Seneca State University - Sophomore Year - The Beginning

Chapter 23. Valentine's Day

Cathy glanced at the TV. She watched the local news in the morning while she got ready for class every day. Apparently, someone's car had blown up on the street and their apartment had caught fire too. She frowned trying to see through the smoke billowing from the burnt car. The news caster said the apartment was close to campus. She shook her head wondering who the poor person was who had such bad luck the day after Valentine's Day. She could relate...she'd broken up with Paul and he'd left a bruise on her cheek as a repayment. She styled her hair, so it covered the sides of her face and put on a cap to hold it down. Good thing it was winter, she didn't know if she could hide a bruise over the summer.

It was now spring semester and a lot had happened since mid-terms. Brent had raised all his grades from C's and D's to B's and A's under her tutelage and she'd once again aced all her tests. They'd celebrated the results by having a party. And then the holidays came, and she could barely keep up with them.

As soon as Halloween had passed, Thanksgiving came next and she ended up spending it with her family and Paul's family. Brent had spent Thanksgiving with his family, but she'd been invited over the next day at their insistence.

And then Christmas had arrived, and Brent had left to go on vacation with his family along with Scott's family to Lake Tahoe for the entire winter break. Cathy ended up spending Christmas with Paul and her mother and of course Kiara. Paul had bought her a gorgeous ring claiming her as his with it. And after Christmas, came New Years.

Brent had returned with his family so he could be with all his friends and loved ones to celebrate New Years. He'd even brought his friend Chris with him. He wanted him to meet Kiara, but unfortunately Kiara was sick at home trying to get over the flu. She was the only one to not make it to the huge New Year's party Brent threw at a rented center.

Cathy felt sorry for her cousin, she would have probably fallen for Chris had she met him in person. Chris Wayne was a very handsome man with tawny curly locks and green eyes. He was as tall as Brent, but not as muscular and bulky as Brent although Chris had his own set of impressive lean muscles. Cathy warmed up to him immediately, the man was simply charming, kind of quiet and shy, and a total sweetheart. Paul saw him as another competition when he saw how well Cathy and Chris was getting along and once again began to stick by her side throughout the party. He even kissed her a second before the final countdown as if he were afraid Brent would grab her and kiss her. Chris returned back to Boston the day after and things went back to normal after the university opened it's campus to the students again.

And then her birthday came up during that month. Her best friend which was Brent wanted to throw her a huge birthday party and so did Paul, her boyfriend. The guys almost got into a physical fight over it on campus. Cathy had to get between them and stop Brent from hitting Paul knowing Paul wouldn't survive it, even if he did stand his ground bravely. She told them she didn't want anyone to throw her a party and just wanted to treat it as a normal day. Of course, her friends weren't hearing that, and Dana ended up throwing her a surprise birthday party at her home which Brent had tricked her into coming to thinking she was going to help Dana bake cupcakes again.

Paul had been livid when he couldn't find Cathy on her birthday and realized she'd been kidnapped by her friends and were throwing her a birthday party he hadn't been invited to. He threatened to break up with her if she didn't leave and spend time with him. Cathy was torn between celebrating with her friends all day or leaving and celebrating with Paul so she spent most of the day with her friends and left to spend the rest of her night with Paul. He'd taken her to a nice restaurant where they brought out a huge cake and sung Happy Birthday to her. She had a nice time with him, but she couldn't help but think about Brent and the disappointment on his face when she'd left.