Totally Tormented by Lucy Covington Read Free Book Online Page B

case. “The Fighter. Very appropriate.”
    “No, I mean…they were a gift. From a boy. That I’m mad at.” As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I regretted them. They made me sound even crazier.
    But Carter didn’t seem that phased. “What’d he do to you?”
    “Ditched me at a party,” I said. “Flirted with another girl. Put me in dangerous situations. Got me in trouble with my RA.”
    Carter shook his head. “And then he dropped off DVDs in an effort to get back on your good side?”
    “Yeah,” I said. “He left me a card saying that he wanted to make it up to me.”
    “Yeah, I’ll bet,” Carter said, shaking his head. “Well, I’m glad that you were able to get your anger out in a constructive way.” He picked up the Dead Poet’s Society case.
    “Maybe you should break this one, too.”
    “No way.” I took the case and held it protectively to my chest. “This is my favorite movie.”
    “I love it, too,” Carter said. “It’s really inspirational.”
    “It is inspirational!” I said. I was about to add ‘that’s what I was trying to tell Justin’ but I realized that would make me seem even crazier than he’d maybe first thought.
    “We should watch it together sometime,” he said. “I have a big screen TV at my apartment.”
    “Totally,” I said.
    Something passed between us, then. Something weird. Attraction? It didn’t quite feel like that, but the mood had definitely changed. It was so slight that I wondered if I’d imagined it.
    “Anyway,” Carter said, giving me a smile. “I should go.”
    “Okay.”
    “I’ll text you later,” he said. “And we can get together sometime soon?”
    I swallowed. Was he asking me out on a date? And if he was, did I want to go?
    Could I go? Was he my boss? Or was he just, like, sort of my supervisor?
    “You know,” he continued, as if sensing my reservations, “So that we can get together with the other research assistants.”
    “Oh,” I said. “Right. Um, okay. Cool.”
    “Cool.”
    He stood there for another moment. “See ya, Lindsay,” he said.
    “See ya.”
    ***
    I spent the rest of the day in class, studying, eating dinner, and trying not to think about Justin. Every time his face would enter my mind, anger flowed through me. And then I’d think about his smile, the way his hair had curled around his forehead in the steam of the shower, the way his hands had felt on my bare leg. I’d get all filled with lust and wanting, and I’d have to take a few deep breaths and stop myself from checking my phone.
    I walked all around campus with my books, hoping that if I kept moving, I’d keep my thoughts from overtaking me. I studied in the library, on a bench by the quad, in the computer lab, and in the student lounge.
    I was back in my room studying when Rachel texted me. I hadn’t seen her all day, and I was starting to get a little anxious. I wasn’t sure if she’d been mad that I hadn’t told her about dropping my paper off at Dr. Klaxton’s office. That, plus the fact that she’d been acting weird made me worried that maybe something was going on with her.
    What r u doing? she texted. Want to come to a party with me and my friends?
    I frowned at the screen. She was going to a party on a school night? She must really have something going on with these new friends of hers. Maybe she’d met a boy or something. I found it a little funny that she was giving me a hard time about hanging out with Justin, and yet she’d been out partying the last few nights. But that was what I was starting to learn about Rachel. She was complicated and a total contradiction. I liked it. She kept things interesting. And she sounded happy in her text, and not mad at me at all, so I was relieved.
    Even so, I had a lot of work to do, especially if I was going to be one of Dr.
    Klaxton’s research assistants. I needed to stay on top of things, because I wasn’t sure how much time that was going to entail.
    So I texted Rachel back and let