New Girl - By Paige Harbison Page 0,36
open a drawer behind her. She pulled from it a stapled packet. “Fill this out.”
“What is it?”
“It’s called Major Undecided. It’s basically a test to find out where your interests really lie. I must encourage you to answer honestly. Take your time doing it. This could really help you. So don’t look at it like homework. Look at it as a ticket to your decision.”
I nodded. “I will.”
“Well, if there’s not anything else we need to discuss, then you’re all set.” She eyed me carefully. “And you’re sure there’s nothing else?”
“That’s all for me.” I stood, and then hesitated. “I mean, it’s been difficult, in some ways. But that’s just because I’m new. It’s always hard to be new.”
She nodded, waiting for me to go on.
“I just…I feel weird because I’m in Becca Normandy’s room and I feel like everyone else feels weird about that, too. I’m not trying to take her place.”
“Of course not.”
“And Madison and Julia…I don’t know if you know them, you probably do…well anyway, they were friends with Becca, and they keep asking me if I like Max Holloway—” my heart skipped a little on his name “—and I never said I did. And even if I did, it shouldn’t be up to them what I do with it, right? I know it’s kind of weird because Becca’s his girlfriend…but if he liked me back, then would it be messed up of me to just go with it?”
“Don’t worry about the other girls. They are going through something very traumatizing, and it’s making them all think too hard. I must admit, I was afraid of what the repercussions might be when you arrived.”
The idea that she had seen this coming startled me. “Really?”
“Of course. You replaced—” she did quotes with her fingers “—a student here whom a lot of other students cared for. Especially Dana, Madison, Julia, etc. I’m sure it’s very difficult to feel welcoming of someone who wouldn’t be here if their friend still was.”
That was blunt.
“But what you must remember,” Dr. Morgan went on, “is that anything they do that is an effect of their own fluxing emotions has nothing to do with you.”
When I left, I wasn’t sure if I felt better or not.
Saturday afternoon, Blake invited me to go into town with her.
“Manderley is like being stuck in an attic. Dusty, cold, and you feel like you might be struck by lightning at any moment. Sometimes it’s just nice to get out.”
We wandered around Main Street for a little while, chatting about this and that, before deciding to get a bite to eat from a French café called Les Filles de Cuisine. I hoped it would taste anything like my mother’s cooking.
I saw the menu had Orangina, like most of these Americanized places, and ordered it immediately.
“Blake?”
We both turned to see Madison and Julia coming in.
“Madison, Julia, hey.” Blake sounded as tired of them as I was.
They pulled the other two-seater table up to ours. “I love this place,” said Madison. “Their food is so good. I didn’t think we’d be able to come though.”
“Why?” I asked. For some stupid reason.
“Well…” Julia and she exchanged a look. “Last time we were here, Becca was with us.”
“Oh,” I said. “I’m sorry.”
“That was where we sat last time…” Julia looked longingly at a table occupied by a couple. He said something to her, and she blushed.
“Aw, they are so cute,” said Julia. “They even remind me of…”
“I know!” Madison exclaimed. “I was just going to say that! That day even.”
Julia looked to us to explain. “We were here right after Christmas, and she was wearing that silver necklace Max gave her. Do you remember it, Blake?”
Blake stared at the menu on the table and said quietly, “Yes.”
“It was from Tiffany & Co.,” Julia explained to me. “He’d had her name engraved, and the date they got together.”
“Oh, she looked so pretty that day. She had on those cute riding boots—they were the same ones Kate Middleton had been wearing in this one picture…well anyway, they were so cute.”
The waiter came over and took our order. I ordered lobster bisque and Croque Monsieur. I hoped to God they’d stop talking about Becca when the waiter left. But no.
“When we were here that day, we were just talking, whatever, like we always did, and then Max came in. He just showed up. Johnny was with him, but he was in here talking to us. That was the day I realized Johnny had feelings for Becca.”
Blake