Breathless Read Online Free PDF Page B

affiliation—grinning to herself as she turned away.
    As I wandered around, trying to find a sign, a
guidepost, anything, and asking people if they knew where the building was, I
realized I was completely and totally lost. A bunch of the people I asked were
Freshmen like me, and had no clue that there even was a Marchman building; some of the just didn’t answer, one or two at least had enough
politeness to say that they were in a rush to get to their class and couldn’t
stop to help me. I was starting to lose any hope and felt humiliated by the
fact that I couldn’t even make it to my first class of the day.
    “Becky!” I wheeled around at the sound of my name on a
slightly familiar voice, my heart pounding. I almost gasped as I saw the
source: Johnny was walking towards me, a smile on his face. Blood rushed into my
cheeks and I bit my bottom lip, taking a deep breath. Nothing could have
completed my humiliation more elegantly than for Johnny to see me being
completely and totally useless. “You look like you’re about to cry,” he said,
frowning slightly as he came closer to me.
    “Just—a little frazzled,” I said, trying to smile and
brush the look off of my face. “I’m so useless; I can’t even find my first
class.” Johnny grinned.
    “That’s nothing to cry about,” he said. He leaned in
closer to me and I saw his bright eyes sparkling. “Seriously, everyone who’s
ever been here has had a class they couldn’t find—hell, last year I spent most
of the first session of my Chem class trying to find
it. They’d moved it around three times before the semester even started.” He
pulled me to the side slightly, to let some of the other students pass. “So
what class are you going to?” I took a deep breath.
    “It’s— it’s American
Literature to 1890, in the Marchman building.
MC1012.” Johnny’s eyes widened slightly and he looked around us.
    “I hate to break it to you, Becky, but you are totally
in the wrong place.” I sighed, closing my eyes.
    “Great.” Johnny patted me on the shoulder, giving my
hair a playful tweak.
    “The good news is that I happen to know exactly where
that room is.” I looked up, hopeful. “Before you even ask: yes, I’ll take you
there.” I saw that he had a book bag slung over his shoulder.
    “But you have class, don’t you? You could just tell me
how to get there…” I couldn’t say that I wouldn’t love to have Johnny walk me
to class, but I would have felt guilty if he got in trouble to do it. Johnny
shrugged.
    “The prof won’t mind,” he told me. “Now come on—let’s
get you to your class before you’re late. If you’ve got Barrett, you want to
get off to a good start with her, and being late is something she hates.” He
put an arm over my shoulder and steered me into the thick of the students
moving along the walkway, pushing his way through a harried group and starting
off in the direction of the building in question. I felt relief flooding me. I
wasn’t going to be late; I was going to be just on time. Johnny was so sweet to
help me out.
    As we walked, he joked with me, pointing out different
people he recognized in the crowd of students coming and going and murmuring
little comments about them. Such and such a person had gotten a reputation by
getting plastered the first week of classes and throwing up in one of the
introductory classes that all of the freshmen had to take, another person had
jumped up on one of the tables in the dining hall and proclaimed his love for
the girl he ended up dating seriously—little details that started to put me at
ease, all while we made our way over to the building where my class was going
to be. “And here is the Marchman building! Hall of
horrors.” He shuddered and grinned.
    “Hey, I like English!” I countered. “It’s what I’m
majoring in, after all. I love books—I guess that makes me a nerd, but it’s
true.” Johnny laughed.
    “If you’re a nerd, you’re at least a cute