Author's Note: This was originally posted as a part of the "Scorpion Secret Santa" exchange on Tumblr. This is one part of a two-story gift fic set for raredelightfulloveoak (Rose). Hope y'all enjoy it!
It was amazing how you could get so far from where you'd planned, and yet find it was exactly where you needed to be. ~Sarah Dessen, What Happened to Goodbye
"Are you freakin' kidding me!?" she yelled to the student in charge of dorm check-ins. Although he was at least a foot taller than the 5-foot-something Asian, the student worker could not help but cower at the look of disbelief and rage currently present on the girl's face.
"I'm sorry, ma'am, but due to renovations of some of our dorms and delays in construction for our new suites, we had to come up with some creative solutions to house our freshmen on campus this semester. This was a last resort, trust me," the student said, holding up his hands as if to try and shield himself from the girl's seething anger.
The petite female student glanced down at her room assignment again and then back up at the student worker. While she had noted his name tag read "Brunden" (a horrible name if you asked for the girl's opinion), the girl decided to annoy him some, as though it would be an outlet to release some more of her anger.
"Now, you listen here, Brenden. I requested one of the newer dorms situated near the math and science buildings, which are in the center of campus. As I am sure you were aware from my form, I'm a mechanical engineering major," the Asian student emphasized. "Instead, I have been placed in the oldest of the dorms – which are structurally unsound, mind you – located in the farthest corner of campus, over a mile away from the S.T.E.M. buildings. I don't want to hear your argument that I am near some of the classrooms; those are for liberal art and fine art majors. I don't give a damn about Shakespeare or Mozart. What I do care about is math and science, and I want to be placed in one of those dorms near the S.T.E.M. buildings – NOW!"
Some of Brunden's cowardice faded as the girl poked fun at his name. Though that happened to him more times than he could count (he would eventually get a legal name change), it never failed to anger him when someone deliberately got his name wrong.
"Now you listen here, ma'am," Brunden began, frustration and irritation apparent in his tone. "I'm only in charge of check-ins, not dorm assignments. Now, if you have a problem with your dorm assignment, you can schedule an appointment to talk with someone in the Office of Student Affairs about getting a room transfer. But, until then, please take your room key and go onto your room. You're in room 305, the corner room on the left side of the building, facing the wooded area." With this, Brunden turned his focus on getting the few other students checked-in and settled. But before he could, he felt himself being grabbed by the collar and pulled downwards.
"Now, you listen here, buddy boy," the girl hissed. "If any other issues arise with my dorm assignment today, there will be hell to pay. So that person had better be watching their back, or they'll be sorry they ever tried to mess with me." With this warning, the S.T.E.M. student released Brunden; she did so with such anger and force that Brunden stumbled backwards into the table, knocking papers and pens all over the place. The mechanical engineering major grabbed her bags from the sidewalk, her papers and dorm key from the table, and took off toward her dorm, Margaret Allison Memorial Hall. There had better not be any other surprises with this room assignment, the short Asian student thought. I am not in the mood to deal with anything else.
_
"Who the hell are you? And what the hell are you doing in my room?" she demanded viciously.
He looked up at her and was shocked by what he saw. He had expected a 6-foot-tall, rough and tumble, and, most importantly, male roommate. She was the exact opposite. He noticed her tiny 5'3" frame and her messy, jet black hair. He was surprised that such anger could come out of such a small thing. "I think you mean my room," he corrected.
"I think you'll find that this is room 305. It's mine," the Asian student declared, throwing her bags down on the bed.
"Interesting," he thought out loud. He passed her the paper with his room information on it. "I guess we're roommates. I'm Tobias M. Curtis, but you can call me Toby. I'm going to be a doctor someday."
What are we, in second grade? she thought to herself. "This can't be happening," she stated. Toby's response was a shrug and a question.
"So, do you have a name?" Toby asked.
"Happy," she informed him. Her face divulged about as much information as a brick wall.
"I asked you your name," Toby said, smirking as he spoke. "Not your mood."
"And I told you my name," she snapped back, furious at how much that little know-it-all smile really got to her. "Not my mood."
"Well, that has got to be the biggest irony in the world," he pointed out. "You seem to be just about the world's unhappiest person."
"Haha, very funny, Doc," Happy rolled her eyes. If she was stuck with him, she was going to cause someone somewhere some real pain. And with this new surprise, that list was growing longer by the minute.
Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans. ~Allen Saunders
I knew the first time we met, you'd be kinda hard to forget. ~Anonymous