The New Face of Failure

Whatever happened to chivalry? Does it only exist in 80's movies? I want John Cusack holding a boombox outside my window. I wanna ride off on a lawnmower with Patrick Dempsey. I want Jake from Sixteen Candles waiting outside the church for me. I want Judd Nelson thrusting his fist into the air because he knows he got me. Just once I want my life to be like an 80's movie, preferably one with a really awesome musical number for no apparent reason. But no, no, John Hughes did not direct my life. – Easy A

“So how has your first day of classes been so far?”

How exactly could she put it? Well, for starters, her alarm didn’t go off and Cassidy was still asleep because she had stayed up late partying the night before and her first class wasn’t until 10:30 in the morning, so she had to quietly scramble together a shower and outfit and run to her first class, Introduction to World History by 9:00 AM. She nearly got run over in the intersection of Broad Street and Carlisle Street as she tried to cross the road to get to the side of the street where most of the campus sat.

She quickly found out that the elevators in Anderson Hall were slow, tiny and packed so she had to run up five flights of stairs to make it to the history floor where her class was being held. Sweating and exhausted, she took a seat in the middle of the class, trying to be as quiet as possible so that she didn’t disturb the ancient looking man in a tweed jacket up front who was undoubtedly her teacher. He talked very slowly and tended to forget where he was when he went off on tangents. She was really going to hate this class.

After that she had her English Composition course that all students had to take. Her teacher was British, which she thought was pretty cool, and he had a lot of quips up his sleeve. And then came lunch. She had texted Akemi to see if she wanted to meet up, but she had claimed that she had class during that lunch hour and couldn’t keep Harper company. So Harper walked over to the cafeteria, made herself a sandwich and found a small table in the far back corner to call her sister.

Luckily, Harper remembered the lunch schedule for her old high school and knew that Charley would be able to chat.

“Well, it’s going,” she said sullenly, biting off a piece of her turkey sandwich.

“Are you at lunch right now?” Charley asked her.

“Yeah, I have two more classes after, the Intro to American Fiction and College Algebra,” she stuck her tongue out at the last one. “Not looking forward to that one.”

“If you need help, give me a call!” Harper grimaced at the thought of needing to use her younger sister for help with her math homework, but there was no denying that Charley was a math whiz.

“Yeah, I’ll get right on that,” Harper retorted. “So how’s life as a senior been so far?”

“Great! No one cares, not even our teachers. It’s like they know we are just waiting to graduate. Austin is having a big party this weekend, so everyone has been talking about that,” she started going on and on about Austin’s party and Harper started to zone out.

She wanted to be as excited as Charley was, but the thought of a large party where she would have to interact with a lot of other people on a social level scared the crap out of her. She would much rather stay inside and write her stories or surf the internet for the latest Doctor Who memes. There always seemed to be new ones emerging daily. As she was thinking about everything but what Charley was saying, suddenly, Charley asked her a question that brought her back into the conversation.

“So, meet any cute guys yet?”

A pair of grey eyes behind black rectangular glasses floated into her mind. She hadn’t seen Patrick since the RA meeting they had the day before. She had wished that it could have been just them in that room alone like it was the night before, instead of the rest of the hall, including his overly excited friend and her bitchy roommate.

When they had left the meeting, Cassidy nearly tearing her arm out of her socket as she pulled her down the hall, Cassidy had said, “That is the guy you met in the hall last night?”

Harper just nodded. “Yeah, it is.”

Cassidy sighed and shook her head. “Girl, he’s not the kind of guy you need. He’s going to end up dropping out of college because he’ll want to get famous and then end up addicted on meth or something. You want that drama in your life?”

Harper really didn’t think that Patrick would have been the type to do either one of those things. “Um, no, I guess not,” she said timidly.

“Girl, I’ll see if Derrick has any single friends on the rugby team. We’ll get you a date with one of them. Boys with a future.”

Harper didn’t think that Patrick was lacking a future. From what she could tell, he seemed like an okay guy. But then again, she had never really dated anyone before, so she wasn’t sure if she had the best judge of character when it came to boys.

“Um, I did meet a guy, but Cassidy thinks he’s bad news,” Harper replied to Charley, poking her chocolate pudding with the fork that she had grabbed instead of a spoon. She didn’t want to walk all the way back up to the entrance of the cafeteria to grab a spoon, so she just suffered with her fork. She watched as the fork prongs would make holes in the pudding and the gooey substance swelled back together as if the hole was never there.

“Who the hell cares what Cassidy thinks,” Charley blurted out.

“Huh? Well, I mean she has dated a lot of guys before. Maybe Patrick reminds her of someone…”

“Patrick? How cute! Does he go by Pat?”

“Um, I don’t know, we have literally only had like two conversations and the second one was interrupted by Cassidy so, I honestly don’t know. I mean, he didn’t mention it in his intro or anything. Wouldn’t people usually do that?”

“I don’t know you’re the writer, aren’t you supposed to be an expert on human nature and shit?”

Harper sighed. “I guess.”

“Harper, you have never ever really talked about a guy other than the actors who play in our favorite movies. Are you telling me you won’t even consider the guy because your roommate, who you really don’t like very much anyway, tells you he’s not good for you?”

“I hate it when you make more sense than me. You’re supposed to be my younger sister!”

“I know it, but that’s what makes us such great friends,” she paused and Harper could hear the bell ring. “Whoops, gotta go. Science time!”

Harper said her goodbyes and hung up. Her conversation with Charley was supposed to make her feel better, but all it did was make her chest tighten and her eyes water.

She didn’t feel the pressure in her chest loosen until dinner time when she met Akemi in the cafeteria for dinner. Akemi couldn’t stop talking about the parties that she went to over the weekend, and Harper was content to listen to her, knowing that she didn’t have to force herself to make conversation. Akemi could talk enough for the both of them.

“You really need to come out with me this weekend, Harper,” she exclaimed while stuffing another fork full of her salad into her mouth. “The girls I met, Amber and Tiffany are amazing. They said that they have a lot of influence over who their sorority picks for pledges.”

“Which sorority is that again?” Harper asked her, trying to join the conversation.

“God, Harper, I already told you, Delta Zeta! They are the best sorority on campus,” Akemi shook her head. “You better stop day dreaming and get your head in the game, Harper, this is serious.”

She wasn’t really sure why her question warranted such a distressed response. She was paying attention, but really just didn’t care which sorority it was. “Oh, um, why am I getting serious about this?”

Akemi’s eyes grew wide and she flicked her long sleek black hair out of her face. “Because we get into that sorority then all of our social problems for the next four years will be solved!”

Harper didn’t even know if she wanted to join a sorority. It seemed like the last thing she would want to do because she hated awkward social situations. “Oh, sorry,” she mumbled.

“You do want to make the most out of all of this, don’t you?” Akemi asked her, with a serious, empathic face. She leaned across their table and took Harper’s hand in hers. “Harper, I’m worried about you, frankly. You haven’t really made any friends here yet and you can’t survive college on just classes alone.”

Well watch me be the first, Harper thought a little bitterly. She pulled her hand away from Akemi and stood up. “Akemi, I’m not a project for you to work on. I can take care of myself.” She started to walk away. “And I have made a friend.”

“Cassidy isn’t your friend, she’s your roommate,” Akemi protested.

Harper felt herself blush, realizing that she wasn’t even talking about Cassidy. “I wasn’t talking about her,” she admitted.

Akemi raised an eyebrow. “Oh really? Did you meet someone in class?”

“Well, no….” she paused, wondering if she should even tell Akemi about the boy named Patrick from her hall. She had a strange feeling that Akemi would dismiss him as easily as Cassidy did. “I actually met this guy…”

Akemi spit out the water she had just drank from her cup, drops spraying all over Harper’s plate of chicken and mashed potatoes. “Oh, it’s cool, I was done eating anyway,” Harper muttered, looking drearily down at her plate.

“I’m sorry, it’s just you said you met a guy? And why is today the first time I’m hearing about it?”

Harper shrugged. “You’ve been busy since we moved in. I didn’t want to bother you.”

“Whoa, guilt trip. Okay, I’m sorry that we haven’t really hung out. But come on you have got to tell me about this guy.”

Begrudgingly, Harper gave Akemi the details of their meeting and then of the RA meeting where Cassidy pulled her away. Cassidy had told her that she was doing her a favor.

“That guy looked like a huge dork. Rock band? Yeah right. Who’d ever want to see him play music? He’s not even that cute. Plus, his friend was weird with that long hair. Don’t worry, we’ll find you a good guy to date. Derrick has plenty of friends on the rugby team who are single,” Cassidy had said to her as she was dragging her back down the hall to their room.

When Harper was finished, Akemi was looking at her thoughtfully. “Looks like Cassidy’s a smart girl,” Akemi said with a sense of finality. Harper looked at her as if she had three eyes.

“Akemi, what are you talking about?”

“Well, I mean, he sounds okay looking, but it seems to me that he’s more likely to end up getting hooked on crack and dropping out to pursue music than actually becoming a decent human being.”

“Maybe I need to work on how I describe people because he does not seem that way at all in real life,” Harper replied, continuing to stare at Akemi in wonderment.

“Harper, I know you have strange tastes in guys,” I do? Harper thought to herself. “But you have to start thinking about who’s going to be a potential long term partner. This guy, Patrick, doesn’t really seem like that kind of guy.”

Harper could feel anger swelling up inside her chest. Akemi was supposed to be her best friend, she was supposed to support her. “Look I have to go study. I’ll see you tomorrow for lunch.” She stood up quickly and Akemi jumped up too.

“Wait, Harper, are you mad?” Akemi looked shocked. “Harper, Harp, hey, come on…”

Harper weaved her way in and out of the tables, dumping her tray on the conveyer belt and briskly walking out of the cafeteria, ignoring Akemi’s calls. She knew that Akemi wouldn’t follow her all the way out of the building since the cafeteria was housed in her own dorm, so Harper was able to slow her walk as soon as she felt the cool breeze of night on her face.

She made her way across Broad Street, narrowly avoiding a car that sped through a red light and headed up the elevator to the fourth floor of her dorm. As she walked through her hallway, she couldn’t help but slow just a bit by the room that was supposed to be Patrick’s. She wondered what he would do if she knocked on the door. Would he think she was a weirdo? She glanced at the paneled frosted windows on either side of the door to see if she could see movement in the room. Unfortunately, it seemed pretty quiet. She sighed and kept walking to her room, wondering when she would get to see him next.

“Hey! Harper!” Harper looked up from the Spanish 101 syllabus that the teacher had handed her as she walked in the door. Tuesday had come and she only had one class for the day, her foreign language requirement. Luckily, the class was in Barton hall instead of Anderson. It was a squatter building with only three floors and her Spanish class was right there on the first one. She also liked the location because it was right next to the Student Activity Center and she could grab lunch there as soon as it let out.

“Patrick?” she felt her heart flutter as he walked into the room, grabbing the syllabus that the teacher handed him and saying ‘Gracias’ in an awful Spanish accent. He was wearing another pair of skinny jeans, this time with a pair of flat black boots and a grey button up short sleeved shirt. He also had a black fedora on his head. Harper thought he was the coolest dressed guy she’d ever seen.

“I didn’t know you were in this class!” he exclaimed, taking a seat at the desk next to hers.

She bit her lip and smiled. “Well, we really didn’t exchange class schedules last time we talked did we?”

He laughed in a self-deprecating way. “True. Sorry about that, on Sunday. Joe means well…”

Harper looked at him oddly. “Who, your roommate? He was fine. Cassidy was the one being a bitch.” She couldn’t believe she just said that. “Um, yeah, don’t tell her I said that.”

He grinned. “Well, I was just about to text it to her, but since you asked…”

She liked the way he joked with her. It made talking to him a lot easier. He also seemed less nervous than he did during the RA meeting on Sunday.

“So how was your first day of classes?” he asked, pulling a notebook out of his backpack and laying it on his desk.

His question reminded her of her last conversation that she had with Akemi the night before. She could feel herself heating up with embarrassment even though Patrick had no idea that Akemi had said those things about him. She tried to put on a smile. “It was fine. I made it to all of my classes, so that’s a start.”

“Definitely is,” Patrick agreed, his smile never wavering.

“Um, how about yours?” She had always heard that guys liked to hear themselves talk and that the best way to keep a guy interested is to seem like you’re interested in them. Personally, she had her doubts about it, but it seemed to work for all of her friends and her sister.

“Lame. Just like high school classes except the teachers pretend that they are going to be more badass than our high school teachers were by assigning more homework,” he replied. “My Intro to Music Theory was pretty awesome though. Getting to analyze music patterns and how different genres of music use them, that’s something I could actually use.”

“For your band?”

“Yeah!” He brightened up even more when he realized that she remembered something about him. “We don’t want to be just some ordinary pop punk band. We want to be different. I want our music to expand beyond the norm and grow.”

The way he talked about it didn’t make him seem like just some guy who wanted to be famous and do drugs and screw movie stars. He seemed to be genuinely into music. He talked about it the way Harper would talk about her writing… if she talked about it with anyone besides Charley. “So, that poem you dropped the other day, so that wasn’t really a poem?”

“Nope, it was a song,” he replied grinning rather proudly. “We recently got this record deal and have been putting together songs for an actual album,” he paused as the professor slammed the door shut and walked toward the front of the classroom.

“Buenos Dias, class and welcome to Español 101,” she called out.

Patrick looked back at Harper and gave her a strained smile and she smiled back, wishing that the professor would just give them just a few more minutes to themselves. As she began class, Harper’s mind started spinning, thinking of what she would say to Patrick when class was over. She thought about asking him to have lunch with her. She wasn’t supposed to meet up with Akemi for lunch today because she had classes back to back until dinner, and she was dreading another lunch alone. She wondered if he would even eat with her or if he would offer up some excuse. He may just be being friendly to me and doesn’t even want to get to know me, she thought. She glanced over at him and realized that he was looking at her because as soon as she looked, his eyes widened and his head turned forward. She felt herself blushing and looked back down at her notebook.

When class was over, she was slow in getting everything packed up as she tried to decide what she was going to do.

“Hey Harper,” Patrick said, tapping her shoulder. She turned around, her hair whipping him in his face.

“Oh sorry!” she exclaimed, watching him take his glasses off and rubbing them with his shirt.

“No worries,” he chuckled. “So um, do you have a class after this?”

Harper’s heart started pounding in her chest so loudly she could hear it in her ears. “Oh, no, actually. I was going to head to lunch. This is my only class for the day.”

His smile widened at this. “Awesome, mine too. I was going to head straight over to my friend Pete’s place for practice, but if you want company, I wouldn’t mind getting some food.”

“Really?” she was surprised that he was being so forward with her. “Um, yeah, sure. Is the Student Activity Center okay? I haven’t, um ate there before and wanted to check it out.”

He nodded and held the main door of the building open for her. “The SAC? Heck yeah, love to eat there. I hear they have a great sandwich place and I could go for some avocado on rye.”

She looked at him curiously. “That’s an interesting choice.”

“I’m vegan, or at least trying to be. My friend Andy is way better at it than I am, but he’s a little older and has a lot more discipline than I do. Probably why he’s a better drummer than I am.”

“So he plays in your band too, then?”

“Yep, it’s Andy, me, Joe my crazy roommate and Pete.”

They walked across the street along with about forty other students and headed into the SAC. It was a more modern building than the old brick one that they had just exited, with glass windows that stretched from the ground to the ceiling. The first floor of the building housed a nice lounge area with couches, benches and tables and a walkway that led to the bookstore. The second floor contained a smaller scale cafeteria, with a bagel shop, sandwich and salad place and a few other select food choices.

Patrick and Harper grabbed themselves some sandwiches and found a small two-person table that overlooked the lower level. Harper looked out to see students milling about downstairs, going to and from the bookstore or meeting up with people in the lounge area. Harper watched a few groups of people, making up stories about who they were and what they were talking about in her head.

“So, did you really meet George Lucas?” Patrick asked her as he sat down and took a bite of his sandwich.

Harper looked away from her small tableaus of college students and turned her attention back on those amused grey eyes and smile. “Oh, um, yeah, I did. I won a place at some screenwriting camp in LA two years ago and he visited.”

“Wow,” Patrick looked genuinely excited about it. “That’s freaking amazing. I mean, not just meeting him because that in itself is amazing, you have no idea how much I love Star Wars, but that you got to go to something like that.”

“Uh, thanks, I guess. It’s not that big of a deal, it’s not like I’m some famous writer or something.”

“But you might become one, one day?” he asked her. “Is that what you want to do?”

“I, um,” she was usually too embarrassed to tell anyone other than Charley what she wanted to do because most people would be quick to shoot her down. However, there was something about Patrick that made her feel that he wouldn’t do that to her. “I hope I can be a writer some day. If I become famous, I guess that’d be even better.” She cracked a smile. “Gotta pay for your coke and strippers somehow.”

He laughed at that, full and hard, his mouth wide open. “Aw, thanks for that. I highly doubt my career as a musician will pay for them so I appreciate you offering to pick up the tab. You know, I’d love to read some of your stuff sometime.”

She blushed, and glanced down at her food, trying to hide her expression of embarrassment. She wasn’t ready to show anyone else but Charley her stories, not yet. She decided to turn the conversation back to him. “So, tell me about your band. What do you do in it?”

Patrick’s laughter calmed down and he took a sip of his water. “I am the lead singer. I wanted to play drums, but Andy is way better than me and Pete likes how I sing, and since I really wanted to play with these guys, I picked up a guitar instead and sang.”

“That’s cool. And you said you guys are a pop punk band? What is that like, Blink 182 or something?”

“Kinda. It’s kind of hard to explain,” he said with a shrug. “You know, we’re playing at the Electric Factory this Friday. You should bring some friends and come. I can get you backstage too. I have an in with the band,” he winked at her and she giggled.

“I bet you do,” she replied.

“Harper!”

Harper looked up at the mention of her name and saw Akemi coming toward her. She had two other girls with her both dressed in pink polo t-shirts and jeans and wearing pearls around their necks. Everything about them screamed perfection; from their perfectly curled and highlighted hair to their smooth tan skin. They both looked as if they hadn’t eaten real food in years. Harper noticed that Akemi also had her dark black hair curled to nearly match theirs and she was wearing more makeup than Harper usually saw her wear during the week.

She waved at her dolefully, wishing that she hadn’t noticed them. Patrick turned and looked their way and then turned back to Harper. “Who’s that?”

“My best friend, Akemi,” she said sourly. He looked at her strangely, obviously confused by her suddenly down demeanor. Akemi and the other two girls approached their table. “Hi Akemi.”

Akemi was smiling so big, Harper was sure that her face would break apart. “Hey Harper! I didn’t know you were eating here!”

Harper glanced at the two girls behind her, both seemed uninterested in being near her and Patrick. “Uh, yeah, my Spanish class just got out.” She glanced at Patrick. “Um, Akemi, this is Patrick. He’s in my dorm and also in my Spanish class, as it would turn out.”

Akemi’s eyes spoke volumes. Harper could sense the disappointment in them and also alarm. “Oh, hello,” she said shortly.

“Hi, it’s great to meet you Akemi,” Patrick said, standing up and holding out his hand. Harper was surprised and also a bit pleased at his gesture. So he’s a gentleman, she thought with a grin. Akemi, taught to mind her manners, shook his hand, but with the limpest of hands as possible as if he had some disease she didn’t want to catch.

“Uh huh, anyway, Harper, these are the girls I was telling you about. This is Tiffany and Amber.”

“Thiessen?” Patrick piped up. Harper looked at him in amusement, thoroughly enjoying his joke he just made.

“Um, excuse me?” the taller more brunette one, Tiffany, said, crossing her arms across her chest and sticking her hip out.

Patrick just grinned. “Sorry, she said Tiffany and then Amber and I just thought about the actress, Tiffany Amber Thiessen. You know from Saved by the Bell?” He looked at Harper and she nodded so that he knew she understood. Akemi, Tiffany and Amber all looked confused and definitely not happy that he made a joke at their expense.

“Okay…” Tiffany said.

Harper could tell that Akemi desperately wanted to change the subject. “They are sisters in DZ, Harper,” she explained. “I was just telling them how excited we were to pledge this year.”

Harper tried not to grimace. “Oh yeah, totally,” she said in the fakest and high-pitched voice she had ever put on. She could feel Patrick’s eyes on hers. She knew that if she looked at him he was going to call her bullshit.

“Well, it’s a hard process. Not every girl is cut out to be a DZ,” the blonder one, Amber, said. “It’s not just about personality, you know, it’s about the whole package.”

Harper felt as if the girl was trying to give her a subliminal message that she wasn’t actually good enough to be in their sorority. “Of course,” Harper said, pretending that she didn’t hear the slight in Amber’s voice.

Tiffany leaned over and whispered something in Akemi’s ear. She nodded. “Okay, we have to go Harper. I’ll see you at dinner tonight.”

“Okay,” Harper said dully.

“It was nice to meet you Harper,” Amber said. “Remember, the whole package!” She glanced at Patrick and then winked at Harper. Tiffany didn’t say anything, just flipped her hair and turned around quickly.

As they walked away, Patrick called out, “Yep, nice to meet you too!” None of them turned around to say goodbye. Harper felt herself blushing. “Wow, they’re a friendly bunch,” he commented ,turning his attention back to Harper.

“Yeah,” Harper said awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck nervously. “Akemi is really big on making a splash, if you will, on the social scene.”

“I guess joining a sorority is high on her priority list,” he said, raising an eyebrow at her. “And apparently yours too?” he looked skeptical.

“No, not really, or at all,” she replied quickly. “Akemi wants me to pledge with her. She thinks I need help making friends and that a sorority would be the best way for me to make friends.” Great, now he is going to think you’re some lame loser, way to go Harper.

“Why should you have to pay for fifty so-so friends when you can get one or two really good friends for free?” Patrick asked her. He smiled. “It’s okay, I don’t have many friends, I mean except the guys in the band. I’d do anything for those guys.”

Harper felt a bit relieved by his admission. “Akemi is my best friend, in high school anyway, and then I have my sister Charley. She and I did everything together. But I’m not a very social person.”

“Could have fooled me,” he said with a grin. “I mean, ‘cause you know, me and you…” he seemed to get tongue-tied and it made Harper blush harder.

“You’re easy to talk to,” she said simply. “And you’re not a jerk or fake. I like that.”

“Thanks, I try not to be,” he replied with a grin. “So, are you really going to pledge to some sorority?”

“I guess I’ll go through it, for Akemi. I’m not expecting to be picked or anything. Those girls made it pretty clear that they didn’t care for me at all.”

“Or me either. Guess they aren’t fans of Saved by the Bell,” he said with a wry grin.

“That was awesome, by the way,” she replied.

“Thank you, thank you very much,” he said in his best Elvis impression, making her chuckle. “Well, if you were pledging to my sorority, I’d pick you. But we have a very peculiar hazing process.”

Harper laughed. “Oh yeah, and would I have to do?”

“Oh you know, recite the entire Return of the Jedi script front to back, have a white guy dance battle with yours truly, win a hacky sack game against the undefeatable Pete Wentz, typical stuff.”

“Who’s Pete Wentz?” she asked him.

“Oh, that’s Pete, one of the guys in our band and my best friend. He plays bass… not very well, but then again, I’m not the best singer so…”

“Well, I think I’ll need to be the judge of that,” she said, making him smile. Oh my God where did that come from? She never was good at flirting, so how was she able to pull these out of her butt?

“Yeah? So you’ll come Friday?” She realized he was referring to the concert he mentioned earlier. Harper’s first instinct was to say no, but truth was, she loved concerts because when you’re there, there is a certain anonymity you have among the crowd and no one really expects to socialize because you’re too busy listening to the music. “We’re only the opening act,” he explained further. “But the band we’re opening for is Yellowcard, so that’s pretty cool.”

“You mean “Ocean Avenue” Yellowcard?!” Harper exclaimed.

“You listen to them?” he asked her, somewhat impressed.

“Um, yeah, I mean I listen to a lot of music. But, they’re one of my favorite bands.”

“Until you hear us,” he said with a wink.

“I thought you sucked at singing and your friend Pete is a terrible bassist?” she teased.

“But together we don’t suck as much. That’s our secret,” he replied.

“Okay, I’ll go.”

“Great, you can come with me and Joe. You can be my guest and watch from backstage.”

Harper could feel her heart start to race again. Wait a minute, she thought, is he like taking me on a date?

Suddenly, Patrick looked down at his iPhone. “Crap, I have to go. Gotta practice if we are going to sound half-way decent Friday.” He looked back down at his phone. “So, um, what’s your number? So I can text you details about the concert and stuff.”

“Oh, yeah,” Harper pulled her own iPhone out of her bag. She gave him her number and then he texted her and his text bubble popped up on her lock screen. She went in and saved it under Patrick’s name.

“Awesome,” he said with a big smile on his face. “Well, I’ll see you later Harper.” He darted out of the SAC as quickly as he could, dumping his tray of food in the trash as he went. She glanced down at her own half-eaten food and wished that she had somewhere to go after lunch too. She got up and went to throw her own food away, and as she did, she felt her phone buzzing in her bag. She pulled it out and saw that Patrick had sent her a text message.

FUN LUNCH. DO IT AGAIN THURSDAY?

Every inch of her body felt like it was tingling. Her stomach was twisting up into knots, but not in the bad way that made her want to throw up, but in a good way that made her heart race and her breath quicken. She wondered if it would be too weird if she Facebook stalked him right that instant.

One thing at a time Harper, God, her small voice inside her said. But just thinking about his smile, his eyes, and the way he talked to her made her too giddy inside. All she knew was that Thursday couldn’t come