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  After the professor arrived, the rest of the students filed into class. Noticeably absent was Aaron. With just a minute to spare, he sauntered into class. As he passed by me, I noticed he was carrying a sunflower in his hand. He placed it on the desk in front of me then leaned over and whispered into my ear, “A sunflower for my Sunshine.” Then he gave me a kiss on the cheek.

  I could hear a collective gasp from the back of the room. Aaron gave me a big grin then took his seat behind me.

  Dr. Griffin looked right at me and said, “Rainy, would you please see me after class in my office.”

  I gulped. “Yes, Professor.”

  She nodded then began her lecture.

  When class let out, the two pretty girls from the back of the room made a point of walking past me. They were both whispering to each other then one of them said loudly, “Can you believe Aaron gave that girl a flower?”

  “She must have a golden snatch,” the other girl taunted and they both laughed as they exited.

  Aaron got close to me and whispered in my ear, “You’re beautiful and they know it. They’re just jealous.” Funny, I always thought of them as being so much better looking than me. But their nasty attitudes made them ugly. Aaron continued, “I’ll see you later, Sunshine.”

  I watched as my beautiful man walked out the door. My beautiful man? Really? It didn’t seem real. It was both exciting and scary.

  Then I went to face Dr. Griffin. I had no idea why she wanted to see me and I was scared to death to find out.

  I took a deep breath as I entered her small office. The entire room was cramped from floor to ceiling with art books. The bookshelves, which were probably long overcrowded, had spilled out everywhere. It was like a little piece of heaven on earth.

  “You wanted to see me,” I managed to squeak out.

  Dr. Griffin looked up from her laptop. “Have a seat, Rainy.”

  I sat on the one chair she had in her office. I guessed she could never see two students at once, or one would have to stand.

  I waited for her to continue. “You’re probably wondering why I called you in here today.”

  I nodded.

  “I’ve been teaching at this university for nearly thirty years and you are only the second person to ever earn a perfect score on the midterm examination.”

  I smiled.

  She continued. “The first person to earn a perfect score on my exam is now an art professor at Princeton.”

  She hadn’t asked me a question yet so I waited for her to continue. I knew I was beaming, though.

  “If you continue to do as well on the final examination and your final project for the class, I would like to offer you a research internship next semester. I’m working on a book on female impressionists and I think it would be good experience for you to assist with the project.”

  “Our final project is on Mary Cassatt,” I blurted. My enthusiasm was no longer in check.

  Dr. Griffin smiled. “Just keep up the good work in my class. I really would like to have you assist me.”

  “It would be an honor.”

  “Good,” she nodded. She seemed to have more on her mind, so I didn’t make a move to leave.

  “Now that that’s settled, there’s something else I would like to talk to you about. I hope you don’t think I’m being to forward but Aaron has displayed quite a bit of affection for you in class, so I don’t think your relationship is a secret.”

  I gulped. I didn’t have any idea where the conversation was headed and that made me nervous.

  “You seem to be a little less enthusiastic and more apprehensive about the relationship than Aaron is,” she said.

  I nodded. Could she really see all that? My dad always told me I wore my heart on my sleeve. And I always thought that was such a corny expression. But I guess there was some truth to it.

  “I don’t normally involve myself in the love lives of my students but, as you’re already aware, Aaron has been a friend of the family for years. My husband and I don’t have children so we were like a second set of parents to the Donovan boys. So as you can imagine, I don’t want to see Aaron get hurt.”

  I could feel my eyes grow wide. Did she just say Aaron get hurt? I think she had the equation all wrong. I was the one, who was worried about getting hurt.

  Dr. Griffin looked at me with a very serious expression. “I can tell you’re a very strong young woman, Rainy. No matter what life throws at you, you’ll not only survive but come out stronger on the other end. Aaron isn’t like you. He was never given the opportunity to build the strength of character that you obviously possess.”

  That hit me like a ton of bricks. It took me a second to take in the full weight of her words.

  She continued. “Aaron is arrogant. Probably one of the most arrogant people I’ve ever met. His brothers are, too. But don’t let his bravado fool you. Underneath is an extremely vulnerable young man. By asking him to remove those layers of arrogance, which isn’t a bad thing, you’re also asking him to expose all of that vulnerability. He’s doing that for you so that requires some responsibility on your part. You may not realize it but you have all of the power in your relationship with Aaron. I have to be honest with you, Rainy. If you broke Aaron’s heart, I don’t think he would ever fully recover.”

  I had a difficult time absorbing everything Dr. Griffin was saying. Her words were making me dizzy. I placed my hands on my temples in an attempt to steady myself. I never felt like I had any power at all when I was around Aaron. Just the thought of him made my insides melt.

  “Please tread very carefully, Rainy.”

  When I looked up at Dr. Griffin her expression had turned serious.

  “I will,” was all I managed to say. My throat was suddenly dry. I needed to get out of her office and get some air.

  I rose. “Thank you, Dr. Griffin,” I said as I turned and headed for the door.

  When I exited the building, I was shocked to see Aaron standing in the doorway, his arms crossed over his chest. I couldn’t believe he waited for me.

  “How did it go, Sunshine?” he said when he saw me.

  I was still trying to compose myself from the meeting and I hoped I didn’t look too flustered. “Fine,” I said.

  Aaron eyed me suspiciously. “You don’t look fine.”

  There was no way I was going to tell him everything that Dr. Griffin had revealed.

  “I was just surprised that Dr. Griffin is considering me for a research internship next semester. She was impressed with my work on the midterm and if I do well on the final and with our final project, then she’ll give me the job.”

  When I looked up at Aaron, he was beaming. “Dr. Griffin is tough. It takes a lot to impress her. I’m so proud of you.” Aaron embraced me with a hug then kissed my forehead.

  “You know what this means,” he said.

  I shook my head.

  “It means we have to work extra hard on our final project. I want you to get that research internship.”

  Seven

  Penalty Stroke

  On Wednesday evening, the social clubs were celebrating their new initiates with a block party. The town let the clubs close the street for the night and people from the neighborhood and campus were invited to join in the festivities. Since my Thursday class didn’t meet until afternoon, I let Olivia and Marney talk me into going with them. Lucas tagged along with us, too.

  We got to the block party around seven, which we thought was early, but the street was already packed with party-goers. The place had a carnival atmosphere with lots of food and games booths. The excitement, crowds of people and array of colors made me think of a Joan Miro painting.

  Lucas moved next to me and said, “Please stick close by. I don’t want you to get lost or hurt in this crowd.” He was such a capable adopted big brother.

  Marney grabbed Olivia’s hand and pulled her toward a booth that was set up for cotton candy.

  “Something tells me you don’t do cotton candy,” Lucas teased.<
br />
  I nodded. “You’re very perceptive.”

  “I am when it comes to you.” He looked at me with a passion I hadn’t seen in him before. I quickly turned away and pointed to another booth where they were squeezing fresh orange juice. “That’s something I’d like to try,” I said as I headed toward the booth. Lucas followed.

  Lucas insisted on buying juice for both of us, which was sweet but totally uncalled for. “Thank you so much. You didn’t have to buy this for me.”

  He smiled. “Maybe I wanted to.”

  I took a sip. “It’s delicious.”

  Lucas tried his. He nodded. “It is good.”

  “Looks like we lost Olivia and Marney,” Lucas observed.

  I looked around. They were nowhere to be seen. “They’re good at that.”

  “Come on,” Lucas said. “Care to try your hand at the ring toss? My social club is sponsoring the game. All proceeds go to support the Humane Society.”

  “Sounds great.”

  Lucas neglected to mention that his social club’s ring toss booth was right next to The Clubhouse’s lemonade stand. And, of course, being the president of his social club, Aaron was front and center working the stand.

  As Lucas and I walked by Aaron and his friends, I heard Evan’s voice practically yelling, “Hey, Aaron, isn’t that your little friend? What’s taking you so long to score, buddy?”

  When I looked at Aaron, I thought I saw some pain in his eyes but it just as quickly faded, replaced with his cool and collected façade. I turned away in disgust. I figured he was playing along because he was with all of his friends. I hoped he would defend me or our relationship, but he didn’t, which was disappointing.

  I followed Lucas to The Geek Patrol’s booth. There were only a few elementary age kids playing. The sign said: Three Rings for a Dollar. I pulled two dollars from my pocket and handed them to the guy behind the booth. He took my cash and handed me six rings.

  Lucas stood close to me as I attempted my first toss. I was lucky to keep the ring in the booth but it wasn’t close to landing on a bottle.

  I knew when I glanced over toward Aaron, he would be staring right at me and he was. I turned away and tried my second toss. It was no better. It landed on the ground far from the bottles.

  “Do you mind if I give you a hand,” Lucas asked.

  “I’m not very coordinated,” I admitted.

  “It’s okay.” Lucas carefully took my wrist into his hand and guided my arm in the tossing motion I would need to score. “Just make sure you’re looking at the bottle you want to land on and make sure your arm is aimed in that direction.”

  I snuck a quick glance in Aaron’s direction and noticed he was now glaring at Lucas. He looked pissed. I had told him that Lucas was a friend, like a brother, but I guess that didn’t matter.

  “Now try it again,” Lucas encouraged.

  This time when I tossed the ring, it was at least close to the bottle. It bounced off of one of the bottle tops.

  “See, you’re getting better.” Lucas had a big grin on his face. He carefully grabbed my wrist again and showed me a little flicking motion. “Right before you release the ring, be sure to flip it liked I just showed you.”

  “Okay,” I said and tried it again. When I tossed the ring, it almost landed on the bottle.

  “So close,” Lucas said. “I know you’ve got this.”

  When I snuck another peek at Aaron, I noticed a little blonde was hanging on his arm. When she caught sight of me looking at the two of them, she leaned up and whispered something in Aaron’s ear. Then Aaron’s eyes locked with mine for a moment. His stare was so intense, I shuddered. I wanted to turn away from him but I couldn’t. The blonde then laughed. As she whispered something else in Aaron’s ear, he continued to stare at me. The scene was completely unsettling. I wanted to turn away but I couldn’t take my eyes off Aaron. Then the blonde went in for the kill. She reached up and kissed Aaron. He closed his eyes and kissed her back. The two of them were practically making out in the booth.

  I gulped. I could feel the rings I had been holding drop from my hands. I felt like everything was happening in slow motion. I could hear Lucas say, “Rainy, are you okay?”

  When the blonde girl extricated herself from Aaron’s lips, the first thing she did was turn toward me and give me an evil little grin. I saw Evan pat Aaron on the shoulder in a that-a-boy motion. The only thing I didn’t see was Aaron looking at me.

  I felt like I was suddenly being crushed by the world around me. The only desire I had was to flee. I took off running as fast as I could.

  “Rainy, wait,” I could hear Lucas yell. I just hoped he wouldn’t follow me.

  I had no choice but to run past The Clubhouse’s lemonade stand. I didn’t know if I was being paranoid or if I heard them laughing at me as I ran by. At that point, I didn’t care. I just kept running. I felt as if I could just run far enough or fast enough, maybe I would disappear. I felt like such a fool. Even if Aaron did have feelings for me (and I now felt that was a big if), they weren’t strong enough for him to stand up to his friends and defend me. Saving face with his friends was obviously more important than any feelings he had for me. He made it seem as though I was nothing but a score he was trying to attain. I was done. I had enough of Aaron and his games. Of course, I still had to see him in class and we still had to work together but I vowed to be as neutral as possible and only talk about our project.

  I didn’t stop running until I was at the front door to my dorm. I was glad to see no one had followed me. If anyone had tried, they probably couldn’t have kept up with me anyway.

  When I got inside my room, I finally felt like I was able to breathe again. I inhaled deeply several times before I completely broke down into uncontrollable sobbing.

  About ten minutes later, I was still crying when Olivia and Lucas stormed into our room.

  “I knew this was going to happen,” Olivia said as she sat down next to me. “Didn’t I tell you if you got emotionally involved with that guy it would be nothing but trouble. And here I am having to deal with your sobbing ass and a mountain of filthy tissues.”

  Olivia’s sheer audacity always made me smile. “Thanks. I needed that.”

  Lucas sat down on the other side of me. “Are you okay?” he asked. He was such a sweet heart. Why couldn’t I fall for him instead of Aaron?

  “Thank you both for being here. I didn’t mean to ruin your fun.”

  “What are friends for?” Olivia shrugged.

  “Where’s Marney?” I asked.

  “She has a Calculus exam tomorrow, so she had to hit the books. With all the cotton candy she ate, she’ll be on a sugar high all night.”

  “That guy is such an asshole,” Lucas muttered.

  “Asshole is too nice for what he is,” Olivia added.

  Olivia and Lucas both stared at me. “Please don’t tell me you still have feelings for the prick.” Olivia seemed incredulous.

  “Okay. I won’t tell you.”

  “You’re absolutely hopeless,” Olivia said. “But if you want to know if he really has feelings for you, you need to give him a taste of his own medicine.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “Flaunt a guy in his face the way he flaunted that blonde in yours.”

  “And where do I get this guy?” I asked.

  Olivia turned and stared at her brother and he went wide-eyed.

  “It’s perfect.” Olivia grinned. “Lucas can pretend that the two of you are going out and you can fawn all over each other for Aaron’s benefit.”

  I looked at Lucas. His face was red with embarrassment. “I couldn’t do that to Lucas.”

  “I don’t mind,” Lucas piped up. “I’d like to do it.”

  “But why?” I asked.

  Lucas picked at some imaginary lint on his shirt. “I guess because having a fake girlfriend, even for a little while, is better than having no girlfriend at all.”

  I felt like crying again but this tim
e because Lucas was breaking my heart. “You’d do that for me?” I asked.

  “I would do anything for you,” Lucas said and he looked at me with such sincerity my heart skipped a few beats.

  “Then let’s plan Operation Fake Boyfriend,” I agreed.

  ***

  I made sure to get to class early the next day for Part One of Operation Fake Boyfriend (OFB). I removed the sunshine sticker that Aaron had given me from my test book and placed it on the table where he normally sat. Then I waited. Every week, when he strolled down the aisle past me, we always made eye contact and he winked at me. This week, things were going to be a little different. I removed a Mary Cassatt biography from my backpack and started reading. From the top of my book, I caught a glimpse of the other students walking in. When I saw Aaron enter, I made sure my nose was completely in my book so there was no chance of even an accidental glace at him on my part. I heard him walk past me and take the seat behind me. Then I heard a loud sigh. I assumed he had seen the sticker I had given back to him. Good, I thought, Part One of the plan was now complete.

  As soon as class ended, I turned to face Aaron, who was getting up from his seat. When he looked at me, his expression was grim.

  “I can’t meet with you today after class,” I said matter-of-factly.

  He looked like I had slapped him. “Why?”

  “I have something else to do,” I said as I turned and headed out the door.

  Lucas was waiting right outside the classroom just as we had planned. Phase Two of OFB was about to begin.

  Lucas nodded when he saw me, which was the signal that Aaron was watching us. Go time. I walked right up the Lucas, threw my arms around him, and gave him a kiss. Lucas played his part well and kissed me back. Even if he said he didn’t have much experience in that department, he was a good kisser. I didn’t feel the same intense feelings as I did when Aaron kissed me but Lucas’s kiss was tender and warm.

  When we parted from the kiss, Lucas grabbed my hand and entwined it with his. He smiled at me and we began walking toward my dorm. I knew Aaron was following us because I could feel his energy getting closer.