walking toward the door. “Let’s go.”
He swung his legs off my bed and stood, his towering figure imposing in our small space. He was nauseatingly good looking. His T-shirt stretched across his sculpted chest, and the sleeves molded around his muscular biceps. He was definitely an athlete.
Chantel pulled open the door. “See you later, Sophia.”
“Don’t catch anything,” I called as Chase followed her into the hallway without giving me another look.
The door clicked shut behind them. I stared at the door for a long time, my mind reeling.
Frat Boy was Chantel’s man.
I needed that thought to settle for a bit. But it didn’t make any sense. Why did the sight of me elicit such a cold reaction in him? Did Chantel not like me? Had I ruined her plan to have a single room this year? Had he planned to stay over every night and now he couldn’t?
What the hell?
This was definitely not the start to the year I’d been hoping for.
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