Page 11 of Surge of Fire

Outside, we walk toward the main office. Granger leads the way, and when we reach the main office we see Ms. Geraldsitting at the reception desk. She looks exhausted, like she's been up all night.

I'm starting to doubt the wisdom of our plan.

Granger turns on his most charming smile. “Good morning.”

Her dark gaze catches his, and she lifts a brow. “Can I help you?”

Granger’s charming smile goes up a couple notches. “We were just hoping we might be able to find out our schedules.”

She studies us like we’re stupid. “You'll get your schedules at orientation. There, you'll meet the professors you'll be working with, and you'll find out anything else you need to know.”

Granger’s smile falls. “Of course, of course.”

It’s pretty hard to watch, so I step up and give a smile myself. “Sorry. We're just nervous and excited. We didn’t mean to bother you, Ms. Gerald.”

The look of irritation fades a little from her face. “I understand that feeling. I was young once. But you'll get everything you need at the orientation.”

We thank her again, although she’s already focused on her computer once more, and then head outside.

Once the door is closed, Granger turns to Aydan. “Why didn't you try something?”

Aydan looks at him, surprised. “Try what?”

“Flirt with her. Here's the King of Flirting, right there beside us, a man who could charm the pants off of any woman, and he just stands there!”

I try to ignore the hard rock in my stomach. Of course he can. Aydan can be charming when he wants to be, and he probably uses that winning smile of his to get into the pants of more girls than I could count. It shouldn't bother me. I already knew all of that.

Aydan doesn't look at me as he says, “Buddy, if your skills didn’t work on her, nothing I could say would've done a thing."

Granger stands up a little bit taller. “Maybe you're right.”

Aydan looks at me and grins, and I grin back. We hate when Granger puts himself down or acts like just because Aydan is traditionally more attractive that it means he's some kind of worm. Aydan’s attractive, there’s no doubt about that. But Granger has a way of impressing people that Aydan can’t compete with, and he needs to just accept that.

“Well, now what?” Aydan asks.

“Explore the campus?” Granger offers.

“We have a few hours still to kill, so, might as well,” I say with a shrug.

The Wolf Pack heads off together, excited, but nervous.

Orientation can’t come too soon.

SIX

Samantha

“I love this campus,”I gush.

Aydan grins beside me. “Nature and science, what’s not to love?”

We’ve made our way around the entire campus, trying to keep busy until we can justify going into the orientation room. Luckily for us, it really is an amazing campus. And a great place to people-watch.

“The other students seem as nervous as we are,” I say, nodding toward yet another geeky kid who looks on the verge of a breakdown.

Granger shrugs. “At least there are some girls. I was afraid this would turn into a sausage party.”

I roll my eyes. “At least we know the Phoenix Institute isn’t misogynistic.”

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