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CHAPTER 2 EVIE

It was five p.m. Jake had just texted to say he’d be at Toomey Field in ten, but knowing he was always late, Evie tacked on twenty more minutes.

Groups of first-years occupied pockets of the bleachers while Evie waited in the middle. Others sat on the grassy field, the all-weather track curling around them. Evie guessed they were still strangers because they were sitting politely spaced apart. If it were her and Lis and Kale and Tate sitting together, someone’s feet would have ended up on someone’s lap. Even so, the younger students were laughing and smiling, still high from their move-in day. They were excited for a chance to restart their lives, to explore the unknown.

Evie thought of her only sister, Linh, who was probably moving into Berkeley right now. She likely brought what she considered the essentials: her painting supplies. She easily imagined their parents scolding her for her haphazard packing, then giving up because her excitement wore them down. Story of Evie’s life: being the youngest, Linh would eventually get her way.

Even Evie was impressed that her sister convinced their parents to let her major in anything creative. Well, Linh had to throw in a couple of lies before admitting the truth, and their parents gave her the silent treatment for a few weeks, but after clearing some misunderstandings, she was on her way to being a painter. She even got a boyfriend along the way—a boy whose family owned a competing pho restaurant that once tried to sabotage Evie’s family restaurant. Their story felt like a modern Romeo Evie had always kept her head down, studying. If they’d gone to the same school, they wouldn’t have gotten together. But Evie saw college as a clean slate, and while she didn’t make over herself completely, she had a goal to make friends outside of her normally studious friend group, and eventually Jake and she became classmates, friends… and more.

Their similarities outweighed their differences. They liked order and routine and took school seriously. They knew the burden that came with birth order—all those expectations—and they felt responsible for more than themselves.

Jake and his family had a legacy here. Jake’s first and third brothers and his father all graduated from here. His father had built a major pharmaceuticals company and was a longtime member of the Chancellor’s Board of Advisors, and, when Jake was a first-year, he donated chemicals from his company that would otherwise cost a fortune for their school to procure.

Toomey Field was where they finally blurted out their feelings. Like silly kindergartners. That night, the stadium lights were dimmed, and they were, unbelievably, the only ones there. They shivered from a rare night chill, their hoodies doing little to help. They had bought the sweatshirts together, first-years duped into thinking school spirit actually mattered in the long run. After confessing her closely guarded feelings and becoming embarrassed, Evie made herself small by pulling the bottom of her hoodie over bent knees. She heard his quiet laugh—like he didn’t want people to hear him—and she lifted her head to see him glancing at her so softly.

It’d been two years since that night.

Now a couple of runners dashed around the track. Some were at a nice jog, but there was one Asian guy who jumped out at her. His runner’s pace was smooth, like he was just coasting along. Evie had never been a natural runner; she did it for exercise while others did it to clear their mind. The boy was oblivious to everyone around him, lost in his own mindscape.

Evie glanced down at her phone. 5:23. She was always looking at the time.

Jake Phan finally arrived. Evie heard him coming first. Some people down in the field called out his name. Used to this type of thing, Jake raised a hand before breezily walking up the bleachers in her direction. Evie took her time admiring him. And yes, maybe she felt a bit smug that he was approaching her. He was wearing a neatly ironed white button-down, and it contrasted against his recently suntanned skin.

Evie, respectfully, took in how well it clung to his lean torso. He kept up his workout routine over the summer.

Jake sat down. “Hey, you,” he said, kissing her quietly. Evie intertwined their hands.

Staring up at him now, she felt lucky enough to know all the things about him that people might not see initially. The slight creases in his forehead, the ones she used to trace after lying in his bed, were from worry.

He was the fourth child in his family, following a line of three doctors—anesthesiologist, heart surgeon, and orthopedic doctor. He was planning to go into pediatrics, like her. No one else noticed the pressure that came with this pedigree because he carried himself well. That was what really drew Evie to him—he never buckled no matter what was thrown his way. Growing up, she too was burdened by her responsibilities, albeit as the eldest daughter.

“I’d like to continue our negotiation,” Jake said playfully.

Before telling Evie he was on his way, they had texted about their dinner plans.

“Oh?” Evie arched an eyebrow.

“What if—”

“Non-negotiable.”

He groaned. “I don’t know how you can live off fast food.”

“I’m not living off it. I’m treating myself. So, Raising Cane’s?” Best chicken tenders ever.

“Promise: we’ll do chicken tenders another time. But what if we grab tacos? Fish tacos? Healthier, right? And I haven’t had it in ages.” He paused. “Also, I have a coupon on my phone.”

Ugh. He had her now. She could never say no to a deal. And that must make her parents secretly proud, especially her dad.

Evie finally nodded.

“But let me do one thing before we go,” Jake said.

“What?”

“I have to stop by Spain’s office.”

Eli Spain wasn’t the most hated professor in the science department.

He was the second. Every interaction with Spain was like an interrogation; a moment for him to ask trick questions to see if students were up to speed with the course materials. Everything he said was right, and even if you—the student—were right, you were still wrong. Evie was never his target, but she’d seen so many students switch majors because of him.

“Come on, he’s an okay guy once you get beyond that strange I’m better than you complex.”

“Jake, he loves you. ”

Jake laughed shortly. Bitterly. “Only because my dad donated to the building.”

Some of their professors were also his father’s former classmates. Being on their radar was both a good and bad thing; he was on a first-name basis with Spain, but Spain and other professors also talked to his father frequently, leaving little room for Jake to underperform. Eyes were on him all the time.

Evie’s parents didn’t watch her as closely; even in high school, they knew they could observe her from the sidelines. She could take care of herself. She was like that the moment she was born.

Evie nudged her boyfriend by the shoulder. “Or maybe Spain recognizes that you’re smart and hardworking, and he just wants to be your mentor.”

Jake pressed another kiss to her forehead. “Well, I really should see him. But I’ll be quick, I promise.”

“Yo, Jay!” a voice among a group of boys called out to him.

“Oh, it’s Brent,” Jake said, standing up. “I’m gonna say hi to him first. Wanna come? Then Spain and dinner.”

As a first-year prank this lovely gentleman named Brent had flooded one of the girls’ communal bathrooms, beyond repair, so they couldn’t use it for days. Multiple floors had to share the same, crowded bathroom.

Evie hated to be that person who held a grudge… but she was that person. So, she told Jay that she’d wait while he caught up with them.

They erupted with variations of Jake’s name along with choruses of “Bro!” Ugh. Yeah, she was not going anywhere near that.

Her eyes drifted back to the runner from before.

He had picked up speed. He pumped his legs and arms, and he was breathing hard, racing toward an imaginary finish line, pushing himself to the edge. Then she noticed one of his shoelaces flying free, and she thought he might trip.

Occasionally her thoughts manifested into reality–like how a red light changed the moment she wished it was green. Or when the song looping in her head suddenly played on the radio.

Before the inevitable happened, the runner’s eyes unexpectedly connected with Evie’s. Or, from a distance she thought they did.

Then he tripped, tumbling repeatedly, before landing face down. Laughter erupted from one of the groups nearby.

Evie rushed down the bleachers.