Page 41 of Return Policy

If I must

Noah Caruso

Send it in the team chat too

Me

Thanks

I send the picture of her book in the team chat, and Noah follows it up with the reward that if someone finds it, they can skip keg fees for the rest of the semester. The guys were very enthusiastic, and now football players are all over campus searching for Sophia’s sketchbook.

If it wasn’t for how devastated she looked earlier, it would almost be comical.

13

SOPHIA

I throw the last pair of shorts out of my now empty dresser drawer. Unless there’s a secret compartment I forgot about, the sketchbook isn’t fucking here.

Karma is really out for me.

Sage strolls through my door and freezes in place. “Jesus, did you fuck a Tasmanian devil in here or what?” Her eyes widen, taking in the crime scene of my ripped apart room. I even looked through places it would never be, like my underwear drawer, which is why lace scraps and granny panties litter the floor.

“I still haven’t found my sketchbook.”

“Joey…” Sage approaches and turns me to face her. “Calm down, okay?”

“I can’t, today is—”

She takes my face in her hands.“I know. We’ll find it.”

I pick up my phone and see too many texts from the absolute last person I want to hear from today.

MOM

Mom

Thinking of our Chlo today.

Hope you’re doing well in your classes

Call me when you’ve got some time

A low groan escapes my lips.When I’ve got time?

I donothave time for her right now.Or ever.

“Elijah’s helping me look, but he hasn’t called yet,” I tell Sage before throwing my body dramatically on the bed in a starfish position. “So I’m sure he hit a dead end… just like me.”

“Hmm… interesting,” she says, her tone laced with amusement.

I lift my head to peer up at her. “What?”

“On my way back from the dining hall, I saw a few groups of football players running around like they were on a damn scavenger hunt.” She giggles.

“Okay… But what does that have to do with me?”

“I’m not entirely sure…” She smirks. “But I overheard one of them saying they needed to find some notebook so they could drink for free, and I didn’t really think anything of it at the time… but it’s making a lot more sense now.”

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