Awakening (Covenant College #1) (5 page)

Tara made her way back into the store and smiled brightly at us. I couldn’t help but think it was a little
fake
, though. She walked over to us laughing. “I went to high school with him,” she explained.

“Really?
You should have come in and introduced him to us,” Paris seemed genuinely interested.

“Oh, I went to high school with him but I didn’t like him,” she explained. “He wanted to invite us to a party.”

“I don’t think
Brittany
is up for another party,” I answered. Paris nodded her silent assent. For his part,
Aric
didn’t seem to be listening. He was still watching the spot where Tara had been arguing with her high school classmate. He looked thoughtful.

“Yeah, I don’t know what I’m up for tonight either,” Tara said with a laugh.

Paris had obviously dismissed the argument. I was suspicious by nature, but even I didn’t blame her for wanting to get away from high school “friends.” That was why I had come here in the first place.

Aric
finally seemed to snap to attention. He smiled down at all of us – letting his eyes linger on me a little longer than everyone else. “It was nice meeting you all.”

“You, too,” Paris and Tara said. They both looked a little dreamy.

Aric
turned to me expectantly. “Bye,” I said with false bravado.

Aric
smiled a small half smile to himself as he regarded me. I could tell he wanted to call me on my attitude but he wisely refrained from any such action.

“I’ll see you around.”

“Doubtful.”

I thought I’d said it under my breath but apparently he’d heard me. He turned around briefly before exiting. “You can count on it.”

Despite myself, I felt a little thrill of anticipation. Seriously, what is wrong with me?

Five

Sunday morning I woke up with a mixed sense of dread and excitement.

This was the last day off before classes started. While I was excited to be in college – academia had never really been my thing. Still, I only had five classes – and none of them were gym so I was already better off than high school.

As a group, we’d all decided to stay in and just play cards and gab the night before.
Brittany
was still recovering. I could only hope she’d work up a tolerance. I didn’t want to think of her being such a lightweight the entire year. That was going to make babysitting her a real task.

We all went down to breakfast together as a group – where
Brittany
proceeded to explain to all of us the benefits of a gluten-free diet. I was only half listening – but I realized quickly on that was going to eliminate every cereal I liked – so that obviously wasn’t going to happen.

After breakfast, we returned to our room but left the door open. I figured it was time to get to know some of our floor mates better.

The guys across the hall came to introduce themselves pretty quickly. There were two Ricks, a Greg and a Milton. Yeah, his parents obviously sucked.

They seemed like nice guys – but none of them exactly screamed
brainiac
to me. I think they were mostly here for the parties and women – which was fine with me.

Rick No. 1 sat down next to me and tried to engage me in a conversation. Of the two Ricks, he was clearly the more intelligent of the two, but I was pretty sure that wasn’t saying much. I answered most of his questions in a non-committal way. I was friendly, not gregarious.

For her part,
Brittany
and Milton seemed to be enjoying a friendly chat. It didn’t surprise me in the slightest.

Before I knew it, though, it was lunchtime already and we all decided to go down to the cafeteria together. I figured that expanding our group could only benefit me – mostly because
Brittany
was going to be so high maintenance.

As we traversed the cafeteria with our trays, I realized that Tara had been largely quiet today. She’d been friendly and nice to the guys, but when she thought no one was looking she was lost in contemplation. I couldn’t help but wonder if it had something to do with the guy we had seen her with at the UC the day before. I didn’t ask, though. It was none of my business.

Towards the tail end of lunch, a tall boy with long hair made his way over to the table. His hair was blonde – so blonde it almost looked like an ashy gray. He had warm brown eyes and he carried a skateboard. I smiled despite myself. A hipster carrying a skateboard indoors could only mean one thing: pothead.

Brittany
smiled when she saw the boy approach our table. It was a watery smile, though, and I could tell she was concerned about seeing him.

“Mark,” she squealed, yes squealed, and threw her arms around him. It seemed like an extreme reaction for someone that looked surprised to see him a few minutes before and embarrassed to see him a minute after that.

For his part, Mark seemed surprised by the greeting as well. Still, he hugged her back before returning his gaze to everyone at the table.

Brittany
was bubbly as she introduced Mark. “We went to high school together . . . although we didn’t really hang around in the same circles.”

I smiled to myself. I could bet what circles
Brittany
ran around with – the same circles I secretly dreamed of starting on fire when I was bored in detention. Mark, though, I bet he ran around in similar circles to me – and I bet those circles were often drowned in a haze of hemp.

Mark must have sensed a kinship with me, too, because when
Brittany
asked
him
if he wanted to join us he immediately moved to the side of the table Paris and I were sitting on and wedged himself between us. I couldn’t help but laugh.

Paris, Mark and I enjoyed some idle chatter for
awhile
. Paris asked him about his skateboard – even being so bold as to question him about whether or not she could ride it.

I thought that was pretty brave. Most skateboard aficionados don’t let anyone touch their ride.

Mark was either baked or laid back, though. He acquiesced almost immediately.

“You want to
come
try, too?” He seemed eager for me to agree.

Interestingly enough I did. I have negative balance on roller blades, but maybe a skateboard would be different. I could ski, after all.
Of course, when you fall while skiing it’s usually in a big soft drift of snow.
Pavement is a different thing.

Paris, Mark and I said goodbye to everyone at the table. I couldn’t help but notice a dark look emanating from
Brittany
as she watched us go. For a minute I wondered if she had a crush on Mark. I realized pretty quickly that probably wasn’t it. Still, I couldn’t figure out why she was suddenly so hostile.

Pushing the thoughts out of my mind, Paris, Mark and I went to the sidewalk area behind the dorm. There were a couple of blankets spread out in the grassy area being occupied by a few couples – but for the most part the area was empty.

Mark gave us a quick tutorial on how to balance ourselves on the board before he nervously handed his pride and joy – which I noticed had Smurf decals on the undercarriage – over to Paris.

I was surprised. Paris didn’t seem like the athletic type to me. She quickly caught on to the skateboard, though. I had a sneaking suspicion this wasn’t her first time. I wondered – just for a second – if perhaps Paris was attracted to Mark’s folksy and laid back attitude. If she was, I couldn’t blame her. Her boyfriend was ugly. What? I said I was shallow.

Still, Paris didn’t overtly flirt with Mark. For his part, Mark split his time between watching Paris navigate the treacherous sidewalk and trying to engage me in conversation. Luckily for me the conversation was of the mundane variety.

Which bands did I like? Band of Horses ruled.

What was my favorite movie? ‘The Goonies’ still stands up today.

What was my favorite book? ‘Lord of the Rings’ was cool before the movies. It’s still cool after.

Did I like comic books? No, but I did like super hero movies.

We had a lot in common. I couldn’t help but smile at him. He was a nice guy. And, after my run-ins with
Aric
and Rafael over the past two days, it was nice to find a guy I just wanted to hang out with and not picture naked.

Whew, I wasn’t in heat after all.

After Paris had monopolized the skateboard for a full hour she brought it over to me. I looked at it dubiously. It had seemed like a good idea in the cafeteria. That really wasn’t the case anymore. Still, I didn’t want to look like a wimp.

Here’s the thing, skateboards and in-line skates clearly aren’t my thing. I have no sense of balance. I wasn’t on the skateboard five seconds before I crashed to the ground and skinned my elbow.

Both Mark and Paris tried to cajole me back onto the death contraption but I declined – with profanity. After ten minutes they both gave up and we agreed to walk over to the 7-Eleven for a Slurpee before returning to the dorms.

While we were sitting at a picnic table outside the convenience store drinking our
Slurpees
and enjoying the nice weather – and the beginnings of what looked like a terrific sunset – my cell phone vibrated in my pocket.

I reached for it and saw that it was Will calling. We’d both agreed to wait until Monday to talk. I guess he missed me. I smiled a little bit at the thought. This was going to work out great.

“Hey,” I greeted him.

“Hey, how’s it going?” Will was kind of a slacker at first glance. That was only the surface, though. He worked to put himself through school. His parents were moronic hippies that spent more time at Renaissance fairs than raising him and his brother. They even built a teepee in their backyard to live in during the summer. I’m not joking. It was baffling. I think they just did it so they could smoke their peace pipe near nature and not share it with their kids. I had no proof of that, though.

“It’s going good.”

“You get your books?”

“Yeah.”

“You get all your stuff packed?”

“Yeah.”

“You know where all the buildings you have to go to tomorrow are?”

“Yes, dad,” I sighed in irritation. I could tell Will was smiling on the other side of the phone.

“You’re all set then, right? You’ve done everything you have to do?”

“I said yes.”

“Good, you want to come over and do
me
?”

Wow, I stepped right into that one. “Do I want to come over and do you?”

“He’s a smooth talker,” Paris giggled.

I noticed Mark’s eyes had darkened slightly. He was clearly listening to the conversation – even though he was pretending not to.

“Why don’t you come over here?”

Will snorted.

“What was that noise?”

“I’m not coming to the dorms?”

“Why not?”

“I’m a junior.”

“So?”

“So, juniors aren’t seen at the freshman dorm. People will talk.”

“People will talk about what?”

“They’ll say I’m trying to pick up a freshman or something.”

“You are trying to pick up a freshman.”

“No, I’ve already picked up a freshman – a hot freshman.” Well, that placated me a little bit.
“A hot freshman that I’ve known for years and been having sex with for a respectable amount of time.”

I was getting annoyed again. “What’s your point?”

“I’m not coming to the dorms.”

“Well, I’m not walking to your frat house.”

“I’ll come pick you up.”

“So you’ll
come
pick me up at the dorms but you won’t come into the dorms?”

“Right.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

“It is what it is.”

“I guess you’re sleeping alone tonight then, Mr. Junior.”

Will paused on the other end of the phone. I could tell he was mulling things over. This hadn’t worked how he thought it would. He decided to try a different tact.

“I wanted you to meet my frat brothers.”

“I met them when you moved in two weeks ago.”

“Not all of them.”

“I met enough of them. You haven’t met my roommates.”

“I’ll do that later.”

“When?”

“Later.”

Now I was really getting irritated. “Just come over here.”

Will decided to dig his heels in. “I don’t want to go over there.”

“Well, I’m staying here tonight.” I realized we’d both started yelling at one another somewhere in the last few minutes. I struggled to bring my tone down. People were starting to stare.

“Fine,” Will was clearly as aggravated as I felt.