Carnelian (5 page)

“Oh no, are you just like the Barbies?” I
asked in horror.

“Barbies?” Sim replied, and I pointed to the
front of the auditorium and toward the girls with the four matching
sweatshirts. It was easy to find them even in the full auditorium.
She giggled. I guess she agreed with me on that one.

“You want to date him, too?” I asked.

“Why not?” Sim replied. “He’s hot man
candy.”

“That’s been around the block many times,” I
answered back. That was my biggest hold up. Who wanted to be on
some guys dated list? “I overheard him yesterday with his brothers.
He has had twenty-three girlfriends. Twenty-three,” I emphasized.
Sim shrugged.

“I’m not saying you have to marry him. You
could just go out with him and have a little fun,” Sim replied as
someone official-looking walked onto the stage. “My parents would
never approve of a non-Indian guy, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t
dated any. Do you even know how to just have a little fun?”

“Been there, done that,” I replied quickly,
though Sim wanted to press for more answers. Lucky for me, Ms.
Official Person started to talk. I didn’t know how much longer I
could avoid telling Sim more details about something that I still
didn’t understand yet. Something was very different about Seth
Sangre. With his reputation as it was, I should keep as far away
from him as I could. But still, I was intrigued by him, and it
wasn’t just his pretty face. He and his brothers were different,
but I was unsure if I wanted to know how different.

Chapter 3

First Day of
College

Sim overslept on
her first day of college. I was already up and
had watched her hit her alarm four times. I even asked her if she
was going to class, and she grunted some sort of reply. I warned
her before I left early for my own class, but I guess she doesn’t
hear people talk in the morning. I could already tell the poor girl
was going to spend her entire college career late.

I found my way easily to the biology
building on campus, and I was happy to find the hallways student
free at such an early hour. I followed the loop corridor until I
found the office Prof. Edwards told me to meet him at. An empty
chair was perched outside the locked door, and I sat down to wait.
I pulled out a book to read during my wait. Prof. Edwards was the
reason I was at Morton College. He’d been my tutor the summer
before my senior year in biology. I did an independent study of
biology over the summer to not have to use time during the year
taking the class. Prof. Edwards was a friend of my grandfather, and
had been in the Chicago area over the summer. Grandfather lined him
up as my mentor for the independent study, and thus began my summer
of biology with him.

“Beat me here?” Prof. Edwards said as he
interrupted my book. I closed the book, keeping a finger on the
page I was reading. There’d been no rush of music and emotion like
there was a couple days ago when I met Seth for the first time.
Maybe I just wasn’t in the mood to get into the story.

“I just got here,” I replied, standing to
follow him as he unlocked the door.

Prof. Edwards led me into his organized mess
of an office and threw his bag down in its designated spot while
his coffee stayed in his hand. There were articles, papers, tests,
and more papers everywhere, but there seemed to be some sort of
order. Prof. Edwards sat down and motioned for me to join him by
taking the only clean spot in the room, the chair opposite his
desk.

“Thanks for stopping by so early this
morning,” he began as he moved papers from one pile to another
while talking. “I just got back last night from my summer research.
Did you have a good summer?”

I shrugged. My summer wasn’t all bad, but I
was glad to be off to college with the chance to start over.

“Ahh, here it is.” Prof. Edwards stopped
rummaging through the papers and pulled out a stack of folders.

“We actually had more students request
tutors this year than we have tutors, and everyone is doubling up.
I’m going to give you three students. It shouldn’t be a problem as
their schedules are almost the same; therefore, you’ll be able to
meet with them all at one time. Did you get the book and class
handouts I sent this summer?” he asked, handing me the folders.
Prof. Edwards had asked me to help him by tutoring other students
for the basic biology class he taught. We had covered all the same
material a summer ago. He said I’d be perfect for it.

“Yes, it shouldn’t be too rough,” I replied.
It wasn’t even half of what he taught me over the summer.

“Good, good,” he replied. “I knew this would
be just perfect for you. You understood this better than most of my
college students when you were in high school. Now, I set up a
meeting for you today with the three students. You can meet them
and figure out a time that works best for you. We ask that our
tutors meet at least two to three times a week with the students,
and be available to answer questions online if they need it. With
three students you’ll have a little more work, but I know you can
handle it.” I nodded. It didn’t sound too bad. We were paid per
student, and three would mean three times more pay.

“When and where do I meet them today?” I
asked, getting the details before he got sidetracked on a different
conversation. Prof. Edwards was always getting off track when he
taught me.

“The Mitchell Center at four-thirty today.
It should just be a short meeting to go over the schedule and
answer any questions they might have.” Prof. Edwards took a long
sip of his coffee. “If anything gets to be too much, just e-mail or
call at any time. I know this is your first semester and all.”

I nodded and stood up. It was almost eight
fifteen, and I still had a ten minute walk across campus to my
first class. I didn’t look at the files- that would have to wait
until lunchtime. They would more than likely be freshman, and the
majority of Biology 311 were freshman non-majors. It would be a bit
odd to be a tutor for kids my own age, but even worse if they were
older than me.

“I told their father that I’d give them the
best tutor here. I believe you’ll be the best tutor, Mari,” Prof.
Edwards complimented me. “Don’t hesitate to ask about anything you
need to know. These boys deserve a chance to do well after their
hard lives.” I had no idea what he was talking about, but nodded
along with him. I guess I was tutoring guys.

“Sounds good,” I replied, and left his
office quickly to dash across campus.

Luckily for me, it was the
first day, so the professors all waited an additional five minutes
before starting class to make sure all their students found the
right room. Maybe Sim wouldn’t be late after all, or at least not
today. Classes were the normal start to a school year, with the
exception that in college they actually started their first class
with the course syllabus explanations
and
an actual lecture. By lunchtime
I was happy to just stop at the student union and get a small lunch
to have a break. I already had three chapters to read in one
course, and two in another, along with a short assignment due
Wednesday. I could see how quickly anyone could fall behind in
college.

I made my way through the line and grabbed
an avocado turkey sandwich and chips before going off to a quiet
corner. Students milled around the union, some were eating, some
not. It wasn’t hard to find an empty table in a corner while most
of the students were near the front of the seating areas waiting
for friends. A quiet lunch was more to my liking as I planned to
get some of my reading done at least. Before opening my textbook, I
grabbed the files from Prof. Edwards.

I opened all three files and laid them
together to see who my new students would be. As I opened the last
file and finally looked at the pictures, I shut them as quickly as
I’d opened them. This couldn’t be happening. Fate had to be playing
a game on me. I peeked back into the top file and held my breath,
hoping I had read it wrong. I hadn’t. I opened all three files
again and let out a breath. I was going to be tutoring Ty Sangre,
Nadim Sangre, and Seth Sangre.

I couldn’t help myself as I took Seth’s
file. I shouldn’t read more. I should have immediately given the
file back to Prof. Edwards, but I couldn’t help it. I carefully
opened the first page and studied the picture staring back at me.
It had to be a recent picture from the past year or so. He didn’t
look any different. Even his slightly lopsided grin was the same.
Darn. I was captivated by his dark eyes. Why couldn’t he have at
least been a bit ugly—then the “no crushing on no-good guys” would
have been an easier rule to keep.

Seth was born in India and had been adopted
as a child by the Sangre family. He was raised by them and
homeschooled until he entered high school his junior year. All his
records started that year, and they went on for pages. He was
immediately a football star and rose to team captain for his senior
year of high school after only playing one season. His grades were
okay, mainly B’s- I had no idea why he needed a tutor. I continued
to read on. He was a typical Midwestern high school student.
Nothing mentioned his homeschooling, or why he waited to enter
regular school.

I opened up Ty and Dee’s folders to skim
through them as well. Their stories were identical to Seth’s. They
were adopted from foreign countries as children, homeschooled, and
entered high school together. Ty entered as a sophomore the same
year that Dee and Seth entered as juniors. At least Ty’s file had
the reason he needed a tutor-he was dyslexic. But like Seth, no
reason existed for Dee needing a tutor. In fact, he was a better
student than Seth. The only thing I could think of was that being
football players gave them privileges, tutors being one of
them.

I set all three files down together.
Something just seemed off. I thought Seth was a bit strange before
when I caught him mumbling foreign words while sleeping, but even
this didn’t add up. Why were all of them adopted at the same time,
but from different countries? Why was there no record of them prior
to when they entered high school? Something did add up about these
boys.

I pulled my laptop from my
bag. I hated not having answers. I pulled up a search engine and
began to type-
Seth
Sangre
. Quickly, the page was filled with
articles and pictures of football captain Seth. All his star games
were splashed across the internet. I scrolled through them. I
didn’t need to see any more ego-boosting articles to know how great
the guy was. I arranged the results based on date and scrolled to
the bottom. I needed something more ancient than that of his
wonderful high school, and now college, career in sports. As I
neared the bottom, I was still finding articles of his high school
years. I clicked onto the next page, but stopped when I realized it
was blank. There was nothing more. It was as if Seth Sangre didn’t
exist until high school. Could that be possible? I quickly typed my
name into the search engine. I didn’t have as many files praising
me, but at least I could find things as far back as junior high. I
typed in both Ty and Dee’s names to find the same. It all ended at
their junior year, with nothing at all before. Were they in the
witness protection program? If so, why would the Sangre family be
chosen? If you want to hide, you wouldn’t join a rich, prominent
family.

“Homework already?” Sim asked, interrupting
me from my next search on the Sangre family.

“What?” I asked, I was still confused by the
fact that three boys that had no past and not didn’t fully hear her
question.

“You’re furiously typing away. I figured you
were already working on homework,” Sim replied, sitting next to me.
I actually hadn’t even notice her approach the table.

“No, just looking up details on the students
I’m going to tutor,” I replied.

“You got the assignments, then?” Sim opened
up her salad and began to pour dressing on it.

I nodded and handed her the files. She
opened the top one and could barely contain her squeal as I grabbed
it back out of her hands before people started staring at us.

“No way!” She grabbed it back. “You get to
tutor Seth Sangre?” Sim was more excited than I had seen her
yet.

I picked up the other two folders. “I get to
tutor all three brothers,” I answered. Sim was still drooling over
the picture of Seth. I grabbed it back again. I didn’t need stains
on the folder; I might even have to give back.

“What do you know about them?” I asked,
hoping Sim would be a better source than the Internet.

“What everybody knows, I suppose. They were
adopted by the Sangre family. Played high school football really
well.” Sim took a bite while she thought more.

“Did you know Seth was adopted from India?”
I asked.

“He’s not Indian,” Sim replied, stating a
fact I was beginning to believe as well. “I’ve been to India and
have seen lots of Indian people. He’s not Indian.”

“It says his name was Sahit,” I added. Maybe
she was wrong.

“That’s an Indian name. But trust me, he
isn’t Indian. Maybe if we hadn’t walked as close to him the other
day, I might believe it from pictures. But in real life, once you
get up close and see him, you can tell.” Sim didn’t doubt her own
assessment.

If he wasn’t Indian, why would they say
that? I looked over to Sim, who had taken the folders back and was
sifting through them. She was already on Dee’s file, and didn’t
seem to find it odd that Seth’s file was fake.

“Where would I find more information on the
Sangre family?” I asked, going back to my computer. My search
brought up nothing but junk. It seemed there were a lot more
Sangres than I knew about. I didn’t think it would be such a
popular name.