Carnelian (3 page)

“And I suppose that means young girls have
to carry everything up themselves?” Sim had her hands on her hips
just like her mother when Mr. and Mrs. Singh had been arguing
upstairs. Sim was being a mini-me of her mother, and I had to hold
back a laugh at the sight of her posed like that.

“Oh, sweet of you to suggest that, dear,”
Mr. Singh replied as he closed his eyes again.

Sim huffed and went back to the trunk to
grab more boxes. She wasn’t really mad. I was getting the feeling
that it was more of a routine in their house to argue over
everything. I grabbed a few more boxes. It seemed like we were only
about half-way done with emptying the car. There were many more
trips to go to move Sim into our room.

“Can we go outside this time? Those hallways
are just too crowded,” Sim asked.

I wanted to say
no
in case we ran into
underwear model and his friends—literally or figuratively, but I
just nodded. I didn’t have a good reason to not go that way without
telling her about my wreck of a morning. Maybe with Sim I wouldn’t
be as accident prone.

“Why did you pick Morton?” Sim asked as I
walked beside her on the sidewalk.

“To get away,” I replied. I could tell Sim
that. I could not tell my mother, grandfather, or other friends
that. No one would understand how I wanted a few years away from
the life I grew up in. It wasn’t a bad life. We all had good homes,
a great education, and enough money to never want for anything, but
it was just stifling. Even here at college I wasn’t completely free
from my life, as I already had my degree planned out to allow me to
continue with my grandfather’s business. For once, just once, I
wanted to be free and have a life that I chose. “Six hundred miles
from home was the biggest draw.” Sim looked in awe at me. She was
from Minneapolis and only a two-hour drive from home. I got the
distinct feeling she wouldn’t be far from home ever.

“I don’t think I could do that,” Sim
replied. I was correct. “My parents would be lost without me.”

I shrugged. “My grandfather goes away for
business a lot and my mother often goes with him. I’m used to being
away from them, and I don’t think they ever really miss me.”

“So what? You just randomly chose on a map
to head to northern Minnesota? That sounds crazy. How did you find
Morton of all places to go?” Sim maneuvered around the corner and
didn’t run into anyone.

“I know one of the professors here. He was
my private tutor last summer for a class I wanted to get done
before my senior year. He always talked about Morton as a good
college and a beautiful place to live.” I looked around the
sidewalk and noted that underwear model and friends were not
walking on them anymore.

“We’ll see if you still say that when there
are twenty-four inches of snow on the ground,” Sim replied,
stopping at the door to go inside. She sat her boxes down and
opened the door.

“Do you know them?” Sim asked, pointing at
one of the picnic tables nearby. Underwear model, tall guy, and big
guy were all sitting there, watching us. Underwear model guy’s
stare was seriously unnerving, like I was prey and he was a wild
animal.

“Um, no,” I replied as my cheeks turned red,
giving away my true answer.

Sim blocked the door, her hands on her hips,
waiting for a better reply.

“You cannot tell me guys that hot are
staring like that and you don’t know them,” Sim answered.

“I bumped into the big guy earlier today,” I
admitted part of the truth. I was not going to say anything about
underwear model guy falling into my lap. That was just weird. Sim
nodded and moved to hold the door for me. I saw her looking round
me to check out the guys again before following me into the
stairwell.

“But he’s not the one really staring at you.
It’s the really cute guy. He looks very familiar.” Sim led us
upstairs and stopped talking as she was deep in thought about
something.

At least she had stopped asking questions.
Maybe she knew the guy. She was from around here and maybe he was
as well. Maybe she could tell me if he was really a player and if
he was dating anyone. I stopped that train of thought. I didn’t
want to know more about him. Well, I wanted to, but I shouldn’t
want to. He was just a player, trying to add girls to his growing
list of conquests. I wasn’t going to be on any guy’s conquest list.
I was here to get an education, get away from home, and grow up a
bit—not to fall for some player guy that would add my name as
another check mark on his list of women.

We set the boxes down in our room where
Sim’s mother was unpacking and putting things away. Sim didn’t even
seem to care as her mom went through everything. I was surprised. I
really didn’t want my mom going through my things. Sim led the way
back down and went outside again. The guys were still there and I
could feel underwear model’s stares on my back as we walked by.

“Are you sure you don’t know him?” Sim
asked, turning back to look at him again.

“Really,” I replied,
pulling her back around. I was going to go with the
I don’t know him
bit and
hope he went away. “I’ve never met him before.”

I followed behind Sim to make sure she
didn’t turn back around.

“He’s really cute,” Sim added. “I wish I had
a hot guy watching me like that. I mean it looked like he’s ready
make out with you right here on the dorm lawn.” While my heart beat
a little fast at that idea, I tried to keep my mind from wandering
there. What would it be like to kiss him?

“He’s not really my type,” I lied. He was
completely my type. He was anyone’s type; tall, dark, and
handsome.

“You don’t like the “I’ve been taken away
from heaven and planted here on earth” drop-dead-gorgeous type?
We’re in college. Time to explore new types, girl.” Sim raised her
eyebrows as we approached the car. My face was already red. I
couldn’t deny what she said, but how else could I say that I knew
better than to be interested in him? I couldn’t let myself be
interested in him. Guys like him were always trouble.

“Simardeep, what could you be doing to make
your new friend blush that much?” Mr. Singh asked. My face reddened
a bit more with embarrassment, though I would not have thought that
was even possible. I didn’t need to discuss cute guys with Mr.
Singh.

“I am being nice, Daddy,” Sim replied. “We
were just talking about finishing all these boxes, and I made Mari
run back down here with me. She’s just warm.” Sim lied expertly and
winked at me when he wasn’t looking. Maybe Sim wasn’t as completely
honest with her parents as it seemed before, when her mother was
putting all Sim’s stuff away.

“Well, if you ladies can take the top three
boxes, I can get the rest,” Mr. Singh offered.

I grabbed the top two boxes. The less trips
past underwear model, the better. Sim grabbed the other box and led
us away as her dad piled the rest on the closed trunk before
locking up. I looked back to see if we should wait for him.

“He’s fine,” Sim answered my unspoken
question. “He walks slowly. My mom and I leave him behind all the
time.”

I wouldn’t say that he walked slowly,
remembering how he had bounded across the lot to me when I waited
before, but I followed Sim anyway. She seemed to be in a bit more
of a rush than last time. We flew by the guys still sitting at the
table and up to our room without a glance back. Sim pushed me in
first, and I set the boxes down on the bed. She snuck in behind me
when her mother’s back was turned and slid the box in her arms
under my bed. She put her finger to her lips begging me to be quiet
about the mystery box. Sim stood back up quickly and smiled at her
mother as she turned around.

“I’ll go back down to get the door for your
dad,” I offered as Sim’s mom started to hand Sim clothes to hang
up.

I went back downstairs. It wouldn’t be a
problem because I didn’t have to walk outside again by the guys. I
could just stand inside the door and open it once Mr. Singh made
his way there. He wasn’t far down the walkway when I got to the
doorway. I leaned against the door and ignored the students walking
by.

“Was she the one in the red shirt or white?”
a familiar, nasally voice asked.

“White, with the short shorts,” underwear
model replied as they passed by.

I looked at my shirt. It was white and my
shorts were a tad bit short.

“Oh, you mean the hot one that ran into me
today when we were looking for you,” a third voice added. None of
the guys noticed me flattened against the doorway.

I might have convinced myself before that I
wasn’t the one underwear model was looking at for his next girl,
but it was going to be harder to convince myself of now. What did I
do to be targeted? It was only my first day at Morton.

“Melissa is going to be mad,” tall guy said
as they walked down the hallway out of hearing range. They hadn’t
seen me, but I had heard them. College was getting harder by the
minute and I hadn’t even been to my first class yet.

I looked up and Mr. Singh was trying to get
the door open. I reached over and pushed it open for him. He
smiled, surprised to see me.

“Oh, Mari, thanks,” Mr. Singh replied as I
took a couple boxes and led the way back to my room.

Sim was almost done unpacking with the help
of her mom. It wouldn’t take more beyond the boxes we just arrived
with. Sim took the top box from her father and opened it as I sat
down on my bed to watch. They were like a well-oiled machine. Each
person had a task, and they all moved around getting it done. For
as much as they bickered, they were quite the family unit.

“Here,” Sim said, tossing me a booklet.
“Look at the football team.”

I paged through it until I found the
football team. Sixty-some faces stared back at me, all lined up
together for a group shot. In a way they all looked the same to me.
I didn’t know what I was looking for at first. Sim motioned for me
to turn the page. I turned the page and stopped. Underwear model
was staring back at me. Seth Sangre. He had a name. And he was
their all-star quarterback. I smiled meekly up at Sim. Seth Sangre,
the player, star quarterback, planned to make me a name on his
list. Ugh. College was not off to a good start at all.

Chapter 2

Orientation

The next day
was orientation. I woke with enough time to get
ready and scarf down a granola bar. Sim seemed even slower moving
than me so early. I couldn’t blame her. She was correct in that her
parents were hard to get rid of. After unpacking, they insisted on
taking us for an early supper. After that, we had to go to several
stores, as they needed to be sure Sim had everything she needed.
Then after visiting all of the stores and returning to the dorms,
they still weren’t sure if they should leave yet and thought a
dessert run was in order. It was past eleven before we got them on
their way. They seemed even more nervous about college life than
Sim and I combined. While Sim seemed annoyed, I actually found it
kind of fun to be fussed over. I missed my mom already.
Unfortunately for us, the college thought we should get into the
school mentality by having orientation at eight thirty in the
morning the day after we moved in.

Sim was unusually quiet as we walked to the
union. The great big round building was unique on campus and you
couldn’t miss it. Not many brick buildings were built as a complete
circle. The main meeting room was the center of the wheel with
hallways radiating from it. It made it easy to find our way around,
because either you walked in a straight line to the conference room
or you walked in a circle around it. At the end of the long,
straight hallway, we followed the signs and climbed down the stairs
to the lower level.

Sim still seemed to be only half awake as we
entered larger, doublewide doors. Other students trickled in around
us, also following the same signs. I paused just inside the doorway
to decide where to go next. Sim wasn’t going to be much help as her
eyes actually closed while walking forward. She was almost
sleepwalking. My new roommate was not a morning person.

“Did you get your schedule yet?” I asked
Sim, snapping her out of her standing slumber.

“No, were we supposed to?” Sim asked,
finally opening her eyes and looking around the room.

“If you registered early enough, they sent
your class schedule two weeks ago,” I explained how I got my
registration already. I held it in my hand and waved it in front of
her.

Sim gave me a sheepish smile. I was
beginning to doubt Sim did anything with early in the title.

“Then you need to go that way.” I pointed to
the left of where we entered. Big signs said to pick up schedules
there. Sim nodded and waved before weaving between other
students.

I made my way to the right toward the tables
that lined the walls. There was a line for the first half of the
alphabet. Since my last name was Navina, sometimes I fell in the
first or the second half, depending on how many people of each last
name were around. I looked closely and thankfully this was the
case. I got into the line with the end of the alphabet and zoned
out while it moved slowly forward. I was a morning person, but
anything moving this slowly would be boring for even the most awake
person. After a longer-than-needed wait, I made it to the front of
the line.

“Marcella Navina,” I said my name to a
stranger for the second time in two days. I pointed at my name tag
in front of the girl. She slowly peeled it off and handed it to me
before walking back to grab my orientation bag.

“Sangre,” a familiar voice said beside me to
the second girl at the table. A thick, dark arm reached in front of
me to point to a name tag, which read Taraq Sangre. The guy that
was the wall I ran into yesterday was standing beside me, and he
had the same last name as the underwear model, Seth. He smiled at
me and his white teeth sparkled against his chocolate-colored
skin.