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“Is there anything I can get you?” she asked, sitting on her bed now.
I shook my head again. “No. I’m fine. Hey, what time is it?”
“Like three in the afternoon.” She swept her eyes across my side of the room, which was normally clean but was currently a bit cluttered. “Were you here for spring break?”
“Yes,” I lied, climbing off my bed. I unpacked my luggage and grabbed my bathroom caddy. “I’ll be right back.” I needed to freshen up and pull myself together before classes started tomorrow.
The thought of seeing Cole in class made my stomach coil. I didn’t want to skip. It wasn’t in my nature. And besides, I only had about three more weeks with him before this school year was over.
After a long and rather depressing shower, I changed into my pajamas and then grabbed my headphones and laptop. Astrid took off to meet her friends for a kickback as soon as I returned. She asked me if I wanted to join her, but I really wasn’t in the mood.
I stayed up late watching reality TV and was still awake when Astrid returned. She was drunk and high, staggering toward her bed with a goofy smile on her face.
“Zara…are you sad right now because you have secrets?” she asked.
I frowned and locked on her face, but she was pulling at a loose thread on her shirt. “What?” I asked, sitting up completely.
Astrid flopped backward and groaned then muttered, “I’m so fucked up. I need sooo much sleep.”
“Wait—Astrid. What are you talking about?”
She didn’t respond and soon started snoring. What had she meant by her question? There was no way she could know anything, not about me or Cole. That was the only secret I had.
My stomach tightened as I watched her chest rise and fall with her heavy breaths. I sighed and stood up, walking over to take her shoes off and placing her feet on top of the bed.
The next morning, I woke up before Astrid and got ready for my day. I packed my bag and went to the coffee shop because I needed a major pick-me-up.
I’d had a terrible night’s sleep, worrying about the question Astrid had asked me. I even had a dream about it—of students laughing at me because I slept with my professor. It was ridiculous to think she knew anything. How could she have known? Cole wouldn’t have told a soul and I wouldn’t have either, but my mind liked to play tricks and torment me.
Seated at a coffee table by the window, I focused on the assignments I had due in the coming weeks, but my mind wandered, getting distracted with thoughts of Cole…of our weekend…of our bad blowup.
I sighed and someone cleared their throat, catching my attention. Sitting at the table next to mine was Alisha. She was smiling at me, a smug smile that I didn’t very much like.
“Hi, Zara. How was your spring break?” Her tone was sickly sweet, but it was her eyes that had me sitting upright. The way she cocked her head to the side made the hair on my arms stand up.
“It was fine,” I replied, my brows furrowed.
“Go anywhere special?” she asked. I didn’t get a good feeling about her question, but I wasn’t about to give my discomfort away.
“No. It was actually pretty boring. I stayed on campus the whole time.”
Alisha straightened, her smile wider than before. “Well, I’m sure you had still a great time, right? Spending all that time alone?”
“Umm…” I didn’t know what to say to that.
“I had a great spring break,” she said, flipping her hair over her shoulder. “Went to Cancun. Had I known you’d be here all alone, I would’ve invited you!” Okay, that was bullshit. When had she ever thought to invite me anywhere? I opened my mouth to reply, but she cut me off. “Anyway, I’ll catch you in English. I’m so excited to see Professor Grant again. He’s so hot, right?”
I looked around uneasily before meeting her eyes again. “He’s a teacher, Alisha. I don’t really look at him that way.”
“Oh, come on. You can’t deny that he’s nice to look at, and I bet you he’s soo good in bed, too.”
My throat thickened as she stood up. “I wouldn’t know,” I murmured.
She laughed. “Sure you wouldn’t, Zara.” Alisha turned on her heels and pranced toward the coffee counter where her friends were waiting for her. Anxiety coiled in my gut as I watched her take off with them, exiting the shop with iced coffee in hand. That conversation didn’t sit right with me. Why was she talking like she knew something? And then the night before with Astrid…wait, if she’d gone out, she could have been around Alisha. But how would they know anything? They couldn’t have, right? Unless one of them saw us at the airport, or going into his apartment.
