The List

Chapter Two

I stand with my hands on my hips, and a glare on my face, staring Rhett down.

"You're unbelievable!" I yell at him.

"Why are you so damn opinionated?" Rhett glares at me. "You don't have to be right."

"I'm not saying I'm right." I groan. "I just don't understand why!"

"Because it's so ridiculous." He sighs, rolling his eyes at me.

"Maybe leaving them alone was a bad idea," Nathan says, as he walks in with Grace and Liam.

I turn and face them all. "He thinks The Great Gatsby is the worst piece of literature ever written!"

"Oh no!" Liam feigns heartbreak. "Not Gatsby!"

I roll my eyes. "Shut the hell up! You know how much I love that book."

"Cari, not everyone understands the depth of his work as you do," Grace says, still laughing.

I stick my lower lip out to pout and everyone continues to laugh.

"I can't believe that's what you two were fighting over," Nathan says, setting the pizzas on my desk.

"She's a romantic," Rhett says, with a chuckle. "She has to defend her beloved Gatsby."

I roll my eyes and plop down on the bed. "I'm over it; can we just move on now?"

Everyone finds a spot to sit while we eat pizza, whether it's on the floor, the bed, or the chair beside my desk. I haven't had grease in God knows how long, so I inhale three slices before they have even finished two.

"Geez, Care," Nathan says. "I don't think I have ever seen you eat like that before."

"Mom fixed my diet a few years ago, so it's been a while since I've had pizza."

"Why did she do that?" Grace asks.

"Cari had some medical issues. Our mom just took extra precautions to make sure she would get better."

I shoot Liam a glare from across the room. "She was like that when you were home too."

Liam rolls his eyes. "You know it's because you got sick."

"Sick?" Rhett asks.

I shake my head. "It was nothing, just a scare. My doctor thinks it was a gluten allergy, so our mom just cut out anything that she thought would make it flare up again."

"Care-" Liam starts.

"Anyway, I'm just glad to be out of Oklahoma." I cut him off.

Rhett smirks. "Sounds like it."

"What's your first class tomorrow?" Grace asks.

I dig through my purse to find the list of classes out of my planner and scan for my first Monday class. "Literature."

Rhett chuckles. "There's a surprise. How many classes are you taking?"

"Five," I answer back.

"Full time as a freshman?" Nathan asks me.

I shrug my shoulders. "You know I love school; I always have."

"You remember when she would force us to play school with her, and we could only be the students?" Liam asks.

"How could I forget?" Nathan laughs. "She loved it because it was the only time she got to be the boss of us."

"Don't worry, Rhett," I hear Grace say. "You get used to being on the outside of their jokes."