School life returns to normalcy come Monday morning. All the chatter is calmed down to the point that I rarely hear any mention of the dreaded food court incident. No one brings up what happened at the party either, which likely has to do with Matt stepping in. Everyone probably took his side without even hearing the whole story, although if they had I would hope they still took his side.

But it’s finally easier to traverse campus on my own. No more worries about getting jumped or hearing profanities thrown my way. We’re back to the regularly scheduled program! Which isn’t an exciting program but it has higher ratings than what it was a few days ago.

“How does it feel to have freedom?” Tori asks during lunch. Chelsea is with him, sitting at his side while playing on her phone. Her friend, Rose, sits next to me with a soft smile but says nothing.

We’re sitting in the food court, far away from Matt. I make sure of that now. My eyes glance over to him, finding the campus superstar surrounded as usual. His head is down as he eats his lunch. It’s clear he’s quiet. I don’t even see him speak. I rarely do. His mouth is glued shut more than mine.

“Great,” I finally answered with a happy nod. “I don’t know if I could survive had it gone on any longer.”

“Wouldn’t it have been cool if you already had a YouTube channel and posted the video yourself though?” Chelsea asks, causing all to look at her. She grins from ear to ear. “I bet you could have monetized it real quick and at least made some money!”

Tori snickers and, well, she’s right. I probably could have. What a missed opportunity! The revenue probably could have paid for Matt’s Gucci shirt. Damn.

“Oh, right, didn’t Matt help you at the party Friday?” Rose inquires. Tori and Chelsea’s jaws drop in shock, both turning their gazes to me. The spotlight has been moved to shine directly above my head and there’s no escape.

“Uh, y-yeah.”

“What the hell? When? Why? How?!” Every question Tori has, I had back then as well. Glad I am not the only one confused.

“I was walking down the steps to leave when someone stumbled in the way. We collided and he got super pissed—”

“And Matt showed up,” Rose interrupts with a firm nod. Now everyone watches her as she explains the story she has to have heard from someone else. “He grabbed some guy, uh, Liam, was it?”

I nod.

“Matt grabbed Liam’s arm and pushed him back. He stood up for Dana and they left together. Everyone was talking about.”

Tori chuckles. “Everyone talks about anything Matt is involved in, but what the hell? Why didn’t you tell me, Dana?”

“You were gone...all weekend.”

Chelsea bites her lip. Tori’s cheeks go a little pink. Rose and I roll our eyes. No need for details on that weekend adventure.

“Besides, that’s the gist of it. Nothing interesting,” I say, but only because I don’t want anyone interrogating me about what happened after. Matt helping me, even tending to the scratch, that would probably cause an uproar too. I’m done with those. I’ve had enough to last me a lifetime!

“How is spending time with a movie star not interesting?” Chelsea groans, pressing her elbows to the table so she can rest her head in her hands. She’s pouting, practically pleading with her eyes to give details. “Come on, Dana. What happened after? Did he say why he helped? Is it because he wanted to make sure you were ok to keep working to pay him back?”

Tori furrows his brows because he knows I’m not paying Matt back. However, I give him a quick glare to state he better not bring it up. Nodding, he acts like he knows nothing and I explain, “We just walked. He headed home and I came back to the dorms. I guess he just helped because he could.”

“Wow, handsome, rich and caring. I was unaware that people like that existed,” Rose giggles. “Still, I wish we could have switched places. I would have loved for Matt to come to my rescue.”

“Same!” Chelsea squeals until Tori looks at her with offense. She slaps his arm. “Please, you would like it too.”

Tori says nothing, which actually says a lot. We all break into laughter. My phone vibrates in my pocket. Without much thought, I grab it to read over and nearly choke on my lunch upon seeing who it is.

Matt: Has anyone bothered you about Friday?

N-No one saw he messaged me, right?!

I look frantically at those at the table. They’re all talking, unaware of my predicament. Ok, play it cool. Play it cool. If you make the message seem important then they’ll think it’s important. Deep breaths. Deep breaths.

Me: No. Nothing has happened, thanks again.

Hesitantly, I peer across the food court to Matt. He’s sitting quietly with his group, food finished but still not partaking in conversation. Then he looks at his phone.

Ah, my cheeks are warm again. Please stop.

But they worsen when Matt picks up his phone and reads over something. I’m assuming it’s my message, which is proven correct when my phone vibrates again.

Matt: np

Then Matt looks up just as I do and our eyes meet for a brief moment. I turn away quickly. Our message thread is deleted and I shove my phone back into my pocket because if anyone finds out I have his number I am going to be jumped by the whole school. I’m not even sure if his “friend group” has his number.

The moment it’s time for my next class I’m getting up to leave. Rose follows since we actually found out we share a class together. We simply never talked since we weren’t introduced until today when Chelsea started hanging around with Tori. It’s nice to have her though, someone I know at least a little. Our conversations are a bit forced and awkward as we don’t know each other that well yet but it’s better than nothing.

The big difference between us though is that Rose is a pretty girl with a lot of friends. So when we get to our class and sit side by side there are a few more new faces. Immediately I feel confined. Four guys come over to talk to Rose, all seeming to know her and offering up smiles while I’m left nervously sitting on the sidelines.

There’s too many people. It’s stuffy. I want to move.

“So your name is Dana?” One of the guys asks and I swing my head around to look at the brunette smirking at me. Rose must have told him my name. “Must suck owing Matt money. The fanatics are probably at your throat.”

“Aha...n-not really.”

“I’m Nick, by the way. This is Taylor, Shawn and Kyle.” Nick gestures from one guy to the next. “Rose and I went to high school together.”

“That’s cool...m-must be nice to already know some people.”

“Yeah.”

And that’s the extent of our conversation since Rose is pulled back in to talking with them. Nick is definitely hitting on her. She flushes before playfully patting his shoulder. Now I definitely want to leave. Normal interactions are awkward, but flirtatious ones are even worse! At least class saves me from seeing more of it. Once our professor walks in, that's the end of it, literally, since I have no more classes and can head home afterwards.

My headphones are in as I walk from the English Department to the dorms at the end of campus. Even with what has been going on, I am happier here. School was a major pain for me for the longest time. Growing up in a small town where everyone knew everyone. Even if you claimed you didn’t, their faces were familiar and you probably knew more about them than the average stranger. There was a certain...lack of personal space and sometimes people felt like they were closer than they actually were.

In my case, I didn’t feel that close with anyone. My sister, Bridget, always tried her best to at least get me involved with her friends. With our six year age gap it didn’t really do much. So I went to school day after day with people I wasn’t all that close with and laughed at their stupid jokes thrown my way. I remember when the “red heads don’t have souls” was a big thing in elementary school. Oh, what a joy that was! (Please note the immense sarcasm.)

Then when all the guys started shooting up height wise I kind of...stayed the same so that resulted in some teasing. It’s not as if any of them meant anything by it. The jokes weren’t always malicious, some were cracking jokes as if expecting me to return it, but I always awkwardly laughed it off and kept going. Here though, that doesn’t happen.

Yes, the food court incident was a big deal, but I’ve never been met with anything else. And I kind of like walking around campus not knowing every face that walks by me. Wondering who they are or what they’re like or if I’ll ever meet them, that wasn’t something I thought about before because I knew, at some point, I’d meet the new face at our school, if there ever was one.

However, my parents aren’t as happy with my move.

“You know, I will happily help you transfer to a closer school if you feel uncomfortable there, Dana,” Mom says that evening when she calls. I can hear Dad cursing in the background. Probably watching a game.

“I am fine, Mom, really.”

“You sure? I, just, you’ve never been this far from home before. And even if you’re in the dorms I’m not there to cook or clean—have you been cleaning?”

“Yes!” That’s a complete lie. Good thing she mentioned it.

“I’m worried. What if you get sick?”

“I’ll take medicine.”

“But I’m not there and we miss you here. Why did you have to go so far away?”

Maybe it makes me a little mean to enjoy her worrying, but I guess it’s only natural. She’s my mom and I am her baby boy. It’s not like I left to avoid my parents. They are by far what I miss the most. Being at home with them, eating dinner and watching TV, even watching sports with Dad. He never pushed me into them despite his love for them, but he definitely loves watching them with me just as an excuse to be together. And, well, I don’t mind. It can be a lot of fun listening to him get so passionate that he nearly spits pop all over himself.

“I’ll be home for break and you’ll have me every year all summer,” I say with a soft smile, which she can’t see. I bet she knows I’m doing it though.

“That’s not long enough!”

“What are you going to do when I get a job and move out?”

Mom gasps, “You’re already thinking about moving out for good? But...you can just stay with us.”

Dad cackles in the background and I swear I hear him shout, “If you come back, she won’t let you leave!”

He definitely said that cause Mom curses and leaves the phone for a moment. There are a few seconds of soft smacks and Dad cackling before Mom returns to say, “Ignore your Dad. He’s a lunatic.”

“What does that make you? The one that married him.”

“I’m sorry, did you say something to your loving mother that’s paying for your college tuition?”

“You gonna go there?”

“You went there first.”

I roll my eyes and our conversations lasts for a while, until Tori comes back. He has a teasing smirk but says nothing since we both know his mom calls him at least once a day too. But after I hang up and look to my phone my eyes kind of linger on my contacts. Just above “Mom” is “Matt” and it still baffles me that it’s there. I’m almost tempted to change his name.

I end up laughing at myself. Matt is a common name and I didn’t put his last name so it’s no big deal. Before I do something stupid, like accidentally call him or something, I throw my phone off to the side.

Then Tori asks, “You finish the homework for math?”

“Damn it!”

“Take that as a no.”

“Did you?”

Tori howls with laughter. What a useless roommate!