Free Carnelian by B. Kristin McMichael

replied. “See you tomorrow, friend .”
    I had a feeling that no matter what I did,
I’d be seeing a lot of Seth Sangre this year.
     

Chapter 5
    CRUSH
     
    The lawn of the commons was completely filled with college
students. There were more people on the lawn than I saw around
campus in the past two days. When my alarm went off at eight on a
Saturday morning, I was completely ready to hit snooze. Instead, I
found that Sim was already out of bed and showered. It was a big
deal for her, but I didn’t know how many other people were just as
excited. I pulled at the strap of my swimsuit, which was sticking
outside my shirt collar. Sim said it was necessary to wear a suit
as they always had a water challenge. I really didn’t want to
compete, but I couldn’t let her down. She was too excited. Now I
saw she wasn’t the only one. It felt like maybe everyone on campus
was just as excited.
    Sim pulled me forward through the crowd to
the tables by the commons’ doorways. Students were taking names and
writing numbers on competitors. Seth had said he would see me here,
but I was relieved to find he would probably not with all the
people milling around. I really didn’t want him to see me in a
swimsuit. Even though I was determined to not have a crush on him,
he was growing on me, and he was just too darn cute.
    “Murdley Hall,” said Sim as we got to the
front of the line. “Sim, room 215.” The student wrote down her name
and room before standing up and grabbing a green sharpie marker.
Sim held out her arm and the number 478 was written on her left arm
in green ink. The person next to us said Mardone Hall and had a red
number written on her arm.
    “Building?” the student asked me.
    “Murdley,” Sim replied for me as I was
distracted, watching the mess around us.
    “Mari, room 215,” I answered before the
student could ask more. The student picked up the same green marker
and I held out my arm. Number 479 was written on my arm. It looked
like there was no going back now.
    “Tim will be talking in about five minutes
on the stage to the left,” the student said to Sim and me. I looked
back and the student was pointing to his left, and sure enough
there was a stage on the far end of the commons lawn. On the
opposite side was another stage with large, white, empty marker
boards.
    Sim grabbed my arm and started to drag me
through the groups of students. I didn’t know where we were going,
but heading toward the stage was the general direction. As she
slowed down, I finally noticed our destination as she went toward
Ty. He was large enough to stand out amongst the other students. My
stomach sank as I noted his companions. Beside Ty were his
brothers, Seth and Dee.
    “Hey, Sim and Mari,” Ty called, waving us
forward a few more feet through a crowd that was splitting to
accommodate his large, waving arms. “Ready for some fun?”
    “How would you know?” Sim asked, eyeing him
up. Ty was a freshman like us, but probably had already received
advice from his brothers. Sim had explained to me last night that
the freshman typically finished slower than the upperclassmen,
because they had never done it before.
    Ty smiled sheepishly and shrugged. “Maybe
I’ll get time to give you some pointers also,” he tried to make
amends with us.
    “Hello, friend, ” Seth said into my ear as he
bumped his shoulder to mine, standing right next to me.
    Tingles shot through my shoulder where he
touched me and my heart raced a little. Darn boy had to be cute,
but I was not going to fall for him. I was going to be strong and
stick to my new rule. I wasn’t going to be number twenty-four in
his book. I needed to repeat that mantra to stay strong, especially
when he was standing close enough that I could smell the faint
scent of fresh linen off of him. Seth laughed softly, just enough
for me to hear, like he could read my internal struggle on my
face.
    “Can everyone quiet down?” a tall, lanky guy
said from the stage into a