When I woke up the next morning, I noticed there was another letter that had been slid under my door. I immediately tore into it and started reading.
Francie,
I'm sorry for the way things went last night. I know what happened is probably giving you anxiety, and that's not what I meant to happen. I hope I can make it up to you.
Check the handle on the door to your dorm room. In the plastic bag, there's an air pump that will help you fill the balloons for your float. I'm excited to see it in the parade!
From,
Your Secret Admirer
Apologizing for what happened last night? That had to be Bryce! I never did figure out why he left, but I'm sure it was important if he didn't even come in to say goodbye.
I put the letter in my desk drawer with the first one and started getting dressed. After my sociology and English classes, I was going to Walmart to pick up some sidewalk chalk and some stencils for the first night of homecoming. My homecoming committee, which I had just appointed, was going with me. I told them to meet me at the Eta Pi house when my classes got out.
Today was abnormally cold, so I threw on an Eta Pi hoodie and some fleece leggings. I wanted to put my hair in a bun, but it always looked wrong that way, so I settled with a pony tail. My curly hair made anything more complicated than that impossible. Before heading out the door, I put some tinted BB cream and mascara on. My cheeks get really red in the cold, and I didn't want anyone seeing that.
I put on my Uggs and trekked outside of Hayes Hall to the social sciences building. The cold wind stung my face like a swarm of wasps, and it became clear my hoodie wasn't enough. It was a crisp 31°, which was brutal for October in South Carolina, and I still had 20 minutes to go. I decided to stop by Nick and Devi's dorm to see if they had anything to spare, like hand warmers or a scarf.
Truss Hall, one of the male freshman dorms, was a frightening place. They had roaches crawling from the sink drains and mushrooms growing in the halls. The smell of mildew permeated my nose as I walked through the hall, almost enough to make me nauseous. Devi and Nick knew I was desperate to have to set foot in there. I knocked on the door, stepping on a centipede that had crawled across my boot.
Devi opened the door and said, "welcome to our humble abode."
You could very clearly tell which side belonged to which person. Devi's side was decorated in Braves memorabilia; he was a huge fan and had season tickets. Nick's side of the room looked like a Bass Pro Shop. A large taxidermy deer head stared at me from above Nick's bed, which probably wasn't even allowed by the housing department.
Nick was in his bean bag chair, snacking on some Halloween Oreos. "What brings you to the trenches?"
"I'm freezing my tail off out there," I replied. "I was wondering if y'all maybe had a scarf or some hand warmers."
Nick smiled and stood up, headed for his closet. "Girl, I have just the get-up for you."
I looked at Devi, and he shrugged, letting me know that he was not in on this. Nick dug through his closet like he was a high school girl in a Disney movie trying to decide what to wear to winter formal. He turned around with a huge camouflage jacket, leg warmers, and ear muffs. I figured this must be some kind of joke.
"You sure you don't just have hand warmers?" If Bryce saw me in that get up, he would definitely write me off.
"Nah, you said you were cold," Nick chuckled, sliding the jacket over my arms. "This'll do the trick."
Wearing the hunting jacket over my hoodie made me feel like Randy from A Christmas Story. "I hate you," I scoffed, adjusting the leg warmers. I waddled in circles around the room to dramatize how I felt.
"You're welcome," Nick replied, patting me on the head. "You better get to class."
I said bye to Devi and continued my trek to class. I made it just in time for sociology class, picking up a seat in the very last row. Most of that lecture was spent shopping for clothes online. I can't lie, those clothes were warm and comfy. I could have fallen asleep at my desk.
After I left the humanities building, my worst nightmare occurred: I ran into Bryce wearing this get up. He was on his way to his frat house.
"Nice fit, Francie," Bryce shouted, laughing. "Where are you headed?"
His hazel eyes glimmered in the sun as they met with mine. I could look at them all day, but I had places to be.
"English," I replied. "I'll have to take it all four years. I'm an English education major."
Why was I so stupid? He didn't care about that.
"You'd make a cute teacher," Bryce said with a smile.
I could not believe what he had just said. A cute teacher? Him calling me a cute anything was a win in my book! I tried not to completely melt away then and there.
"Thanks," I blushed. "You're cute too."
You know, I was studying to be an English teacher, but I really needed to take some more classes about how to use English properly. Like, how to not embarrass myself with it. I don't know how I hadn't scared him away yet.
"You know, when you're not dealing with homecoming and all, we should get dinner one night," Bryce suggested. "Just the two of us."
"Yeah, I'd like that," I replied, blushing even more. "Thursday, after tug of war?"
Bryce nodded and took my phone to put his number in. "I've got to go, but I'll see you around."
I sighed as I watched him walk away, fantasizing about Thursday. Where would we go? What should I wear? What even is his last name? Seriously, I still didn't know his last name. I needed to ask Timmy. Anyways, everything was starting to make sense. I thought I finally had a lead on the letters, and I was going to tell my friends.
•••
After English class, it was time for me to take my homecoming committee to the store for the chalking supplies. It was now Friday, and the chalking competition was at midnight on Sunday, so we didn't have much time to make a game plan. I drove my 2013 Altima up to the Eta Pi house and waited outside.
My homecoming committee consisted of Araceli, Kaylee, and two other girls named Mary Grace and Emma. We crammed in the car and headed to the store; this was where I decided to bring up Bryce.
"So, I have a date Thursday," I beamed, pulling out of the driveway loop. "With Bryce Jameson."
Yep, I had texted Timmy for Bryce's last name.
"Bitch, are you serious?" Emma piped up from the back seat. "Like, the one from Lambda Alpha Xi? You know, the frat that ditched us?"
"No, he's cool," Araceli interjected. "He helped move that homecoming bin."
"I think he's the one writing the letters," I said. "You know, the secret admirer letters? They line up with what he's told me and done."
Kaylee shook her head. "I would just be careful. This is the time of year where the frats like to prank sorority girls in really fucked up ways. I wouldn't go anywhere alone with him."
Kaylee, a senior, had probably seen it all. Still, I just felt like Bryce was different. I didn't think he would do anything bad to me. Besides, why did he go to dinner with us if he didn't like us?
"I will," I lied, turning on the radio.
Two Bailey Zimmerman songs later, we were in the Walmart parking lot. We all piled out of the car and headed into the entrance. It was still fairly cold, but Nick's jacket was doing its job.
Mary Grace stopped to inspect my outfit. "Francie, what are you wearing?"
"Oh, I didn't have anything warm enough for the weather today. One of my friends gave this to me," I explained.
"Well, clearly it's a guy friend," Emma griped. "You're going on a date with Bryce, but you're wearing another guy's jacket?"
Emma did have a point, but I didn't like Nick like that. He was only a good friend. When I looked at Nick, I didn't feel the same way as I did when I looked at Bryce. Only Bryce gave me butterflies. Some of my friends had told me that they thought Nick might have feelings for me, but I didn't believe them.
"We're just friends, nothing more," I insisted, grabbing a cart from the corral. "I have my eyes on Bryce."
The town of Great Oak had one Walmart, and it was pretty dingy. You would often see characters straight out of those "People of Walmart" YouTube videos. I once watched a woman take off all her clothes and take a dump in the middle of the baking aisle, and then paint herself with it. There were fights here at least once a week, and sometimes, I would come here with my friends to watch for entertainment. They even had big bags of popcorn at the front of the store that we would buy for these nights.
"We need chalk, and we also need some poster board for the stencils. Let's split up and go find it," I ordered when we walked in the door.
The other three girls went to go find the chalk, and Araceli followed me to the office supplies for the poster board. "I don't think they like Bryce," she said.
"I mean, I can't blame them," I sighed. "He is in the frat that was supposed to be on our team, and he's not a pledge, so he probably had a say in it. I think he's a junior?"
All of a sudden, we heard a loud shout from another aisle. "Bitch, don't try me! I'll whoop your ass!"
It was go time. Araceli and I rushed to find the source of the commotion and get there in time for our entertainment. When we got there, we saw two middle-aged women hitting each other over the last box of Fruit Roll Ups. The poster board could wait.
• AUTHOR'S NOTE •
Well, that was fast! Bryce already made his move. Do you think Francie should go on a date with him?
Things are going to get more tense in the next few chapters. We are about to jump right into the homecoming competition, and that will really make things awkward between Francie and Bryce. We'll also find out how the rest of the friends feel about their upcoming date.