Carnelian (4 page)

The girl handed him his name tag while the
second girl returned with two bags and handed one to each of us.
Both girls paused to smile and flirt a little at the guy beside me,
and he smiled back. I turned to quickly leave, but he spoke even
quicker.

“I’m Ty,” he said to me before I could turn
to find Sim.

“I’m Mari,” I replied, looking for a clear
path to get through the mass of people. More students had arrived
after us, and they were all now pressing into the room. Ty smiled
and began walking forward. He didn’t even hesitate for people to
move, because they simply all moved to get out of his way. He was
massive in size, and I’d have moved, too, if I was them. His arms
alone looked like they could pound a person into the ground.

“You’re a freshman?” I asked, surprised as
he seemed older.

“I should be a sophomore with my brothers,
but I had to take an extra year to catch up with them,” Ty replied,
walking across the room.

“You have brothers?” I asked, wondering if
they were all as massive in size as he was.

Ty flashed his bright smile and nodded.
“You’ve already met my brother Dee, kind of. He was with me
yesterday. Tall, skinny, looks like he’s sucking on a lemon?”

His path led to the other side of the room
where students were lounging around the empty floor, most of them
sitting or sprawled out trying to get more sleep in. There were no
seats, just a stage at one side of the room. Ty found an open area
and sat. I hesitated to sit beside him, and quickly scanned to be
sure Sim wasn’t already through her line. She was not. I had no
excuse not to take a seat. I settled down beside Ty.

“How could you and your brother be the same
age? You don’t look anything alike,” I said without thinking first.
I hadn’t meant to point out the obvious difference that they were
both different races.

“We were adopted at the same time,” Ty
replied, not even batting an eye at the question. He must have had
to answer that a lot.

“Oh,” was the only reply I could muster. I
had to change the conversation fast.

“Do you play any sports?” I asked. A guy his
size had to play something. If not, there would be a recruiter
following him around soon trying to get him into something.

“Yeah, I’m here on a football scholarship,”
Ty replied as Sim made her way through the crowd. It was funny to
watch. Sim was only just over five feet tall, and she got lost
between students as she bobbed between everyone. Groups had started
to form around us as students were greeting old and new
friends.

I waved to Sim so that she would see us.

“That makes sense,” I replied to Ty. It
really did. He was huge and if he had answered tennis, I might have
laughed.

Sim plopped down next to me.

“I got stuck with Honors Lit.,” she
complained, handing me her schedule.

“And you didn’t sign up for that?” I
replied, looking at the form. Her schedule was full of courses like
Honors Literature and other subjects I was avoiding until
necessary.

“Honors Lit. isn’t the problem,” Sim
complained, opening her bag and sifting through the contents. “The
problem is that it’s Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at
eight-thirty.” I laughed. Her standing in line seemed to have woken
her up a bit, and now I realized why she was complaining. She was
not a morning person.

“Oh, Sim, this is Ty. Ty, this is my
roommate Sim,” I introduced them, remembering Ty beside me. “Then
why did you sign up for it?”

“I didn’t,” Sim complained as she shoved
everything back in the bag. It was an assortment of notebooks, a
day planner, pencils and pens with the school logo on it all. There
was even a plastic water bottle. “My parents chose my classes.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. I could see her
parents doing that. Even after only just meeting them, I could tell
Mr. and Mrs. Singh had grand plans for Sim. Sim hung her head on
her knees like she was catching up on her sleep.

“Well, at least next semester you can sign
up alone for the classes,” I replied, looking for at least one good
point. Sim just moaned and shook her head no. Then again, maybe her
parents would choose her classes again.

“They shouldn’t even offer morning classes,”
Sim complained. “At least not without massive amounts of
caffeine.”

“I’m with you on that,” Ty added. “I have
morning classes all semester.”

I looked between them. I was outnumbered. I
didn’t mind my morning classes. Maybe I was the only crazy person
in the room. Ty and Sim both looked at me for agreement. I looked
between them and shrugged. What could I say? I kind of was a
morning person.

“Don’t you dare say you like morning
classes.” Sim threatened me playfully with her water bottle. “We
have morning classes because of people like you.” Sim gave up
threatening me and went back to resting on her knees. Her little
burst of energy was over.

Someone on the stage began tapping the
microphone and the students all sitting around began to quiet. A
few late students were still at the tables, but the rest were
waiting.

“I suggest lots and lots of coffee to get
through the year with your roommate. Coffee always wakes up Dee,”
Ty whispered to me. Sim didn’t even lift her head. I’d have to make
sure we had caffeine stocked up. I didn’t think anything
caffeinated was on the Singh’s approved beverages, but if it got
her alive in the morning, we’d have to try.

“Before we get to all the official business
of welcoming you to college, we’re going to play a few games to
help us all get to know our fellow students,” a young,
twenty-something man spoke from the stage. “Form groups of six to
eight people, and you can begin by introducing yourself to everyone
in your group.”

The room erupted into conversation. I looked
at Ty first, and he shrugged. Sim still didn’t pick up her head. We
were only a group of three. We’d need to find more people. Someone
tapped my shoulder, and I twisted to turn around a bit.

“Hi.” A cute blonde girl, who was perfectly
made up for such an early hour in the morning, offered me her hand.
She was platinum blonde with perfect waves in her hair that
cascaded over one shoulder. “I’m Breanne. Figured since you have
three and we have four, we could be a group.” Breanne pointed to
the girls next to her, speaking with a slight southern accent. The
accent was very odd being that we were in the far north, about as
far away from the south as you could get.

“This is Bryce, Barb, and Beth,” Breanne
introduced her clones. They were all dressed in matching stylish
leggings and sweatshirts. Each was just as made up with makeup as
Breanne was. I couldn’t imagine how early they had to get up to
look like that.

“I’m Mari, and this is Ty and Sim,” I
replied. Ty smiled and nodded, but Sim didn’t move. “She’s not a
morning person,” I added as Ty and I turned around to face the four
cloned girls staring back at us. I poked Sim to get her to move.
She grunted and moved without picking up her head.

“Well, I’ll go first,” Breanne kept talking
and her blond curls laid perfectly as her head bobbed. “Hello
y’all, I’m Breanne Miller from just outside Fargo. If you say my
accent is all wrong…” Which it was. She had a southern drawl to her
talk, not a North Dakota accent. “That’s because I grew up in
Alabama until I was fourteen. Four years up north wasn’t enough to
change fourteen years in the south. Umm, what else…” Breanne paused
and twirled a curl around her finger. “Oh, I’m a Comm. major, and I
live in Mardone Hall where I met my three new best friends.”
Breanne smiled at her companions, and then at us, looking at me to
go next.

“I’m Ty Sangre,” Ty stepped, in saving me
from introducing myself. I really wasn’t as interesting as the
Barbie doll in front of me. “I’m from Minneapolis, and here to play
football,” short, and to the point.

“Sangre, as in the Sangre family?” asked one
of the girls who was wearing a pink sweatshirt. I still didn’t know
who was who. All four girls stared intently at Ty, waiting for his
answer. They seemed to know who the Sangre family was.

There was definitely something special about
the name Sangre. I was sure I’d heard it before, but my grandfather
dealt with several clients per week, and I’d heard a lot of names
during my life. The way the girls were all waiting in anticipation
made me think Sangre had to be one of my grandfather’s nice, rich
clients.

“Yes,” Ty replied, looking a bit more
uncomfortable.

“And your brother is possibly Seth Sangre?”
Another one asked, getting more into the conversation. This one
wore a green sweatshirt. All four girls had the same dreamy look in
their eyes. Even Sim picked her head up a little bit to follow the
conversation.

“Yes.” All of the girls sighed.

Ty’s eyes filled with humor as he watched
them. This must not have been the first time he had to deal with
dreamy-eyed girls ogling over his brother. From what I saw of Seth,
I bet this was actually the norm for Ty.

“And does he have a girlfriend right now?”
asked Breanne, getting straight to the point. She was the most
forward girl of the group, and two of the others covered their
mouths and giggles as Breanne asked. I’m sure they had all been
thinking the same thing.

“No girlfriend yet,” Ty replied and all four
sighed again, picturing themselves as Seth’s girlfriend
undoubtedly. “But he has one girl he’s particularly interested in,
and I doubt anyone else will catch his eye at this point.” Ty
raised an eyebrow at me. Oh crap, he was confirming what I already
suspected. I was sure Sim caught his look, too. My cheeks began to
burn. Sim didn’t say anything, but I was in for a grilling when we
got back to our room.

“Ahh, what a lucky girl. I bet it’s his
girlfriend from last year. I heard he broke up with her three times
and each time he went back to her,” one girl complained. They knew
more about Seth Sangre than I really thought was possible. He must
have been a bit of a celebrity in these parts.

“I heard she was a beauty that could have
any guy here, and a perfect fit for him. I wish I was beautiful,”
the pink sweatshirt girl replied. Yep, our very own Morton College
celebrity.

“I wish I was a year older,” green
sweatshirt girl responded. “Why can’t upperclassmen look at us
freshmen?”

“No, he isn’t interested in Melissa
anymore,” Ty replied. There was relief in his voice. Maybe this
Melissa wasn’t as perfect as the Barbies thought. “And it’s a
freshman that caught his eye.” Great. I wanted him to stop
confirming my worst fear. The well-known Morton-Carole
hottie/playboy had made me his next target. Really? I was hoping
everything from yesterday was just a dream.

All four of the girls perked up at the
mention that Seth was interested in a freshman. The wheels were
turning in each of their brains. Seth Sangre liked a freshman, and
that girl could be anyone. Now they stood a chance of getting the
hottest guy around.

“And does the girl know that he’s
interested?” Blondie in the blue sweatshirt asked.

“I’m pretty sure she does know.” Ty stole
another glance at my flaming red face.

I ducked down to rest my head on my knees
like Sim. Hopefully they would think I was as tired as she was, and
I could hide my red face. Sometimes I really hated the pale skin
that complemented my red hair. I gave away too many secrets with my
blushing.

The girls continued to pepper Ty with
questions about Seth. I tried to tune them out, but it was hard. I
was happy when the microphone was tapped again and we were given a
two-minute warning. Seth Sangre talk would end, hopefully. Part of
me was completely embarrassed that Seth was now chasing after me to
add my name to his long list, but the other part couldn’t help but
giggle alongside the girls. Seth was stunning. No denying that. A
hot boyfriend sounded ideal until you found out he had had
twenty-three girlfriends in the past few years. I had had a bad
relationship in high school and had promised myself college would
be better. It wasn’t turning out that way.

Orientation went fine after the Seth Sangre
question session. None of the Barbies noticed that Ty kept hinting
toward me. Only Sim got the gist of everything, and was grinning
ear to ear by the time we left the ‘getting to know you’ session
and returned to the auditorium for the next session.

“You caught the eye of a Sangre boy,” Sim
teased as we walked into the auditorium. The Barbies had joined
friends from their dorm and Ty was called away by other freshman
football players. Sim and I took seats by ourselves toward the back
of the room.

“What is up with the name Sangre?” I asked,
avoiding answering her statement.

“You don’t know the Sangres?” Sim asked
back. I shook my head. “Oh, I forget that you’re not from around
here. Everyone knows the Sangre family. There are buildings,
foundations, and scholarships all named for the family. Here at
Morton alone you’ll find half a dozen places their name shows up.
It is all just one family, one really rich family. They donate to
every cause out there as they have no better way to spend the
millions they make each year.”

“They make?” I asked. I really had never
heard of the Sangre family before.

“Mr. Sangre is a businessman. He owns four
different department stores, two restaurant chains, and an
international company that does something. Ever heard of Chancy’s?
Maybe Bittersweet?” Sim named two stores that were extremely
popular in the mall. “He owns both of those. The family is
basically rich beyond rich.”

“Oh,” was my only response. I probably had
heard the name before then as my grandfather normally dealt with
people like that, but I couldn’t recall ever really meeting a Mr.
Sangre.

“Now, my question, how the heck did you get
to know the hottest guy around here in less than a few hours? You
only arrived yesterday just like me,” Sim complained.