Chapter Four
Heather
Brayden Gets His Math Class
Berkeley is a very talkative person. During our time together, she’d been talking almost nonstop. But I liked her. She was really nice and giggly.
We waited five minutes in line to get our raffle tickets, but, an hour later, when the raffle was held, we both ended up prize-less.
“I never win these things,” I mumbled, crumbling my ticket up and throwing it into the trash.
Berkeley laughed. “It’s the same here.”
“I’m going back, now that I’ve done everything I wanted to do here. Do you live on campus?” I asked.
Berkeley nodded. “McCarty Hall.”
My eyes widened in surprise. “Seriously?”
“Yeah. Wait, don’t tell me: You live there, too?”
I nodded.
“No way! Which floor and which side?”
“North tower, floor four.”
“I’m on the third floor, North tower! Oh my gosh, we should totally be friends!” Berkeley squealed. “I haven’t made a new friend in a while, and you seem like an awesome person to be around!”
I laughed. “Sure. I’ve always wanted to make a new friend here. I guess I can cross that off on my ‘to do’ list.”
Berkeley smiled. “I’m glad. Hey, wanna grab breakfast tomorrow morning? The Eight has some decent breakfast there, and it’s just a five minutes’ walk from McCarty. You can come meet my other friends.”
“Okay.”
“Great! Shall we head back together?”
“Yes, please. I hate walking alone in the dark. It’s so scary,” I said.
Berkeley let out a small chuckle. “Tell me about it.”
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“You live next to Brayden?” I gasped, when Berkeley showed me to her dorm.
“Wait, what?” she said, confused.
I pointed at the door to the left of hers. “That’s where Brayden is rooming.”
“Shit, really?” She seemed happy.
I nodded and went over to Brayden’s door. I tapped on it a few times and then waited patiently for Brayden to answer it.
“Hell—Oh, Heather,” Brayden said, when he saw me standing there.
“Hey. I’m just trying to show Berkeley that you live next door to her.” I smirked.
Brayden peeked his head out. When he saw Berkeley, his lips straightened into a thin line. He didn’t look too pleased.
“Oh my gosh, it is you!” Berkeley squealed, bouncing over to us. “Damn, and I thought Heather was lying to me when she said you were right next door to me.”
“Nah,” Brayden answered, coolly. He was dressed in pajamas. They were a checkered-blue color, and looked pretty fuzzy. I bet they were warm. “Heather sucks at lying. You’d know if she was lying judging by the look she gives you.”
I glared at Brayden, feeling my cheeks flush. “Excuse me?”
“You aren’t that hard to read,” he said, nonchalantly. “Your eyes give everything away.”
“I’m not sure if I should take that as a complement or not…” I said, uneasily.
“Hey, you should join Heather and I for breakfast tomorrow morning!” Berkeley said, cheerily. “Wake up at nine and meet us in the lobby tomorrow morning?”
“I haven’t even agreed to this shit yet,” Brayden mumbled.
I saw Berkeley flinch, obviously a little hurt by Brayden’s response. Feeling bad for Berkeley and a little irritated at Brayden’s behavior, I said, “What he means is, he’d love to.”
“What?!” Brayden snapped his head up to mine.
I subtly jabbed him in the ribs, wanting him to shut up. “We’ll meet you in the lobby tomorrow morning.”
Berkeley beamed. “That’s great! I’m looking forward to it!” Once she left for her room and closed the door behind her that was when I turned to look at Brayden, an irked expression on my face.
“Why are you so mean?” I demanded.
“She’s annoying,” Brayden hissed. “Even more annoying than my little sister. I can’t stand her constant giggling and bubbliness.”
“Don’t you want to make new friends here?”
“Yeah, but not with her.”
“Yeah, well, suck it up, dude. We’re going to breakfast with her tomorrow morning. You better not be as rude as you were today.”
Brayden rolled his eyes. “Wouldn’t dream of it, Miss Bossy Pants.”
I felt my cheeks heat. “Jerk.” I stormed upstairs to my room, not bothering to say ‘goodnight’ to him.
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My roommate is a girl named Isabelle. She’s the same age as I am, and she majors in journalism. So far, I like her. She’s super nice, and a lot more outgoing than I am. She’s also really neat—something I’m not. After putting all my books and writing utensils onto my desk, it was already starting to look like a bird’s nest. Isabelle’s desk, on the other hand, was perfectly organized and color-coded accordingly with each of her autumn classes.
“How was the carnival?” Isabelle asked, when I closed the door behind me. She was lying on her bed, looking at her phone. Like me, she had brown hair, too, although hers was darker. She also has dark brown eyes, and from our brief conversation earlier this morning, she was of Scottish-descent. Her parents are second-generation Scottish Americans.
“It was alright. Nothing much, but I just wanted to get the experience,” I said. Isabelle skipped out on the event to hang out with some friends.
“I’m so glad I didn’t go now.”
“Where did you go?”
“I went to the frozen yogurt shop outside of campus with my friend and her boyfriend—literally the worst idea ever, because I ended up as the third wheel. They made out ninety percent of the time, leaving me alone with my frozen yogurt.” She scowled.
I laughed. “Well, at least you had something to do.”
“I know right?” She sat up and looked at me. “The boy who was knocking on our door earlier today—that was who you went to the carnival with, right?”
I nodded. “His name’s Brayden, a friend from high school.”
“Ah, I see,” she murmured.
I went over to my closet and pulled out my shower caddy. “I’m gonna hit the showers. I’ll talk to you later,” I said, grabbing a towel.
“I’ll probably be asleep by then. Good night, Heather.” Isabelle kicked off her slippers and slid under her bed sheets.
I smiled. “Night.”
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The next morning, I woke up extra early so that I could get ready for the day. Brayden wasn’t too pleased when I knocked on his door at eight fifteen in the morning, but he let me into his dorm anyway. His roommate was still knocked out on the bed, his blonde hair messy from all the sleeping. He was also snoring. I pity Brayden. Nothing sucks more than to have to share a room with someone that snores.
“I’m not even hungry,” Brayden grumbled, as he threw on his jacket and followed me outside.
“You’re such a grumpy pants,” I teased. “You’ll enjoy this.”
“You seem to be in a much happier mood than you were these past few days.”
I pursed my lips, not wanting to answer him. Ever since my dad’s outburst a few days ago, I haven’t been conversing with him much. Not to mention, I had been a little depressed about the recent turn of events.
I felt like an obligation to my dad—a daughter he was required to take care of lest he wanted to have a talk with social services. I always knew that I had never been one of my dad’s favorite. He never looked at me the way he looked at my stepbrother and stepsister. He always gave them the best, and me the second best. I had to always remind myself that I was a mistake, a mistake that wasn’t even supposed to be alive right now. I always told myself to be thankful that I wasn’t in an abusive family, or that my dad wasn’t one to hurt me. I mean, some kids have it even worse than I do.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to bring up anything hurtful,” Brayden apologized, when he noticed how silent I had gone.
“No, it’s fine,” I hurriedly said. “It’s nothing. I just spaced out. Anyway…” I wanted to quickly change topics before he pried too deep. “I wonder what they have at the Eight.”
“Me, too,” he mused. “They better have bacon. I love bacon.”
“Of course they’d have bacon. What’s breakfast without bacon?”
“Parker hates bacon. We always get into fights about that.” He rolled his eyes playfully. I’ve met his friends back in Montana a few times. They went to the same school as we did, and honestly, I thought they were a bunch of arrogant jerks the first time I met them. But over time, as I got to know them, they proved me wrong. I never became friends with any one of them except for Brayden, and that was because I didn’t share any classes with Brayden’s other friends.
Berkeley, true to her word, was waiting for us at the lobby. She was wearing a cute pink dress and pink Toms, her hair done into a messy side braid. I couldn’t help but feel a little flicker of jealousy at how gorgeous she looked. I wish I looked like that. I’m just plain. There’s a reason why I don’t wear make up—nothing can conceal my ugliness from this world.
“Morning, guys!” Berkeley enthused, running over to us. “My friends are already waiting for us at the dining hall. We should get going.”
It was around a five minutes’ walk to the Eight, which was located in McMahon Hall. The restaurant felt pretty stuffy, and I found myself to be sweating as I ordered my food. When I joined Berkeley and her friends at one of the tables, I found them giggling over something.
They looked up when they saw me.
“Hey!” Berkeley said. I sat down next to her. “These are my friends, Nicki and Sasha.”
“Nice to meet you,” the girl named Sasha said.
“You, too,” I said.
“Oh, Brayden’s here!” Berkeley said, excitingly, when she saw Brayden making his way over to us. She gestured to the empty seat next to her. “Sit here!”
I couldn’t help but feel the tug of a smile on my lips, a laugh on the verge of bursting from them. I think someone has a little something-something for my friend over here…
No wonder Brayden’s so reluctant to have breakfast with them.
“That looks really good,” Nicki said, looking at the plate in front of Brayden.
Brayden shot her an ‘are-you-serious’ look. “This is the same breakfast you’re having,” Brayden said.
Nicki laughed. “No it isn’t.”
“Bacon, scrambled eggs, gravy over biscuits? Unless you’re blind, they’re obviously the same breakfast.”
“They were just arranged differently, probably,” Nicki said.
I could see Brayden resisting the urge to roll his eyes.
“You wanna go bowling today?” Berkeley asked, leaning in to Brayden.
“Not if I can help it. I’m—” Before he could finish his sentence, though, his phone rang, signifying a notification. “Sorry, I’m going to have to check on this,” he said, pulling his phone out. I saw his eyes go wide. I’m guessing someone sent him a surprising text.
“Shit, someone dropped their math class. I…I have to go and sign up for it before someone else does. I’ll be right back,” he said, stumbling out of his seat.
Nicki and Sasha burst into laughter once Brayden was out of earshot.
“He’s hilarious,” Sasha said.
“And adorable,” Nicki snickered.
“No wonder you like him.”
“I never said anything about liking him,” Berkeley mumbled. “Can’t a girl be friends with a boy without being accused of having a crush on him?”
“Nope,” Sasha said.
“How long have you known Brayden?” Nicki asked, looking at me.
I swallowed the piece of breakfast burrito in my mouth before answering, “Last year. We met in physics.”
“You’re so lucky,” Sasha said, sighing dreamily. “I’d totally bang him if he asked me to. He’s undeniably hot. Hey, do you know if he’s single?”
“Uh…” I wasn’t sure, actually. The last time he ever mentioned a girl, it was Bridget. I’m not sure if they were actually a thing, though. I know they’ve dated a few times…
“Stop, Sasha. Just stop,” Nicki reprimanded. “You’ve slept with way too many guys.”
Sasha blushed, glaring at her friend. “Shut the fuck up, Nicki! No one asked for your opinion! And also, I would love it very much if you could keep my sex life out of this conversation,” she said, through gritted teeth.
“If anyone’s getting Brayden, it’s Berkeley. She’s smitten already, aren’t you darling?” Nicki smirked at Berkeley, but Berkeley didn’t seem to have noticed. She was spacing out, a dreamy look in her eyes.
I was suddenly feeling really awkward here. Them talking about sleeping with my friend…
Uncomfortable doesn’t even begin to describe how I’m feeling right now. Is this what girls talk about nowadays? The guys they want to sleep with or the guys whom they think are hot?
That’s pretty boring if you ask me.
“Heather!”
I looked up to find Brayden grinning goofily at me. I gave him a weird look. “What?”
“I got in!”
“Got into what?”
Brayden groaned. “You’re so oblivious.”
“Excuse me, but you practically sprinted out of the building before letting me know what you were leaving for.”
“Someone dropped Math 126. As a result, this guy”—Brayden pointed at himself, a triumphant look on his face—“just got into a math class. This math-less engineer has just now become a with-math engineer.”
“Okay…” I said, cocking an eyebrow.
“So now that you’re really happy about this whole situation, what do you think about bowling tonight?” Nicki asked, hopefully.
Brayden, because he was in such a high mood, immediately said, “Sure.”