I open the car door to step out and Will catches my hand. He pulls me close enough that I can smell the lemon tang of his cologne again. “I don’t even know your last name.”
“Nichols.” I can barely speak, he’s so close.
“Will Chapman.”
He doesn’t pull away and I’m physically incapable of doing so. We sit there until Dev pushes on the back of my seat, shattering the moment.
“Let’s go,Elle.”
I shoot another glare at Dev before exchanging phone numbers with Will and saying goodbye. When he drives away, leaving us in a cloud of dust, I wave so big that I must look like a groupie outside a celebrity’s hotel. I only stop when the car is completely out of sight. Dev gapes at me like I’m the biggest idiot he’s ever met.
“Well,” he says, “you didn’t lie about your last name. That’s something at least.”
Chapter
9
Monday morning comes too soon. Sage is up at six a.m.Humming. I cover my face with Pinky and groan. All I want to do is stay in bed for another five hours, but her off-key version of Radiohead’s “Creep” makes that difficult. Finally I pull out my phone. Mom wrote me back a long email with way too many “squees!!” for a forty-year-old woman. She’s definitely beside herself with how handsome Will is. And she’s not the only one. There are a dozen comments from girls at Waterford composed of heart-eye emojis and complaints about missing out on all the fun in England. That’s a welcome change.
Every time I relive that hour with Will at the flea market, I’m filled with a thrill of joy... followed by a jolt of fear. He was so charming andsocute. How the hell am I going to hold his interest at the party this weekend when I couldn’t even hold Andy’s?
“Hey.”
I yelp and jump back. Sage stands at my bedside, her face level with my bunk.
“You better get up now if you still plan on showering andeating breakfast. Otherwise you won’t get to class early and you’ll have to sit in the back row.”
I grin and lie back down. That sounds perfect to me.
After a quick breakfast croissant and Nutella (I’ve decided I’m eating Nutella every day in England), I slide into my seat for my first class. Unfortunately I don’t know anyone else in psych. About half the class seems to be college students who have no interest in us, and the other Waterford Valley students are already chatting with friends. I’m grateful to Dev for inviting me to Northampton yesterday. I’m getting the impression that most students here aren’t looking to make new friends.
Our professor walks in and the class falls quiet.
“Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Emberton Manor! Look at this beautiful room we’ve been given for the semester.” She gestures around and the rest of us follow her hands. The room is the antithesis of Waterford Valley.
“I’m Dr. Stevenson. Let’s go around for introductions and then we’ll begin.”
One by one, each person says their name, where they’re from, whether they are in high school or college, and what they’re most looking forward to experiencing in England. Since I can’t exactly saymaking out with a British guy, I mention visiting Big Ben in London. Dr. Stevenson nods encouragingly and makes little jokes as the introductions go on. At least she doesn’t seem like the scary college professors I was expecting.
When everyone is finished, she smiles and pulls out a stack of papers from her bag.
“Okay, I want to hit the ground running so we can move quickly through the introductory information. I’m assuming you all read chapters one and two prior to class today as instructed on the syllabus?”
Wait, what?I glance left and right, hoping to see wild eyes and confused expressions, but the other students either look resigned, bored, or anxious as they flip through... are thosenotes? How do they have notes? This is our first day of class!
“We’ll have reading quizzes throughout the semester to assess your level of understanding. That way I can tailor our discussions to any material that was confusing.”
Dr. Stevenson hands the quiz to the front row.
“Everything off your desk.” She nods at me and I shove my stuff in my bag before I’m sent to the dungeon or whatever they use for detention around here. I take a quiz from the person to my left and skim the first few questions.
What are the two elements that a researcher must include in order to have a true experiment?
Which correlation shows a stronger predictive relationship between two variables: r = -.87 or r = .86?
Which of the following best illustrates the theme of “power of the situation”?
Dr. Stevenson paces through the class, pretending to be kindand normal, but I can see through her pleasant facade now. She’s the devil dressed in an ill-fitting blazer.
