I’m almost to the dorm when I hear a sharp whistle that I somehow know is aimed at me. I turn and see Taylor grinning at me from across the quad. “Walk of shame?”
I roll my eyes. “Definitely not what you think. I’ll tell you about it at lunch!” That’s all the time I have to spare. I slam into our room, glad that Bailey isn’t there to pester me with questions as I shed the stupid dress and throw on jeans and a t-shirt and grab my book bag—which I packed yesterday. It takes me less than five minutes before I’m out the door and I make it into lab with two minutes to spare.
After everything that happened, I’ll take it. Right now, Malcolm Levar doesn’t exist. Bailey and Taylor don’t exist. Nothing matters or exists except me and this class: the first class of my nutrition major.
Honestly, not much happens. It’s syllabus day, and as much as I’m looking forward to all my classes, it’s a little relieving to know that I don’t have to focus too much. Because there’s going to be a lot to deal with. I need to pack my stuff to go to Granite House. I need to break the news to everyone that I actually will be staying there. I need to tell the school that I’m moving off campus and find out if I can get a refund on my housing deposit.
I have an elective English class after my lab, and my first anatomy class after that. I blocked my classes together in the morning so that I could have my afternoons free to study. I’m going to have to study a lot in order to keep my grades up for the scholarship that I have.
But now that the three classes are over, my stomach is trying to eat itself. I barely ate dinner in preparation for last night’s party and I obviously didn’t eat breakfast. I text Bailey and Taylor to arrange a spot to meet and head to the cafeteria. As much as I want food, I’m not looking forward to it. I’m going to have to tell them what happened, and Taylor’s going to make fun of me like she always does. Bailey will try to be sympathetic but also be pissed that I’m abandoning her and all the plans that we had as roommates this year.
God, it’s a fucking mess.
I grab my food before I even get to the table. I know that once I sit down, odds are that they’re not going to let me leave until they know every detail. So I need to be prepared for that.
I end up with a big bowl of cereal. It’s comfort food for me, and fuck do I need it right now. I’m going to be a nutritionist, and I don’t condone eating a huge bowl of sugar for lunch, but today calls for a little breaking of the rules. Everything in moderation, including moderation.
Taylor grins when she sees me, and it’s the same smile that she had on her face this morning when she saw me in the dress. “You looked like hell this morning.”
“Of course I did, I slept in a strange house in a party dress,” I say. “I couldn’t exactly turn up on their doorstep with an overnight bag.”
Bailey laughs. “With that dress, you might have actually been able to pull that off.”
“I highly doubt it,” I say, digging into my cereal.
“Seriously?” Bailey says. “That’s all you’re going to give me? After you ignored my texts and everything?”
I roll my eyes. “I’m starving, Bai. Let me at least get a few bites in before you interrogate me.”
Slowly, she lets me take three bits while Taylor is laughing before pouncing. “Okay, tell me how it went.”
What the hell am I going to say exactly? That it went both way better and way worse than expected? That I tried to do exactly what I was dared to do and I fucked it up so badly that my entire plans have changed for the year?
“Well.” I clear my throat. “It was…interesting.”
“I think you might have had more fun than you want to admit,” Taylor says with a snide grin. “Maybe the famous Juno is a party girl after all.”
“I am not.” I say, glaring across the table at her. One night in a party house does not make me a party girl, even if Taylor wishes that it did.
She raises her hands in surrender. “Sorry, geeze.”
“Just run through the night, Juno.”
I clear my throat. “Well, after I got there, I kind of barged into the middle of a poker game and asked to be let into the house.”
Taylor chokes on her drink. “Wow. I would have gone with something more subtle.”
“I was tired of every guy I ran into practically devouring me with their eyes, so I wanted to get it over with.”
“And?” Bailey asks.
“And it was easier than I thought it would be,” I lie. “They thought I had balls to ask, and they had room, so after a little conversation, they said yes.”
“Holy shit,” Bailey says leaning back. “I mean…I really thought you were going to have to get on your knees and beg them.”
“Based on the way that she looked this morning, it definitely looked like she had been on her knees,” Taylor says.
“Jesus, Taylor,” I say. “I had to sleep on the floor because they’re rearranging stuff. You don’t have to be so crude all the time.”
“I know,” she smirks. “I like to be, though. And I’ve seen the head of Granite House. Believe me when I say I wouldn’t be judging you if you said that you’d gotten on your knees for that.”
“Well I didn’t.”
I leave out the fact that I had desperately wanted to, and went so far as masturbating after he went to
