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Marc was cute, no doubt, but not the kind of guy I would have expected a Billings Girl to select. He was too fidgety, too garrulous,
too... well, short. I squinted at the card beneath his sheepishly smiling face and recognized the loopy handwriting instantly. Constance.
Of course. Why was I not surprised? When it came to priorities, Constance was not your average Billings Girl. "And that accent?"
Portia was saying. "Molto sexy!" The girls around me all swooned and laughed knowingly, and I finally realized this might actually
be fun. So I relaxed into my chair. Relaxed into the moment. Into a night without drama.
ONLY HUMAN
"Why the hell did you pick Trey? " I asked Noelle as we emerged from the breakfast line Wednesday morning. "Did you really
think I could go out with Josh's roommate?" "Of course not. That's exactly why I chose him," Noelle whispered. "I had to pick some-
one, but I know as well as you do that you're not ready for a relationship. So why not pick someone whom everyone would eventually
have to agree was no good?" I smiled at her. Always thinking, that Noelle.
We took seats at our table, where everyone else had already gathered, but I found that I couldn't relax. Every time the dining hall
door opened, I flinched. I forced myself not to look up each time, but would glance over casually a moment later to check who had en-
tered. If my friends had thought their game of Find Your Rebound would make me forget about Josh, they were mistaken. Of course,
they had forgotten about him entirely. My fifteen bachelors were the number one topic of breakfast conversation. "I can't believe you
guys ranked Marc fifteenth," Constance said despondently, pushing her oatmeal around with her spoon. "I mean, you don't even know
him." "Exactly. And that's strike number one," Noelle replied. "No one here has ever talked to him but you. What does that tell you
about him? " Constance's shoulders sank. She looked like a little kid who'd just been told her new puppy was hit by a car.
"I've talked to him," I said. My words had the desired effect. Suddenly Constance sat up straight and looked at me all bright-eyed.
"You have?" "Yeah," I said with a casual shrug. "And I liked him." "Omigod, yay!" Constance exclaimed, dropping her spoon. "So
are you going to ask him out? " "Ew! No!" Vienna exclaimed as she wrapped her thick hair back in a ponytail. Her massive breasts
bulged forth from her low-cut shirt as she did so, and a freshman boy tripped himself as he walked by. Vienna didn't seem to notice.
"Reed, you cannot start with what's-his-face. If you do, then last night was totally pointless."
"His name is Marc," Constance said, gaining confidence from my backup. "And he's totally sweet and the most determined reporter
on the paper, and he's cute, too--I think." Constance was editor-in-chief of the Easton Chronicle and therefore had this whole other life
I knew almost nothing about, which included friendships with people like Marc. "Good. Then you go straddle the guy," London said.
She was now working on her own ponytail. Heaven forbid the Twin Cities should be seen without matching hair. Constance blushed
and fell silent again. "I don't want to straddle him," she said, making a choking noise in the back of her throat. "I have Whit."
"Good, then you go straddle him, and let us help Reed snag someone worthy of the Billings president," Noelle replied. "Exactly.
Just not Trey Prescott," Astrid put in. Noelle smiled triumphantly. Her plan was working. "Why not Trey?" London said. "He's a total
hottie." "True, but the last person he dated was Cheyenne," Astrid said, popping a grape into her mouth. "Reed's already taken over
