Chapter Eight: Hunting Quest:

Wallace waited patiently through the orientation. He had to see if that was Julia in the crowd. But what would he say to her? That part he did not know. He just had to see her face again. How long had it been? Wallace rubbed his forehead. High school felt so far away now.

“You okay, man?” he heard next to him. Wallace turned his head. Rocky looked at him with his head tilted.

“Oh, yeah, yeah,” the country boy said. “I was thinking about something else.” Rocky didn’t say anything. Wallace searched the crowd again. First, he had to focus on finding Julia before doing anything else. Work with the rest of the plan later. Man, this orientation was going on so long. When was it going to end?

----------

Everyone filed out of the gym. Wallace resumed his search. He was able to ditch Rocky long enough to do what he needed to do. How many dark-haired girls went to this school? Good thing that he could still remember her face. He spotted a few girls that matched his crush from the back. Only, they would turn around and not be her.

“Excuse me,” Wallace would say as he reached out to tap the girl on the shoulder. She would turn around and it wouldn’t be his Julia.

“Oh,” he would say. “I’m sorry. I thought you were someone else.” The girls would look at him funny and walked away. Wallace gave them an awkward wave.

“What are you doing?” he heard behind him. Wallace jumped as he turned around. A girl about his age stood inches away from him. She gave him an odd look behind her light brown-framed glasses. Wallace laughed nervously.

“Oh, I’m looking for somebody,” he said. “An old friend really.”

“Uh-huh…” she said. “You are aware that this is a big school, right?”

“Of course!” Wallace said.

“Aw, lay off him, Clarissa!” another voice said. We looked up so see a black guy with a green and yellow hoodie walking towards us. His jeans looked like they had paint spilled on them. His sneakers had a 1984 look to them.

“Yo,” he said. Clarissa turned to him.

“He was acting creepy with the girls here,” she said. Wallace had a panicked look on his face.

“I was just looking for an old friend!” he said. “I’m not a creep!” The black guy laughed.

“Oh, don’t mind her,” he said. “Clarissa is a radical feminist.” Clarissa tossed back her long messy brown hair.

“That’s words straight from the scared man,” she said.

“You wish,” the black guy said. He turned his attention back to Wallace.

“Name’s Petey,” he said. “You are?”

“Wallace,” the country boy said. Petey walked up and shook his hand. Wallace shook back, looking confused.

“Wallace, there you are!” he heard behind him. The country boy froze. Rocky jogged over to him.

“Where did you go, man?” he asked, smacking Wallace on the back.

“Ow,” the country boy whispered. Rocky looked up to see Petey and Clarissa.

“Sup?” he said. Petey just gave him a nod. Wallace looked between them. When he was supposed to be looking for Julia, he ended up attracting weird people instead. Wallace rubbed his forehead. If this kept up, he wouldn’t be able to find Julia by the time graduation came around. The country boy started rubbing his forehead and groaning to himself.

“Say, who is the friend you were looking for?” he heard Petey ask. Wallace turned around.

“Huh?” he asked. Petey pulled out his phone.

“I am pretty connected with this campus,” he said. “I could help you find your friend. What’s their name?” Petey tapped the screen and brought up the address book.

“You can do that?” Wallace asked.

“Uh-huh,” the black guy said. “What’s your friend’s name?” Wallace had a determined look on his face.

“Julia Thatcher,” he said.