Graduating (Covenant College Book 5) (14 page)

“Well, it sounds like your break was magical,” Paris said, running her fingers over my new bracelet appreciatively. “This is really gorgeous. He has good taste. He has gay-guy taste.”

“Of course he has good taste,” I said. “He picked me.”

“Oh, you guys are going to be all snuggly again, aren’t you?” Kelsey was sitting on the far end of the couch flipping through a magazine. “Of course, you’ve been that way all year. I don’t know why I should be surprised.”

“What did Kevin get you?”

“A day pass to a spa,” Kelsey said. “It was Heaven.”

That did sound like something that would appeal to her.

“How did Aric like his jacket?” Paris asked.

“He liked it,” I said. “I was worried, but he really seemed to like it, and he’s worn it every day since.”

“What did he think about the boxer shorts?” Kelsey asked.

“He only wore those for two hours.”

“I bet.”

I glanced over at Paris, finally ready to address the elephant in the room. “So, how was your Christmas break?”

“Dismal,” Paris admitted. “I broke up with Seth.”

“I figured that was a forgone conclusion after the Mark incident,” I said. “What happened with that, by the way?”

“Oh, well, Heather continued to scream for another hour and then hid in her room until she left the next day. I didn’t see her again, not that I was looking. She’s not back yet,” Paris said.

“What about Mark?”

“Yeah, that was all really embarrassing, so I kind of kicked him out of the house,” Paris said.

“And?”

“And what? I haven’t seen him since.”

“You one-night-standed him? That was ballsy.”

“What else am I supposed to do?” Paris asked. “It was one of those things that just happened. He was there. I was drunk. I immediately wanted to take it back.”

“Are you sure you didn’t just do it because you didn’t want Heather to have him?” It was a risky question to ask.

“I considered that,” Paris admitted. “I’m not joking. I did some soul-searching over break.”

“And?”

“I think that Heather dating Mark bothered me more than I wanted to admit,” Paris said. “I just can’t figure out why.”

“I think it’s that whole ‘you-didn’t-want-him-but-you-didn’t-want-anyone-else-to-want-him-either’ thing,” Kelsey said. “It’s normal.”

“You’ve felt that way before?”

“I think everyone has,” Kelsey said. “Even Zoe.”

“I have not,” I protested.

“What about Will?”

“Hey, when I was done with Will, I was done with Will.”

“You still didn’t want Brittany to date him,” Kelsey said. “In fact, it drove you crazy.”

“That’s because I didn’t want Brittany to be happy,” I said. “It had nothing to do with Will.”

Kelsey and Paris both regarded me with dubious looks.

“What?”

“No one thinks you were jealous,” Paris said. “It’s just human nature to want your ex to be miserable and alone.”

She had a point. I definitely wanted Will to be miserable.

“Let’s talk about you,” I said. “What are you going to do about Mark?”

“Oh, I’m going to pretend that it never happened,” Paris said.

“What if you run into him on campus?”

“Then I’m going to hide.”

“Well, that seems mature,” Kelsey said.

“Would you do anything different?” Paris asked.

“Nope. I would run and hide, too. I’m not big on confrontations.”

“What happens if he forces the issue?” I asked.

“Then I’m going to tell him it was a mistake,” Paris said. “Then, when he’s standing there looking hurt, I’m going to tell him that the sex was bad and leave him there stunned as I make my escape.”

I laughed, despite myself. “That sounds like a plan.”

“What sounds like a plan?” Kate asked, joining us in the living room.

“Paris was just telling us what she was going to do if she ran into Mark again,” Kelsey supplied.

“Which is?”

“Call his manhood into question and then run.”

“That seems like a good idea.” Kate’s affect was flat, and her face was drawn.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Kate said. “I’m just kind of worried that Heather isn’t back yet. Classes start tomorrow.”

“Maybe she plans on sneaking back in when we’re all asleep,” I suggested.

“Maybe,” Kate said, her attention drawn to my wrist. “Oh, that’s pretty. Is that new?”

I held it up. “Yeah, it was a Christmas gift.”

“Did your parents get it for you?”

“Aric got it for her,” Paris said gleefully. “He even had it engraved.”

“Oh,” Kate said. “Speaking of that, I think we need to talk. I don’t want you to think that I’m hitting on Aric.”

“He’s a good-looking guy,” I said. “Women throw themselves at him all the time.”

“I’m not throwing myself at him,” Kate protested.

“You’re flirting with him,” I said carefully. “Please don’t deny it.”

“I’m … I just find him interesting.”

“He’s also taken,” Paris said.

“So was Mark, and that didn’t stop you from going after him,” Kate said.

“That was an accident,” Paris said. “I didn’t go after him. It just happened. You’re going after Aric. There’s a difference.”

“I’m not going after Aric,” Kate said. “He’s just the kind of guy I’d like to go after.”

“Well, find someone just like him then,” I said. “I don’t want you fawning all over him anymore. I don’t like it.”

“Maybe you’re just worried that Aric will like me better,” Kate challenged.

“Kate, you have no idea what you’re talking about,” I said. “Even if Aric and I weren’t together, you would never be his type.”

“And what makes you say that?”

“You want to be his type,” I said. “That immediately puts you out of the running.”

Kate made a face. “Maybe we should just agree to disagree,” she said. “I promise to stay away from your boyfriend, because I know it makes you insecure. Why would I even bother? He’s out of here in a few months. So are you.”

“This is true,” I said. “Let’s just try and keep things civil, if not friendly. It will make the next four months more tolerable.”

“Fine.”

“Great.”

“Well, I guess I’ll go to my room and be civil,” Kate said, getting to her feet. “I’ll leave you three to … whatever it is you were doing.”

“Bye,” Kelsey called out brightly.

Paris and I had the good grace to tamp down our laughter until we were sure she was out of earshot.

As I started my final semester at Covenant College, I couldn’t help but feel nostalgic. Sure, a lot of terrible things had happened here, but a lot of good things had happened, too.

This was where I met Paris and Kelsey, and realized what real friendship was. This was where I met Rafael, and learned exactly how annoying I really was. This was where I met Aric, and finally felt like I “fit” with another person.

Of course, this was also where two of my roommates had tried to kill me, a freaky professor had tried to take over, and where a sphinx had hunted me in the woods. Hey, nothing is perfect.

Life is full of crossroads, and I was approaching a big one. The problem was, I couldn’t look down the road until I’d finished traversing this one. I had a feeling there was at least one more Covenant College mystery that had to be solved – and I couldn’t leave until I knew who (or what) had killed those students.

And I couldn’t leave knowing that Professor Blake was still in a position of power. That was a more recent realization, but it was just as poignant. Blake was equally as dangerous as whatever monster had committed mass murder, merely in a different way.

As far as my classes went, it was a hodgepodge of credits to fulfill my graduation requirements. I had two journalism classes, photography and cultural events, one creative writing class, one lame sociology class, and a walking class. Yes, walking. I had three credits to make up, and walking seemed like the absolute easiest way to do it.

My first class of the day was photography, and my biggest relief was to see an unfamiliar professor standing in front of the room. Obviously Blake had received my warning. If he showed up in my cultural events class, I was going to have an absolute fit, though.

I settled into one of the open seats, looking up briefly when someone slipped into the one next to me. It was Mark’s face staring back at me. Uh-oh.

“Oh, hey.”

“Hey.”

“Um, how was your break?”

“Horrible,” Mark said. “How was yours?”

“I had a good time,” I said. “I was in Lansing.”

Mark seemed surprised by my admission. “Did you spend Christmas with Aric?”

“I did.”

“And the senator?”

“He was there,” I said.

“How was he?” Mark asked, curious.

“What do you mean?”

“He’s a big deal,” Mark said. “It’s got to be intimidating to meet him.”

“He’s actually pretty great,” I said after thinking for a moment. “He’s a lot like Aric. They have the same sense of humor. He’s more serious, but he’s pretty nice.”

“That’s cool.”

The professor, who introduced himself as Luke Dawson, went through the basic introduction to the class and then paired everyone up, ultimately lumping Mark and me together. He told us to go over our equipment, talk about ideas, and then planted himself in his chair and pretended he didn’t want to be somewhere else. If I had to guess, he was nursing one heck of hangover. I guess his New Year’s celebration had gone on for a few days.

Left to our own devices, Mark and I played with the cameras and made small talk for a few minutes. Then, finally, he asked the question I knew was coming.

“How is Paris?”

“She’s good,” I said. “She’s busy with classes. It’s our last semester. You know how that goes.”

“Um, how is Heather?”

I smiled sympathetically. “I have no idea,” I said. “She hadn’t shown up by the time I went to bed last night. Maybe she’s staying somewhere else? She was really upset about the whole situation.”

“I don’t blame her,” Mark said. “I feel really guilty. I never thought of myself as a cheater.”

“Then why did you do it?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “We were just talking at first. We hadn’t talked in a long time. After she dumped me, well, she just kind of forgot that I existed. Then I saw her with that other guy, that big dude from the bar, and I knew she’d moved on and figured I should do the same.”

“Did you really not know that Heather was our roommate?”

“I had no idea,” Mark said. “She just didn’t seem like the sort of person who you guys would hang around with. I thought I was safe.”

“You thought you were safe?”

“That’s probably the wrong way to put it,” Mark admitted. “It’s more like I didn’t think I was in any danger. I know the girl rules. I wouldn’t have done it if I knew. Trust me.”

“So, why did you stay?”

“Because, if I left, I would have been the ass who slept with the girl and then took off the next day never to be heard from again,” Mark said. “I didn’t want to be that guy. And, the longer it went on, the harder it was to get away. It was just an impossible situation.”

“I get that,” I said. “College is full of hard situations. It’s annoying and ridiculous. Still, there had to be a better way to handle things than the way you did.”

“I’m telling you, it was an accident,” Mark said. “We were just talking. We had a few beers. Yeah, we were drunk, but we weren’t that drunk. The next thing I remember, and I still don’t know how this happened, we were kissing. And, well, then we were doing more than kissing.”

“What did you think, you know, when it was over?”

“I thought that I had to get out of that house,” Mark said. “I wanted to get out without Heather finding out.”

“Were you just going to go on like it never happened? Because that wouldn’t have been fair to her.”

“No,” Mark said. “I planned on breaking up with her. Hell, I planned on breaking up with her before I slept with Paris. I just didn’t want to do it before Christmas. I thought that would be too much of a douche move.”

“It would have been a douche move,” I agreed. “I think it was even more of a douche move to sleep with her roommate.”

“Oh, yeah, there’s no doubt about that.”

“So, now what?”

“Now? I don’t know,” Mark said. “I want to talk to Paris, but she won’t accept my calls. I’m thinking of trying to find her on campus.”

“Yeah, don’t do that,” I said. “If she sees you, she says she’s going to run and hide. She’s really embarrassed and confused.”

“She should join the club.”

“Just give it time, Mark.”

“Do you think that will work?”

“Are you asking me if I think you and Paris will get back together?”

“Maybe.”

I hesitated. “Mark, a lot has happened between all of us,” I said, keeping my voice low. “I know you say you’re done with the Academy, but you were still there that night, and you didn’t do anything to try and stop it.

I held up my hand to stop the argument that I was sure was coming. “I know you were scared. I was scared, too. You didn’t do the right thing. Paris knows that. I’m not sure you can ever fix that.”

“What if I really want to?” Mark’s face was hopeful.

“Then you’re going to have to figure out how to do it on your own,” I said. “I can’t be a part of it.”

“You’re not still worried that I’m a threat, are you?”

“No,” I said, and I almost meant it. Almost. “I just think some things can’t be forgiven, or forgotten.”

“And this?”

“Just give it time,” I said. “I’m a big believer that things will work out the way they’re supposed to. You have to give it time, though. There’s nothing else you can do.”