Carnelian (8 page)

She must have had a lot to say to him. By
the time I was half-way through my sandwich, Seth finally sat at
the table with me.

“I’m sorry for Melissa’s behavior,” Seth
said. I didn’t look at him.

“Melissa?” I asked. It wasn’t one girl who
tried to trip me up, but three. I assumed he was naming the one I
saw him kissing before, she was the most obvious.

“The one who tried to trip you,” Seth
replied, oblivious to the other girls.

“What you and your girlfriend do is your own
matter, but maybe you shouldn’t try to date other girls and she
wouldn’t act out,” I answered. It was common logic that a
girlfriend didn’t want to see her boyfriend with another girl.

“My girlfriend? Melissa?” Seth asked,
surprised. “I haven’t dated her since winter of last year.”

“Really? I don’t think she feels the same
way,” I assessed. Either he was leading her on, or she just wasn’t
getting the hint. I didn’t care either way. Well, maybe I cared a
bit, but I wasn’t going to tell him that.

“I told her then that we could only be
friends,” Seth replied, still baffled.

“I’m not sure she heard you correctly.” I
glanced to my left and saw her seething at me because I was sitting
with Seth. I hated girls like her. I really wanted to smile and
give her a little wave, but I knew she was mad at us for what she
thought we were doing. I didn’t want to add fuel to her anger when
I planned to only be friends with Seth.

Seth scratched his head. “I have told her
many times that I need to move on. She keeps coming back, and I
keep telling her no. I’m pretty sure she hears what I say. I don’t
know how I can be any more clear.” Seth didn’t even notice their
table. He was only looking at me.

“And yet just yesterday I saw you kissing
her. That isn’t exactly saying you need to move on. You have to
have a little interest, if you’re willing to kiss her. As a friend,
since you want to be friends, I’ll tell you it isn’t good to send a
girl mixed messages.”

Seth pondered this a few moments as we both
ate in silence.

“So, friend,” he began, elongating the word
friend. The way he said friend was enough to make me want to blush.
How could he do that? “Can you explain to me why you won’t go on a
date with me? Friends can tell each other this kind of stuff,
right?” I scrunched up my face. I should have never called him
friend.

“Well, first off, you aren’t my type.” That
was a lame excuse. I really didn’t have a type. I had more a type I
was trying to avoid. “And second, I know nothing about you. Do you
really think it’s safe for a girl to be alone with a guy, possibly
in a car, and not know a thing about them?”

“Okay the not knowing is valid,” he
answered, nodding along with my case. “But I’m confused
otherwise.”

I shrugged. It wasn’t that confusing. When a
girl says you’re not their type, most guys moved on.

“How can you say I’m not your type if you
know nothing about me? Maybe I’m more complex, or have deep, dark
secrets that don’t show up in the football program brochure.” Seth
pondered his assessment with a twinkle in his eyes.

Okay, he had me there. “Fine. I know a
little about you, and what I know makes you not my type.
Regardless, it’s not enough that I’d feel comfortable alone with
you,” I added to clarify. Seth was still smiling. He knew that he
had the upper hand. I actually knew more about him that I was
willing to admit. I finished the last bite of my sandwich as I
waited for him to respond. He finished his food also and just
smiled.

“Then, friend, what is your type?” Seth
smiled sweetly, playing the friend role perfectly. His kissable
lips parted slightly when he smiled. Great. Friends was not a good
idea. No way could I have a conversation with him without thinking
about things I didn’t want to think about, and I had a feeling Seth
knew what I was thinking.

I stood up with my drink and tray in hand.
The best solution was to flee. “The honest type that doesn’t have
ten girls waiting to catch him when he turns away for a moment,” I
answered him. Seth stood while I talked and followed me as I walked
to the trash. Fleeing just went out the door when he chose to
follow me. Guess I’d have to flee faster next time.

“Well, I’d have to say I’m pretty honest,”
Seth said, assessing himself.

“Mm-hmm,” I replied. Not thinking, I just
let the first question that popped into my head out. “Then where
did you go to elementary school?”

Seth’s mouth dropped open. I hadn’t meant to
confront him on his shady past. I was intrigued, but I planned to
look further without anyone knowing. It just kind of slipped out.
Though Seth’s reaction told me all I needed to know. I was
definitely on to something. He had a past he wasn’t willing to
share. Honesty was not exactly a trait of his.

“Running off already?” Ty asked as he
rounded the corner and came up to Seth and me. “What’s the
hurry?”

I smiled at Ty. I could look at him while
talking and not have wandering thoughts about kissing him. Ty was
safe and nice. Even though he had just as hidden of a past, I
didn’t feel he had an agenda all the time like Seth. Maybe because
he wasn’t asking me to date him.

“I have to get the last of my homework done.
Sim is dragging me to something called CRUSH tomorrow and she said
it could take all day,” I told Ty.

Seth recovered from my assessment of his
honesty and smiled.

“Then we will be seeing you there,” Seth
answered for both him and Ty. “I have to defend my title after all.
I had the best time in last year’s qualifying round.” Seth was
gloating, but coming from him it was more like he was stating fact.
I had no doubts Mr. Perfect, all-star athlete had the best time.
From everything I read in his file, there wasn’t much he did wrong,
probably not even kissing. Crap. I was looking at his lips again as
he talked.

“Are you competing?” Ty asked, bringing me
back from my daydreams.

“Wasn’t planning on it, but I’m sure Sim
will force me to,” I complained. I could already see Sim’s
excitement about it. Competing seemed like it was on the table
already. And once again, I’d be seeing Seth Sangre.

“Can’t wait to see it,”
Seth replied. “See you tomorrow,
friend
.”

I had a feeling that no matter what I did,
I’d be seeing a lot of Seth Sangre this year.

Chapter 5

CRUSH

The lawn of
the commons was completely filled with college
students. There were more people on the lawn than I saw around
campus in the past two days. When my alarm went off at eight on a
Saturday morning, I was completely ready to hit snooze. Instead, I
found that Sim was already out of bed and showered. It was a big
deal for her, but I didn’t know how many other people were just as
excited. I pulled at the strap of my swimsuit, which was sticking
outside my shirt collar. Sim said it was necessary to wear a suit
as they always had a water challenge. I really didn’t want to
compete, but I couldn’t let her down. She was too excited. Now I
saw she wasn’t the only one. It felt like maybe everyone on campus
was just as excited.

Sim pulled me forward through the crowd to
the tables by the commons’ doorways. Students were taking names and
writing numbers on competitors. Seth had said he would see me here,
but I was relieved to find he would probably not with all the
people milling around. I really didn’t want him to see me in a
swimsuit. Even though I was determined to not have a crush on him,
he was growing on me, and he was just too darn cute.

“Murdley Hall,” said Sim as we got to the
front of the line. “Sim, room 215.” The student wrote down her name
and room before standing up and grabbing a green sharpie marker.
Sim held out her arm and the number 478 was written on her left arm
in green ink. The person next to us said Mardone Hall and had a red
number written on her arm.

“Building?” the student asked me.

“Murdley,” Sim replied for me as I was
distracted, watching the mess around us.

“Mari, room 215,” I answered before the
student could ask more. The student picked up the same green marker
and I held out my arm. Number 479 was written on my arm. It looked
like there was no going back now.

“Tim will be talking in about five minutes
on the stage to the left,” the student said to Sim and me. I looked
back and the student was pointing to his left, and sure enough
there was a stage on the far end of the commons lawn. On the
opposite side was another stage with large, white, empty marker
boards.

Sim grabbed my arm and started to drag me
through the groups of students. I didn’t know where we were going,
but heading toward the stage was the general direction. As she
slowed down, I finally noticed our destination as she went toward
Ty. He was large enough to stand out amongst the other students. My
stomach sank as I noted his companions. Beside Ty were his
brothers, Seth and Dee.

“Hey, Sim and Mari,” Ty called, waving us
forward a few more feet through a crowd that was splitting to
accommodate his large, waving arms. “Ready for some fun?”

“How would you know?” Sim asked, eyeing him
up. Ty was a freshman like us, but probably had already received
advice from his brothers. Sim had explained to me last night that
the freshman typically finished slower than the upperclassmen,
because they had never done it before.

Ty smiled sheepishly and shrugged. “Maybe
I’ll get time to give you some pointers also,” he tried to make
amends with us.

“Hello,
friend,
” Seth said into my ear as he
bumped his shoulder to mine, standing right next to me.

Tingles shot through my shoulder where he
touched me and my heart raced a little. Darn boy had to be cute,
but I was not going to fall for him. I was going to be strong and
stick to my new rule. I wasn’t going to be number twenty-four in
his book. I needed to repeat that mantra to stay strong, especially
when he was standing close enough that I could smell the faint
scent of fresh linen off of him. Seth laughed softly, just enough
for me to hear, like he could read my internal struggle on my
face.

“Can everyone quiet down?” a tall, lanky guy
said from the stage into a microphone. Thankfully I could turn my
attention to him instead of Seth. The guy didn’t look that old and
actually seemed a bit out of place. He looked more like a
California surfer with his sun-bleached hair, than a Minnesota
college student.

“I’m Tim, this year’s CRUSH president,” he
explained to the crowd. People around us cheered for him. “We have
quite a few contestants, as always, and I think we need to get
started if we want to finish by party time. If everyone can stop at
the sign-in table for a minute, I’ll explain this year’s
competition for house teams.” At his command the tables were all
quiet and everyone on the commons’ lawn was facing Tim. It was
strange to see such concentration from college students, especially
those that seemed a bit hung over from the night before.

“The rules first. This is an obstacle course
race with six stops. You’re ranked based on how quickly you do each
leg of the race. When you’re ready, come up to this table and take
a clipboard. Fill out your name and number. Choose two people to be
timers. Choose one person from your house and one person not. They
will be your official timers. You will earn points for how quickly
you do each leg of the race and how quickly you finish overall.
Does that all make sense?” Tim paused and ran his hands through his
blond hair. Cheers went up all around me from the other students
ready to compete. This was sounding less and less like fun.

“The six courses are set up around the
college. Don’t worry about moving between courses as we just time
the course itself. First course is the balloon carry over by
Stradley Hall. Carry two balloons from one end of the course to the
other end. Second is by Merry Hall, the ball toss. There are seven
balls from seven different sports. Throw them in their right
containers, such as shoot the basketball through the basketball
hoop. Third is the ROTC course. Run one lap. Easy enough?” Cheers
were all around. I really didn’t even know what a ROTC course was,
but I guessed I was going to find out. “Fourth and fifth are at the
swim center. In the large pools is the fourth. There are bags at
the bottom of the pool. Dive in and get three bags all of the same
color. Bring them back out and put the puzzle together. Fifth is at
the shallow pools. There are logs to cross the pool. Just make it
from one side to the other. Last is the bike race in the commons’
parking lot. Once around the track, just never let the bike seat
leave your butt or you have to start over. And with that, let’s
begin our greatest CRUSH year ever.”

Cheers erupted around me. I wasn’t sure what
everyone was happy about. I barely caught everything he had said.
Students rushed the stage and grabbed all the boards to begin. It
would be awhile before we would get a chance, and that would give
me time to see what each course was. I hated doing anything
unprepared. I turned to find that Sim and Ty were already excitedly
talking. Seth bumped his arm to mine again, sending tingles down my
arm.

“Do you need any advice?” Seth asked. I
couldn’t tell if he was kidding or not, but I didn’t get the chance
to ask him as someone stuck a board into his hands.

I could feel the eyes of all the girls
around us staring at Seth. Some even moved to position themselves
better in his line of sight. I didn’t realize why until I saw the
two dangling timers in his hands now. He needed to choose people to
time him since somehow someone dropped a clipboard into his hands.
I bet every girl around us wanted to be chosen by him. I held back
a laugh. What girls would do for a pretty face, well that and a
nice body.