The Trouble with Flirting

Chapter 5

Chapter Five

I’ve never been particularly good with early mornings, but I’m up with the sunrise on Orientation Day Number One. I barely slept all night, even though the linen spray Mom spritzed all over my high thread count sheets is supposed to create ‘a mood of peace and tranquillity’ with its ‘delicate fragrance.’ I should be exhausted, but TODAY IS THE DAY my fabulous university life begins, and nothing can keep me in bed a second longer.

Despite our cleaning efforts, an unpleasant damp odour still clings to the bathroom, but I soon manage to mask it with the scent of strawberry body sorbet and grapefruit shampoo. I exit the bathroom in a cloud of steam, waltz into my bedroom, and throw my cupboard doors open dramatically. After almost losing my towel and checking behind me to make sure my bedroom door is closed, I step back to survey my outfit options. I did a complete revamp of my wardrobe during the post-Christmas sales, paying close attention to items considered Fashionable rather than Comfortable.

After far too much consideration, I pick out a tight-fitting, blue-patterned mini dress that shows off plenty of my recently tanned, I-wish-they-were-longer legs and just a hint of cleavage. I have to suck my tummy in and stand up as straight as possible to pull it off, but I’ll be wearing heels, so that’ll remind me not to slouch.

After shimmying into the dress, I grab my phone and check the numbers on the screen. Hmm. I’ve got fifty minutes until the time Adam and I agreed we’d leave for Upper Campus, and I’ve still got to eat breakfast, do make-up, and, of course, tame my hair. Frizzy mess is not part of Project Ditch the Nerd. Deciding to do hair first, I plug in my straightener and drag my desk chair in front of the mirror inside my cupboard.

Half an hour later, I open my door, flick my sleek hair over my shoulder, and sashay down the passage towards the kitchen. This is excellent practise for my high-heeled sexy walk. I should grab a bowl of cereal and do a few laps up and down the passage while eating. I need to know I can pull off the sexy walk without actually thinking about it.

“Good morning,” I sing as I enter the kitchen and find Adam in boxers, a wrinkled T-shirt, and hair pointing in a hundred different directions. He’s typing a message on his phone—probably to girlfriend Jenna who’s stuck on the other side of the country finishing her last year of high school—with one hand while taking a bite of toast from the other. He doesn’t look remotely close to being ready. “Hey, you know we’re leaving in twenty minutes, right?”

He swallows and carries on typing. “Yeah. I can get ready in—” He looks up, and both his jaw and the piece of toast hit the floor. His eyes travel all the way down to my peep-toe heels and back up again, freezing on my face. He clears his throat. “You … why are you … where are you going?”

“Uh, to campus? Just like you?”

“In that?”

I place my hands on my hips and give him a glare to hide my disappointment. This is not the reaction I was hoping for. “Project Ditch the Nerd, remember? Losing labels like Orchestra Geek, Choir Monkey, and The Ginger.”

“And this—” he gestures to my dress “—is supposed to help?”

“Yes. If I have to be a ginger, I will at least be a hot ginger.” And with that, I turn and flounce from the kitchen. Who needs breakfast anyway? Not me. Not if I’m planning to fit into dresses like this every day. So instead I take photos of my bedroom and send them to Sarah along with the message, Remember Gross Cousin Luke? He has been replaced by World’s Hottest Hunk Luke! No kidding. Deadly serious. And he is still super shy, which makes him even more adorable. Now I feel bad for always thinking he was creepy when he was just too shy to talk to us. Although there was the hair-sucking thing … which thankfully he doesn’t do anymore. Now he has hot-guy hair. Anyway, I’ll call you later!

Adam and I are in his car reversing out the driveway less than twenty minutes later, because apparently that’s all the time you need to get ready when you don’t care about making a good first impression—which Adam clearly doesn’t in his Beam Me Up, Scotty T-shirt. I mean, as a Star Trek fan, I appreciate it, but he has to realise it’ll put him immediately in the nerd box in the eyes of everyone he meets today.

“I’m not sure you realise how big Upper Campus is,” Adam says as we join the morning traffic on Main Road.

“What? Of course I do. I’ve seen the maps.”

“And I’m not sure you realise how much competition there is for parking, meaning we’ll probably be walking from Middle Campus—if we’re lucky.”

“Yeah, I get that.” And I get where he’s going with this line of conversation. “And before you continue, yes, I still chose to wear these shoes, and yes, my feet will be fine.”

“Okay,” he says, his tone implying he knows he’ll be proved right before the day is over.

“Besides, you’ve heard of the Jammie Shuttles, right? The blue busses that are free for students? We can just hop on one of those and get a ride to Upper Campus.”

“Okay.” That same annoying tone.

“You’ll see,” I tell him. “Today is going to be awesome.”

And it is. I mean, the welcome talk in Jammie Hall isn’t all that inspiring, and the campus and library tours aren’t exactly thrilling, but simply being here is incredible. Walking along Jammie Plaza, seeing the ivy-covered buildings, hearing the laughter and chatter of the students around me … it’s everything I’ve been dreaming of. I have to admit, there aren’t many girls dressed as fabulously as I am, but I do see a large number of short dresses and skirts, even if they aren’t all as tight as mine and only a few are paired with heels. Okay, so maybe I’ll save heels for once a week.

After a traumatising talk about s*x education and STDs—don’t they know we heard enough of that stuff at school?—we’re sent off for a lunch break. I try to attach myself to a group of girls who look like they’ve always been part of the cool crowd, but before I can greet them and introduce myself, one of them waves to a guy nearby, and they all hurry towards him.

Right. I guess I’ll try again after lunch.

I swivel around on the spot, hoping to see a sign pointing me in the direction of food that will satisfy my gurgling, breakfast-deprived stomach. All I see are the many tables, gazebos and umbrellas set up on Jammie Plaza for the clubs and societies promoting themselves this week. I wander towards them, wondering if any of those tables sell food.

There’s a club for just about any activity you could ever hope to do. Ballroom dancing, wine tasting, astronomy, film, debating, skydiving, archery—archery! That is epic! I could be the next Green Arrow or Hawkeye. I could be the next Katniss! I wonder where archery ranks in terms of ‘cool’ clubs, though. Probably not that high.

I continue walking. My eyes glide over hockey, tennis, rowing—

Wait. Is that … Logan?

I take a few steps closer to the busy rowing club table. “Logan?” The laughing guy with the blond hair and the arms and shoulders that are way bigger than the last time I saw them looks up. His eyes travel over me, and when they’re done, he looks almost as shocked as Adam did this morning.

He stands up and comes towards me. “Livi?”

I cross my arms. “Oh, you remember me?”

“Livi, what do you mean? Of course I—”

“You haven’t replied to a single email, text or f*******: message I’ve sent you over the past year. And you haven’t spoken to Adam or Sarah either. What happened? You got here and we were no longer good enough for you?”

“Liv, come on.” He reaches out and runs his hand down my arm. He smiles, but I can see the uneasiness—the guilt—in his eyes. “My life is insanely busy here. I’m involved in everything. Res and sports and committees, and then having to study to pass all my courses on top of that. I didn’t forget about you guys, I just haven’t had time to—”

“Oh, yeah, no time.” I nod. “I’ve seen the pictures on f*******:. I can understand why you’d have no time for us with all those parties you go to.”

“Liv, that’s not what I meant.”

“Look, I get it, okay? Being involved in everything. I mean, I want that too. I want to be the life of the party, not standing on the outside wondering where my invitation is. It just would have been nice if you hadn’t ignored your old friends while meeting all your new ones.”

Logan looks at his shoes. “I know. I’m sorry.” He glances up. “Do you forgive me?”

“Maybe.”

“Will it help if I tell you that you’re looking amazing?”

“Only if you mean it.”

Pretending to look offended, he says, “Of course I mean it.”

I relent and give him a small smile. “Thanks.”

“Hey, Logan, get over here.” Logan looks over his shoulder to where the other guy behind the table is attempting to deal with a large group of people who all seem to want to know about the rowing club.

“I gotta go,” Logan says, “but it was awesome to see you, Liv.” He gives me a quick hug. “And hey,” he adds. “You don’t have to worry about being on the outside anymore. I’ll make sure you get an invitation to anything you want.”

I watch him as he gets back to promoting the rowing club, grinning widely, slapping guys on the shoulder, laughing at jokes I can’t hear. My smile slips. Logan may have apologised for ignoring me and promised to get me into any party I want, but I won’t delude myself into thinking we’re actually friends anymore. Perhaps we could be, if I worked really hard at it, but I can tell it won’t come from his side.

I turn away as I remember I’m supposed to be looking for food. I need to rest my feet for a moment, though. I’d never admit it to Adam, but these shoes are killing me. I head towards Jammie steps to sit down—I’ll have to do some strategic placing of my bag so no one can see up my dress—but before I get there, a group of girls wave to me and call me over. I hesitate, my insecure side telling me they can’t possibly be waving to me, but after a quick glance over each shoulder, I walk towards them. They’re the same four girls, I realise as I get closer, that I wanted to introduce myself to earlier.

“Hey,” one of them says with a wide smile on her pink-glossed lips. She twists a strand of golden blonde hair around her finger. “Do you know Logan Richmond?”

That’s what they called me over here for? “Um, yeah. We were at school together.”

“Oh my Gucci!” she squeals. “So you, like, know him know him.”

“Um …” All I can think of is the Biblical sense of knowing someone, and I’m pretty sure—at least, I hope—that’s not what she means. “Yes, well, we were really good friends, if that’s what you mean.” I don’t add that we are no longer good friends, since being Logan’s friend appears to be a good thing. “So, he’s quite popular around here, huh?”

“Are you kidding?” another girl says. Her perfect brown curls suggest she woke up even earlier than I did. “He’s a legend! I mean, at every res gathering we’ve been to since we got here, at least one person has said, ‘You’ve heard of Logan, right?’ So yeah. He’s a Smuts legend.”

Smuts. The men’s residence on Upper Campus. If I’d got into res as part of Perfect Freshman Year Plan A, I’d know all about Logan the Legend. “So … you’re all in res?” I try to rein in my sad puppy voice, but I may as well paint Feeling So Left Out Right Now across my forehead.

“Yes,” says Golden Blonde Girl. “Courtney and I are in Graça Machel, and Charlotte and Amber are in Fuller. Oh, and I’m Allegra, by the way.” She holds her hand out to me, that beaming smile never leaving her glossy lips.

“Allegra?” My musician brain goes straight to the word allegro, and I wonder if the name Allegra means the same thing. The girl attached to it certainly fits the word ‘lively.’

“Yes. And you are?”

“Livi,” I say, taking her hand.

“You’re in our faculty, right?” says Curly Brunette Girl. Charlotte, I remind myself. Charlotte, Charlotte, Charlotte. The other two names have already flown from my brain, but if I remember nothing else from today, I will remember the names Allegra and Charlotte. “I remember seeing you in the library during the campus tour,” Charlotte continues. “I was admiring your shoes.”

“They’re incredible,” one of the other two girls says. “I’m so jealous.”

“Thanks,” I say, remembering a second later to push my shoulders back in a confident pose and flick my hair over one shoulder. “When I saw them, I knew they’d go perfectly with this dress.”

“You were so right,” Allegra says, nodding. “Anyway, we were just on our way back to Beattie Building for the next orientation thing. You should sit with us.”

“Oh, yeah, okay.” I try to play it cool as the five of us head back to the Commerce Faculty side of campus, but inside I’m jumping up and down shouting, Yes!

“So if you were at school with Logan, then you’re also from Durban, right?” Charlotte asks. “Were you in the same year as him?”

“Yes. I took a gap year last year,” I explain. “I was an au pair in Germany.”

“That is so exotic,” Allegra says. “Did you meet any hot foreign guys?”

“Well, there was this one particular guy.” The smile I give them is loaded with meaning. “He was kind of … German nobility.”

“Oh. My. Gucci.” Allegra stops and takes hold of my arm. “You have to tell us everything.”

From: Alivia Howard

Sent: Wed 12 Feb, 10:56 pm

To: Carl

Subject: Dear Carl

I know you’re never going to see this, but I thought I should tell the virtual version of you that you helped me make friends today. Yip. You were an ass and you broke my heart, but it’s all good because I wound up at the university I really wanted to go to, and the girls I met today LOVED hearing about our secret romance. So thanks for that. Also, I don’t think I told you this in person when I had the chance, but … you should really go jump in a lake. (And seeing as how you have a lake, that should be easy.)

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