Wonderland

❅H14❅ I Don't Think I've Laughed This Hard In A While

Chapter Fourteen

Heather's POV

I Don't Think I've Laughed This Hard In A While

 

October 20

I'm pretty sure Brayden took my advice yesterday, because the next time I saw him (which was approximately twelve hours after I last spoke with him), he was with Berkeley. She was practically glowing when I sat down with them, her face flushed. We were at the engineering library, in one of the group study rooms on the third floor. I could see that Brayden was helping her, because a calculus book was spread out before them. I found it sweet how Brayden always used his free time to help people with their homework—this was definitely not the first impression I had of him when I first met him.

Before getting to know him, I always found him a little cocky and arrogant. He always looked down on girls it seemed, too, and ranted endlessly about videogames in class with the people he usually talked to. Oh how time changes people.

"Hey, Heather," Brayden said, giving me a small smile.

"Hello," I said, smiling back. "How have you been?"

"Not too stressed, thankfully. You?"

I shrugged. "Same thing happens to me everyday." I'm basically a loner here. This is depressing.

"Do you need help with math?" Berkeley wondered. She narrowed her eyes at me slightly, and I couldn't help but wonder if I was intruding upon a moment of theirs or something. Suddenly, I felt like an intruder.

"Um, no," I lied, although half of my coming here was because Brayden had texted me, asking if there was anything he could help me with. He knew I was struggling in math.

"I asked her to come here, though," Brayden hurriedly said. "We always study together."

"That won't be too long, would it?"

"Heather can stay here as long as she wants," Brayden said, firmly. "She's my best friend."

I couldn't help but feel my heart flutter when I heard him refer to me as his best friend. I honestly never thought that anyone would ever refer to me as his or her best friend. Was it possible to consider someone your best friend if you've known him or her for less than two years? I thought it usually took a few years before you could actually officially call someone your best friend—but then again, I barely have any friends, so I can't really make a remark on that.

"Um, actually, I suddenly remembered," I started. "I forgot to give Isabelle her iPad back. She lent it to me last night for homework, and I was supposed to go back to my dorm and give it to her. I'll see you guys later, okay?" The last thing I needed was to make Berkeley hate me.

"Okay," Berkeley said, a little too cheerily.

"Are you sure?" Brayden said, giving me a knowing look.

I nodded, wanting him to believe me. "I'll text you if I need any help. Bye, guys." I left the room feeling, surprisingly, dejected. And to think Berkeley was nice, my mind hissed, but I chastised it. I will not judge someone based on a one-time attitude. I could understand where Berkeley was coming from: Brayden probably just asked her out and she wanted to spend her first day together with him alone. That's totally natural.

I ended up working on my math at the EAC alone, seeking help from the tutors there instead. Fortunately, I was able to finish my homework, but now came the hard part: Studying for my midterm next week.

Studying for a college test was completely different from studying for a high school test. In college, what you see in your homework is definitely not what you will see when you are taking the test.