He Will Be Mine

Chapter 7: Their First Time

*** Alyssa's POV ***

I couldn't take any more of the lovey-dovey nonsense from Matt and Jessica, who have been attached at the hip and at the lips pretty much all day after my conversation with Matt outside the bathrooms. Apparently, that had the opposite effect of what I was hoping. Instead of reinforcing our connection, it seems to have inspired him to focus more on Jessica. So, after the umpteenth hour of watching them make out and be all over each other, I told everyone I was feeling tired and came in to lie down early.

And Tyler, bless his heart, didn't want me to be in here all alone so he followed me in to keep me company. I can hear everyone else outside getting the campfire blazing to settle in for a second night of beers, marshmallow roasting, and enjoying the company. Tyler and I, on the other hand, are cuddled up and enjoying a quiet night in. Somehow, I don't mind that I'm missing out on time with Matt. I like this, and part of me wishes I could stay here with Tyler longer than just this one last night.

He brushes back a few strands of my hair that had fallen into my face and partially obscured my eyes, and then seems to pause to admire his work, or maybe it's my face he's admiring. That thought makes my heart start skipping a little and takes my breath away for a moment. I don't understand it, why does it feel so good to have someone who is not my mate be attracted to me? Am I really that needy and desperate?

"It's called Kettlewell College, by the way," he tells me out of the blue. "It's a private school, way more expensive than it should be, kind of niche and not particularly well-known, but it's in Maine."

"Are you serious?" I ask him, acting like it's crazy that he said the name of that specific college because I want to play it off like it's a coincidence that we'll be going to the same school and act like I am already enrolled there. "Did you go through my phone or something and figure out where I'm going?"

"Wait, what? You go there too?" he asks, obviously excited at the prospect of us going to the same school.

"I will be," I tell him. I also attempt to open a mind link with my dad to see if he can make that happen. "I know I'm kind of old to just be starting out, but it took me awhile to convince my parents to let me go. They wanted me to go somewhere closer to home, or preferably not at all, but I finally convinced them it was for the good of all of us. If we can get more in-house professional teachers, then we have a better shot of our school getting chartered and officially recognized."

The bullshit just starts flowing out of me. Goddess, I hope this college is the sort of place teachers go to be educated.

"And it took a fair amount of making stuff up that sounded good for me to convince them to let me go there, which I chose because it's far away but also small enough that it won't be overwhelming for me."

Please let that make sense. I'm flying blind here, Dad. You can chime in any time now.

"Oh wow," he says softly, then goes quiet for a moment and I can see the wheels turning in his head as he thinks.

The suspense is killing me. I silently plead with him to say something, anything to let me know how badly I've botched this.

Finally, he does.

"That's so weird because Matt is a secondary education major," he tells me. "I wonder if you guys will have some classes together, though I guess maybe not because he is a few years ahead of you."

Dad finally chimes in, too. What's the name of your mate so we can look up his course schedule?

Matt Taylor, education major, and he's in his last year. I told them I'm an education major too, I quickly shoot back to him so I can focus on Tyler again.