Heart Strings by Jenny Bloom

Author:Jenny Bloom [Bloom, Jenny]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Published: 2020-06-09T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

Midterms were fast-approaching with the swiftness of a thousand-ship fleet - battle ships, to be exact. War was on the horizon. The entire campus could feel that swell of tense energy like an electrical current through the Puget Sound, rippling in every raindrop fluttering through the waves. The coffee shops closest to the school were packed with anxious students. I could watch them wring their hands as they studied their notes. One girl at a corner table had the surface covered in different books with corresponding notebooks. I had no idea what she was studying, but she looked incredibly stressed. Frankly, if I tried to study my classes like she did hers, I would have gone insane long ago. I sent her a coffee and she seemed appreciative but went right back to studying.

In the weeks surrounding them, it was hard to catch a glimpse of her even in passing, but we tried to keep each other updated over texts. It wasn’t easy being away from her. I wanted to feel her lips again, to hear her say my name again. I wanted to hold her - or take her on a date, like a proper girlfriend. But, then again, were we even girlfriends? Were we dating? No, that was just a few kisses, really, and I shouldn’t assume that we were automatically dating. That wasn’t how that worked. But it also seemed that neither of us wanted to bring it up in our conversations.

We would ask how classes were going, how studying was going, how we were feeling or about new episodes of various shows or podcasts. She got me into a few true crime ones to listen to while I studied - a couple of them reserved for light studying because they were extremely distracting. I tried to get her into sports podcasts, but she wasn’t much interested. She liked the humor ones I sent her, though. I could just imagine Ellie’s face, contorted in laughter, tears in her eyes, that wide, gap-toothed smile, her freckled nose wrinkled and flared. It might not have been the most attractive face to some people, but to me, it was one of the most beautiful, and partially just because it was hers. It was hard not to be distracted thinking about it during tests, but oddly enough, I didn’t think that it hurt my results. If anything, it helped ease me from the stress so I could actually go through the questions without hyperventilating.

Then again, I wasn’t sure if I did incredibly well on them.

I was confident, but these were exams, so, that didn’t matter much.

It was late in the afternoon on Friday. I imagined a lot of students were celebrating the end of a tiring week by throwing parties - and by imagined, I meant, I knew they were. I could hear music from the third-floor thumping through the ceiling. But it was a Friday night, and everyone wanted a night to relax and celebrate. As far as I knew, alcohol was allowed in the dorms.

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