Page 12 of The Sweet Spot

“You go to UCSC?” asks Luca, balancing his forearms on his bent knees as he gazes out at the water.

Pride and excitement surge through me. “I will be. I start this August.”

He raises his thick eyebrows. “You’re a freshman?”

I nod, hoping that’s not some sort of deal breaker, and tuck my knees in. “You?”

“Yeah, I’m at Santa Cruz,” he says. “I’ll be a junior.”

My stomach tightens in anticipation of seeing him on campus. I can alreadyimagine finagling ways to study with him.

“But I’m spending the fall semester abroad, in Brazil,” he adds, almost as an afterthought.

I lean back to look at him. “Brazil? Are you serious?” Here I am, trying to get used to the idea of living in a dorm a few miles from my house, and this guy’s moving halfway across the world.

He nods. “There’s an architecture and urbanism program with the Federal University of Santa Catarina in Florianópolis.”

“Are you majoring in that?”

“Architecture’s my major.” He cups his hand around the back of his neck. “I’m also minoring in software engineering.”

“Whoa.” I cock my head, intrigued. “Those two things sound quite different from one another.”

“They are.” He huffs softly. “What about you? What’re you studying?”

“Cognitive science…with a focus on psychology.” I feel like such a poseur saying this out loud, like a little girl playing make-believe. College has always been a far-off dream, and now it’s right around the corner. “I think I want to be a therapist.”

But Luca just grins. “Psych classes are fun. I took a couple my first year, too.”

Out on the sand, the soccer game continues. The blond guy from the other day—cotton candy—volleys the soccer ball, deftly keeping it away from Matt.

“I guess so.” Taking a deep breath, I shake my head. “I’m kind of nervous about it.”

“I’d tell you not to be, but everyone’s nervous at first.” Luca smiles. “The campus is beautiful, at least. Lots of trees, trails…I’m sure you’ve been there, right?”

“I pretty much grew up there. My grandmother was a tenured professor in her day.”

“Really?” Luca’s eyes widen. “What did she teach?”

“Anthropology, which fascinates me, too.” I twist so I’m facing him. “I think that’s what freaks me out—what if I pick the wrong major and it takes me forever to realize it?”

“You have plenty of time. Half the people I know changed their major at some point, some twice. When I started, I wanted to major in tech.”

“What changed?”

“I think I just grew out of it. When I was younger, I was really into gaming, coding, all that stuff. My dad’s a software architect, so it’s in my blood. It’s always been our thing.” He draws his finger through the sand. “Then, to celebrate graduating high school, I went to Tokyo with some friends. It was unbelievable—I’d never seen a city like that. I’d never seenanythinglike that.”

“I can only imagine. It’s huge, isn’t it?”

“Massive. I was fascinated by the scale of it, the architecture.” A small smile flickers over his mouth. “It was a work of art.”

“You sound passionate,” I venture, watching him closely.

He pauses, then nods. “I am.”

“Why don’t you just major in architecture, then?” I scratch my neck. “Why hang on to the minor? Are you even interested in coding anymore?”

“I enjoy it, but more as a hobby. Not a career.”

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