I didn’t think I could eat anything more after Evelyn’s meal, but I nodded excitedly. I climbed behind the wheel and adjusted the seat and the mirrors, my heart feeling exactly like my stomach—close tobursting.
The following morning,pumped up on caffeine and excitement, I slipped into my car and turned up the music to match mymood.
I rolled down the window and took my time getting to the campus, relishing the purr of the engine and the feel of the warm breeze twisting my hair. After I parked in the student lot, I took a map of the campus and my schedule out from my college packet. I studied both a moment before setting out toward my Introduction to Statisticscourse.
I dragged my hand through my snarled hair, realizing I hadn’t even checked my reflection in the rearview mirror. I hoped I didn’t look like I had an addiction to hairspray. I arrived in the lecture hall with a few minutes to spare and sat up front. As I dug out my notebook, the scent of apricot flecked the air, overpowering the smell of chalky deodorant, milky coffees, and syntheticperfumes.
“Hey, Amanda,” I said without even lookingup.
She flounced into the seat next to mine. “Did you sleep last night? I didn’t. I couldn’t. I just drank my weight incoffee.”
I smiled at herexuberance.
She peered at me through her thick lashes, brown eyes narrowed. “This might be one of the first times I’ve seen you smile since you got toBoulder.”
My smiledfaltered.
“It’s a nice change. Makes you more . . .approachable.”
An older man walked in then, plaid shirt neatly tucked into pressed pants. He set a leather briefcase down on the desk upfront.
What Amanda said troubled me. I’d never realized that not being a high-spirited person made mealoof.
In a low voice, I said, “I thought you girls didn’t like me because I was . . .you know. . .different.”
“Ness, we neverdislikedyou, per se. You’re just very reserved and a little prickly. But I think we’d all be if we were in yourposition.”
“Tamara and Taryn definitely don’t likeme.”
She pursed her lips. “Taryn’s a ho, so whatever. As for Tamara, you sort of stole herboyfriend.”
“He said they weren’t dating,” I whispered a littlelouder.
She gave me a look that said:and you believedthat?
“I didn’tknow.”
For a long while, Amanda studied my expression. A couple minutes into the lecture, she said, “She’d really like to sort things out with him.” Even though she didn’t add,stay away, I heard her warning loud andclear.
“What aboutSienna?”
“What abouther?”
“Doesshehateme?”
Propping her mouth to my ear so no one else overheard our conversation, she said, “Sienna had a tough time right after the breakup, but the girl’s got the biggest heart in the world. Plus, like she told me, there’s no point in trying to keep a man who’s in love with someone else.” She pulled away to inspect my face. “This isn’t news to you,right?”
My heart began to batter my ribs so loudly I thought Amanda’s human ears might hear it. Hell, I thought our professor, who was busy singling out students and asking them what they hoped to learn during the semester, would hearit.
“I know you’re not together because of Liam—Matt told me—but if you ask me, maybe you should get with August. That way, Liam would go back toTammy.”
My spine drewstraight.
“What?” Amandaasked.
I didn’t know much about dating but sensed entering a relationship to better someone else’s wasn’t smart. “Tamara shouldn’t be Liam’s backup plan; she should be his onlyplan.”
Amanda puckered herlips.
