Carnelian (10 page)

“Geography major?” he asked.

“Anthropology and art history,” I replied.
My plans included getting a college education and joining my
grandfather in his business. It wasn’t like I didn’t already have
the exposure as I helped out during high school, but he insisted I
get a college degree. I agreed in order to get out of the house and
have four years of freedom before going back to my
perfectly-planned life.

“Then how’d you do that so fast?” Sim
admired.

“I’ve been to Brazil, Chile, Peru, Ecuador,
and Venezuela before,” I answered, pointing at each. After those on
the map, you didn’t need to know much more to fill in the remaining
countries.

“You lucked out,” Seth replied.

“No, any of them wouldn’t have been a
problem. I’ve traveled all over the world since I was a child,” I
replied, looking down the line of puzzles, Central America, Europe,
two maps of Asia, Africa. They all were familiar enough to me.

Sim led the way to the second pool and the
only course I dreaded: the log run. Somehow they had brought in
logs that ran from one side of the pool to the other. We were
expected to walk or run across them without falling in the pool.
Seth was the only one that made it from one end to the other in one
try, but I was determined to not let Mr. Perfect see me fail. Now
all I needed was some sort of solution to doing it.

I waited in line until someone working at
the course pointed me to a log. I was still stumped. I had watched
guy after guy race as fast as they could to only be thrown into the
water. The girls were the opposite. They were mostly extra cautious
and still tipped off immediately. The logs were chained together,
but not stable in the water at all. From what I could tell, the few
people that made it across did so at a consistent pace. I figured
it had something to do with where you stepped onto each log. Those
that stepped further in had more balance than those right on the
edge. At one edge, the whole log would tip as far up as it could go
when chained to another log. This meant that you had to go at some
sort of running or jogging pace. I had to go to Minnesota to
school. I doubt many other places would have even considered
throwing logs in a pool for an obstacle course. At least we didn’t
have to balance on them and try to throw another person off.

I stood on the edge of the pool and looked
at my logs, trying to get enough courage to do it. Seth saw my
hesitation, but at this point I didn’t care. I wanted to make it
across in one piece and not have to try over and over again as
several people were doing to avoid the automatic ten minute score
if you didn’t finish a course. Sim had already walked around to the
other side to time from there, but Seth was still standing with me.
He was watching me, but I did my best to ignore him. I had to
decide the best way to cross.

“You know your friend is right,” Seth said
low enough for only me to hear. He was standing behind me, looking
at the logs as well. My arms tingled at his breath on my ear. “We
are perfect for each other.” He was almost cheek to cheek with me
now, and he was tempting.

“Friends, right?” I corrected him.

He gave a deep chuckle and
smiled at me, pulling back only inches. I swear he heard my heart
beating fast due to him being close. “Yes, friends.” he replied.
“
Friend
,” he
addressed me, “leave at least one foot on each end of the log and
run light on your feet. The harder you hit the log, the more it
will respond.” So much for showing him that I could do this on my
own. He had seen right through my hesitation.

Doing exactly as he said, I ran across the
tied-together logs. It turned out to be easier than I thought it
would be. All my hesitation was for nothing. I was surprised when I
reached the other side of the pool, and Sim was jumping up and down
cheering. I didn’t fall in the water or have to do it five times to
get across.

“You’re, like, perfect,” Sim cheered. Other
timers beside her were watching us now. You couldn’t tell who had
fallen in the water or not as we all did the puzzle course before
the log course, but Sim jumping around cheering gave it away. I
grabbed Sim’s arm quickly and led her out the doorway before more
people could turn to gape at me. I already had enough people
staring at me for being next to Seth. As we neared the doorway,
Seth reached across me to take the clipboard from Sim and add his
time to it. His arm brushed mine and left goose bumps in their
wake. My response brought a smile to his face.

“I mean, I know after seeing the other ones
and all that you’d be perfect at this, but I thought for sure you
wouldn’t make it across this one. What was your secret to it? You
seem to have a secret to everything,” Sim kept chattering as we
left with Seth smiling behind me. I tried to ignore him as best I
could by dragging the chattering Sim over to the last race.

I had to stop and pinch myself. The last
race was a bit surreal. College students were doing their best to
race toddler tricycles around a figure-eight course. As funny as it
was to see, it was even more so to see how intense most of the guys
were at trying their best to win.

“Race you?” Ty asked, joining the line
behind us. I laughed. I’d rather watch Ty on the tricycle than race
him.

I neared the front of the line rapidly with
Ty.

“What was the rule again?” I asked Sim.

“You must complete one round on the course
with your butt touching the seat at all times,” Sim read. They
stated it that way to keep everyone on the tricycles, but the way
it was written still left some wiggle room. This was the best
course for Sim, since she was probably the shortest person
competing, which made it the easiest for her.

I stood and waited as one person made it
back. The rest of the people were still on the course, and
therefore I couldn’t race Ty. I took the tricycle and sat down on
it behind the start line. I was correct in that I wouldn’t be able
to pedal it very well at all. Most of the guys didn’t even use the
pedals. They could just pull themselves with their legs quicker,
but I wasn’t tall enough for that to work either. I’d have to pedal
awkwardly or find another way.

“Are you ready?” Sim asked. I smiled and
nodded at her. I had a great idea, and I knew it would work.

“This is for you, Ty,” I called over to him.
There was no way Ty could sit on it and pedal or pull himself. At
Ty’s size, I’d be surprised it if didn’t just collapse, or at least
flatten the tires under his weight.

“Go,” Sim called, beeping her timer to a
start.

I wasted no time as I grabbed the seat of
the tricycle with both hands and stood. My butt was still
technically on the seat. Holding it in place, I jogged around the
course, passing frustrated bikers along the way, including Seth’s
‘not girlfriend’. I smiled and kept running past her on my way.

Sim was jumping with excitement as I
returned to where they were waiting. I gave my bike to Ty, who
still didn’t have one yet from a returning biker before me.

“Why didn’t you tell me all the secrets to
doing this?” Sim asked as she passed the board over to Seth to be
able to hug me. “You’re awesome.”

“I didn’t know ahead of time. It just hit
me,” I replied honestly. “I came up with everything at the spur of
the moment.”

“You’re going to be the top-rated girl for
sure now,” Sim said, looping her arm in mine to lead me away. “I
have the top female as my roommate,” she gloated.

As we passed the edge of the tricycle
course, we could see Melissa standing on the course complaining to
an official. We heard her argument as we got closer.

“She cheated,” Melissa pointed at me while
screeching at the person working the tricycle race. “You can’t
stand! It’s in the rules!”

“The rule was the seat had to be touching
your butt at all times,” Seth corrected before the student
officiating the race could reply. “She didn’t cheat,” Seth defended
me.

“Correct,” the working student replied. “But
since your butt isn’t touching the seat, you have to start over,”
he pointed out. Melissa glared daggers at me.

Chapter 6

Not Too Bad,
Maybe

After we finished
our races, we worked the rest of the afternoon
taking turns with people we knew to man the race stations. I ended
up relieving the Barbie girls we met at orientation. I got stuck at
the ball race when they didn’t return from lunch, but it wasn’t
that bad after Sim, Ty, and Seth all joined me. One person running
around retrieving balls was hectic, but with four of us it didn’t
turn out to be too much work. We stayed there until all the
competitors were through.

By the end of the day, my times still held
out as the best times in the female category. Sim was more than
happy. She told me that each house has a five member team, and they
get to pick people to participate in the competitions. She didn’t
make it high enough to be on our house team, but it didn’t matter
since I was there. I was going to insist she come with me. It was
her fault after all that I was even participating.

When the competitions were officially done,
we all started to head back to the dorms. In the courtyard inside
the dorm square, a party was already going on. Competing in CRUSH
gave you entry, and we were waved through easily. Students were
lounging around, eating, talking, and some even dancing to the loud
music. Off to the side were tables set up with food.

“I’m going to go up to our room and change,”
I told Sim as she headed to the food tables. I was still only
wearing my swimsuit. Unlike Sim, I couldn’t put my shirt back on
since it was covered in goo. What I really wanted was to take a
steamy shower and go to bed early. Eight o’clock in the morning on
a Saturday was not my idea of fun after early classes all week.

“Fine, but if you’re not back down here in
five minutes, I’m coming up to get you,” Sim replied. I guess she
saw through that plan as well. “We’ll be over next to the food.” I
nodded, searching her face to see if she was serious about coming
back up to find me. She smiled and waved me away.

I wove my way between students to an open
doorway. It seemed like everyone from the dorms came out for the
party. The courtyard was filled and students were still coming down
the stairs. I wasn’t sure if Sim was going to come looking for me,
but I figured I’d take a chance and get cleaned up.

I wanted to grab my pajamas, but instead I
grabbed normal clothes as I headed off to the shower. After sitting
forever in the hot, steamy water to wash off the afternoon, I
returned to my room dressed. I was way over the five minute time
limit Sim had given me, and half expected to find her waiting on
her bed. The room was empty. Maybe I wasn’t going to have to go
down there after all.

The knock at the door made that thought fade
instantly. I didn’t even look out as I opened the door to find Seth
standing there.

“Sim figured you weren’t coming back down,
but it seems I win that bet,” Seth said, waving to my clothing.

“I haven’t decided yet if I was going to go
back down there,” I replied. I couldn’t just let him win the bet
outright.

“Really?” Seth answered, raising an eyebrow
to question me. “I actually agree with Sim.” Seth smiled at me.

“Fine, you’re both wrong,” I huffed and
grabbed a sweatshirt on my way. Fall was already here, and the
nights grew cooler once the sun was down.

“Do you really want to go back?” Seth asked.
He actually sounded sincere. It made me pause. I didn’t really want
to. Large parties were never really my thing, and my foray into
college hadn’t done anything to change that yet. I only really knew
Sim, Ty, and Seth in that large group of people down there. I
didn’t really need to be surrounded by people I didn’t know.

“That’s what I thought,” Seth replied. How
could he know me that well already? He had been reading my face all
day so I shouldn’t have been surprised. “But I did promise Sim that
I’d get you out of this room.”

“And what do you propose?” I asked in
return.

“Care to go for a walk with me, my lady?” he
asked formally with a bow. Seth was one weird conundrum. He was
athletic and a jock among jocks. His best friends and all his
football buddies were always cheering and slapping each other like
guys’ guys, but here now he was playing the part of the knight to
rescue me. I really didn’t understand him. He was not your typical
player.

I rolled my eyes and took his offered
arm.

“And where would you be leading me, good
sir?” I played right along.

Seth reached over and grabbed a bag at his
feet. “Why, on a picnic of course. I promised your dear friend that
I wouldn’t leave you alone in your room, and that I’d take you
outside. I never said that I would return you to the party
below.”

Oh my, he was smooth, and I was falling for
it. He really was rescuing me and doing exactly what Sim asked of
him. I tried to find a reason to protest, but my stomach responded
instead with a growl.

“And I’m just in time to rescue you.” Seth
smiled.

I tried to be reluctant as he led me back
down the stairs and out a front door, instead of back toward the
party. After walking ten feet away from the dorms, it was quiet.
All the noise of the party was gone and since all of the students
were at the party, the campus was particularly empty. Seth led me
to a side path and on one of the walkways through the wooded area
to the east side of campus, across the river. I didn’t know where
he planned to have a picnic, but the food smelled good. He
continued to lead us through east campus and the sports area. As we
made it through, he continued to walk. We were now headed off
campus.