Chapter 10
CHAPTER
TEN
MILES
“Miles?” A vaguely familiar blonde stops in front of me and pops her pink bubblegum. Obnoxious. “You’re not in this class, are you?”
“No. Are you?” I smirk as the hopeful look in her eyes fades.
“I’m a repeater.” She giggles nervously and tosses her hair over her shoulder in a move that looks straight out of a 90s chick flick. Of course she failed and is repeating the class. She’s more interested in me than getting to class on time.
Speaking of which… I glance at the clock on the wall and see we’re down to the last three minutes before class starts. I remember Professor Parks being awfully damn strict about tardiness being unacceptable, so where the hell is Annie?
As if my thoughts helped her materialize, Annie bursts into the hall at a light jog.
She looks like a complete disaster. Her hair is plastered to her cheek on one side and poofed out in an oddly voluminous wave on the other. My best guess is she slept with wet hair and didn’t wake up with enough time to undo the damage. She also looks like she got dressed in the dark since she’s wearing one brown sneaker and one blue one.
“Glad to see you finally show up, Blue,” I call out to her.
She skids to a stop only a few feet from me and gapes. “What are you doing here?”
I’m leaning on the wall outside the door to her lecture hall waiting for her. After yesterday, Annie Kirkpatrick feels like a puzzle that needs to be solved. How is she producing extraordinary papers but claiming to be struggling in her class? I started wondering if I jumped to the wrong conclusion assuming she was looking for attention. While that’s still my leading theory, I’m curious enough to want to see her in action in class.
“Just checking on my best pupil,” I taunt her. “Let’s get in there before Parks shows up and locks you out.”
Based on how quickly Annie jolts into motion, she knows that’s not a meaningless threat. The blonde, on the other hand, stands dumbstruck as I step around her to follow Annie into the lecture hall.
“You can’t just come to class with me,” Annie hisses at me as I descend the steps with her in the lecture hall. She walks about halfway down, slipping into a partially filled row.
I plop down beside her and clarify, “Actually, I can. I signed up with the English department to do an audit of the class. Told my advisor that I wanted a refresher. I’m official, Blue. So relax and get your notebook and blue pen out.”
Her eyes light up. “Is that why you’re calling me Blue? My pens?”
I snort. I called her Blue before I realized she seems to have a preference for blue ink. I’m not about to explain that I nicknamed her based on her eye color like a douchebag.
“What’s your deal?” she demands. She’s growing tired of my attitude; I’m growing tired of her games.
I’m spared a response by Professor Parks as he walks in and greets his class with a dry, “Welcome back. I see many of you have lived to survive the college Hunger Games another day.” He laughs at his own joke which is enough to elicit quiet, nervous giggles from around the room.
My answering scoff isn’t quiet.
Professor Parks pauses on the steps by our row and turns to look at me with an unreadable expression. He studies me for a few terse moments before moving on. The jackass likes to pretend he’s unfazed by anything. I’m smart enough to know better.
As soon as Professor Parks reaches his podium, he turns and glances back up to our row again. This time, though, I get the distinct feeling I’m not the one he’s looking at.
Blue doesn’t seem to notice his encroaching gaze; her face is already buried in her notebook with her pen poised to undoubtedly overdo her note-taking. I focus on the professor again as he launches into his lecture. I remember the rumors swirling last year about the professor’s popularity with my classmates. If Blue has caught his eye, she doesn’t seem to notice.
I spend the rest of the class watching for any sign that there might be something between the two of them. She never looks up at him once.
“Man, when you didn’t show up for class this morning, I thought maybe you were dead.” Seth puts down his food tray and drops into the seat across from me. “Was that your first time skipping class?”
Not this guy again. This has to be the fifth or sixth time he’s crashed my solo lunchtime. I’m pretty sure he assumes we’re friends because I made the mistake of responding to him a few times.
“I think I’ll survive missing one session of Personal Finance.” No one needs that much practice writing paper checks. The few bills I’m responsible for stay on auto-pay.
“But the content is so riveting!” Seth jokes, his laugh a high-pitched cackle.
He falls silent when he realizes I’m not sharing in his hyena-like amusement. His gaze drops to the food in front of him and he pokes at the salmon on his plate with a plastic fork.
I thought I would do a re-read of my favorite Russian novel—translated to English because learning Russian as a hobby would be too pretentious even for me—while eating lunch, but I see now that’s not in the cards for me today. I’m not sure why I seem to have such a habit of picking up strays.
Have people never met a real fucking introvert before?
“I don’t make a habit of skipping classes because education is expensive.” I stick my book back in my bag.
Seth nods as his eyes take on a faraway look. “I needed four different scholarships to afford tuition here. I get that. I don’t usually miss classes either. I missed one day last year to get my wisdom teeth out and convinced myself I would never catch up with my classmates again after that.”
“What class?”
“Dance 101.”
What the fuck? I stare blankly at Seth as I try to picture why a lanky guy like him would take an elective that’s usually filled with students from the education department who want to teach gym or humanities.
He falls back against his chair and releases more of his hyena laugh. This time, I can practically feel the cafeteria full of people turning to stare at us. I sink into my seat and swallow the regret that I’m engaging this guy. We don’t know each other. I don’t owe him anything.
“I’m kidding,” Seth clarifies when he catches his breath again. “You should have seen your expression. You have no poker face.”
“Hilarious,” I deadpan.
Undeterred, Seth goes on. “The class was actually Music Theory 101. I’m a music major. I play the drums.”
That wouldn’t be hard to guess. As Seth spears a bite of salmon with his fork, his other hand drums a beat lightly on the top of the table.
“If the next words out of your mouth are to tell me I should look up your band sometime, I’m going to get up and leave,” I warn him.
“Fair enough.”
Seth shuts up to eat, leaving me an opportunity to let my gaze wander the expanse of the cafeteria. I’m not looking for anyone or anything in particular, but I catch sight of Lainey as she enters with a tray in her hands.
When Lainey turns towards the tables by the bank of windows overlooking the quad, I catch a glimpse of Blue following behind her. Blue has a thermos in her hands and no food tray.
“What are you looking at?” Seth turns in his seat to try to scope out what’s caught my attention.
“That’s my cousin in the Dalmatian pants.” She looks like she got dressed in Cruella Deville’s closet this morning. Still, admitting I’m related to Lainey is easier than explaining my morbid curiosity about Annie.
“Really?” Seth’s voice cracks. “I didn’t know Lainey is your cousin.”
“You know her?” That doesn’t surprise me much.
“Yeah, she comes to watch my band sometimes.” He turns back to his food with a shrug. If he’s trying to act like her watching his band is no big deal to him, he probably shouldn’t try so hard to avoid eye contact with me while he mentions it.
“Small world,” I mutter.
My attention has already moved on from Seth again. I press my mouth in a scowl as I stare across the cafeteria at Blue. She wasn’t happy with me crashing her class this morning, but I didn’t stick around after to give her a chance to complain. She’s already becoming a distraction. I don’t need to solve the mystery of this woman and her essays. I need to cut her loose back to her shitty boyfriend and overattentive professor.
I have my own shit. Annie Kirkpatrick can’t be my problem.
As if she finally senses someone’s eyes on her, Blue raises her head and looks around. I shift my gaze to Seth before she can catch me studying her. I can still see her out of the corner of my eye. She seems to pause looking in my general direction until Lainey tugs at her arm to guide her to an open table.
I need to get myself far away from this woman. I don’t need to keep doing tutoring sessions for her when there’s nothing to indicate she even needs tutoring. Time for my life to move the fuck on.