Wren usually lost interest in a guy as soon as shed won him over. The conversion was her favorite part. That moment, she told Cath, when you realize that a guys looking at you differentlythat youre taking up more space in his field of vision. That moment when you know he cant see past you anymore.
Cath had liked that last line so much, she gave it to Baz a few weeks later. Wren was annoyed when she read it.
Anyway, Jesse never really converted. He never had eyes only for Wren, not even after they had sex last fall. It threw off Wrens game.
Cath was relieved when Jesse got a football scholarship to Iowa State. He didnt have the attention span for a long-distance relationship, and there were at least ten thousand fresh guys at the University of Nebraska for Wren to convert.
Cath tossed another hunk of protein bar to the squirrel, but someone in a pair of periwinkle wingtips took a step too close to them, and the squirrel startled and lumbered away. Fat campus squirrels, Cath thought. They lumber.
The wingtips took another step toward her, then stopped. Cath looked up. There was a guy standing in front of her. From where she was sittingand where he was standing, with the sun behind his headhe seemed eight feet tall. She squinted up but didnt recognize him.
Cath, he said, right?
She recognized his voice; it was the boy with the dark hair who sat in front of her in Fiction-WritingNick.
Right, she said.
Did you finish your writing exercise?
Professor Piper had asked them to write a hundred words from the perspective of an inanimate object. Cath nodded, still squinting up at him.
Oh, sorry, Nick said, stepping out of the sun and sitting on the grass next to her. He dropped his bag between his knees. So whatd you write about?
A lock, she said. You?
Ballpoint pen. He grimaced. Im worried that everyone is going to do a pen.
Dont be, she said. A pen is a terrible idea.
Nick laughed, and Cath looked down at the grass.
So, he asked, do you think shell make us read them out loud?
Caths head snapped up. No. Why would she do that?
They always do that, he said, like it was something Cath should already know. She wasnt used to seeing Nick from the front; he had a boyish face with hooded blue eyes and blocky, black eyebrows that almost met in the middle. He looked like someone with a steerage ticket on the Titanic. Somebody whod be standing in line at Ellis Island. Undiluted and old-blooded. Also, cute.
But there wouldnt be time in class for all of us to read, she said.
Well probably break up into groups first, he said, again like she should know this.
Oh Im kind of new around here.
Are you a freshman?
She nodded and rolled her eyes.
How did a freshman get into Professor Pipers three-hundred-level class?
I asked.
Nick raised his furry eyebrows and pushed out his bottom lip, impressed. Do you really think a pen is a terrible idea?
Im not sure what you want me to say now, Cath answered.
* * *
Do you have an eating disorder? Reagan asked.
Cath was sitting on her bed, studying.
Reagan was holding on to her closet door, hopping, trying to pull on a black heeled boot. She was probably on her way to workReagan was always on her way somewhere. She treated their room like a way station, a place she stopped between class and the library, between her job at the Student Union and her job at the Olive Garden. A place to change clothes, dump books, and pick up Levi.
Sometimes there were other guys, too. Already in the last month, thered been a Nathan and a Kyle. But none of them seemed to be a permanent part of Reagans solar system like Levi was.
Which made Levi part of Caths solar system, too. Hed seen her on campus today and walked with her all the way to Oldfather Hall, talking about
some mittens hed bought outside the Student Union. Hand-knit. In Ecuador. Have you ever seen an alpaca, Cather? Theyre like the worlds most adorable llamas. Like, imagine the cutest llama that you can, and then just keep going. And their woolits not really wool, its fiber, and its hypoallergenic.
Reagan was staring at Cath now, frowning. She was wearing tight black jeans and a black top. Maybe she was going out, not to work.
Your trash can is full of energy bar wrappers, Reagan said.
You were looking through my trash? Cath felt a rush of anger.
Levi was looking for a place to spit out his gum. So? Do you have an eating disorder?
No, Cath said, pretty sure it was exactly what shed say if she did have an eating disorder.
Then why dont you eat real food?
I do. Cath clenched her fists. Her skin felt drawn and tight. Just. Not here.
Are you one of those freaky eaters?
No. I Cath looked up at the ceiling, deciding that this was one of those times when the truth would be simpler than a lie. I dont know where the dining hall is.
Youve been living here more than a month.
I know.
And you havent found the dining hall?
I havent actually looked.
Why havent you asked someone? You could have asked me.
Cath rolled her eyes and looked at Reagan. Do you really want me asking you stupid questions?