Page 53 of Racing Hearts

Sierra snuggled in closer to Ellie. “Can we just lay here and forget the world for a little bit longer while it’s still possible?”

Ellie placed a kiss on Sierra’s forehead that caused her whole body to buzz. “I’d love to forget the world with you.”

***

Sierra put off leaving Ellie’s for so long, she almost thought she was going to have to sneak out the window so Juniper didn’t catch her there. After about a million goodbyekisses, Sierra finally forced her feet to move and she left Ellie’s place (through the front door, luckily).

She had just crossed the street onto campus and was walking along the sidewalk when she saw Juniper’s car drive by.Phew. That was close.

Sierra took a deep breath once she was standing in front of her dorm and hesitated before going inside. She had no idea if Teresa was back yet. She had no clue about anything involving Teresa since they hadn’t texted once over break and thankfully hadn’t run into each other in their hometown either.

When she heard her text tone go off, her nerves picked up, because she thought it might be Teresa checking in. When she looked at the phone, she was relieved to find it was actually Ellie. Six texts in a row came through from her, and Sierra smiled as she read through them.

I miss you already. Want to get dinner with me after practice tomorrow?

Maybe we should have lunch so I can see you sooner.

Actually, I owe you a dinner date.

I won’t ditch you this time. I promise.

Okay… final plan: I’ll wait until practice to see you, secretly pine for you the whole time, then pick you up at 7 for dinner.

Say you agree and I promise to stop attacking you with texts :)

Sierra hated that her mind immediately compared Ellie to Teresa, but every comparison showed her they were incomparable. Even at their best, Teresa never actedthisexcited to spend time with Sierra. Teresa always seemed happy when they were together, and she said all of the right things, but it wasn’t likethis.

Sierra sent Ellie a text back, agreeing to go to dinner with her and letting her know that she missed her too. The smile never left her face as she took the elevator up to her floor and walked down the hallway to her room. She was still smiling down at her phone, rereading Ellie’s texts, as she walked into her room. She was so distracted, she didn’t notice the other person present in her room.

“Um, hi,” Teresa said, sounding annoyed just from Sierra’s presence.

A pit formed in Sierra’s stomach when she looked up and saw Teresa staring at her. The person standing in front of her was a far cry from the girl Sierra used to know. Of course, she hadn’t been that girl for a very long time, but she was even more of a stranger to Sierra now that she didn’t cause that same flutter in her stomach that she used to.

This definitelywasn’ta stranger she wanted to be having a conversation with right now, but she didn’t really have a choice with Teresa standing right in front of her waiting for her to answer. “Hey, how was your break?”

“It was fine.” Teresa puckered her lips and narrowed her eyes. “There’s something different about you.”

Sierra shrugged. “I’m just happy, I guess.” There was noguessingabout it, but she wasn’t going to give Teresa more details than that.

“What are you so happy about?” The tone of Teresa’s voice made it sound like she wasmadat Sierra for being happy.

“It was a good break.”

“Hmm.” Teresa sat down on her bed and put on her headphones, apparently done with their conversation.

Sierra hadn’t even been back in their room for five minutes, and she already wanted to crawl out of her own skin. After putting away her clothes and the few other things she had taken home for break, she lay down in her own bed and put onher headphones as well. She wanted to text Ellie more, but didn’t want to interrupt her time with Juniper, so she went through the pictures they had taken together this weekend instead.

Sierra didn’t know how much time had passed before she heard Teresa’s feet hit the floor. She looked over to find Teresa already staring at her. Teresa pointed at the door. “I’m going to go pick up some dinner at the dining hall. I’m going to assume you don’t want to come since you don’t even want to be my roommate anymore.”

There was so much Sierra wanted to say in response to that. She had tried to be Teresa’s friend. She had done everything in her power to keep things from getting awkward between them, but Teresa had pushed her to her breaking point. Also, wasn’t it Teresa who decided they needed to be “cordial roommates” only, which led to things being so uncomfortable in their room that Sierra felt she had no other choice but to leave? She could have pointed out all of that, but instead, she told Teresa she wasn’t hungry. “I hope you enjoy your dinner though,” she added at the end to try her best to make things a little less awkward between them.

“Yeah, thanks.” Teresa scoffed. “Also, you might want to find somewhere to go later. I’ll probably have a guy over.” The tone of her voice made it sound like she was only saying it to try to hurt Sierra, but Sierra didn’t want to take any chances, so she decided she would go to the library for a little bit when it was around the time Teresa would be getting back.

She didn’t have any work to do at the library, but it was better than being stuck in her dorm room with the girl who hated her, whether she had a boy with her or not.

*

After spending a few hours at the library, scrolling endlessly on her phone and preparing her folders and notebooks for the upcoming semester, Sierra headed back to her dorm.

---