Page 26 of Somewhere Between Falling

Tobias had mine, and he winked as he set it on my table.

“Well done, Miss Seger,” he said quietly, but beaming with pride.

It was a huge relief to see that bright red A at the top of the page.

“There’s no way she got a higher score than me,” Julie whispered angrily from the desk behind mine to whom I could only assume was her friend, though for the life of me I couldn’t imagine anyone wanting to be her friend. There were so many things I wanted to say, but I thought better of it and kept my mouth shut. Unfortunately, that didn’t stop her from talking.

“Maybe cheating runs in her family,” she snarled, and with that she marched up to Dr. Kiuchi’s desk, leaving me speechless in her wake.

What did her opinion matter, anyway? I finally earned an A for the first time all semester, and I wasn’t going to let Julie’s hatefulness take that away from me.I was still on cloud nine as I left the fine arts building, but I knew I needed to hit the library before I could really celebrate my win from today.

Once I made it to the library, I quickly found what I needed and printed the articles for my next project in my macroeconomics class. We were discussing supply and demand this week and were told to write a paper discussing how tariffs and other factors can affect supply and demand of the imported good of our choice. I chose coffee as my imported good in hopes of making the assignment a little less boring. When I finally made it back to my room, I was mentally exhausted and ready to binge-watch the Twilight marathon and chill in the comfort of my bed.

I walked in as Alex was about to head out. This seemed to be our normal lately; we passed each other like two ships in the night. Between classes and her track practices, it was hard to find a moment to actually hang out.

“Hey, stranger,” I teased her. “Where are you heading?”

“Melissa’s having people over. Want to go with me?” Alex asked as she zipped up her jacket. “She’s having a movie night—Twilight marathon—so we can meet her new boyfriend. There will be pizza,” she crooned, knowing my weakness.

I had intended on watching the marathon anyway, so I might as well get to spend some time with Alex and eat some free pizza out of the deal, right?

“Okay, I’m in. Give me two seconds.”

“Really? Yay!” I think Alex was a bit surprised but excited over the fact that I was willingly socializing.

Melissa had an apartment on the other side of campus—within walking distance—but it was too cold to walk tonight, so I drove since I knew Alex would inevitably be impaired later.

When we pulled up into the guest parking lot at her complex, we could already hear the music blaring. You would think by the level of noise being emitted from her second-floor apartment there was a stereotypical rager like in the movies, but I knew better. There were probably five other people up there besides Melissa. They just liked their music too loud to allow any rational thoughts.

“Tamsin!” Melissa greeted me enthusiastically. She was a petite girl with dark hair, beautiful brown skin, and boundless energy. “How did Alex get you to come out tonight?”

“She promised pizza,” I said with a laugh.

“Figures!” She joined me in laughter before adding, “It should be here in a few minutes. Do you know everyone?”

I shook my head slightly. I recognized most of their faces: Shaye, who was Melissa’s roommate, and Toni who lived across the hall, but I didn’t know the other girl or the two guys who were there tonight.

“This is my cousin, Nikki,” Melissa said, pointing to the unfamiliar tall girl with the same exotic coloring as herself.

“Hey,” Nikki said with a wide, toothy grin.

“That’s Noah,” Melissa continued, and the dark-haired boy in the corner raised his hand in acknowledgement. “And this is Sergio,” she finished, wrapping her arms around his neck.

Ah, he must be her new boyfriend Alex was talking about. He’s at least a foot taller than her, so even with her on her tiptoes, he has to bend to place a kiss on her lips. He’s cute—better looking than her last boyfriend, anyway.

The pizza arrived, so everyone settled down to watch the movie and stuff our faces with pizza. I forgot to bring my water bottle, so I headed to the kitchen to find something non-alcoholic. Unfortunately, the choices were limited. Noah was in there, rummaging through the fridge.

“Want a beer?” Noah offered.

“No, thanks. I’m good with the punch,” I said, grabbing the pitcher from the fridge.

“Suit yourself,” he said, laughing at my expense. I was sure I sounded childish preferring Kool-Aid over beer, but I’ve never been a fan of the taste of it.

I located the glasses and poured myself a drink. Melissa must have been feeling fancy tonight because there were all sorts of fresh fruit in the punch. It seemed a little out of place for pizza and a movie night, but who was I to judge?

I must have underestimated how thirsty the pizza made me because I downed the contents of the large glass in one guzzle, then poured myself another one before heading back into the living room.

I finished my pizza and punch, then stood up to throw my paper plate away, but I must have stood up too fast because I was suddenly very dizzy and disoriented.

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