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six rows from the class-ruiner, Preston Riggs. There were no less than five people blocking my way to the exit. And my last name was Warren. God, why couldn’t it be Abbott? If the professor came in and took attendance, without announcing himself or the class, I would be stuck until he finished calling everyone’s name and then I would have to stand like an idiot and—
    “Well, isn’t this butter on toast.”
    I hadn’t realized I’d propped my elbow on the armrest of my chair or that my hand was covering my eyes. But even with my eyes covered, I knew that voice. I cringed as I forced myself to look up and into Preston’s mocking gaze.
    “What did you say? Butter on toast. What does that even mean?”
    He grinned. “Is anyone sitting there?” He pointed to the seat beside me, but he wasn’t talking to me. He was talking to the girl on the other side of the empty seat. She shook her head and smiled, and I wanted to throw up all over both of them so they would leave me alone and let me have my first real class. Even if I wasn’t sure I was in the right class. Oh God.
    I leaned down to grab my schedule, just as the professor walked in and announced himself as Dr. Carter. My heart jumped inside my chest. Dr. Carter. The same name listed on my schedule.
    I relaxed back in my seat and took out my new notebook and pen, smiling to myself.
    “Thought you were in the wrong class, didn’t you?”
    “Shut up.”
    His lips quirked up. “Care to share one of those fancy pens? I’m stuck with this Bic.” He twiddled a basic white pen with black cap against his notebook. I eyed my sparkly purple pen. I liked colored ink—pink, teal, purple. I hated to use regular ink colors. Where was the fun in that?
    “I’m not sure ‘fancy’ fits you.”
    Again with the quirking. “Touché.”
    I smiled. I couldn’t help it. And then instead of filling my brain with Dr. Carter’s lecture on what to expect in Bio 102, or thinking about how to get to my next class, or any one of a zillion normal things I should be thinking about on my first day of college, I ended up spending the rest of class trying desperately to say something else smart just so I could see his lips quirk up once again.
    The Preston Riggs thing was becoming a problem that I needed to fix, stat. Thankfully, class ended before my mind became any more muddled. Preston was Kara’s best friend. Forget feelings, I shouldn’t even have thoughts about him. I grabbed my things and started for the door, but Preston hadn’t budged.
    “What?”
    He shrugged. “Nothing.”
    “What is your major, anyway? This is an intro class, and you’re a sophomore.”
    He finally stood, but he didn’t move toward the door. “I just switched majors from Undecided to Biology, so I’m playing catch up.”
    “Biology? Are you planning to pursue medicine?”
    His expression turned serious. “Pediatrics. And why the surprise? What did you think I was majoring in? Ways to screw over innocent girls?”
    I rolled my eyes, which annoyed the hell out of me. I hated girls who rolled their eyes all the time, and now I was becoming one. “Not surprised. Just . . .”
    “Surprised. It’s okay. I get it.” He started for the door. Damn it. Could I have a normal conversation with this guy without offending him? Clearly not.
    Preston turned back just before exiting. “You know that whole ‘don’t judge a book’ thing? Yeah . . .”
    And then he was through the door before I could reply.

Chapter Seven
    I texted Kara as soon as my next class finished. We had planned to meet at the Fresh Foods dining hall on the first floor of Liberty. For cafeteria-style food, it had turned out to be pretty good yesterday, but I had a feeling we would end up eating there most days, like it or not, just due to scheduling.
    I thought of Preston the entire walk over, worried that he told Kara what I’d said, though even now, I couldn’t figure out what I had said that was so wrong. Maybe it was the