Page 24 of Mountain Dreams

The bell rang, and everybody gathered their things. Cody lingered as she carefully repacked her bag so as not to rumple her books or notebooks. Then she opened her pencil pouch and replaced the pencil, aware that he was watching her the entire time. So much for ignoring him and wishing he would go away.

“Where’s your next class?” he asked.

“Why?”

“I’ll walk with you.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “What if it’s in the opposite direction from where you’re going?”

He shrugged. “We’ll see.”

She wanted to be angry with him, and if it weren’t for his disarming smile and easygoing nature, she probably would have been. “I’m sure there’s plenty of other girls you could walk with.”

She turned and walked out, and he followed her.

“You don’t like me very much, do you?” he asked once they’d joined the throng of students walking to their next class.

“I don’t even know you. All I know is you’re unorganized and you embarrassed me in class.”

“I apologize for that. How can I make it up to you?”

“You can bring your textbook tomorrow for one thing.”

He chuckled. “Will do.”

They came to the hub of the school, where students gathered in between classes to talk, gossip, flirt, and observe each other. She hated this spot and usually hurried through it. When she and Cody entered the area, it felt like all eyes were upon her.

“I’m going left,” she said, hoping this was where they’d part ways.

“What a coincidence. So am I!”

She groaned under her breath, but he obviously heard it. She lost count of how many people called out to him as they made their way through the crowd, many of them girls, of course. Instead of feeling proud to be seen with him, she couldn’t wait to get to class, where she could go relatively unnoticed.

“Here’s my room,” she said, pausing in front of her upper-level math class.

“Show-off,” he teased.

She shrugged, somewhat surprised that he knew what class it was.

“It was nice meeting you, Maddie Harris. I promise not to embarrass you tomorrow.”

He sauntered off down the hall, and then it struck her. I never said he could call me Maddie!

The next morning, she was awakened by the scent of bacon. It took a moment to remember where she was, and then her eyes popped open. Cody’s cabin. He must have been downstairs, making good on his promise of this being a bed and breakfast.

She took a few moments to stretch, like she did every morning, and then she climbed out of bed. She needed to use the bathroom, but she wondered if she should get dressed first. Normally, she would have thrown on a robe and gone out the door, but she didn’t want Cody to see her in her pajamas.

She padded over to her suitcase, and the wood floor creaked loudly as she went. She was bent over, rummaging through her clothes, when there was a knock on the bedroom door.

“Maddie? You up?”

“Yeah.”

“Good, because breakfast is ready.”

“Already?”

“It’s nine o’clock.”