Page 29 of Starstruck

It wasn’t a lie, about my mind being a complete mess, but the truthdidn’t fully slip through the cracks in my voice.

New York wasn’t why I was in my head, nor was the thought of beingat Liberty. From the classes I’d attended yesterday, those excited butterflies only doubled, confirming in my head that I was right to trust my gut about this place.

No, what was troubling me was everything else that had happened,mainly thanks to the brown-haired Englishman with an accent that made me breathless, who I couldn’t seem to get out of my head. And for someone who barely had time to breathe growing up, barely had time to focus on her studies, the fact that my heart and the way it thumped when he was around or in my head were suddenly all I could focus on… it scared me.

I watched as Cora’s eyes roamed the ceiling, pondering something,before her attention fell back onto me. “Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked, her hand stretching out to brush mine.

I considered saying no, confessing that Tristan was the only shadowlooming in my mind right now and finally dropping my guard and not keeping my feelings locked away anymore. But my eyes fell back onto my watch before my lips pried open, realising that if I did, we’d be late for class again.

So I pulled my smile tight and nodded back at her.

She sent a wink my way, before her eyes fell onto my watch, herhand pulling mine, and me, further over the table and she inspected it. “Right, let's be off.” She began to slide out of her side of the booth. “And on the way we can talk about the other pressing matter.”

“Which is?” I asked, sliding out of my seat and joining her.

Cora shrugged, like I should already know whatever was about tofall out of her mouth. “The fact that her brother was eye-fucking this one all night?” Her thumb hiked over her shoulder, pointing to Rory as she stood by us.

Daisy’s face contorted as she slid out of the booth. “Ew, nevermention my brother and eye-fucking in the same sentence ever again.” Her nervous smile made me smile as we all shuffled over to the exit. “But she does have a point. Do you want me to throw my guitar at him when I see him?”

Rory playfully shook her head as she pulled open the door for us. “No, no, it’s fine. He’s really cute, that’s for sure. But I wanna let myself settle before the whole minefield of boys is something I have to worry about.”

I nodded at Rory as I glided out of the door, thankful that therewas someone who understood where I was coming from. Like me, Aurora Greene was here, at Liberty Grove, to prove herself. She confessed that all she wanted to do was make her dad proud, and attending the university that he attended, studying the same law degree that he once had, was her way of doing that.

I hadn’t pried, although the questions swirling in my head were sointense that I was sure I was about to blurt them all out anyway. She’d mentioned that her mom passed away right before her freshman year of high school, and part of me recognised the way that she was trying to bring any sort of joy back into her dad's life by being here.

Whether she wanted it or not.

Cora’s scoff broke through my thoughts as we gathered on thesidewalk and began our speed walk to the station. “I’m sorry, did you both sign some secret agreement to become nuns the second you got here?” I rolled my eyes at her. “No, seriously. I came here because, although we can drink at university back home, I wanted the fun, and the dare of this city that I’d heard so much about. I’m not saying that we have to get fake IDs and get illegally plastered every night, but I want these next four years to be fun. I want to look back and remember that we had fun, while we could.”

Rory sighed, repositioning her bag on her shoulder. “Of course wecan have fun. It’s just that hooking up with strangers isn’t at the top of my to-do list right now. And with the amount of reading I have to do for my criminal law classes, I couldn’t make out with strangers even if I wanted to.”

“Me too.” Daisy nodded. “I had no idea how much work goes into amusic major. Turns out it’s a lot.”

Cora shook her head. “Am I the only one who’s got it easy? My artclasses have been sick.” We all looked at her puzzled. “Sorry.” She cleared her throat. “My art classes have been, like, a total blast.”

We all cackled at the plastic American accent that veiled her words.

All four of us glanced at each other, knowing that on some level, Cora was right. This was college. This was the time to have fun.

“Okay.” I stopped in my tracks and turned around to face all threeof them.

Rory giggled before she nudged me. “Hey, we're gonna be late—”

“We make a pact.” I eye each of them. “A promise that these nextfour years will be fun. I know we’ve all come from different pasts and had a lot going on before we got here, but let’s focus on now.” My eyes dropped to the sidewalk and I mumbled, “I didn’t really have a life before coming here, and Cora’s right, we owe ourselves… fun.” I lifted my head back to face them as the last word left my mouth. “Agreed?”

Cora nodded. “Fuck yeah.”

“I’m in.” Breathed Daisy.

Right before all our eyes rounded to Rory, who shrugged hopelesslybefore she said, “Screw it, let’s do it.”

I raise my pinky finger in the middle of us, and one by one myfriends all wrap theirs around mine. We all let out a girly giggle when we shake our pinkies, before letting them fall back down our sides.

“Shit!” Cora exclaimed, earning back of of our stairs. “It’s quarterto nine.”

All of our eyes widened as we exchanged glances, and one by onebolted into a run, the slips of the sidewalk passing under our feet like a montage as we rounded the corner and squeezed our way through the crowds.

“Jamie called me to say that he’ll be here by next Monday, whichmeans only eight more days of running for the subway.”

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