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CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Tuesday morning, the first day of class, I wake up in Garret’s room to bright sunshine seeping through the curtains. I check the clock. 7:40. Shit! I have class at 8.

“Garret, get up.” I shove the covers off us and climb out of bed.

“What time is it?” he asks, still groggy.

“I overslept. I have class in 20 minutes. I gotta go. I’ll see you later.” I throw my sweatshirt on over my pajamas, then yank my shoe on but lose my balance and fall back on the bed.

Garret leans up to kiss me. “See you at lunch?”

“Not on Tuesdays and Thursdays, remember? You have class at noon and I have chem lab at 1.”

I hurry downstairs to my room and quickly change into jeans and a long sleeve t-shirt. I haven’t even packed my backpack for class. I’m so unprepared this semester—a side effect of spending all my time with Garret. Last semester, I was early to my first class and my backpack was neatly organized. Today I’m a total disaster. I’m not even clean. I probably smell like sex.

I need to get focused again. This semester I’m trying to get serious and figure out what I want to major in. I’m considering biology, even though last semester’s biology class wasn’t my favorite. But that’s because my idiot lab partner stuck me with all the work.

I’m still thinking of going to med school, but I haven’t told anyone this yet and I don’t plan to until I decide for sure. To help make that decision, I’m taking the classes my advisor said are typical of pre-med students; chemistry, physics, and microbiology. Those three classes will be tough, so I added some easier electives; sociology and European history. It’s a full schedule that will keep me buried in homework.

When I arrive at the science building at 8:05, my chem class has already started. Moorhurst is a small college so the classes never have more than 30 people. From my quick count, this one has about 25. Everyone turns and stares at me as I walk in. Luckily the professor is writing something on the board and doesn’t notice.

There’s an open seat in the last row so I quickly take it, quietly setting my backpack on the floor. Some guy I’ve never seen before is sitting next to me. I thought I knew everyone at this school, but this guy doesn’t even look familiar.

The professor picks up a thin booklet from his desk and holds it up. “Before we begin, open your lab books to page 10.”

I search my backpack for the lab book. It’s not in there. Of course, because I’m not prepared! That’s it. As soon I get back to my room, I’m getting organized.

“Do you want to share?” The guy I don’t recognize holds his lab book out opened to page 10.

“Sure. Thanks.” I scoot my desk closer to his.

“No problem.” He smiles before returning his eyes to the book.

I glance at him quick. He’s really cute, bordering on hot. His wavy, dark brown hair matches his intensely deep brown eyes and I noticed a dimple in his cheek when he smiled.

He must be new. If this guy was here last semester, I definitely would’ve remembered him.

“The lab experiment you’ll be doing later today is listed on page 10,” the professor says. “Review the instructions before you get to lab and make sure you get there early to pick up your supplies, which are listed on page 12. And if you don’t have a partner yet, find one before you arrive.” He returns to the board and starts writing again.

Partner? Who already has a partner? Class just started. I see the people in front of me whispering to each other. So we’re picking partners right now? Shit! Now I’m going to be paired up with whoever’s left. I’m going to get another loser like I had in biology lab.

“Do you have a partner?” new guy asks, leaning over so close I can smell the minty gum he’s chewing.

I back away slightly. “No. I don’t.”

He’s clearly hinting he wants to be partners, but I don’t even know this guy. What if we don’t get along? I don’t want to be stuck with him all semester. I scan the room. Everyone is facing forward again as if they all now have partners.

“Would you mind being my partner?” new guy asks. “I promise I’ll always do my share of the work.” He smiles again, showing off his perfect white teeth and that seriously cute dimple.

“That already makes you better than my last lab partner, so, yeah, we can be partners.”

“I’m Carson, by the way.” He holds his hand out.

“I’m Jade.” I shake his hand, which is very large. He’s a big guy. Wide shoulders and chest. Muscular forearms. He definitely works out.

The professor is speaking again. “Now turn to page 8 in your textbooks and we’ll begin.”

After class, Carson follows me into the hallway. “Do you want me to get the lab supplies?”

“Sure, if you don’t mind. And I’ll definitely be on time for lab. I’m usually not late to class like that. In fact, that’s probably the first time I’ve ever been late to class. I’m usually early.”

“Me too. Except today I got there way too early. I wanted to make sure I went to the right room. I’m new here, in case you didn’t know that already.”

“Did you transfer from somewhere?”

“Um, no. I had some family issues last fall, so I couldn’t start until this semester.”

He seems uncomfortable, so I don’t ask him about the “family issues.” I skip to the basic questions that I’m sure he’s already been asked a hundred times.

“Are you from Connecticut?”

“No. Illinois.”

I smile. “A Midwest boy, huh? Finally. Someone else from the middle of the country. I used to be the only one here.”

“You’re from the Midwest?”

“Des Moines, Iowa.”

“Oh yeah? My grandma lives in Des Moines. We go there all the time to visit her.”

“How did you end up at Moorhurst?”

“My dad found this college a few years back when he was out here for a conference. He liked the area and did some research on the school and suggested I check it out. We came for a visit and I liked it. But now that I’m here I’m feeling a little out of place. So nobody else at this school is from the Midwest?”

“Just me. Everyone else is from the coasts, mostly the East Coast.”

“Then it’s a good thing we met.” He flashes the dimple again. “So far I haven’t found the people here to be very friendly.”

“They’re kind of cliquey, especially the ones from Connecticut. Some of them went to the same high school. Oh, and you should know that these people have no idea what’s in the middle of the country. If you tell them where you’re from, they’ll look at you all confused. I’ve told people a million times I’m from Iowa and half of them still think I’m from Ohio.”

He laughs. “That explains it. I was telling some people in my dorm that I’m from Illinois and they keep asking me if I liked growing up in Indiana.”

“See? And it’s no use trying to correct them. I tried and they still think I’m from Ohio.” I hoist my backpack onto my shoulder. “Well, I should get going. I’ll see you at lab.”

He follows me out of the building and walks with me across the open quad. “Hey, um, I don’t mean to bother you, but do you think we could maybe have lunch and you could tell me more insider secrets about the school?”

I stop walking and turn to face him. Wow. He’s really good looking. And he’s tall. Maybe 6’4 or 6’5? He seems desperate for someone to be friendly to him. I’m usually not very friendly, but I know how much it sucks to not know anyone and I feel like I should be nice to the only other Midwesterner on campus.

“I could do lunch. Are you free at noon?”

“Yeah, but I was gonna get the lab supplies at 12:30. Could we meet earlier than that?”

“Let’s say 11:30. Which dorm are you in?”

“That one over there.” He points to the one next to mine.

“Okay, I’ll meet you in your dining hall at 11:30.”

“Great. See you then.”

When I get back to my room I realize that I just agreed to have lunch with a really cute guy who isn’t Garret. Is that bad? It shouldn’t be, so why do I feel guilty? And why did I purposely arrange to eat at Carson’s dorm and not mine? It’s not like the girls from my floor would see me with Carson and assume I’m interested in the guy, would they? That’s ridiculous. It’s just lunch. Am I not supposed to eat a meal with a guy ever again? That doesn’t seem right.

At 11:30 Carson is waiting for me at the entrance to the dining hall. As we get into line, I feel like everyone is staring at us, gossiping about how I’m cheating on Garret. But I’m not cheating. I’m just having lunch. And nobody is staring. It’s just my guilty conscience telling me they are.

We take a seat at a table in the corner. I’m starving because I never ate breakfast.

“You must really like fries,” Carson says, noticing my plate.

Despite my resolution to eat better, I still haven’t done it. Today’s lunch is a plate of waffle fries, a dish of chocolate ice cream, and a soda.

“Everyone likes fries.” I reach across the table for the ketchup. “And why are you picking on me? You have a pile of fries, too.”

“Yeah, but I also have a chicken sandwich.”

“So what questions do you have?” I ask as I tap the ketchup bottle on my plate.

Carson quizzes me about some of the professors and what to expect in terms of homework and tests. Then we talk briefly about the social scene and I explain how everyone goes to parties off campus on Friday and Saturday nights and how it’s a social sin to have a party in your dorm room.

“Do you know if there are any trails around here?” he asks. “I like to run, but I don’t like running on a track.”

“Same here. But I don’t feel safe on the trails by myself, especially at night, so I usually end up on the track. Anyway, to answer your question, there’s a trail that starts in the woods behind the science building.”

“How far do you run?”

“Nine or 10 miles. Sometimes less if I’m in a hurry.”

“I usually go 8 or 9. We should run together sometime.”

“Yeah, maybe.” Guilt is creeping into my conscience again. What am I doing with this guy? First lunch. Now plans to go running? I haven’t even mentioned Garret’s name yet. I didn’t even tell Carson I had a boyfriend. No wonder he keeps asking me to do stuff with him. Just as I’m about to bring up Garret, Carson starts talking again.

“So what’s your major?”

“I don’t have one. I’m undecided. What’s yours?”

“Biology. I’m planning to go to med school.”

“What kind of doctor do you want to be?” I take a big bite of my ice cream.

“I want to be an oncologist.”

I cringe as the ice cream causes a moment of brain freeze. When I recover, I say, “So you want to be a cancer doctor. Any reason why?”

“Yeah, because um . . .” Carson sets down the french fries he was holding and wipes his hands together, shaking the salt off. “My sister had cancer.”

I’m confused by his use of the past tense. She either beat cancer or is dead. I’m too afraid to ask.

He moves his tray to the side and leans forward, resting his forearms on the table. “I don’t like to talk about it, but since I already brought it up I’ll tell you. My sister died of cancer last month. She was 16.”

So that explains the past tense.

“Oh. I’m sorry. That’s awful.”

“Yeah. She wasn’t doing well last summer, so I didn’t start school in the fall because I wanted to spend time with her. She passed away the week before Christmas.”

I never know what to say when people tell me sad things. I just sit there looking lost and feeling like an idiot.

“Anyway,” he continues, “seeing her go through that made me want to be a doctor. Plus, my dad’s a doctor and so was his dad, so it kind of runs in the family.”

“I’m thinking of going to med school, too.” I had no intention of that little secret spilling out, but I was so flustered from the dead sister story that I wasn’t even thinking.

“Really? Do you know what you want to specialize in?”

“No. I haven’t even decided for sure if I want to be a doctor. I’m just thinking about it.”

Now I totally regret telling him that. I haven’t even told Garret. I can’t tell a stranger what I plan to do with my life when I haven’t even told Garret.

“Well, if you ever want to talk to a doctor about med school or different types of medicine, you could talk to my dad. He has a private practice and also teaches a class at a university.”

“Yeah, okay, I’ll let you know.”

“I should probably head over to the lab.” Carson gets up from the table. “Are you busy now or do you want to come with me and help get the supplies?”

“I might as well go with you, but I have to stop at my room quick and get my lab book.”

Carson follows me back to my room. Some girls on my floor see us together, but they don’t give me any strange looks, so maybe I’m making too big a deal out of this. I can hang out with a guy friend. Why not? Other girls do.

The girls walking past us are really checking Carson out. The way he looks, he’ll have a girlfriend by the weekend.

“I’ll just be a minute.” I hurry into my room and start searching for my lab book.

“You don’t have a TV?”

“What?” I look up and see Carson sitting on my bed. “Um, no. I don’t watch much TV.” I kneel down and sort through the stack of books on the floor by my desk. “I swear someone stole my lab book. I remember buying it, but now I can’t find it.”

“Hey, Jade. I got out of—” Garret walks through my half-open door, but stops when he sees the hot new guy sitting on my bed.

Damn! This is not at all how I pictured my first day of the new semester.