Page 191 of Finding Us

“Do you know anything about this class? I kind of got stuck in it because I enrolled late.”

“It’s a psych class. Aren’t they all the same?” She gets her phone out and starts swiping through it, a sign she doesn’t want to talk.

Strike two in my attempt to make a friend today.

I turn to the girl who’s sitting on my left. She looks a little like Harper, with blond hair that’s pulled up into a ponytail. She’s flipping through the first chapter of our psych book.

“Did the professor assign some reading?” I ask her. “I forgot to check.”

It’s a lie. He didn’t assign anything but I’m trying to make conversation.

“Did you say something?” She looks at me, annoyed.

“I was just asking if the professor assigned reading for today’s class?”

“No. I just read ahead. I always do. I like to be prepared.” She flips to page one of the book and starts reading.

And there’s strike three.

I face forward again and notice three girls huddled around the desk in front of me with their phones out.

“What time do you want to get together tonight?” the one girl asks.

The girl next to her says, “I have biochem study group at 7 but I could do 9.”

“That works for me,” the third girl says. “So psych study group at 9 every Wednesday.”

They agree, then take their seats.

People are already having study groups? Classes just started. What’s there to study?

I feel like an idiot again. I’m used to being one of the smartest people in class and now I feel like the dumbest. How hard are these classes? Obviously really hard if people are studying this much. Maybe developmental psychology won’t be so easy after all.

When I meet Garret for lunch I give him a huge hug. I’m ecstatic to see a friendly face and someone who will actually talk to me.

He laughs at my over-the-top hug. “You miss me again?”

“Yes. A lot. You sure you don’t want to switch your major to chemistry? You’d be in all my classes and it’d be nice to have someone there who’d actually talk to me.”

“You don’t like the people in your classes?”

“They’re not exactly friendly.”

We take our trays and find a place to sit.

“Yeah, I noticed. The people here really stress out about school, although I met some guys who are more laid back. They invited me to lunch but I told them I was busy.”

“You already have friends? Damn. How do you do it?”

“Just give it time. People are always uptight on the first day. They’ll loosen up after a week or so.”

“I don’t think so. Some of them are already having study group tonight.”

“Well,I’mnot studying tonight.” He leans over and lowers his voice. “I’m having dinner with my hot wife and then I’m taking her into the shower with me and I’m going to—”

“Mind if I sit here?” A tall, muscular guy with messy blond hair sets his tray down across from us.

Garret sits up straight again and says to the guy, “No, go ahead.”

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