1:53 am.

Bonnie read the digital clock on her desk and sighed. She had been rewriting the same paragraph over and over for nearly thirty minutes now. No matter what she did, she just couldn't get the phrasing right.

She looked over to her slumbering roommate. Juli had been asleep for quite some time now. Bonnie wondered how the girl could get so many hours and still manage to finish her work on time. I know why, Bonnie thought, It's because she's not an insane biochem major like me.

Bonnie turned her focus back to the screen of her laptop, the only light in the darkened room. The cursor blinked intimidatingly and Bonnie stared it down as if it would surrender the correct wording to her. When it relinquished nothing, she kneaded her forehead in her hands. Sometimes being a perfectionist is just not to my advantage. And English has never been my strong suit anyway.

Bonnie decided that this paragraph would have to wait until the morning. She had an 8 A.M. class anyway, and really had to be getting to bed. She powered down her laptop and climbed the ladder to her lofted bed. Bonnie clambered into position on her relatively comfy bunk, her face only inches from the ceiling. Good thing I've already changed into my pajamas and brushed my teeth, because glob knows I wouldn't have the energy to do it now. Mere minutes after the thought passed through her conscious, Bonnie was drifting off into sweet dreamless sleep.

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

The alarm clock couldn't get any more obnoxious. Why did I pick this ringtone? After what seemed like a full minute of struggling, Bonnie managed to locate her cell phone and disable the alarm. The phone read 7:00 a.m. Grumbling, the teenage girl began to scale the ladder. She clumsily dressed herself in whatever happened to be at the front of her closet—today, a dress and a hoodie. Both were pink, Bonnie's favorite color since childhood. It tended to dominate most of her wardrobe, and she had been dyeing her long hair pink for years now.

Still only half awake, she proceeded to pack her bag for the day's three classes. Although she was sleepy, she made sure she had the correct textbooks and that her pencil case was packed neatly. Once she was done, she pulled on her favorite pair of Converse—colored in a light shade of lavender that complimented the rest of her outfit well—and headed out the door, barely remembering to grab her room keys on the way out.

Bonnie remembered to stop for breakfast en route to her first class. As she arrived to Chemistry lecture, she took one of the seats in the middle of the room, close enough so she could hear and see the professor but far enough away that he wouldn't be offended by her still finishing her coffee. She slipped on her glasses, not having bothered with contacts that morning. Bonnie carefully removed her notebook and selected her favorite mechanical pencil. Ready to take notes and feeling significantly less groggy now that there was coffee in her system, Bonnie had a positive outlook on the day.

Bonnie's last class let out five minutes early, much to the relief of most of the students in the room. It was only a few weeks into the semester and already she noticed that less and less students attended each lecture. She simply couldn't understand why; philosophy was just so interesting to her.

Emerging into the bright sunlight of the early afternoon meant shielding herself with her hand. The pink-haired girl cursed herself for neglecting to remember sunglasses or a hat today. Oh well, I'll just have to manage with squinting the whole way back to my dorm.

About halfway back to her room, Bonnie emerged into the center of campus with countless other students who had just been released from class. Passing the library, she walked briskly with her eyes on her feet. She was silently reviewing what homework she had been given for the day and what she would need to get done this weekend. It was nice that she got out early on Friday; she could actually get a head start on her work for the next few days.

As she emerged from the bubble of her own thoughts, her eyes fell on one person among the mass of students. Bonnie picked out a tall and slender figure striding in the opposite direction as she. As the girl got closer, Bonnie noticed long black hair and piercing blue eyes contrasted with pale, snowy skin. The girl tucked her hands in the pockets of her oversized jacket and shifted the weight of a backpack slung casually over one shoulder. Bonnie began to look away, hoping the tall girl wouldn't catch her staring. But right as they were about to pass one another, the girl looked up and made eye contact with Bonnie for a fraction of a second. In that second it felt like the whole world slowed down. Everything seemed to move in slow motion as she stared into those beautiful sky blue eyes.

The moment vanished as suddenly as it started. Bonnie turned back to look at the mysterious girl who just passed her but only caught a glimpse of that long black hair before she disappeared into the crowd.

Huh. I wonder why I saw that one girl out of everyone else. Bonnie paused a second before thinking it strange, shrugging, and continuing back to her dorm.

Unlocking the door to her suite's common room, Bonnie was greeted warmly by her friends who were presently playing video games on the TV.

"Hey Bonnie! Come chill a while!" How was class?" The question came from her long-time friend Jake, who lived in the next hall over but practically resided in her suite. He was from her hometown, and she had been glad to know someone from home at the college when she moved there. He was goofy, but they had been friends for years and he was always fun to be around.

"It went well, thank you for asking." Bonnie returned her friend's inquiry with a warm smile. After greeting everyone and finding out which game they were playing—this time it was a game about zombies—she proceeded to her room, unlocking the door and setting her backpack down with a small thud. Her roommate had class for another hour or two, so she got the room all to herself. Enjoying a relatively quiet workspace, Bonnie wasted no time in getting down to her weekend workload. Now, time to get the paragraph finished.

A knock on the door of her room startled Bonnie out of her deep concentration. "Come in," She hollered right before Jake poked his head around her door.

"Yo, PB. You wanna come get some dinner with us?" Bonnie smiled at one of the many variations on her childhood nickname, given to her by her Jake and his younger brother, Finn.

"Sure thing, Jake. Where are we going?"

"Oh, just the dining hall. They have tacos tonight!"

"Alright, just give me a few moments and I'll be right out." Jake closed the door and Bonnie saved the essay onto her laptop. In two hours not only had she perfected the troublesome paragraph, but also had made significant headway into the last three paragraphs of the paper. She was feeling good about her progress as the computer saved. Her stomach rumbling told her it was time for dinner indeed.

At the dining hall, Bonnie and several of her friends sat among the excited clamor of a weekend evening. Lady, Jake's girlfriend who was also Bonnie's suitemate, had joined them. Lady was a petite girl, very sweet, and always dressed very cutely. She had a thing for unicorns and rainbows, and liked to try to teach Bonnie how to speak Korean. At first Bonnie was awful at it, but recently she had been improving. She still wished she had been raised in a bilingual household like Lady had.

Plans were being tossed about at her table of friends, but she was only listening halfheartedly.

"PB. Yo, PB. Bonnie!" When she finally heard her name, Jake was laughing. "I called your name like 7 times!"

"Sorry. What did I miss?"

"What are you doing tomorrow night?"

"Um, nothing. Most likely working on my lab report. Why do you ask?"

"Well," Lady cut in, "We were thinking of going to a party. One of Jake's friend's classmates is holding it."

"I don't know," Bonnie confessed. "You know that parties aren't really my thing, Lady."

"I know, Bonnie, but you've been so buried in your work recently! You rarely come out of your room on the weekends and I want to see you get out a bit!" Bonnie knew that Lady was just meaning the best for her. And it was true, she hadn't gotten out in a while. Usually her weekends were full of homework, watching her friends play videogames, and viewing the occasional movie by herself. She mentally weighed how much homework she had and if she could take a break.

"Yeah, okay, I think I can manage it." As the agreement left Bonnie's mouth, Lady hugged her from across the table.

"Great! Now we just have to figure out what you'll wear!"