“See you later.” I waved him off.
Kellan and I weren’t far behind. As we walked toward the exit, I came up short, my hand on the door. Staring right into my eyes was Grey as he looked out from a Dreamscape poster that had been plastered across the surface.
“I think the purpose is to gothroughthe door,” Kellan said teasingly.
With a disgusted grunt, I tore down the poster, crumpled it, and tossed it into a nearby trash can.
“Sheesh, what did that ever do to you?”
“There’s just an annoying number of them around.” I shoved the door open.
“Pretty sure you’re the only one who cares.” Kellan followed me outside, keeping a couple of steps behind me. “Where is all this hostility coming from?”
“There’s no hostility,” I said. There definitely was.
“Look, man.” Kellan grabbed my arm, forcing me to stop in the middle of the sidewalk.
We earned a couple of angry looks as students had to divert their paths to go around us.
“What?”
“Don’t ‘what’ me.” Kellan’s voice was serious. All his usual playfulness had evaporated. “I’m worried about you.”
“What is there to worry about?” I’d gone to all my classes, done all the work I’d been assigned so far. I’d even left the room on occasion. I was killing it.
Kellan let out a heavy sigh. “I’m beginning to think you’ve got a problem.”
“A problem,” I repeated.
“Yes. You’ve been way too obsessed with this guy.”
“I’m not—” Kellan held up his hand, cutting me off mid-sentence.
“You are. You spent last week stalking him all over social media. Then, since you saw him at the party, you’ve gone all weirdly hateful toward him. Why?”
“I—” Hanging my head, I took a breath. “I don’t know,” I admitted.
“Like, are you in love with him?”
I glared at Kellan. “I don’t even know him.” It was only after I’d given him an honest response that I realized he hadn’t been serious.
“Then stop giving him so much of your energy,” Kellan said. “You told me yourself that you had this grand plan for the semester. Well, so far, you haven’t talked to a single girl.”
“Not true. I got Piper’s number,” I protested.
It was true. After Grey had disappeared from the party the other night, Piper had given me her information. I hadn’tcalledher or anything, but I still had it.
“And yet you haven’t done anything about it because you’re too focused on some nerd with a band,” Kellan said.
I was quiet as I let his words sink in. His points were valid, and I hated it.
“You’re right,” I finally said. “I need to get over this.”
Kellan nodded. “If I were you, I’d start with texting Piper. She was definitely undressing you with her eyes at that party.”
My face warmed at that. “ Okay, I’ll text her and ask her out.” It was what I should do—what the version of me I’d envisioned for this year would do. So I would do it even if it felt like the last thing in the world I wanted to do at the moment.
“There’s my guy.” Kellan patted my shoulder. “I’ve got to go. You’re going to make me late to class… again.”
