I roll my eyes, ‘I’m not sure I want to be involved in your illustrious love life.’
The jock grins, ‘of course you do!’ he assures me, ‘we’re besties, my love life is your responsibility! Now if you could make friends with some of the cheerleaders, that would be greatly appreciated by me and my football teammates.’
I groan loudly, shoving through the doors into the air conditioned building and pull out my timetable.
‘Video foundations’ I read off the piece of printed paper, ‘Block C.’
I frown, glancing around me with the faint hope that there will be a big arrow pointing the way to the mysterious block C.
Noah chuckles, linking our arms, ‘come on gorgeous, ‘I’ll show you the way.’
Walking down the corridor, we take a left, exiting out of a side door and make our way across the quadrant to one of the buildings nearby. I relax as I read the board outside that announces block C in big letters.
‘See, you can’t get lost if you stick with me’ Noah beams, opening the door and leading me inside.
Other students crowd around the small space, some heading toward their classes, others leaning against the walls in groups laughing and chatting.
‘Noah! Where you been man? We missed you at lunch’ a huge Hispanic guy calls out from a group of students who all turn toward us.
My new friend waves back, ‘got myself a new Bestie’ he replies, steering me over to the group who are staring at me curiously. ‘This is Tessa, she just moved here from . . ‘ he glances down at me with a frown, ‘sh*t, I didn’t even ask where you are from’ he grimaces.
‘Miami’ I reply nervously, forcing myself not to curl in under all the eyes that are currently on me.
‘Woah, the sunshine state, no wonder you got that golden tan going on’ the Hispanic man grins.
I nod, ‘yeah, it’s pretty hot there most of the time’ I agree lamely.
‘I’d love to visit the keys man, all that sand and good food, now that’s a vacation’ he continues dreamily, ‘I bet all the girls are blonde goddesses with legs for miles.’
‘Short stop, dude!’ a fiery redhead scowls, punching the huge muscle man in the stomach, ‘stop freaking the girl out, you sound like a perve.’
‘Short stop?’ I whisper to Noah in confusion.
The jock laughs, ‘cos he’s so small’ he replies wiggling his pinky finger.
The jock laughs, ‘cos he’s so small’ he replies wiggling his pinky finger.
‘Hey, don’t be lying bro’ short stop growls, ‘I got plenty of packing in my trunk, they had to make me a custom strap.’
‘Yeah, cos it’s so small, they don’t do them that tiny’ another guy retorts as the rest of the group laugh.
Short stop turns back to me, holding out his hand, ‘the name is Mateo, but these goons call me short stop because I’m the biggest guy on the team.’ He rolls his eyes playfully, ‘thankfully our ball skills are better than our nickname creations.’
I laugh, shaking his hand and then moving around the rest of the group.
The other guy introduces himself as Scott and from the accent I’m pretty sure he’s English.
The girl who slapped Mateo’s stomach turns out to be called Ruby and her friend beside her with short brown hair is Maeve.
We chat for a few minutes before Noah excuses us and steers me toward my class, walking in beside me and heading to the back row, taking a seat and putting his feet on the desk.
Smiling in amusement, I sit down next to him, taking out my notebook and pens.
‘How will you take notes sitting like that?’ I ask eyeing his sneakers that resting on the desk.
Noah winks at me, ‘I don’t need to he replies cheekily, ‘I’ll just borrow my new besties notes later.’
I can’t help it, I laugh, shaking my head, ‘so really your whole plan here wasn’t to be my friend, but to use me as a way to sleep through classes’ I accuse.
The jock feigns hurt, ‘jagged knife gorgeous, straight to the heart! I don’t ONLY want to use you for note taking, I also want you to help me get girls’ he adds before bursting out laughing.
I roll my eyes, unable to stop the smile that tilts up my lips as the professor walks in and approaches the podium.
‘OK everyone, lets get started’ he calls out loudly, drawing everyone’s attention and I settle back, pen ready as he begins.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.