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I don’t stop, but whoever is calling after me is following. I speed up, trying to look like I’m in a hurry rather than running away, but she catches up with me.
“Stop, I’m talking to you,” she says, and she blocks my path so I have nowhere to go. She’s tall and reedy, with freckles on her nose and dark hair pulled back in a tight braid. Her large brown eyes look friendly.
“I haven’t seen you in class before,” she says. “Are you new?”
I swallow hard and nod. “Yeah, I uh…started late. But I’m catching up.”
“That’s a tall order.”
I nod. What the hell does she want? I expect she saw me not handing in my test. She’s going to call me on it at any moment, and then I’m done for. As soon as someone knows enough, they’re going to start asking questions, and if I don’t have all the answers—
“Do you want to study together?” she asks.
I blink at her. “What?” This isn’t what I expected at all.
“Do you want to study together?” she repeats herself. “I know it’s totally lame to ask, but I don’t really mix with other students. And the library is usually filled with airheads. If you need a bit of help, it could work out great.”
I have no idea why she’s reaching out to me, and my first reaction is to tell her to get lost. I don’t need anyone.
But that’s not true. Right now, I need all the help I can get. And if she’s willing to help me catch up…maybe we can use her textbooks. That will solve my problem of getting my hands on some of the books that are far too expensive and impossible to check out of the library.
“Okay,” I say carefully. I don’t have to share my life story with her, right? We’ll just study together.
A smile breaks out on her face like the sun breaking through the clouds. She’s surprised I agreed. Maybe she really doesn’t mix with people all that well.
She holds out her hand. “I’m Kathryn, but you can call me Kat.”
“Raina,” I say and take her hand.
She turns to walk with me, and I let her. Something about her is warm and pleasant. I like her.
“What did you think of the test?” she asks. “Did you do the reading?”
I nod. “It was a scramble to catch up, but I think I nailed it.”
“That’s good. You want to start strong, you know?”
“Why?” I ask. “The sooner you fall behind, the more time you’ll have to catch up.”
It takes her a moment to realize I’m joking before she bursts out laughing.
“Nice. I think this is going to be fun. Here.” She takes my hand and writes her number on it with a blue pen she conjures seemingly out of nowhere. “That’s my number. Text me, then we’ll set up a study session, okay?”
I nod, a little dazed. Who writes their numbers on hands anymore?
“I’ll see you around, Raina. It’s going to be great.” She grins excitedly before she walks away, and I watch her go, shaking my head.
Did I just…make a friend?
I take out my phone and program her number into my contact’s list before I keep walking.
If I’m careful, this could work.
Lacey isn’t much help—she talks too much, and she’s invasive. The rest of the girls make me uneasy, and I’ve never been like them.
But Kat is different. I like her.
And we all need friends in the right places, right?
