You’re the Reason, стр. 6

CHAPTER THREE

I found myself wandering Baker Hall the following day searching for room 500. It didn’t help that the room numbers didn’t go in any certain order, jumping from 520 to 505.

“Sophia?”

I spun around to find Valerie walking toward me. Her hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail really showing her dark eyes and heart-shaped face. “Hey.”

“You look lost.”

“It’s that obvious?”

She laughed. “Where are you headed?”

I held up the schedule on my phone. “Room 500.”

“That’s a lecture hall. It’s down there at the end.”

I sighed. “Thanks. You don’t happen to be in Art History, do you?”

She shook her head. “Already took it. Let me know if you have Professor Barnes, and I’ll share my notes from last year.”

“Thanks.”

A large group passed by, heading to the lecture hall.

“I better go get a seat.”

“Okay,” she said. “Do you wanna grab dinner tonight? I can stop by on my way to the dining hall.”

“Sure.”

“Great. See ya later.” With that she spun away and hurried down the hallway.

I headed in the opposite direction, finding the lecture hall at the end of the hall. I stepped through the door, and the room opened up to a five-hundred seat auditorium. I started up the stairs toward the back of the room, preferring to always sit in the back row. Unfortunately, every seat was taken. So, I relented, slipping into the aisle seat of the second to last row.

As more students made their way into the lecture hall, I scrolled through the newsfeed on my phone, checking on the college soccer scores at my friends’ schools.

“Okay, settle in everyone. I’m Professor Barnes and this is Art History.”

I tucked my phone away and looked to the female professor. Something out of the corner of my eye caught my attention.

Freaking great.

Chase.

He was staring at me from the opposite side of the room.

I refrained from flipping him the bird and averted my gaze.

This campus clearly wasn’t big enough for the two of us.

***

I was watching Netflix on our television when someone knocked on the door. I rolled off my bed and hurried to answer it.

Valerie stood there. “Ready for dinner?

“Oh, right.”

Her face fell. “Did you forget?”

I shook my head. Since Chantel blew me off the night before for Chase, and I ended up eating alone, I figured that Valerie only offered to be nice and wouldn’t show. “Let me just throw on my shoes.”

The walk to the dining hall was a quick one, but enough time for Valerie to fill me in on her first couple days of classes. Inside, we grabbed sandwiches, and I grabbed chocolate cake, before we made our way over to a small table by the window overlooking campus.

“This is a lot nicer than my last school’s dining hall,” I said, glancing around the vast space. Hungry students sat at long tables and music played softly from speakers. “It’s bigger and there are so many more food options.”

“If you’re a Texas girl, what made you go to Maine?” Valerie asked before biting into her sandwich.

I contemplated letting her in. Letting her know what a huge mistake I made by leaving Texas. Letting her in on what I’d lost because of it. But in the end, I just kept it simple. “I thought I needed to get away.”

“Now?”

“I’m definitely a Texas girl.” I pressed my fork into my cake and took a bite, savoring the sweet taste of chocolate coating my tongue.

“Dessert before dinner?” she asked.

“Chocolate trumps everything else.”

She smiled. “Are you liking it here at Crestwood?”

“So far.”

“And how about Chantel?” she asked with her mouth full. “How are you two getting along?”

“Honestly, I barely see her. Our schedules are completely opposite, and then she has Chase.”

Valerie rolled her eyes.

“Uh, oh. What’s that mean?”

She shook her head, her eyes growing distant. “I don’t know why she hasn’t moved on yet. He doesn’t want her.”

“He was over yesterday,” I countered.

She shrugged. “He gets lonely. He dials her up.”

“What’s his story? Is he a senior too?”

“Yeah.” She took another bite of her sandwich and spoke with a mouthful again. “He transferred second semester last year from Washington and was already a brother at their chapter of Kappa Sigma. Though, I always get the impression he doesn’t really enjoy being in the frat. But then again, look at me. Sorority sister for life.”

“Why did you join? You seem…different from the others.”

“My mom was a sister.” Disappointment swept across her features. “So, I’m a legacy. It was expected.”

I ate more of my cake.

“Are you planning to rush?”

I shook my head. “Sororities aren’t really my thing—no offense.”

She laughed. “None taken.”

“And, I can’t really see myself agreeing to do all those ridiculous pledge things you’ve gotta do just to get in.”

A mixture of regret and shame flashed across her eyes.

Shit. Why was I always saying the wrong thing? “So, I’ve told you about me. Tell me about you.”

Valerie’s face lit up. “Me?”

I laughed. “Yeah. Where are you from? What do you like to do?”

She spoke for the next fifteen minutes, barely coming up for air. It was as if no one had ever asked her about herself. And that light I thought was missing from her eyes the other night, shined brightly for the remainder of our dinner. We laughed—almost cried—as she told stories about all the beauty pageants her mom entered her in growing up and how she tried sabotaging every last one because she hated them so much. Valerie seemed like someone who’d been forced into situations she didn’t want to be in. But the longer we spoke, the more I saw she was