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“Ouch,” I said, laughing. “Okay. Game respect game.”
She laughed. “Sit down before someone realizes you took their seat.”
She made a good point. Even though we didn’t have assigned seating in this class, everyone had sat in the same place since day one. It was like we were all creatures of habit, finding comfort in the ordinary.
But my girl was anything but ordinary. And I wasn’t giving up extra time with her because of some unspoken social rule.
So, when the college girl who usually sat next to her came into the room and saw me, she paused for a moment, like her brain was coming off autopilot. Then she took my old place toward the back. A new order established.
It only took me about five minutes to realize what a terrible freaking idea that had been.
Between the smell of April’s perfume and the way she played with her hair as she took notes, I was a goner.
I could only remember a third of the words Janice said, and I had to stare at my textbook, hard, to understand those words.
It was the most torturous three hours, sitting next to her and not being able to hold her hand, to cross my ankle over hers.
On the other hand, April took notes. Studiously. She used bullet points and different colors and even drew diagrams that weren’t on the board to help organize the content. She was smart. Way too smart to be sitting with a guy who couldn’t smell honey ginger and remember the name of a chair lift at the same time.
It was a relief when Janice shut down the projector and said class was over. I nearly knocked my chair over getting out of my seat, making April laugh.
“Nervous for the game?”
Crap.
I hadn’t been.
Until now.
Now that I remembered April would be in the stands. Not as my enemy, but as my girl.
“You’re going to be cheering for our team this time, right?” I checked.
She swatted my shoulder. “Who said I was cheering for the other team?”
I raised my eyebrows.
“Okay, maybe I cheered when you got knocked down.” She held her fingers up, pinching her thumb and pointer finger. “Just a little.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I said, grabbing up her little bag that she carried everywhere except school, where we were required to have plain-colored bags.
This one was blue and had a sunflower on it with curly text that saidad astra per aspera.
“What does it mean?” I asked, holding up her bag. I’d taken Latin as a graduation requirement, but all I remembered wasad melioraanddulce periculum.
She glanced at the bag, her eyes glassing over. “To the stars through difficulty. It’s Kansas’s state motto.”
“I like it,” I said, walking toward the door. “It’s kind of likead meliora, but with Buzz Lightyear vibes.”
She giggled. “I’ll be sure to let Kansas know you approve.”
“You should do it fast. They’ve probably been holding their breath waiting for me to say something.”
She looped her hands through my elbow. “So cocky.”
“You like it,” I teased.
“You like it enough for both of us,” she said, giggling.
