Page 6 of Somewhere Between Falling

Career-driven.

Independent.

These were the traits she had been pushing on me since Dad left. I understood her reasoning on why to an extent—she had been a stay-at-home mom for most of my childhood and only started working part-time once I started high school. After Dad left, she had to get a full-time job that she hated, and to say it was a struggle was an understatement. She had started taking online classes last semester in order to finish the business degree she gave up on when she got pregnant with me. I had hoped once she started school, she’d become less obsessed with the idea of me going to law school, but no such luck. Honestly, I think she just wanted me to become a better divorce attorney than the idiot she had. I wasn’t really interested in law, I just didn’t want to disappoint her.

“Okay.” I finished my coffee as quickly as possible so that I could hurry and finish getting my bag packed to return to campus. Two weeks with my mom was more than enough. I loved her, of course, but I never felt like I could fully relax and be myself around her. Everything was always so … stiff with her these days. I was eager to be back in my own space, even if that meant sharing a room with my free-spirited roommate, Alex. I may have had my own room at my mother’s house, but it was a space that she decorated, and while I was there I was expected to follow her rules right down to the way I replaced the toilet paper roll in my own bathroom. At least in my shared dorm room I got to do what I wanted, and that included not caring which direction the toilet paper rolled.

Alex had messaged me earlier saying that she wouldn’t be back until tomorrow afternoon since her classes didn’t start until Tuesday. Apparently, she had met a boy and decided to stay another day in New York. Alex had a knack for making friends wherever she went. It was a talent I was envious of. So tonight, since I would be on my own, I had big plans: junk food and a movie marathon.

I returned to campus by lunchtime, and after I finished getting settled back into my room I looked online at the courses available and saw one that piqued my interest: Intro to Russian Literature. I was sure my mom wouldn’t approve of another of what she would call a “fluff” course, but I’d just tell her it was the only one that fit with my current schedule, after all she was the one who insisted I be enrolled in more than twelve hours. She didn’t need to know that I was only interested in learning more about Russian literature because of a boy. That wasn’t in our four-year plan after all.

Chapter Five

By some lucky stroke I only had Tuesday/Thursday classes this semester, which meant I was able to sleep in a bit before heading to the bookstore to get my books for the term. While I was there, I grabbed extra notebooks. I have always been a firm believer that you can never have too many notebooks. I liked to color code each of my classes, so I spent a lot of time trying to pick out the perfect colors. School supply shopping was always my favorite part of a new semester.

However, even the pull of fresh notebooks and mechanical pencils wasn’t enough to distract me from the tell-tale whispering that seemed to follow me around ever since my dad’s relationship with Blair went public.

“That’s Dr. Seger’s daughter,” said some girl from behind me, but I refused to look around.

“The one who was screwing the student?” another girl asked. I clenched my teeth together to keep from responding.

“So gross. Isn’t he, like, fifty?”

No longer able to control myself, I spun around on my heels to tell the girls to shut up when Alex appeared out of nowhere and took care of it for me.

“Don’t you bitches have something better to talk about?” she demanded.

The three girls looked stunned that they had been caught, though how they could be surprised when they weren’t exactly being discreet with their ‘whispering’ was beyond me.

They quickly scattered like the cockroaches they were, and I felt a sense of relief wash over me that I didn’t have to confront them myself. As angry as it made me to be the topic of gossip, I was honestly too timid to really do anything about it. At least, not without stuttering some lame insult—all my brilliant comebacks only occurred to me hours after the fact—or throwing up.

“You okay?” Alex turned to me, her bright green eyes wide in concern.

“Yeah. Thanks for making them shut up,” I said, finalizing my decision between the notebooks I had in my hands. “You’d think people would be over it already.”

“You’d think,” she said, linking her arm through mine. “C’mon, let’s get out of here. I could seriously use some caffeine.”

I paid for the notebooks, pencils, and my new textbook, and we headed next door to the campus coffee shop, College Station Cafe. We chose a table by the front windows after ordering our drinks. I would have preferred something toward the back out of the way, but Alex liked to be in the center of everything.

“Intro to Russian Lit?” Alex laughed. “Your mom is going to kill you!” I had just filled her in on my morning, and her reaction was exactly what I expected.

“I know,” I said, scrunching up my nose. “She’ll probably call my adviser herself and demand to be put in charge of my schedule until I graduate.”

The sad thing is that that wasn’t completely unbelievable. When it came to my mom, she was a first-class control freak. I knew it was only because she wanted what was best for me, but sometimes I just wanted the freedom to be able to decide that for myself.

Alex pulled her long, wavy blonde hair up into a messy bun. It always amazed me that she could make that look sexy and put-together. I tried, and I just looked like a sloppy mess who’d just rolled out of bed. Of course, my mess of auburn curls wasn’t nearly as cooperative as her loose waves.

“Did I tell you I have your dad twice this semester?” Alex was pre-med, so she was bound to have him at some point.

“Which classes?” I asked, picking at my blueberry cheesecake muffin.

“Organic chemistry and biochemistry.”

“You’re taking both of those this semester?” I scoffed. “Are you on crack?”

She laughed. “Probably.”

In all seriousness though, if anyone could handle the difficult course load, it was Alex. She may look like the stereotypical dumb blonde, but the girl was borderline genius. She was the whole reason I passed college algebra freshman year.

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