Mia looks to her. “‘She’s beauty and she’s grace?’ What, no singing?”
My stomach drops at Sophie’s expression. I can’t bear to have a repeat of last year. Any of it.
“Anyway, maybe you’ll be the one to catch his eye.” Mia leans back and considers me. “All that shiny hair, big blue eyes. You two are some kind of match.”
I bite my teeth together. Not a match. Not with him. Never.
“I’ve never heard of a guy shooting down so many girls.” Ayumi is barely audible in here. “You really are pretty though.”
I muster a polite smile. Most girls love hearing that kind of thing.
“Hair shmair.” Sophie tosses her Blake Lively locks over her shoulder like it’s a nuisance. “I’d kill for those hips. Must be nice.”
So she isn’t thrilled with the tall, thin, and athletic thing shehas going. I wish I were surprised, but this is standard procedure. Girls don’t value what they already have. And worse, the longer a girl has been gorgeous, the more she compares herself to others, like beauty is a curse that grows with time. Something tells me Sophie has been cursed since birth.
Suddenly loosening, Sophie breaks into “Hips Don’t Lie” and draws glances from nearby tables. Her voice is so beautiful it pulls at the soul.
Mia moves her shoulders to the beat. “Something about that dude makes me want to knock him down a peg, prove he’s not untouchable.”
“How? Like play Hitch?” Ayumi nibbles a fingernail.
Sophie cuts her song short. “Ooh, I loveHitch.”
“Yeah …” Mia says. “Set him up to see what it’s like on the other side of the swooning.”
My fingers knot together beneath the table, squeezing until my knuckles ache. I hate being talked about like this. And I want less than nothing to do with that Levi guy. “You guys, just—no. I’m not going after him or anyone else.”
Three sets of eyes lock on me.
“On aboy-cott?“ Mia asks.
A bark of laughter from Sophie.
I straighten and take on a firm tone. “I had a bad experience.” Maybe that will shut it down.
“Go on,” Mia says.
“No. Thanks.”
Ayumi graciously brings up G1‘s movie night, and the subject finally drops. I sink into Saga’s hum of boisterous chatter, and my heart slows to a manageable beat.
I can keep myself safe this time. Step one is avoiding that Levi guy and anyone like him.
CHAPTER TWO
The weightof heat and humidity feels like punishment as I rush northwest toward the auditorium for chapel. My linen dress flutters too high with each step, so I press it down with my book-free hand, avoiding a Marilyn Monroe moment. I could slip in a few minutes late—the girls are saving me a seat—but I can’t stand being irresponsible. Sophie wouldn’t think twice, bouncing around on her own timetable, untethered to schedules, rules, or expectations. She’s blissfully free. But I have to keep my life in order. Now more than ever.
Mom’s voice echoes in my head.“Hurry must be fought.”I force myself to slow down and check my phone. My jog over here paid off—I’m fine on time.
The red brick auditorium sits proudly ahead. Nearly every building on campus is brick, as is most of the surrounding town of Pinecrest. Maybe it’s a Texas thing. A concrete path winds through the trees that shade this part of campus. Plenty of lushoaks, but the pines are my favorite. Scrappy and heat-resistant, they aren’t quite the towering ponderosas of Colorado, but close enough. Their woodsy scent reminds me of home.
What is that music? I’m nearing the doors when I see its source. A two-foot-long boombox next to a student I don’t know. “Never Gonna Give You Up” blares as he gets his groove on eighties-style outside the auditorium. Oh, this is good. The vintage blazer over his faded-orange shirt must be sweltering, but he’s the picture of cool as he moonwalks for his growing audience.
Yesterday I saw a freshman in the same shirt emblazoned with “Flooders.” With a matching bandana around his head, he was rolling a massive tire to class. When someone asked him what it was about, he just shouted, “Woo, NASCAR!” in an exaggerated southern drawl.
I reach the auditorium doors and step inside. At last, a blast of blessed air-conditioning hits me.
Someone whirls around and bumps hard into my side.
