Another year, another school, another country even, none of these were new concepts to the brunette girl walking through the school grounds. With her head buried in the school brochure she only noticed the girl hurtling after a soccer ball towards her in time to catch the girl and prevent them both from falling to the floor, she did notice though, the smell of strawberries coming from the girl's hair and the way the firm athletic body fit perfectly against her own.
"Whoa, sorry about that," the girl said as she took a step back.
"No problem." The brunette said, noticing the way the other girl's entire demeanour seemed to change right in front of her, her musings were interrupted by a boy who had run over from the other side of the quad apologising for kicking the ball in her direction. "I'm Derek by the way," he said flirting with the beautiful dark haired girl he was sure he had never seen around the school before.
Tearing her eyes away from the intriguing blonde girl she had collided with, she turned towards Derek "I'm Emily, don't worry about it." She smirked teasingly at the boy obviously flirting with her.
Handing back the papers Emily had dropped during the collision the girl began to tap the ball between her feet and move back towards the quad with Derek trailing after her, "Nice save by the way," the girl shot over her shoulder.
Emily continued on her way towards the dorm with the girl's scent and eyes seared into her brain. As she walked into her new room she noticed that her new roommate had obviously already arrived since one of the beds had had an array of colourful bags and computer equipment covering it, Emily hoped that she and the unknown girl would find something in common, since she seemed to be interested in IT whereas Emily was quite athletic. Emily dropped the papers she had been given on arrival as well as the small bag she was carrying onto the bed before heading back to her car for the rest of her stuff.
Walking past the quad she noticed the Derek and the girl still kicking the ball between themselves, however on her way back the girl had disappeared and Derek was headed toward the boys dorms, until he noticed her laden with bags he turned to help.
"So why are you on your own, normally the kid's here are surrounded by weeping mothers and father's exerting their dominance." Derek asked as they continued walking
"I could ask you the same thing," Emily jibed at the boy. "But really they're pretty busy; it's usually easier if I do this stuff myself without bothering them anyway."
"Good point, but I got dropped off pretty early since we live in Chicago and my mom left my sister's with my aunt for the night to bring me and it's a long drive so I told her to go." Derek shrugged and they carried on walking. "You got any siblings?" he asked after a moment.
"Uh, no it's just me. You play any sports besides kicking balls at strangers?" Emily asked nudging Derek's shoulder and hoping to change the subject.
At this Derek grinned, "Hell yeah, this fine man is the captain of the football team and part of the karate team here." Emily laughed as Derek puffed up his chest, clearly proud of himself. "What about you? Theatre geek? Debating? Maybe the chess team?" Derek grinned cheekily.
"Ha-ha, you're zero for three football star. Try fencing, the swim team and even show choir on occasion."
"Fencing, really? That, I would have never guessed."
"Yeah, I've been doing since I was about 10, it's quite fun actually if you have a good opponent." Emily said, defending her choices as if expecting to be ridiculed.
"That's cool, it's just an unusual sport I've never actually met anyone who does it." Derek was quick to explain.
"Oh. Ok well the school actually has a decent team, you should come watch one day if I make the team." Emily suggested, a hint of insecurity finding its way into her voice.
"Yeah OK, how about I come to one of your fencing...uh matches? Sorry I'm not sure what they're called and you come to one of my games." Derek offered.
"Cool," as Emily turned to walk into her room Derek stopped at the door.
"Why are you standing outside?" Emily asked, her features displaying her confusion as she turned and noticed him stopped in the doorway.
"I've got four sisters," he said,"I learnt a long time ago to never walk into a girl's room uninvited."
"Oh right, well you can come in and just drop that stuff on the floor, thanks again by the way." Emily began rummaging through her things but looked up flabbergasted when a blonde girl, very different from the one she'd seen earlier materialised into the room wearing more colours in one outfit then Emily imagined she had in an entire wardrobe.
"My chocolate god... What are you doing looking all fine in my room?" The new girl exclaimed before she noticed Emily frozen next to her bed. Running across the room she wrapped the brunette in her arms squealing "Ooh... you must be Emily, I've been waiting for you to appear, and I'm your roommate, Garcia."
"Uh, hi... Yeah I'm Emily although I'm not sure how you already knew that. It's uh... nice to meet you Garcia."
At this Derek began to chuckle, turning toward Emily he said "She's not as scary as she seems, just... enthusiastic, and she knows everything. And to answer you baby girl, I was helping out our new friend here, you know chivalry will never die while I'm around." he winked at her.
Emily watched the exchange between the two, as they continued to flirt and tease each other. Emily's mind drifted back to the other girl she had seen with Derek earlier, to the way her eyes seemed to blaze a hole through her and wondered where she had gone after she left the quad earlier.