Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 63124 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 316(@200wpm)___ 252(@250wpm)___ 210(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63124 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 316(@200wpm)___ 252(@250wpm)___ 210(@300wpm)
I swore I was meant to be out there.
“Have a good weekend everyone. Don’t forget about your test on Monday,” Professor Moore told our History 101 class.
I withheld a groan, knowing that was another hour or two I had to devote to studying. I glanced over at Jourdanne and Marina, a girl who lived down the hall from us, seeing their equally annoyed expression.
“Let’s get out of here,” Marina said before rising to her feet and leading us out of the lecture hall.
“Can you believe he’s giving us another test on Monday?” I asked them as we fell in line with each other. I swore it felt like a new assignment, essay, or test was dropped on me every time I turned around.
Jourdanne let out a sigh as she shook her head.
“I know it’s listed on the syllabus, but I don’t think I’ve had time to even take a look at it since the first day,” she admitted. “Much less my notes. So much has been going on.”
My eyebrows lifted in surprise as we walked out of the building and into the sunshine of a cool, slightly breezy Friday afternoon. She was usually pretty focused on her studies, but she seemed a bit distracted lately.
“Oh my gosh! You’re totally going to fail,” I gasped with a laugh to tease her. I wrote down every little thing that I could, even if our professor spoke a thousand words per minute. One failed class could cost me my scholarship and send me right back home.
Marina looked over at Jourdanne and shook her head.
“No way. You can use my notes to study,” she assured Jourdanne.
“Thanks,” Jourdanne said with a grateful smile. She then looked forward as we continued walking, her eyes growing distant.
Gradually, I noticed more and more that she would often get… distracted. She was on her phone quite a bit or disappeared for hours at a time, which, of course, made me curious. Something was on her mind.
So, what’s on your mind lately, Jourdanne?” Marina asked after a minute of silence. It looked like I wasn’t the only one who noticed Jourdanne’s odd behavior.
Jourdanne shrugged and stayed quiet, her eyes shifting to the ground to watch her shoes.
What would she be so secretive about? Family troubles? School struggles? It could be a list of things.
“Is it a boy?” I asked her as I bumped my shoulder against hers teasingly, trying to lighten the mood.
Jourdanne cracked a hint of a smile.
“Well, I guess I’m just a little homesick, you know?” she replied.
I could understand that in a way. I missed my family, but I certainly didn’t miss my hometown and all of the judgmental people there. Rumors spread like wildfire there, and when people heard about my college plans, it didn’t take me long to hear murmurs throughout town that people didn’t expect me to succeed.
“Oh my gosh! You were so adorable when you first arrived,” I teased her, not wanting her to sink into her sadness. She was a ball of sunshine when we met, so if I had to be that for her to cheer her up, I would.
Jourdanne’s face flushed as she seemed to realize what I was talking about.
“I was? You guys saw me that day?” she asked.
After she invited me to leave the dorm for a little while for the welcome party, we came across two handsome gentlemen who she knew. That was also when we came across Marina, who was moving things into her dorm room.
Marina leaned closer to Jourdanne as we headed toward the dorm building.
“Oh, yeah. You and your dad and uncle were so cute together. They must be so proud,” she cooed.
“My dad?” Jourdanne repeated as her eyes shot wide open.
I narrowed my eyes slightly in confusion, wondering why she reacted like that. Was he not her dad? He was certainly old enough to be.
Marina nudged Jourdanne.
“I get it. I miss my younger sister a lot. We used to have movie nights on Saturdays most weeks,” she said.
That sparked an idea.
“Well, hey, we can do that too,” I pitched, figuring we could all use a pick-me-up. I looked over at Marina on the other side of Jourdanne. “Let’s pick out something for this weekend.”
Marina nodded.
“Yeah. What do you think, Jourdanne? Anything sound good off the top of your head?” she asked.
Jourdanne parted her lips to answer, but her phone suddenly rang. She reached into her pocket to check it.
“Oh, hey, speak of the devil,” she said as she waved her phone and slowed down behind us to answer.
I smiled and lingered around with Marina a little ways off, watching a variety of emotions cross Jourdanne’s face. Confusion. Worry. Surprise. Something was definitely up.
Before I could come up with more conspiracies, I felt my own phone buzz in the pocket of my black athletic joggers. I took it out to see a text message from my mom on the screen.