Rainbow Central Complete Series (eBook)

Arizona Tape (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2023 | 1. Auflage
1200 Seiten
Vampari Press (Verlag)
978-0-00-042954-4 (ISBN)

Infos

Join the women of Rainbow Central in these six contemporary sapphic romances full of heart, romance, and happy endings. 

The Rainbow Central Complete Series Collection includes: 

- Please Be My Love: When everyone is talking about boys, Jo can't stop thinking about girls. It wouldn't be so bad if she could share her new discovery with her best friend, but how can she tell Ellie that she likes... Ellie?

- Love For The Holidays: With the approaching holidays and Ivy's ever-nosy family about her love life, a misunderstanding about her new roommate, Frances, gives her the perfect idea to avoid the yearly disappointment from her parents. A fake girlfriend.

- When Life Gives You Oranges: There's one thing Lisa loves more than anything and that's fruit. As owner of a small juice business, she attends a yearly food festival to share her passion with the world. But this time, she's not the only fruit fanatic on the block and the competition is about to get fierce. Who knew juice could be so exciting?

- New Lease Of Love: Despite their age difference, Quinn and Olivia work well together trying to breathe a new lease of life into the Rainbow Central bar. But what about a new lease of love?

- Love Is For Later: The thin line between friendship and more blurs when Nix and Harper dance around each other in an LGBT club. It's all fun and games until one of them catches feelings, but that's not what they agreed on... 

- Project Crush: When film maker Erin starts her latest project about people confessing their crushes, the last thing she expects is to end up with one of her own.

Textauszug

Chapter Two

Anyone that claimed they weren’t nervous on their first day of college was either a liar, a psychopath, or a composed, confident person. Not like the nervous mess I was.

I stared at the map of my campus, trying to match the drawings to the buildings around me. If the architect block was on the left, the filmmakers should be on the right, and the painter’s studio should be straight on except straight on was a church-like building. Left also didn’t seem like the architect block either, not judging from the food smells coming out of it.

Why couldn’t I figure this out? I’d been reading maps my entire life, but this one just didn’t make any sense. I had to figure it out or otherwise, I’d have to degrade myself by doing the second worst thing in the world. Asking someone for directions.

And not just someone, another student.

Just the thought sent shivers down my spine. Asking for directions and admitting I was lost was so uncool. Something I previously didn’t need to worry about too much but now that I was a college student, it was all that mattered. Dramatic, but true. My first day on campus would decide who would become my friends, where I’d sit for lunch, what parties I’d attend, even what grades I’d achieve. Looking like a lost loser would severely hurt my chances of getting in with the popular crowd. Then again, being late and missing out on the early bonding would also hurt my chances.

I knew I shouldn’t have skipped orientation. I’d blame my best friend for this later.

With a last glance at the undecipherable map, I scanned the sea of students for someone approachable.

I passed on the group of loud guys and the clique of giggling girls. Instead, my eye was drawn to a girl my age in casual clothes and dark hair twisted up in a bun. She was carrying a large art folder and had a smear of blue paint on her cheek.

“Hey. Can I ask a question?” I shouted from afar, wanting to check she was approachable before I invaded her personal space.

She looked up from her phone and nodded. “Yeah? What’s up?”

To make myself seem less desperate, I folded up the map and shoved it in my pocket. “Do you know where the painter's studio is?”

“Yeah, I’m heading over there. This way,” she replied.

Ah, both good and bad luck. I wouldn’t have to arrive alone at the class but now one of my classmates knew I was terrible at navigation.

“Thank you.” I shot her a polite smile. “I’m Jo. Joanna. But everyone calls me Jo.”

The girl smiled back. “Reggie.”

“That’s a cool name.”

“Thanks. You new?”

“Yeah, I’m just starting the painters course. You?”

“Sweet, me too. What class are you in?”

“Ummm, 1B. I think that’s Professor Whiteman’s class.”

Reggie chuckled. “Nice, we’re in the same class then. I’m excited, I heard Whiteman is fan-tas-tic. Here, to the right. This is a shortcut in between the cafeteria and the film studio.”

“Nice.”

A set of stairs and a long hallway with more students with art folders later, I arrived at the studio. The sharp smell of turpentine, drying paint, and wood greeted me at the entrance. Without looking inside, I knew I was in the right place.

I followed Reggie into the room, surprised by how nice and beautiful it was. Large glass windows brought in a lot of natural light and two sets of big tables divided the studio into two, leaving room in the middle for easels and a small platform. Some students were already occupying the tables but there was still ample space for Reggie and me.

“Shall we sit over there?” she suggested, gesturing to a table near the supply shelves.

“Yeah, sounds good,” I replied, glad I wouldn’t have to sit alone. While it was normal that nobody knew each other yet, it felt reassuring to have already made somewhat of a connection.

We chatted for a little bit until a slightly heavier woman with curls entered the studio. She put down her satchel on the teacher’s desk and called for everyone’s attention.

It only took a moment for the room to quiet down so the professor could talk. A big difference from back in high school where teachers were hated and treated like the enemy. I supposed everyone wanted to be here.

“Welcome to your first class of the year. I’m Matilda Whiteman, this is not high school so don’t bother with all the formalities. You can just call me Matilda. I’ll be teaching the Creative Art module this year. This is the art studio where you’ll be doing most of your work. As you can see, it’s connected to two other studios, which is where the second and third years are. We encourage everyone to mingle and learn from your seniors. Collaborations are one of the most valuable things you can learn here.” She paced up and down the glass wall with a smile on her face. “I asked you to bring some of your previous artwork with you but I’d like to look at that later. I want to start from a clean slate so we’ll dive right in. Make me something that shows me what you’re all about. You’re free to choose any topic or subject you want, but to make it more interesting, I want you to incorporate the theme of ‘opposites’. The shelves and cupboards over here are full with all kinds of materials, you’re free to use them as you want.”

A guy close to her raised his hand. “What do you mean with opposites?”

“Opposites can mean anything you want it to mean. Opposing textures, ideologies, materials, concepts. As long as it tells a story and tells me something about you. Any more questions? No, then let’s get to work.”

The other students around me jolted in action and not wanting to be behind, I joined them to gather materials. As I stood in front of the storage space, some of my nerves were off and made way for excitement. Rummaging through the shelves for paint and paper and pens was like hunting for treasure. There were so many different types of… everything. Pencils, brushes, tapes, anything I could think of. There was so much, it was hard to make a choice on what to take.

Did I want to grab some materials that I knew how to work with or did I want to experiment? Which one represented me the most?

Experiment.

I brought my own pencils and brushes from home, so I grabbed what looked like tubes of oil paint. I’d never had the budget at home to do a lot of oil painting so this would be a lot of fun. Once I figured out what to make.

Back at my table, I twirled my pencil over my empty paper while I glanced at my neighbours. The other students and Reggie had gone straight to it and were already drawing lines or setting up their canvases. Looked like I was the only one that wasn’t sure what to make.

Just when I was about to start, my phone rang and I quickly picked up, smiling when I saw Ellie’ name appear on the screen.

“Hey! What’s up?”

Ellie’s voice came through the speaker. She sounded cheery as usual. “Hi! Just calling to check if you’re still free to meet later?”

“Of course.” I checked my watch. “This is my last class so I should be done by five.”

“Sweet. There’s this place called the Tipsy Hedgehog near your campus that’s supposed to be a great place. ”

“Sounds good. Send me the address and I’ll text you when I’m leaving campus.”

“Okay, see you soon. Byeeee.”

The line clicked as the call ended and as I put my phone back in my pocket, I looked up to find Reggie grinning at me.

She gestured to my phone with a knowing look and waggled her eyebrows. “Your girlfriend?”

I chuckled. “No, that was my best friend.”

“Ah. My mistake,” she replied, returning to her sketch.

I watched her draw for a second, not able to hold my curiosity back.

“What made you think that was my girlfriend?”

Reggie shrugged. “I don’t know, it sounded like that.”

“Gay?”

She shook her head. “Intimate. Hey, I didn’t mean to offend. I just assumed you were a lesbian but if you’re not—”

I laughed. “Don’t worry, I’m not offended. Ellie and I have been best friends for years.”

“I see. That’s cute. I lost my best friend when I came out to her.”

“Came out? So you’re…” I paused, not sure if this was appropriate to ask. Then again, she did just ask me. “Gay?”

“Yup. One hundred percent,” Reggie confirmed proudly. She finished the rest of her sketch and held it up for me, showing off the strong lines on the boar she drew. “What do you think?”

“Looks amazing,” I said, trying to make sure I remained tactful. “If you don’t mind, when did you figure out you were… into women?”

“I had a crush on my babysitter when I was seven. She was really beautiful and I was always really happy when she came over.” Reggie put her drawing down and hummed. “I don’t like the tusks. I’m changing them.”

“I like the look of them. You’ve got really nice lines.”

“You think?” She held up the sketch and...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 6.1.2023
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Romane / Erzählungen
• ISBN-10: 0-00-042954-6 / 0000429546
• ISBN-13: 978-0-00-042954-4 / 9780000429544