Page 217 of Finding Us

“Do you think they kissed? They had to have, right? I bet they’re home now and kissing on the front porch like a couple of teenagers.”

Garret laughs. “Now who sounds like an old person? What do you care if they kiss? You’re not their parent.”

“Well, they better not take it beyond kissing. They have to wait until they’re married, or at least engaged.”

“Yeah, because that’s whatwedid, right?” He brings my face to his for a kiss.

“We’re young. We lack self-control. Istilllack control when it comes to you.”

“Maybe Frank loses control when he’s around the hot blond nurse.”

“I didn’t say she was hot. I just said she’s blond.”

“I bet Frank thinks she’s hot,” Garret says, smiling.

“Okay, enough about Frank. Here’s the other news. Ryan bought an engagement ring.”

“Oh, yeah? When is he proposing?”

“At his slow pace, probably not for 10 years. He found the ring he wanted so he bought it. I told him he should marry her next summer and he yelled at me for trying to take away his bachelor years.” I sit back and look at Garret. “Do you ever regret not having more time as a bachelor?”

“No. What’s so great about being a bachelor? You go out and get drunk and hit on girls every night. I already did all that in high school. I’m over it.”

Garret says that, but sometimes I wonder if he thinks he’s missing out on stuff being married at this age. I don’t mean getting drunk and hitting on girls, but just going out. He likes being social way more than I do.

I wouldn’t mind if Garret went and hung out with some of the guys from school. But I think he stays home because he feels bad leaving me here alone. He did the same thing last year when we were at Moorhurst. He went out with me instead of his guy friends. But at least back then he had his swim team. Now he has nothing but me, and I think he needs more than that. I know he does.

The rest of the night Garret watches TV while I force myself to study some more. I wasn’t going to, but I have two quizzes next week and I’m not ready for either one of them. It’s only the first week of the semester and I feel like I’m already way behind.

* * *

Monday morning after class,I go to the library to study. Then I meet Garret for lunch, go to my afternoon classes and then the library again. To keep up with my homework and get decent grades, I’m going to have to study a lot. The classes here are definitely harder than the ones at Moorhurst.

I’ve been at the library for hours now and I can’t be in here anymore. I pack up my backpack and go outside. I’m meeting Garret in 15 minutes. I could just wait on one of the benches but that would mean more sitting and I can’t sit any longer. I’ll just take a short walk to stretch my legs. I have time to make a quick loop around campus.

It’s a really beautiful campus. I should study out here under a tree instead of in the library. The campus is full of big shade trees along with some smaller trees that have brightly colored flowers on them. There are also flowery bushes along the outside perimeter, concealing the fence.

The campus is surrounded by a tall, black iron fence that looks nice but also provides security. Camsburg is known for having good security, which is one of the main reasons Garret and I picked it. They don’t let just anyone walk on campus. You have to enter and leave through the front entrance gate, which is monitored by a guard station. I always thought the only way off campus was that front entrance but I just saw a guy going out a side gate. I never noticed it before because of all the bushes that hide the fence. Nobody else seems to notice it either because there aren’t any students anywhere near it, other than the guy I just saw.

If I’d known that gate was there, I could’ve saved myself a lot of time getting to my car. I always park on the side street and to get there I have to go out the front entrance of campus, down the main street, then back up the side street. This would be a huge shortcut.

I walk over to the gate to find out exactly where it leads, but I can’t see anything other than a small green building with a sign on it that says ‘maintenance.’

I’m guessing the street is just beyond that maintenance building. I go through the gate and notice a faculty parking lot to my left. I walk around the maintenance building and straight ahead I see the street where my car is parked.

This is way shorter than my usual route. I’m glad I found this. Garret will be happy about it, too. He’s always saying how the campus should have more than one exit.

I hear some commotion in the faculty parking lot and look back and see the guy I spotted earlier, the one I saw going through the gate. He looks a few years older than me, like a grad student. I bet he’s a teaching assistant and that’s why he gets to park in the faculty lot.

There’s another guy with him and they seem to be arguing. The grad student has a small bag in his hand and is passing something to the other guy. It’s money. Wait—is this a drug deal? I don’t want to be around this!

I start walking back toward the gate. The two guys are getting louder and I glance over and get a look at the drug dealer. I do a double take when I see his face.

It’s the burglar. The guy who robbed the house just down from ours. He’s supposed to be in jail. That cop said they caught the guy and arrested him. They must’ve let him out of jail.

This is bad. I need to get out of here.

I walk faster toward the gate. I don’t want to draw attention to myself by running. I keep my head down, not looking at them. I can still hear them arguing and they’re getting louder. It’s making me nervous.

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