Free Unforgettable by Cecily von Ziegesar Page B

relationship with Easy ended.
    “Do you want to get a cup of coffee before practice?” Jenny asked Kara as they washed the charcoal off their hands at the sinks in the back of the studio. She knew it was neurotic, but she just didn’t want to be alone right now. Alison had already snuck out of class early to meet up with Alan for a Latin study date in the library—even
that
sounded good to Jenny.
    “I’m sorry, I can’t.” Kara dried her hands off on one of the stiff brown industrial-quality paper towels they always seemed to have in art buildings. “I’ve got a meeting with Mr. Wilde to talk about my history paper.” “Oh.” Jenny smiled at her friend. “Lucky you.” She was already looking forward to AP American History next year. She’d passed the super-cute Mr. Wilde in Stansfield Hall once and had seen that he was wearing a Modest Mouse T-shirt under neath his neatly pressed blue button-down and tie.
    The girls picked up their bags and walked down the hallway and out of the building. Jenny glanced around but didn’t see Easy anywhere. Kara pulled a tube of cherry Blistex from the pocket of her worn-out jean jacket and spread it across her lips. “Well, let’s just say history is the one class I never mind getting help in.” She winked at Jenny as they pushed open the double doors to the outside world and warm sunshine beamed down on them, the entire campus painted in brightly colored reds and oranges and yellows before them.
    Jenny waved goodbye to Kara and watched her friend walk off. She paused to pull her aviators out from her bag and saw that there, leaning against one of the columns, was Easy Walsh, waiting for her.
    “Can I walk with you?” Easy shielded his eyes from the sun with one hand while the other held his sketchbook. Jenny shifted her heavy bag to her other shoulder.
    “Sure.” The two of them quietly fell in step together, cutting across the quad. Giant oak leaves were scattered across the grass, and Jenny bent over to pick one up. It was yellow with orange spots, and so pretty Jenny thought she’d like to press it between wax paper and give it to her dad. Maybe make a bookmark out of that. Hadn’t she done that once, at art camp? She tried to think about this new project—or really, anything other than what Easy was about to say.
    “So, I’ve, uh, been doing a lot of thinking.” His voice sounded funny, like he’d rehearsed what he was about to say, or like he was expecting Jenny to be mad at him. She stopped walking and turned to face him. She zipped up her navy J.Crew hoodie.
    “Me too.”
    Easy nodded. “Yeah?” He kept touching the pack of cigarettes in the back pocket of his jeans, like he was dying to have one, but the two of them were standing in the middle of campus, out in the open. “Well, good. Um, I just think that, it would be, you know, a good idea if … we broke up.” Even though she’d been preparing herself for the words, they still stung. But there was something else too, something she hadn’t really expected to feel: relief. At least she had an answer now. She and Easy were over. She and Callie could be friends and roommates again. She nodded slowly, watching a dozen girls and boys in cable-knit sweaters rush down the front steps of one of the brick classroom buildings. “I think that would be for the best.” He looked at her tentatively, a little surprised, like he hadn’t expected it to be this easy, and Jenny wondered if he had expected her to put up a fight, like Callie had when he’d broken up with her. The entire boys’ dorm had heard her scream at him. But that wasn’t Jenny’s style, and besides, she wasn’t angry. She was just sad. He shifted awkwardly from foot to foot. “We can, uh … still be friends, right?” Jenny could tell it was hard for him to say something that clichéd and, well, lame. It sounded so awkward coming from his lips, and it almost made her laugh. “Sure,” she told him.
    Easy rubbed the bridge of his