"My name's Helena, and everybody likes me."

That sentence kept playing in Myka's head. What kind of person actually says something like that? Of course, Myka did seem to be the only person not in on the joke. But seriously, what IS that?

It had been the first meeting of the 19th Century Literature Book Club that her new friend, Steve, had absolutely had to drag her to. It's not that she didn't like 19th Century Literature, she had almost chosen to major in Classics, but still, she couldn't believe she was actually sitting in a club meeting at all. There had been such an overwhelming number of tables set up at the Involvement Fair, that she had decided to, well, not get involved. But Steve was already pretty good at convincing her to do things.

Steve lived in her hall and they had met as soon as Myka arrived at her dorm on the campus of Case Western Reserve. She and her parents had driven cross-country to get there, and by the time she stepped out of the van, it was obvious to anyone watching, well, at least to Steve, that she needed help. Nothing like days of driving in a van full of guilt and familial obligation to remind Myka why she had chosen a school so far away from home.

Steve approached the van, locking eyes with Myka, and stuck out his hand.

"Hi. I'm Steve... Do you want some help?"

Something about his calm demeanor and honest eyes put Myka at ease and she shook his hand and just barely nodded her head, affirming that, yes, she definitely wanted some help. Warren Bering slammed the driver door shut, muttering to himself about gas prices and schools in Colorado as he walked around to join his daughter.

"Great. And…" A pause. Room for Myka to speak, but she had no idea what he was looking for her to say, so she stared at him, mouth agape. "…What's your name?"

Mortified. "Oh. Oh gosh, I'm sorry, yeah, hi, I'm Myka. Myka Bering." She stuck out her hand again, even though they had already shaken hands once and, as she realized that, and pulled it back, he went to reciprocate. Double mortified. He finally caught her hand again and she stopped moving.

"Myka. It's nice to meet you." He smiled genuinely as he clasped her hand in both of his.

Something about Steve made him feel like a kindred spirit to Myka. But she wasn't sure what it was, so she gave him a tentative grin and let it pass.

"Hey, HEY, heeey! JINKSY!" A brash young man carrying a football approached the small clump. He reminded Myka of a dog she had had when she was younger, all energy and playfulness. He was wearing a wrestling t-shirt, athletic shorts, and sneakers. He catapulted himself at Steve. "Some of the guys and I are gonna get our touch-football on, you wanna come?" He posed as the Heisman trophy and tried to hold it as he waited for Steve's reply, smiling up at him.

Steve looked at Myka peripherally. She tried to hide her disappointment, looking down and crossing her arms. Generally, if someone was asked to hang out with the popular jock or her, popular jock won out. She didn't mind, that was life. Just as she began to tell him that it was alright and he should go play, Steve cut her off.

"No thanks Pete, but hey, this is Myka. She's moving in today and… wait, where do you live?"

"Oh…" Myka pulled a file folder marked "Housing" out of her backpack from the car. "I'm supposed to be moving into Hitchcock House, Room 214."

"No way! We're room 210! Dorm buddies!" Pete had a huge grin across his face and started bouncing on the balls of his feet. Warren obviously hadn't realized that Myka would be living in a co-ed space and began to look agitated, both at the situation and at Pete's excitement, but before he could tear into Myka, Pete pushes between the two of them, "Go get your key, let's get your stuff inside!"

"Pete… Your game?" Steve grinned toward Myka and winked.

"Nah, man. Myka's our new dorm buddy. Dorm buddies trump football buddies." Jumping out of the van with boxes under his arm, Pete raised his left fist in triumph, "To the second floor!"

By the time all of Myka's boxes and bags had been carried upstairs, she was feeling a lot less anxious about her decision to come here. Pete and Steve had told her all about themselves. Well, Pete had told her all about both of them while Steve listened and added a few things here or there. They each had one sister, just like Myka, and were both majoring in political science. They had met when Steve was visiting Case as a senior and Pete had been tagging along on the tour while he waited for his mom, who worked at the school. It was a big part of the reason he was attending.

"College is expensive… you know." Myka did know. She had received a full tuition scholarship, but without it, there was no way she could have come here. And she had started working in her father's bookstore and delivering newspapers as soon as she was old enough, so she had saved up a little bit of money as well. She had no intention of asking her father for anything. Even if he offered, she would refuse. But he wouldn't offer. He never did.

Steve and Pete sat talking in her room, taking books out of her boxes and lining them on an already half-full bookshelf, while Myka and her mom hung up her clothes in the closet. Warren had gone to the lounge to find something to watch on tv. Based on the bookshelf and the clothes in the other half of the closet, it was obvious that her roommate had moved in, but the two girls hadn't had any correspondence. All she knew was that her name was Helena, she didn't have a Facebook, and she was an international student. She tried to glean any information about the girl from her possessions, but there was barely anything there for Myka to investigate. She approached the bookshelf to see if, maybe, Helena's literary predilection would give her some clues.

"Steve. Have you seen Myka's roommate? She is… pardon the term ladies, but she's bangin."

"She's not really my type, Pete."

"Oh, right, sorry dude. I forget. Maybe you and Myka can talk about all the hot guys on the floor while I drool over her roommate."

Steve chuckled, but Myka stopped perusing the books and froze almost completely, only moving enough to see how her mom reacted to this new information. Jean did a quick double take, but moved back to the clothes in the closet, seemingly pretending not to hear. Well, if she wasn't going to say anything, then neither was Myka. But maybe her new friend could help open up that discussion with her parents some time in the future.

Myka spent that night in a hotel with her parents and saw them on their way the next day. She was thankful that they weren't looking to stay for very long. The freshmen had a whole list of orientation presentations and meetings to attend over the coming days. She didn't need the added stress of making sure that her parents were being entertained as well.

"Make sure that you eat enough. Call me if you need anything. Or if you don't need anything. I'll miss you." Myka rolled her eyes in embarrassment, but hugged her mom tightly, appreciating the words. "I'll miss you too, Mom. I promise I'll call."

Jeannie turned away and got in the passenger seat. Myka could see she was trying to hold back tears, and for a moment regretted her decision to be so far away from the woman. She turned to her dad and, as ever, he had a scowl on his face. And there's the reason she made her decision the way she did.

"See you at Thanksgiving, kid?"

"Yeah, Dad." She didn't intend to go home for Thanksgiving, but they would talk about that later. When there were more miles between them.

He hugged her gruffly and barely whispered the words, "Love you." as he walked around the back end of the van and pulled away from the dorm.

"MYKES!" Myka heard someone yelling from the second story of the dorm, but ignored it, not assuming that the person was calling her. "Mykaaaaaaa!" Okay, that nuisance was for her. She turned toward the building and darted her eyes around, making sure no one noticed that that racket was aimed at her. Pete had his entire upper-body thrown out the window and was waving at her wildly. "Hey, Mykes, we're going to the involvement fair in a minute, you wanna come?"

Mykes. That was… new. She hadn't ever had a nickname before. She… liked it.

"Yeah, sure, I'll wait for you down here!"

Pete disappeared from the window and Steve shot her a quick grin before he shut the window for Pete.

As soon as they walked into the Thwing Center, Myka's senses were overwhelmed. Tables with poster boards egregiously decorated with neon paint and glitter, organization leaders trying to yell over each other to get someone, anyone's attention, pamphlets and free water bottles being shoved in her face, and the smells, ohhhh the smells. Sweaty eighteen-year-old boys, cologned eighteen-year-old boys, and about five different types of food being given away in a twenty-food radius did not mix well.

She was psyching herself up to enter the deluge, when Pete shook her right arm and said, "Hey, Mykes, there's your roommate!"

….

Wow.

But, wow.

Pete was right, she was bangin. In an obvious sort of way.

"Her hair is of midnight darkness and her skin is a clear ivory pallor."

"Oh my god," Myka thought to herself. "She is the real Lady Cordelia Fitzgerald. There isn't supposed to be a real Lady Cordelia, that's the whole point! It's impossible to be that… perfect."

But somehow, Helena seemed to be. And she was making this entire room of chaos seem still. Myka followed her with her eyes as Helena walked from table to table, generally ignoring the people talking at her and occasionally picking up a pamphlet to read to herself before she set it back down and moved on.

"Earth to Myka."

Myka was startled by Steve's voice and looked in front of her. Both of the guys were staring at her, complete amusement on their faces. How long had she been staring? Had they been calling her for a while?

"See? I TOLD you she was bangin!"

Myka rolled her eyes and pretended not to be phased, but she was. She was supposed to live with this girl? Fantastic. She had left Colorado, partially to be out of Tracy's shadow, and she was already finding herself back in the center of an even bigger shadow.

"She's alright, Pete." She needed to move onto something else. "And stop calling her 'bangin.' It's sexist."

"Oh jeeeeez, thanks MOM."

Myka grinned in response as Pete rolled his eyes.

"You're welcome." She stepped forward and locked arms with both of her new friends. "Now. Let's explore."