‘So exotic.’ She exhales even though it really isn’t. Pretty, maybe, once you get closer to the mountains, past the car manufacturing plant and the criss-cross of highways and freeways, but definitely not exotic.
‘And what made you want to come to Hemden?’
That’s an easy one.
‘Everything,’ I reply right away. ‘The classes, the history, the architecture. And I’ve always wanted to travel, visit the UK.’
And start over, I add silently.Become someone new, get away from my parents, make real friends, meet someone who wants me for me. ‘Even my folks had heard of Hemden, it’s one of the most famous schools in the world,’ I say out loud. ‘Who wouldn’t want to come here?’
‘I don’t know, but I do know I’m very glad to be here right now,’ Alice breathes, grabbing holding of my hand. ‘The most insanely hot guy just walked in, and oh my God Mia, do not look but he’s totally staring at you.’
‘Insanely hot guy where?’
I jolt upright like an electrocuted meerkat, staring at everyone in the room on high alert.
‘Tall, dark and gorgeous stud at twelve o’clock and Isaiddon’t look!’
But I look, obviously, both curious and a little concerned. Is there something wrong? Has my dress come open and put my bra on display, and the others are too polite to mention it? I can’t think of a better reason unless … Directly across the room, standing in the middle of a smush of bodies, I see him. Not Oliver.
Ethan fricking Taylor.
When our eyes meet, he lifts his chin in my direction, a minor acknowledgement, but one that would’ve fed the gossip network at Marshall for months.
Nope. No way, no thank you.
I turn away without reacting and pray to all known deities that he won’t come over here and introduce himself – or the librarian – to my new friends.
‘Do you know him?’ Alice’s hand slips into her pocket to grab a lip gloss which Jenna steals away before she can even apply it. ‘I’venever seen him before. Too old to be a fresher. And he’s definitely looking at you.’
‘Can’t be.’ I turn away as his gaze burns into my back. ‘Or he has me confused with someone else.’
Alice rests her elbows on the table and gives a starry-eyed sigh, face propped up in her hands. ‘He can confuse me with whoever he likes. Are you sure you don’t know him? Because he certainly looks as though he knows you.’
‘Sure I’m sure,’ I reply definitively. ‘No one at Hemden knows who I am.’
And once again, it’s the truth.
5
Ethan
Being unceremoniously ditched by the librarian does not feel great. I have no idea what her problem is, it isn’t my fault I don’t know the name of every kid at Marshall.Unless, a quiet voice whispers in the back of my mind,unless she heard about the accident. That would explain it. But surely she would have said something?
Standing outside Carpenter House, stranded in a sea of my happy-looking classmates, I’ve never felt so alone in my life. So, I do what I’ve always done when things don’t make sense. Start moving. The soft grass gives under my feet as my casual stroll turns into a sprint. The crowds begin to blur, and I feel like myself again.
There are multiple versions of the truth floating around already, I know that much, even without access to a phone or a computer. Classes already started up at Marshall and it’s hardly arrogant to assume people might have noticed that the captain of the soccer team randomly transferred to another school in different country without telling anyone. They know I’m not there. They know I’ve abandoned my team, that Bre and I broke up. And everyone in Beaufort knows my brother is a damn wheelchair, even if they don’t know why.
My feet pound out a rhythm as the events of the last two months play over and over on a loop, like a movie I can’t switch off. I run faster, go harder, drown it out with my own thudding heartbeat, and I don’t stop until I come to a river, the rushing water literallystopping me in my tracks. Panting, I press my palm against the trunk of an old tree and look back to the way I came, the sun setting over the school, drawing sharp black lines against a paling sky. It’s kind of beautiful.
I have no idea which direction I came from or how to get back to the dorms so jog back to the closest footpath and fall into a steady stream of folks moving in the same direction. In my experience, only three places can pull in this many students at once – a lecture, a dining hall or a party – and since classes don’t start until tomorrow, I figure that leaves dinner or a party. Either one would be fine with me. The front of the line brings me to an ivy-covered building with a sign that reads ‘Student Union – Members Only’ but no one is checking IDs, so I walk in with a confident nod at the guy on the door. They’re not carding. Excellent.
Woah. This isnotthe dining hall. Outside, walking around campus, I felt like I was hanging out on the set of one of those period dramas on PBS but inside, the vibes are more familiar. The room buzzes with action, music bumping, lights down low and bodies pressed up against bodies everywhere I turn. Even though it kind of looks like the cigar room at my dad’s club, the way people are behaving suggests all my preconceptions about stuck-up, stuffy British students were way off base. Girls grinding on the dancefloor, couples making out up against the walls and everyone has a drink in their hand. Every TV show and movie I ever saw set in the UK has been lying to me.
‘Oi, Taylor!’
At the edge of the dancefloor, a tall dark-haired dude I’ve never laid eyes on in my life raises a hand and beckons me over. I point at myself, just to make sure, and he gives a double thumbs up. There’s a whole group of guys around him, all of them lookingme up and down in a way I do not love. He waves me over again and with a deep breath in, I push back my shoulders, lift my chin and walk over.
‘Hey,’ I say, approaching with caution. ‘What’s up?’
