“You’re really into this matching shirt thing.”
“Yep. And as my new best friend, you are now too.” I grab two shirts off the rack.
“We’re best friends?” she whispers, glancing down at her sneakers. I’m not sure if she meant to really ask the question.
“Well yeah.” I turn to face her. “Aren’t we?” I insist with one hand on my hip for emphasis. It’s not a question either.
“Yeah.” She nods in agreement, full on smiling now. “Though I want a bigger size.” She reaches for one of the two shirts I’m holding.
I pull them back out of her reach. “No way. You got a killer little body. Besides, I’m going to cut these up and make them look even better.”
“Cut them up? They’re brand new.”
“Yep.” I move towards the snacks and grab some as I go. “There are all these cool YouTube videos you can watch and they show you how to cut up shirts to make them cuter. We’ll pick a design and do it. It’ll be fun. Pretty please, BFF!” I pout, hoping I’ll get my way.
“Fine, but we pick the design together,” Erika says in feigned defeat. I side hug her and tell her she’s not going to regret it.
I drop all my stuff down onto the checkout counter. The man behind the counter starts ringing it all up. I give him my student card to charge it to.
“You’re Olivia, right?” he asks, looking at my card that clearly says that.
“That’s me.”
He hands it back to me. “Zeke called when you got here and told me to put everything on his account.” I look around but don’t see either of them.
“That’s creepy and is going to be hard to get used to,” Erika says, looking around with me. It’s not as if you could miss the two of them if they were close.
I shrug. I know he’s only tracking me, but I wouldn’t be shocked if one or both of them popped up from somewhere at any moment.
Clay, as his name tag reads, puts everything into a bag for us before we head out. Outside, there’s a large crowd of girls in front of the bookstore.
A pretty blonde turns and smiles at me a little too brightly. For a moment I think we must know each other. She even says my name.
“Olivia, right?” She holds her hand out for me to shake. Okay, maybe we don’t know each other. Thank god, because I couldn’t place her face. “I’m Hope.”
“That’s me. This is my best friend, Erika.” I nod to Erika standing next to me.
“Are you both freshmen?” She looks between the two of us. Maybe she doesn’t mean to be rude, but Erika has been here a couple of years. The school is big but not that large. The hairs stand up on my arm when I shake her hand, and I feel uneasy.
“Hi, Hope,” Erika says, not answering her question. Hope looks to Erika and gives her that same smile she gave me.
“Are you all coming to the party tonight?” she asks. I don’t know anything about a party. Though I also didn’t know the whole school was looking at my ass on Snapchat either. “You really should. Get to know everyone.” The girl standing next to Hope—she could almost be her twin—hands her a small pink piece of paper that she then hands to me.
It has the address and time to a party tonight on it. From the logo at the top it looks like a fraternity house is hosting it.
“Sure. We can stop by. This doesn’t look far from our dorm.” I show it to Erika.
“It’s not,” she confirms but doesn’t sound excited about it.
“Awesome! See you girls tonight.” Hope chirps before they all turn and leave together.
“I’m not sure you want to go to that party.” Erika says when they are a good distance away.
“Why? Is she the one who peed on your floor?” I deadpan. The sour look on her face drops away as she fights a laugh.
“No, but she does have a giant thing for your boyfriends.”
“I really can’t fault someone for that,” I admit. Erika is the only girl who never gives them puppy dog eyes when she looks at them. Though I don’t think she wants anyone looking at her. Most of the time she is giving them shocked looks like their behavior scandalizes her.
“She even”—she uses finger quotes—“‘made’ them brownies and left them at the door. They didn’t eat them, though. In fact, Hope was furious when she found out they left the brownies on their porch for the animals to eat.” She adds the last part hurriedly. We start walking again, heading back to our dorm. “It’s a shame because they did come from the best bakery in town.”
“What?!” I shout.
“They didn’t eat them. They pretty much threw them away,” she repeats.