Carnelian

by B. Kristin McMichael

  “Sorry Mari, I have to run back to the locker room. I left my ID there and I need it before they lock it for the night. Just go ahead through the line and get a table for the four of us,” Ty replied before parting the masses behind us and making his way back to the doors we had just entered.

  Immediately I was surrounded by large, hungry college guys. At five foot seven, I was average height for a woman, but around these athletes I was tiny. Soon enough, I was swallowed by the masses making their way to the food. You never stand between a college guy and his food. I was bumped into by some guy that didn’t even notice. As I began to tip right from being bumped on the left, someone behind me placed a hand on my hip to steady me. I turned to thank whoever it was, but stopped as a hum went through my body. The hand lingered a few more seconds before pulling away. I turned and found Seth behind me now. I had no idea where he came from, as he didn’t come in with us, but also couldn’t help but be a little grateful as he blocked the sea of guys around us from bumping into me. I turned to walk forward and felt him move closer. I could feel the heat off of him as his chest was just inches behind me. He didn’t speak. He didn’t smile. He didn’t say anything. He just stood behind me, protecting me like a soldier. Why’d he have to go all chivalrous on me? It was easier to hate a player and keep away than to hate a player that protects girls. I didn’t want Seth to have any redeeming qualities.

  As I made my way to the front of the line, Ty caught up to us. He handed his card to the lady at the front first and I followed.

  “We have three meal lines here,” Ty explained how it was different than the dorm cafeteria. “The line on the left is vegetarian, the middle is low calorie, and the right line is normal food.” Ty began walking to the right and I was not surprised. I didn’t picture Ty as low calorie or vegetarian. I looked between the lines and decided to follow Ty. The few girlfriends that came with the football players were all heading to the middle, but still I didn’t care. Low-calorie food always tasted like cardboard to me.

  After making it through the line, Ty found a table far in the back that would be a bit quieter. Somehow Dee was right behind us. It was like they all had some sort of brotherly mind-link and knew exactly where the other ones were. I sat down next to Ty and across from Seth. It was a little uncomfortable to sit and stare at Seth as I ate. The boys surprised me when they were silent at the table, but they didn’t surprise me when all three of them wolfed down their food in minutes. All guys are the same: human vacuum cleaners when it comes to food.

  “Guys, I forgot to introduce you to Mari. Mari is a freshman like me, and is our tutor for biology,” Ty said as he took the last drink of his soda. How we made it through an entire meal without them knowing seemed odd to me. “Mari, this is Seth and Dee.” He introduced them, though it wasn’t necessary. I nodded my head in thanks anyway.

  “Prof. Edwards said we needed to get together briefly today decide when we will meet,” I said, going right into what I was assigned to do. The less time I could sit having Seth stare at me like I was the world’s greatest puzzle, the better.

  The guys all pulled out their schedules for me to look at. I put them all together as I finished eating. Girls just cannot compete when eating with hungry guys. I looked down and was shocked how full their time was. No wonder the girlfriends were all waiting outside practice. These football guys barely had a moment free during the semester.

  “We are supposed to meet at least three times a week and one time has to be the day of or after your lab,” I replied, finally looking up and catching Seth’s eyes. They were a gorgeous deep brown color and very distracting. With difficulty, I turned to Ty as I talked; he was not distracting. “We could meet Monday afternoon, Wednesday morning and Friday afternoon after your practice,” I suggested, handing their schedules back. The guys all nodded in agreement, and I wrote it down in my notebook.

  “Did you have lab today?” I asked, though I doubted they did on the first day.

  “No,” Ty replied. “It starts next week with the first full week of classes.”

  “Okay, then we don’t need to meet tomorrow. We can start on Monday,” I added. I really needed to get away from Seth’s stares. He hadn’t said a word, but he was thinking something. I packed up my bag and began to stand. “You guys have my e-mail and cell number in the message from Prof. Edwards. If we need to cancel or reschedule either way works fine.” The guys all nodded as I took my tray and left.

  I took a deep breath of air as I exited the building. Something about Seth made things more intense. He hadn’t stopped staring the whole time and when he stopped my fall when in line, I swore that I felt a slight hum where he touched me. Maybe they were in the witness protection program because they were aliens. Yep, I had read one too many fantasy books lately.

  I got only two feet out of the building before someone was right behind me. I didn’t need to turn around to know it was Seth. I felt that same hum as he grabbed my arm to turn me around.

  “Wait,” Seth said quietly, like he was used to being obeyed and didn’t need to use a louder voice. I pulled my hand free and turned to face him. I couldn’t just walk away like I wanted to since I was his tutor. He could have a question about the schedule or something. I waited as he didn’t immediately talk.

  “Seth, I need to get going,” I replied. “I already told my roommate I’d meet her to go to the bookstore.”

  Seth looked up and me and paused a minute more. “Would you go out with me?” he asked. He actually looked nervous. You’d think after twenty-three girls, he would have this down by now.

  “I don’t think your girlfriend would like that much,” I answered. What did he think? I saw him kissing that girl less than an hour ago.

  “I don’t have a girlfriend,” Seth replied. It was hard to look at him. Either he was lying to me, or lying to her. I had enough of guys like that in my life. I was going to find myself a nice, honest guy, not a lying, cheating bastard.

  “Could have fooled me,” I answered. “Besides, it’s against the rules to date someone you’re tutoring,” I said, knowing it wasn’t exactly true. It wasn’t against the rules, just frowned upon. Seth nodded and turned away. He didn’t look deterred by my response. That was a bit confusing, considering that I had just turned him down. I didn’t think a player would give up as easily.

  As Seth made it to the building, he turned to me. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then,” he replied before going through the doors and leaving me standing there, confused. We weren’t meeting tomorrow, and I was sure he knew that.

  Chapter 4

  Hot Pursuit

  Second day of college was like the first. Sim was late, I was early, and no one seemed to care that it was the first class. By lunchtime my load of homework for the weekend had already doubled, and I was struggling to get ahead of it to have my weekend free. I had homework in high school but nothing like this. I always got it done each night, if I had to do anything at all, and never did homework on the weekend. My weekends were always free. Goodbye to high school life and welcome to college, where the professors think you have nothing better to do than read five chapters of boring material each night. At least it was Friday and no classes for two days, which meant no additional assignments.

  Sim met me for lunch again at the Union. This seemed like it would become a regular thing. Four days a week our breaks around lunch were the same. Neither of us had been outgoing enough yet to meet new people. I had seen the Barbies around the dorms and campus, but I wasn’t about to bleach my hair and try to fit in.

  “Do not take chemistry with Professor Manthis,” Sim complained, sitting by me. I had already started on my Cobb salad.

  “Why not?” I had actually heard he was the best chemistry teacher they had at Morton.

  “Do you really think I’ll get anything from reading a chemistry textbook? He assigned five chapters and will quiz us next Monday to see what we got out of it,” Sim complained. “My weekend is going to suck.”

  “Join the clu
b,” I replied. “Two of my classes already assigned four chapters to read, but at least there isn’t a quiz.”

  “I don’t learn anything from reading,” Sim complained, biting into her sandwich. “I need to do problem sets and do the math to learn. I hate books and science text is the worst.” She pouted. “My parents will kill me if I don’t do well, but this just stinks. Please help me. My parents liked you. You could talk to them.”

  “Then good luck on the whole pre-med thing,” I replied. Sim’s parents had proudly told me at least two dozen times that she was going to be a wonderful doctor. I was sure after just a day with Sim that it was their decision and not hers.

  “You know the professors are just trying to ruin opening CRUSH weekend,” Sim replied.

  “CRUSH?” I asked. I hadn’t heard of anything happening over the weekend and had no clue what CRUSH meant.

  “Are you serious?” Sim asked. “Have you not seen the signs all over campus? CRUSH base teams will be chosen this weekend. Not that many freshmen make the teams, but I still want to try. You’re coming with me, right?” Sim’s long braid swished behind her head as she talked excitedly like it was a tail on a happy dog.

  “To do what?” I asked, looking for a real explanation. I hadn’t read a single sign on campus yet. I was more concerned with getting to the correct place, than interested in the fliers pasted to everything. Leave it to college students to find a way to plaster paper signs on just about anything.

  “You seriously don’t know anything about CRUSH?” Sim asked, finally getting the hint. I shook my head, and she sighed. “How could you not know about CRUSH? It’s like the greatest college game played here for over a decade. The basics are each dorm, any organization, and the frat/sorority houses can each make up a team. The core players for each team are picked the first week. The teams play a variety of games against each other over several weekends in the fall semester like capture the flag and such. The winning team gets bragging rights. Mordoch has won for the past five years. It’s the dorm most of the athletes stay in. Everyone else can barely compete, but I know this is the year for Murdley. We may be the studious dorm, but I think we can win it. At some point brains need to beat brawn.”

  I nodded my head, though I had no clue what I was agreeing to. Capture the flag sounded a bit like summer camp to me, but I wasn’t about to tell Sim that. She looked excited.

  “We compete tomorrow, starting at nine,” she explained, finishing her sandwich and rolling the wrapper into a ball. “The qualifying round is always some sort of obstacle course. I played tennis in high school. I’m hoping something tennis related is on the course this year.” I just kept nodding. Sim gathered up her books and stood up. “I’ll see you tonight,” she said as she began to walk away. Sim had classes that were spread out and didn’t return to the dorms until suppertime.

  I collected my things and headed over to the library. It would be the quietest place to get my reading done. With everything already building up after two days, I really needed to get a head start. The library was perfect for that. After two hours, I went to my last class of the day. Unfortunately for me, Seth was waiting outside the door to my classroom. I was early and still couldn’t avoid him as I was his tutor.

  “Hi Seth,” I said, moving to walk by him into my classroom.

  “Can we talk before your class?” Seth motioned to benches across the hallway. I really wanted to refuse those gorgeous brown eyes because they were nothing but trouble.

  “Fine,” I replied and followed him over to sit down. I waited for him to talk. I wasn’t the one stalking him.

  “I think I corrected the situation,” Seth began. I didn’t have a clue what the situation was, but I didn’t stop him from talking. “I dropped out of the tutoring program for the biology class. If you’re not my tutor, you can go out with me.”

  I wasn’t sure I heard him correctly as my mouth hung open.

  “We could go out tonight. There’s no game this weekend, and it’s not like anyone needs extra sleep for CRUSH. How about I pick you up at seven?” he suggested. That loss of confidence yesterday was gone. He didn’t seem to think I might have said no for any other reason than tutoring.

  “No, thank you,” I replied, standing with my bags. “I’m pretty sure I’m not your type.”

  “What?” Seth replied. He seemed shocked that I’d say no, or maybe he was shocked that I wasn’t his type.

  “You’re a jock who needs the bimbo type that jumps from guy to guy. I am neither a bimbo nor a player like you,” I added, starting to walk away. Seth stood and followed to keep pace with me, and he stopped me in front of the doorway. I don’t think he liked no for an answer. “I’m sure there are plenty of other girls lining up to date you that would make you happier than I would. Good luck finding another number twenty-four.” My last statement caught him off guard, and he paused long enough for me to walk by him into the classroom just as the professor arrived.

  I took a seat toward the front, hoping that Seth wouldn’t follow me into the room. A guy couldn’t be that desperate for a date, especially when they looked as good as him. Girls were constantly throwing themselves at him. Seth stood outside the room for a few minutes before eventually walking away. At least I hoped he had left. From the look on his face, I don’t know if he had ever been told no before. I was a bit distracted from class thinking about Seth, but it seemed like the professor didn’t want to start the semester yet as she let us out early with just one assignment for the weekend. All my lack of attention was rewarded with being let out early. I was cautious, but was relieved when Seth wasn’t waiting.

  I started my ten-minute walk back to the dorms and got lost in my thoughts. Seth didn’t really seem like a bad guy. He hadn’t done anything yet that should make me outright reject a date, but I knew better than to date a player. I was just another girl to him. After turning him down once, I now was that impossible girl to get. I really needed to be careful. The best course of action was to avoid him. How? I really didn’t know how, but I would try for my own sake.

  I made it back to my room and threw my stuff on my bed. Sim would be back soon from her class as we had classes at the same time on Fridays. The only thing was, mine let out early. Even with the longer walk, I beat her back. I was already hungry for supper, but decided to wait for Sim to see what she was doing. As soon as I sat down on my bed, someone knocked. Sim had a key, and I really didn’t know anyone else at Morton. I crept to the door. I hadn’t even told anyone where I lived. I peered out the peephole and stepped back quickly. Seth Sangre was knocking on my door. This guy was very persistent. I was really beginning to doubt he had ever been told no before.

  As silently as I could, I sat down on my bed. My heart was pounding loud enough; I bet he could hear it. How did he know where I lived? I meant, yes, he had to know I lived in the dorms as he saw me moving in, but I never told anyone my room number. I only gave him and his brothers my phone number and e-mail. The knocking had stopped. I waited a few more minutes and crept to the door again. I peeked out and found Seth sitting against the wall across the hallway from my door. Crap. I was stuck now. I had to pass him to go to eat. Hopefully, he wouldn’t wait long. Soon Sim was back. I jumped back quickly and hid on my bed as Sim opened the door. She talked to Seth, but I couldn’t make out the words. She dropped her bag in the doorway, propping it open a crack. I kept my finger to my lips and hoped she wouldn’t give me away.

  When she finally looked up she screamed a little girly scream, and Seth opened the door. Sim hurried back to stop him.

  “Something wrong?” Seth asked.

  Sim met him and blocked the view into the room. “Just a spider,” she lied and picked up her bag. That seemed to convince Seth, and he returned across the hallway to sit. Sim let the door close behind her.

  “What’s going on?” Sim whispered as she sat beside me.

  “He followed me to my class and asked me out again,” I replied, watching the doorway as if Seth heard us.


  “But you told him you don’t date students you tutor.” Sim was confused. I had already told her about my meeting the day before.

  “He dropped me as a tutor,” I answered.

  Sim smiled as she understood. “Then no problem, you can go out with him,” Sim answered. “Why are you hiding here?”

  “I can’t, Sim,” I replied. “I dated a guy back in high school. He was wonderful and I thought he was the guy I would stay with forever. He was always busy and gone on trips with his family, but I believed him. I thought he was telling me the truth, but he was just lying to me. I can’t do that again. I don’t want a guy that’s a player.”

  “Oh.” Sim patted my knee. “You have trust issues.” I swatted her hand away. It was true, but I wasn’t about to admit it. “Then just tell him you’re not interested.”

  “Tried that,” I answered. “He doesn’t seem to understand. I doubt any girl has not been interested. Heck, if I didn’t know I was going to be girl twenty-four, I might have said yes already.”

  Sim looked at her phone quick and stood back up.

  “Wish I could stay and help, but I’ve got to go meet my lab partner,” Sim whispered. “My good-looking lab partner. Not quite as hot as the puppy following you, but good enough to meet on a Friday night.”

  I nodded. I really wanted to beg her to stay and help me, but we weren’t that close yet. I couldn’t deny her meeting up with her lab partner. Seth was my problem, and a problem was the best way to describe him right about now.

  I waited in my room for another twenty minutes and scavenged silently through all our snacks, nothing good enough to be a meal. I checked several times, and he was still sitting outside my door. The last time I checked, he even looked up at the peephole and smiled. I was beginning to feel like Seth knew I was in my room. When my stomach growled for the tenth time, I just had to walk out the door and ignore him. It was the only plan I had. Grabbing my keys and ID, I hurried out the door. It was nice that the doors were self-locking, and I could just walk away. Seth jumped up and followed me like a puppy, as Sim had called him.