All That and a Bag of Chips

Chapter 9

Collin was still leaning on the fence post, reading from the massively thick paperback, Collection of Ancient Greek Novels, when Sam and Heather walked out of the women's dressing room in fresh outfits. Sam wore dark denim jeans and an unbuttoned bowling shirt over a tight white tank top. Heather had on a pair of low-rise True Religions and a t-shirt that showed off a tantalizing strip of her midriff.

"What were you reading?" Heather asked as Collin put his book away and slung his backpack over his shoulder.

He knew she was just being polite, but he was glad that she had started the conversation because that hint of exposed skin was threatening to consume his frontal lobe. "A novel for class. I'm taking a lecture on Ancient Greek Literature."

The three of them started walking on the track around the softball fields, heading towards the Cowell-Stevenson dining hall. A few people were playing frisbee in the middle of the expansive field. Scattered runners were doing laps.

"Oh, like the Iliad?" she asked as the trio stepped to the side to let a jogger pass.

He was about to say that the Iliad was actually an epic poem and not a novel, but Sam saved him from unnecessarily nerding-out.

"Collin is always reading something. If not for class, then it's for fun," Sam said. "Do you like to read, Heather?"

Last night, he and Sam had seen Heather walking while holding a pile of books. Sam really was playing wingman for him. He wondered what changed her mind about this whole bet he had going on with Tom. He wasn't going to split the money with her, if that's what she was thinking.

"I used to read more for pleasure, but these days I just don't have the time," Heather answered.

They turned up the path leading up to the white-stuccoed dorm buildings. A few people were playing hacky sack in the quad, others were lounging around with books. Someone called out, "Hey, Sam!"

A woman with chestnut hair cropped to her shoulders, an eyebrow piercing, and a rainbow necklace stood up and Collin noticed Sam bite on her lower lip. "Hey, Emily."

"Have you studied for that quiz in Gender and Post-coloniality?" the girl, who Collin assumed was Emily, asked, standing with her weight on one leg, her head cocked to the side.

"Not really," Sam answered. "Is that what you're doing now?"

When the girl nodded hopefully, Sam glanced over at Collin. He shrugged.

"Hey guys," Sam said, addressing Heather more than Collin. "Sorry to ditch you, but I totally forgot about this quiz and I really need to ace it."

Collin knew for a fact that Sam took all her classes for narratives and not for grades, but he just told her he understood.

Heather also nodded in agreement. "Gotta study. That's why we're here."

As Sam walked away from them, joining the girl in the grass, Collin looked over at Heather. "I'm still hungry. Please don't make me eat alone?"

"I'm famished." She shifted the weight of her backpack and smiled at him, her hazel eyes catching the sunlight, and for a moment he could see them in all their complexity: a ring of pale green flecked with gold and embedded in a sea of caramel. Then she blinked. Or a cloud moved. And the jade seemed to darken to emerald, and he noticed a speck of blue that wasn't there before. She had kaleidoscope eyes and suddenly he never wanted to look away.

But then she turned to continue on the path, and the spell broke.

Before following, Collin looked over his shoulder at Sam, expecting her to be giving him a thumbs up or mouthing some warning about not being an asshole. But all of her attention was on the girl who he had never met before.