Golden: An Exclusive Excerpt

Read the first chapter of Golden, a new novel by Danielle C. James, here!

“Oh my God, Melanie. You are so brave. Even I don’t have the confidence to wear a crop top,” the skinny blonde slurred. I looked around, hoping there was someone actually named Melanie who also happened to be wearing a crop top near me, but, to my dismay, I was the only one by the keg.

“You are rocking it!” she yelled, lukewarm beer from her flimsy red cup sloshing onto both of our shoes. I jumped back and sighed as she wandered off to a group of girls dressed identically in high-waisted skirts and black body suits.

I stared down at the two inches of pillowy white skin that peered out over the waistband on my black leggings. The thrifted band tee I was wearing wasn’t meant to be cropped, but my well-endowed chest always ate an extra two inches of fabric of everything I put on, so I learned to roll with it.

“Well, then give me the damn Medal of Valor,” I muttered to myself as I tossed the rest of my beer into the grass.

“Are you talkin’ to yourself again?” My best friend and roommate Becca appeared at my side, her sheet of raven-black hair draped over one shoulder.

“Guilty, unfortunately.”

“Melody Eileen Hopper,” she scolded, her thick Alabama accent falling out of her mouth like hot lava. “Do I need to commit you?”

“Please, no, I can’t go back,” I teased, gently tugging down on the hem of my t-shirt.

“What was so important that Harper Phoenix just had to talk to you?” Becca asked.

“She was dying to tell me how brave I was for wearing a crop top and how even she in all her one hundred and ten pound glory couldn’t fathom wearing something so revealing.”

“She did not call you brave.”

“Unfortunately, she did. Whatever. I like it. I wore it for a reason,” I said, placing my fists on my hips indignantly.

“Hell yeah,” Becca said, filling her cup to the brim from the tap on the keg.

“I do not understand how you can stomach that,” I said, desperately wishing for a forty ounce bottle of ice cold water.

“It gives a decent buzz after a while,” she said, knocking back half the cup in one gulp. Becca was five whole feet tall, an ex-dancer with toned legs and excellent posture. The epitome of grace and poise. And the girl could outdrink half of the frat boys surrounding us at this house party.

I winced as she gulped down the rest of the cup.

“Don’t look at me like that,” she laughed as she refilled the cup. “I’m sure they have something more appealing to your palette inside.” She lifted a pinky and made a hoity-toity face, erupting into a fit of laughter.

“Nope, I’m done for the day. I have my last Ireland meeting tomorrow.”

“Oh, that’s right,” she said, blinking rapidly. She looked over her shoulder again.

“Are you being hunted or something? That’s like the fifth time you’ve looked around this place.”

“No, I’m just trying to avoid Calvin.”

Calvin was her latest conquest, an average-looking Pacific Northwest coffee snob with an atrocious mustache, who happened to be affiliated to the frat that occupied the house we were partying in. According to Becca, he was a good kisser, but rather selfish in bed.

“I thought that was going well?” I asked.

“Well, I’ve faked it the last three times.”

“Oh yikes. I thought you sounded a little too enthusiastic last time.”

She threw a pointed look at me.

“We have very thin walls, Rebecca, and my noise-cancelling headphones are on the fritz.”

“Oh my God, you did not just ‘Rebecca’ me,” she said, burying her face in her hands.

“It was necessary,” I retorted.

She rolled her eyes and glanced over her shoulder again.

“If you haven’t seen him yet, then chances are he’s not here, Bex.”

“I know, but-”

“You want him to be,” I finished for her.

Her face lit up in flames and she chugged down another cup from the keg. Becca didn’t like sleeping alone. Calvin may have been selfish in bed, but at least she would have someone to share the bed with.

A series of loud cheers erupted from the other side of the yard. I turned around to see a long, lean Jake Perry being hoisted into the air upside down above another keg. His frat brothers were cheering and pumping their fists into the air. His thin white t-shirt sunk with gravity, revealing an incredibly tan and toned torso. I tried to avert my gaze, but I was only human.

I had known of Jake for a while, but we had never exchanged more than a quick smile. There was the occasional late night in the library when my mind would drift away and imagine what it would be like to know him or to run my hands across that toned trunk, but I was always brought down to earth when I remembered that we lived in completely separate worlds. Worlds where hot people dated other hot people and fat girls didn’t get to share the bed of an adonis.

“Damn,” Becca whispered.

I heard a few whistles from behind me and turned to see Harper and her friends cheering him on from afar. Shaking my head, I turned back to Becca and said, “I think that’s my cue to leave. I’ll see you at home. Go find Calvin.”

“Don’t go so soon!” she pleaded, her grip on my hand becoming increasingly slick with sweat.

“Bex, I just want to go to bed. Go find Calvin! It’ll end your night on a high note,” I winked.

She glared at me and said goodnight before sauntering off towards the house.

…

The next morning, I climbed the stairs to the second floor of the student center to a small conference room where I would have my final information session for my summer study abroad program. I peaked my head in the room to find Avery, the woman from the study abroad office who had been a thorn in my side for the last semester. I was a flight risk for the study abroad department and she never let me forget it throughout my entire application process. I cleared my throat as I made my way to one of the ten chairs that circled the grand oak table.

She turned around, a stack of paperwork in her hand. Avery normally looked terribly put together, with perfect glossy hair and bright eyes. Today, she looked a little frizzy and dull. I tried not to smirk.

“Oh, um, hi Melody. Sit anywhere,” she said with a half-hearted wave of her hand.

I smiled curtly and pulled a rolling chair out just enough for me to slide in. The silence in the room was palpable as she continued on her work with the pamphlets and the paperwork. Five minutes later, she pulled out two canvas totes, each emblazoned with the Trinity College logo, and laid one in front of me and the other down directly across from where I was sitting.

“There’s only one other student going?” I said, my voice hanging heavy between us.

“Yes, from Baxter Hall. I believe you’ll have a total of fifteen students from other schools when you get there.”

I nodded again, twiddling my thumbs beneath the surface of the table. Moments later, just as the clock struck ten, our third friend joined us in the conference room.

“Why hello there!” she said in a sing-song voice.

I didn’t look up at first, but Avery’s attitude changed so drastically from when I first arrived, I couldn’t keep my head down. My breath caught in my throat. Sitting across from me was the adonis himself. The keg stand extraordinaire. The only person I would know across the pond for the summer… Was Jake Perry.

He nodded at Avery and smiled at me, staring intently across the conference table. His green eyes had a cat-like fierceness that burned through to my soul. I ignored the shudder that traveled down my entire body when the corner of his mouth turned up in the faintest trace of a smile. His dirty blonde waves cascaded over his head in six different directions, every piece looking like it was exactly where it was meant to be.

I smiled weakly, trying to draw his attention back to Avery at the front of the conference room. He extended a strong, tanned hand across the table and spoke in a smooth baritone.

“I’m Jake. I don’t think we’ve had the pleasure of formally meeting,” he said, his voice hanging heavily on the word “pleasure.”

“I, um, I’m Melody,” I said, accepting his hand, which felt comfortably callused against my own clammy palm.

Avery cleared her throat aggressively, breaking the eye contact we maintained for an uncomfortably long time while our hands were joined. I pulled my hand back under the table, wiping my palm against my pant leg.

“Right, so as you know…” Avery’s pinched voice faded into background noise for the rest of the meeting. She walked through every piece of paper in the folders she’d given us with vivid detail. I couldn’t think of anything but Jake’s hand.

“...and there’s a super cute passport holder in there, too!” Avery said with a cheerful clap. I shook myself back into the room. Jake was digging through his tote bag and I followed suit. Sure enough, there was a tacky plastic passport holder, a Trinity College stainless steel water bottle, an assortment of pens and cheap writing pads, and a folder filled with the various pamphlets and paperwork Avery had gone over.

“Alrighty, you two are all set. Get ready for the best summer of your lives!” she said, with so much exuberance I thought she might burst. She busied herself with cleaning up her pamphlets while Jake and I pushed ourselves away from the table.

Once we were out in the hallway, I tried to speed up my steps to put as much distance between myself and the Greek god as I could, but his six foot two frame caught up to me in seconds.

“So Melody, what department will you be in?” he drawled.

He was inches away from me as we walked down the stairs together. I could feel a gentle warmth radiating off of him. I wanted to feel that golden glow all over my body. Snap out of it, Hopper, I scolded myself as I nearly missed a step.

“Department of Education,” I choked out. Each student was assigned to intern in a department of the US embassy in Dublin. That twenty hour a week commitment, coupled with the one international relations class we had to take at Trinity, comprised our responsibilities for the summer. Beyond that, we were free to get into whatever trouble we wanted to in Ireland.

“Nice! Me too.” I didn’t know Jake Perry at all, but his excitement seemed genuine and a little out of character for him.

He winked at me, turning my knees to Jell-O.

“Well, I’m off to class,” he said, nodding behind him to the business building. “I guess I’ll see ya over in Dublin,” he said in a meager attempt at an Irish accent.

My face flushed red hot as I called after him, “Safe travels!”