The Homecoming Benefactor

3 | the date

When I woke up the next morning, I noticed there was another letter that had been slid under my door. I immediately tore into it and started reading.

Francie,

I'm sorry for the way things went last night. I know what happened is probably giving you anxiety, and that's not what I meant to happen. I hope I can make it up to you.

Check the handle on the door to your dorm room. In the plastic bag, there's an air pump that will help you fill the balloons for your float. I'm excited to see it in the parade!

From,
Your Secret Admirer

Apologizing for what happened last night? That had to be Bryce! I never did figure out why he left, but I'm sure it was important if he didn't even come in to say goodbye.

I put the letter in my desk drawer with the first one and started getting dressed. After my sociology and English classes, I was going to Walmart to pick up some sidewalk chalk and some stencils for the first night of homecoming. My homecoming committee, which I had just appointed, was going with me. I told them to meet me at the Eta Pi house when my classes got out.

Today was abnormally cold, so I threw on an Eta Pi hoodie and some fleece leggings. I wanted to put my hair in a bun, but it always looked wrong that way, so I settled with a pony tail. My curly hair made anything more complicated than that impossible. Before heading out the door, I put some tinted BB cream and mascara on. My cheeks get really red in the cold, and I didn't want anyone seeing that.

I put on my Uggs and trekked outside of Hayes Hall to the social sciences building. The cold wind stung my face like a swarm of wasps, and it became clear my hoodie wasn't enough. It was a crisp 31°, which was brutal for October in South Carolina, and I still had 20 minutes to go. I decided to stop by Nick and Devi's dorm to see if they had anything to spare, like hand warmers or a scarf.

Truss Hall, one of the male freshman dorms, was a frightening place. They had roaches crawling from the sink drains and mushrooms growing in the halls. The smell of mildew permeated my nose as I walked through the hall, almost enough to make me nauseous. Devi and Nick knew I was desperate to have to set foot in there. I knocked on the door, stepping on a centipede that had crawled across my boot.

Devi opened the door and said, "welcome to our humble abode."

You could very clearly tell which side belonged to which person. Devi's side was decorated in Braves memorabilia; he was a huge fan and had season tickets. Nick's side of the room looked like a Bass Pro Shop. A large taxidermy deer head stared at me from above Nick's bed, which probably wasn't even allowed by the housing department.

Nick was in his bean bag chair, snacking on some Halloween Oreos. "What brings you to the trenches?"

"I'm freezing my tail off out there," I replied. "I was wondering if y'all maybe had a scarf or some hand warmers."

Nick smiled and stood up, headed for his closet. "Girl, I have just the get-up for you."

I looked at Devi, and he shrugged, letting me know that he was not in on this. Nick dug through his closet like he was a high school girl in a Disney movie trying to decide what to wear to winter formal. He turned around with a huge camouflage jacket, leg warmers, and ear muffs. I figured this must be some kind of joke.

"You sure you don't just have hand warmers?" If Bryce saw me in that get up, he would definitely write me off.

"Nah, you said you were cold," Nick chuckled, sliding the jacket over my arms. "This'll do the trick."

Wearing the hunting jacket over my hoodie made me feel like Randy from A Christmas Story. "I hate you," I scoffed, adjusting the leg warmers. I waddled in circles around the room to dramatize how I felt.