Page 37 of Academically Yours

ELEVEN

Noelle

Hazel was going to kill me. There was absolutely no way of getting around that. Because I had just sat in front of her, only a few days before, telling her there was absolutely no way anything was going to happen between Matthew Harper and myself… And now he was coming on our little zoo trip with us.

I groaned as I walked back to the dorm, already hitting myself for saying yes. I was going to spend eight-plus hours with the man and a few dozen freshmen and sophomores.

“Hey, Noelle,” Hazel greeted me, looking up from the textbook in her lap as I plopped down next to her on a couch in the lobby area.

“Hi.” I sank into the cushions, letting my bag fall to the carpet at my feet.

She eyed me rather suspiciously. “What’s up with you?”

“Well. Uh.” I bit my lip. “I may or may not have invited someone along for the zoo trip tomorrow.”

“Noelle!” Hazel exclaimed. “The bus is already full—”

“I know, I know. And it’s fine, that’s not a problem. He can just share my seat, it’s just that—”

“Wait a sec.” She narrowed her eyes at me. “He? Oh, Noelle, who did you invite?”

I muttered his name under my breath.

“What was that?”

“Matthew Harper,” I said, giving her my best innocent smile.

“Noelle! You little minx!”

“It wasn’t my goal. I was just going to give him my number, and then he asked if I wanted to get dinner tomorrow, and then I told him I had plans, and he sort of… asked if he could come.”

“You’re bringing a date on our field trip?”

“It’s not a date!”

“And what did you tell him about dinner, anyway?”

“Oh.” I shook my head. “It didn’t come up again.”

“But do you… you know.” She raised an eyebrow. “Want to?”

“Get dinner with him?”

Hazel nodded.

I ran my hands through my hair, separating the wavy strands. I hadn’t styled it today, so it was wavy and frizzy, all-natural. “I don’t know, Haze. I feel like there are some things in life that once you do them… you can’t quite go back.” She looked at me, the question evident on her face. I just sighed. “I think going out with Matthew Harper is one of them.” I picked at the hem of my t-shirt dress, thankful that the weather was warming up slightly so I could wear a little bit more of my wardrobe.

“What do you mean?”

“You know those people, who you like—like, you really like, but you know that they’ll ruin you for all other men?” Hazel gave a little helpless roll of her shoulders and I continued. “Well, he’s like that.”

“And that’s bad because…?”

“Because I’m not looking to fall in love,” I waved my hand in the air like this was some wild concept. “Because we can’t.”

She buried her head in a pillow and groaned. “You are the most stubborn girl I have ever met.”

“I’m not stubborn!” I protested, and Hazel just gave me that look. I threw a pillow at her head.

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