Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 68500 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68500 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
Nothing, and I do mean nothing, could’ve shocked me more than to walk in and see Felix, my ex-boyfriend, standing there with another woman.
CHAPTER 2
My living room would look better with a Christmas tree in it.
-Val’s secret thoughts
VAL
Then
Introverts don’t make friends. Either one of two things happen.
One, they sit in their little bubble by themselves for their whole life or two, an extrovert adopts them.
That was what Felix was to me. An adoptive extrovert.
On day one of medical school, he’d taken one look at me and had all but swept me under his wing like that was where I’d been all along.
“What’s your name?” He flashed me a grin.
I’d noticed Felix Kent on the first day of school.
He’d sat in the back like all other social people did, gabbing and carrying on until the teacher had called class to order.
By the time it was finished, I’d taken three front and back notebook sheets of notes and had gained a new friend.
Felix, having seen me taking such good notes, had stopped me out in the hall and asked if he could take a photo of my notes.
I’d agreed, and on that went for about a week before this moment right here.
“You don’t know my name, and you’ve been copying my notes for a week?” I asked, outraged.
I knew everyone’s names!
I even knew his middle name. Felix Alexander Kent.
And he had no clue what mine was?
“To be completely honest, I’ve been calling you Poppet in my head, and I keep thinking of you as that. But then I saw Valhalla written on the sign-in sheet, and I wanted to know your first name,” he answered.
Poppet.
I kind of liked that.
“My name is Valhalla,” I answered. “Valhalla Drew Singh.”
He blinked. “Valhalla?”
I nodded. “Valhalla.”
“I… like it.” He flashed me a smirk. “It suits you. All that hair and Viking-esque appearance.”
I got that a lot.
That I resembled the badass woman from the Vikings TV show.
I even had the Nordic blue eyes. The one and only trait I was happy about receiving from my mother.
“Thanks,” I said. “It’s kind of permanent.”
He chuckled as he linked his arm with mine. “Are you going out to eat for lunch?”
I couldn’t afford to bring my lunch, let alone go out and eat. But he didn’t need to know that.
Every freakin’ time I went to school, I saw dollar signs adding up in my debt.
I knew I could put my food onto my charge account that would then be rolled onto what I owed for school loans, but that was another one of those things I didn’t see a point in.
I could deal with Ramen noodles and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for a few years.
“Uh, no,” I answered.
“Come on, you can share with me,” he said, almost as if he could sense that I wouldn’t be eating if I didn’t go with him.
I hesitated for a few more seconds, but he pulled me along, and I followed like the obedient girl that I was.
The obedient girl my father had forced me to be.
One day, I’d break free of that girl he’d made me into. But it wouldn’t be today.
• • •
Lunch ended up being quite the affair.
After he’d ordered enough food for eight people—even though there were only two of us—he started to ask questions.
“Where are you from?” he asked.
I winced. “I’m not from anywhere. I actually was born in a circus and haven’t left it until about eight weeks ago when I moved up here for school.”
His brows went up. “Which circus?”
I told him about Singh Circus, and he gasped.
“I went there like every time they came to town,” he said. “My favorite act was the high wire. Do you do that?”
I snorted. “I’m too heavy to do that. And uncoordinated. My sister Zip does the tightwire. Sometimes Hades. Other times Simi. It really just depends on who’s available that day, who needs a day off, things like that.”
He nodded and the questions continued.
Where do I love visiting? The mountains.
Who is my favorite actor? I don’t have one.
How many siblings do I have? Six.
On and on and on until I was all talked out.
By the time we finished lunch, I had enough food to pack my fridge for a week.
And I did just that, stopping by my apartment—a little hole in the wall above a bar—to put it in the fridge.
He’d accompanied me and didn’t once say a word about my accommodations.
He did check to make sure the door was locked when we left, though.
And I knew he noticed the way the light was out in the hallway.
I studied him as we walked back to school.
Felix was tall. Like, super tall. Way taller than my five-and-a-half-foot height. If I had to guess, I would put him around six-foot-two and two hundred and ten pounds. But that was only because he was the same size as my brother. Though, that was where the resemblance to my brother ended.