“Ignore it.”
It continued to buzz. “He’ll just keep calling.”
“Hey, Dad.” I walked into the bedroom and shut the door for privacy.
“Sweetheart, how are you today?”
“Good.” I waited for a beat, not wanting to share anything else. “What’s going on?”
“There’s an event I need you to attend.”
“What kind of event?”
“Just a college thing. A social at the University Community Church. The young man I told you about will be there.”
Ugh, a church thing? I didn’t know how to respond.
“Noah has extended an invite to you as a favor to me. I’d like you to go and meet him.”
“You want me to go on a date?”
“No, honey.” I could hear the irritation in his voice. “I want you to go to a party. Have a little fun and while you’re there, do me a favor by being nice to the son of a prospective church member.” He took a steadying breath. “I’d really appreciate it if you could take the time to do this for me. It would help me out a lot. You know I’ve just come back and any extra effort goes a long way.”
I still didn’t know what my father was doing—recruiting a church member so hard seemed weird. I had to suspect the family must be loaded. My father was paying my tuition and if his job depended on him—or me—playing nice with this guy, then I didn’t have much choice.
“Okay, I can do that. What’s his name?”
“Noah Hancock.”
“Okay. And he knows I’m coming?”
“Yes. He’s going to send you the details.”
I glanced at myself in the mirror and at the way I held the phone, knuckles white. Socializing like this wasn’t something I was used to—my dad didn’t get that. He just saw the photos of me as Winter Princess and that I had friends at my graduation party. He didn’t know I spent the prior six months as a pariah or the seven years before that as an invisible nerd.
“Heaven?”
“Yes, Daddy?”
“I know you’re nervous, but whatever you did to get the attention of those boys back in Allendale is what you should remember. That’s all it is—getting a little attention. I have no doubt you can do it.”
I hung up the phone and walked over to the mirror. I pushed my hair behind my ear and kept my eyes away from the largest of the scars on my arm. He was right, if there was one thing I knew how to do, it was to get attention. The problem was dealing with the consequences.
12
The next day was bright and warm and it didn’t take much for Oliver and Jackson to lure me down to the baseball field to watch them practice. The field was adjacent to the athletic complex and it wasn’t uncommon for people to run or walk around the track during warm-ups or find a spot in the bleachers to study.
That being said, spotting my suitemate Samantha on the warm, metal steps was a surprise.
“Heaven?” she called before I could make my escape.
“Oh, hi.” I looked around. “What are you doing here?”
“Well, to be honest I came out to watch your friend Oliver practice.” She blushed. “I hope that’s cool.”
Uh, no. Not cool, Samantha. Definitely not cool.
“Oliver?”