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“What happened to you was horrible,” I said. “But I’d still rather have people thinking I’m weird than sleep with someone just to get it over with.”
“But Jesse isn’t ‘just someone’. He’s lovely.”
“Yes, he is,” I smiled. “But I still need to get to know him a lot better.”
I thought a lot about Willow’s words. I really could see her point about not wasting time with Jesse, but I also knew myself well enough to know that I wasn’t close to being ready for taking such a huge step. Sometimes I wished I was more like Georgia. If she was confused or concerned before she had sex for the first time, she never mentioned it. I suppose that could partly have been because she had more experienced friends to turn to. But even if that was true, she still talked to me about boy stuff. That’s probably how I got so paranoid.
In the lead up to the holidays, classes were always a little more relaxed, and aside from a very silly “Design a Holiday Card” assignment in Photography, we mostly sat around chatting. For me, that was the best thing about college. Lecturers were so much more laid back than school teachers. They worked us hard, but they also knew when to back off, and Christmas was one of those times. We’d been slacking off for the last three weeks, so much so that quite a few people stopped showing up. My parents would have been unimpressed if they found out I’d been skiving, so Willow and I kept going to class, and spent the time talking.
“I really think we should stop wasting our time coming here and spend the time drinking coffee,” Willow said, as we headed out of class after another work-free hour. “We could do the same thing we just did in the cafeteria, but with frequent drinks and an endless supply of snacks.”
“Yes,” I laughed. “But I would hate to ruin my perfect attendance record for the sake of some coffee and Kit Kats.”
“Oh, you know you love Kit Kats!”
I swatted her arm, and laughing, we headed down the corridor.
“Well, that’s disappointing.”
Willow and I jumped back as Leon rounded the corner, as if he’d been lurking there waiting for us. Knowing him, he probably was.
“What’s disappointing?” Willow asked, curiously.
I’d planned to keep walking, and Willow should have known better than to ask questions where Leon was concerned. The leer on his face made me shiver.
“It’s disappointing that Isabelle has covered up her legs and gone back to wearing her nun clothes.”
Nun clothes. I couldn’t recall ever seeing a nun in jeans and a thick winter coat, but whatever.
“Go to hell,” Willow said, linking her arm through mine and dragging me away.
“Wait,” Leon called after us. “I’m willing to give you a second chance, Isabelle. Just make sure you wear something that shows off your cleavage a bit more next time!”
I felt my cheeks flaming, partly with embarrassment, and partly with anger. How could he shout that out in the hall, where there were people walking around? Luckily, Willow and I had reached the doors to go outside so we didn’t have to see anyone staring, but that didn’t make me feel any better. It was bad enough he spent so much time making Georgia’s life a misery. I didn’t want to have to put up with him too.
“Urgh,” Willow said. “What is wrong with him?”
“I have no idea, and I don’t want to know. If there is one reason I’ll be glad to leave college, it’s because I won’t have to see him again.”
“Izzy! Wait up!”
Georgia and Mischa were running across the car park towards us. I’d forgotten their psychology class just ended. The idea of Mischa studying psychology always amused me. I was sure the only reason she took the class was so she could figure out the mechanics of the male mind in order to learn to seduce them more easily. Not that she needed the help. She managed well on her own.
“Hi,” Georgia said. “Are you heading home now?”
I nodded, and we all started to walk together. “Yeah, it’s too cold to do anything else.”
“Wimps,” Mischa said. “It’s never too cold for shopping.”
“I disagree,” Georgia laughed, rubbing her gloved hands together. “I just want to get a hot drink and snuggle under a blanket in front of the TV.”
“Me too,” I told her.
“Well, you have a hot boy at home waiting for you,” Mischa said, with a hint of a sneer. It was clear she was wondering what he saw in me. “I bet you two get up to all sorts of things under the covers.”
She winked to give the impression she was joking, but it was obvious that she wasn’t. I didn’t even feel the need to waste my breath answering her.
“What’s wrong?” Georgia asked, looking at me with concern.
