She laughed. “Oh, shit. That’s some serious bull right there.”
“Right!? It is. Not to mention, he’s a jerk-off. Always picking on me. Calling me names. And every time he sits beside me, he makes me think of Max. Which starts me down this daydream spiral that I practically have every class. I don’t know what to do. I can’t even think clearly right now, Hannah.”
She took my hands. “Look, Dani. All you have is a harmless crush. Every college girl gets them. Every girl, at least once in her life, has a major crush on some guy that doesn’t suit her life. Or fit her parents. Or doesn’t fall in line with what she wants in life. It’s a rite of passage.”
“How do I get it to go away, though? I can’t do my entire semester this distracted. I’ll fail.”
“I know you, Dani. You won’t fail. You might get some Cs, but you certainly won’t fail.”
“That’s practically failing in my world.”
She sighed. “Then you need to come out with me and make some real friends.”
I rolled my eyes. “Please don’t turn this into a way to get me to go to this party tonight.”
She pulled me up from my chair. “You can either listen to me or not. But I’m telling you, once you surround yourself with good people it’ll be harder for asshole bullies to get to you. That’s what’s happening right now. The two of them sound like bullies and they’re getting under your skin.”
“Then, aren’t I supposed to hate them or something?”
“What you’ll realize is that there’s a very fine line between hate and love. Boys like those dickheads get off on getting reactions out of you. If you stop reacting, they’ll stop teasing.”
“In my experience, that just makes the teasing worse.”
“For a while, sure. Until they get fed up. Take away the stimuli, and they’ll eventually seek it elsewhere.”
I paused. “Nice to see you’re paying attention in your own classes.”
She scoffed. “It’s not like I failed any of my classes. I just know when to buckle down and when to have a good time.”
“You’re going to drag me to this party, aren’t you?”
“You better believe it.”
I groaned. “But crowds of people make me feel so--”
She tugged me closer to her. “I know you’re shy. I know you get anxious in crowds sometimes. But I’ll be there. Being shy isn’t going to serve you well anymore. Not here. Not in college. You need to be making connections. You need to be making friends. If you can’t make connections here, then you won’t be able to make professional connections out there. In the world. Once we graduate. Got it?”
I nodded. “You do make a decent point.”
“I know I do. Now, I can introduce you to some nice people tonight. People who, if you give them the chance, will have your back after some time. How does that sound?”
“Sounds easier said than done.”
“But does it sound like something you want?”
I sighed. “Yeah. It--it would be nice to have other people I could count on other than you.”
She smiled. “Good. Wonderful. Okay. We’re going to get you out of these pajamas and into something more party appropriate.”
I rolled my eyes. “Nothing tight, okay? I really didn’t like that white shirt.”
“Then don’t own any shirts like that. Throw it out. All of these things I’m dressing you up in are from your wardrobe. Take it or leave it.”
“Fine, fine. Okay.”
“Dani, I’ll be by your side the entire night. Just trust me, okay?”
I sighed heavily before I pulled my hands out from the grip of hers.