pembroke today, but all I could come up with wasHow could you?Unless she really doesn’t know that he’s the same professor I was seeing last year, but how could she not? I never showed her a picture but I told her his last name, and surely she could connect the dots. The longer I think about it, the more irritated I become. She has to know.
I go right to my room without even showering the stench of sangria and bar off from the night before and print Adrienne’spicture and name. I add it to the suspect board with string tying her to Holland. And then I lock my bedroom door.
I can no longer trust her.
Later that night we all meet up at the boys’ house for some type of surprise that Wes claims to have. We come to find that it’s a weekend away at his family’s resort, all expenses paid. And the kicker? Marissa can’t go that weekend.
“This is perfect,” Asher says once we’re alone in his bedroom. “This is the opportunity we needed.”
“We need to talk about Miles and Adrienne,” I tell him. “What am I going to do? What if she’s helping him?”
He rubs his hands together, plotting. “With Marissa not going, this is perfect for ushering you into phase two.”
I sit on his bed while he paces. “Asher, are you listening?” But he doesn’t acknowledge it. I sigh, giving in. “What is phase two?”
“Phase two is where Wes finally gives in and realizes he wants to be with you. He’ll dump Marissa, and you two can be together. Phase three will be where you ultimately have him in your clutches and you make sure he stays here with you after graduation to pursue some other venture.”
