Hello everyone. Once again I've had another urge to jot down a narrative regarding my latest hobby, Dead by Daylight. Will I finish this? Probably not, but I will write it as long as the urge is there. Right now, I have a basic idea of where I want to take this if it ever gets that far. But, I'm just going to write my ideas for now and see how well it is received by everyone.

Chapter 1

Claudette Morel

The cramped dorm room was tiny. Claudette Morel sighed looking around her room and noticing her botany work was scattered across it. Her roomate, Hannah, would not like that. But she had time to get it all collected and put away before Hannah got back. Her last class was not over until around 5. She looked back to her computer to hear the familiar bing. It was her friend sending her message. She had her favorite site, Chat-avenue, pulled up in front of her. The one with the screen name, Lily543678, sent her the same opening message as she always did.

Heyyyyy Science Girl. How goes your endless studying today?

Claudette smiled and pushed her glasses up closer to her face. Whoever this person actually was did not matter to her, whether it was actually a girl named Lily or it was someone pretending to be a girl. Whoever was behind this keyboard always had a way of making her laugh.

It's going okay. I have a big test tomorrow on bryophytes and ferns so I'm really trying my hardest to do well. I gotta hold on.

Haha, I knew you'd say something like that. I never understood why you're so hooked on this stuff. Seems hard to me.

I wouldn't do this stuff if I wasn't hooked on it. It's a big commitment you know.

I know. I know. That's why I keep my big commitments to business and boys, love. Maybe you should do the same. Maybe you'd be less stressed out.

As nice as that sounds, I can't have any distractions. Boys have been known to distract me from my work back in high school. Just ask my parents. I can't make that mistake here. I got a lot riding on this scholarship.

Poor Science Girl…studying your life away. Suit yourself, gal.

I didn't leave Montreal to party. I left because I had an opportunity and so I gotta make the very most of it.

I know. I'm prolly bein a distraction to ya. I gotta go. Bf is almost here. TTYL. 3

Okay, love

That was one thing Lily or Hannah didn't understand about her. The University of Wisconsin had the best botany program in the entire United States, and she was on her third year at it. A full ride was not often given, especially to a student from another country. Hannah tried to make her drink on her 21st birthday a few months back but Claudette told her the same thing she had just told Lily. She had to remain focused. She had to keep her studies up so she could get into an equally competitive graduate school. If she was going to be a renowned botanist, she had to make sure she outshined all of her competition and had the best resume possible.

The only thing that Claudette knew she lacked was the social skill to keep up. She knew she couldn't keep up with the other students socially. Apart from her two friends and two boyfriends in high school, she had no one. She only talked to her roomate, Hannah, when it was necessary and didn't really consider her a true friend. Although, she knew that Hannah thought they were friends, but knew she probably considered her that because she'd pack up and go to the library on a lot of nights so Hannah could bring various boys in the dorm room.

Being African American was another thing that she was worried would hinder her progress. While it was prominent, she had been subjected to enough racial slurs to know that racism was still very much alive in the modern era and there had been one too many political candidates that made fools of themselves saying things about her culture they didn't understand and saying things that were downright insulting.

She never considered herself anything above average. She didn't see herself wearing what girls typically wore. She only owned one pair of jean shorts that she rarely ever wore. She had a buret that she knitted herself that she wore every day. She stuck to jeans, pants, button-up shirts, sweaters t-shirts, and scarves. The green t-shirt on her body at the moment was incredibly average but incredibly comfortable and that's all she needed. Practicality was far more necessary than how everything looked to the outside world. She felt far happier in her favorite botanist apron than anything that Hannah had made her try on from time to time.

Speaking of Hannah, she'd be back soon and she had not cleaned an ounce of her mess. But she didn't want to. She didn't want to think. She didn't want to move. She was simply exhausted. Her life was a stressful one and it was getting harder and harder to manage fully. But if she just powered through, she'd make it. After she achieved her dream, all of this would be worth it. But maybe… just a little rest would not hurt.

#

"Science Girl… Claudette. Are you in there?" she heard Hannah's voice making her shoot awake instantly.

"Hannah… I- I uh…" Claudette stuttered knowing their dorm was still messy. She didn't want to start any confrontation with her roomate. "I'm sorry. I know I forgot to clean my papers. I know. I'll do it right now. I'm sorry."

Hannah's black hair was in a ponytail and she was in her pajama outfit. She wore an almost sad smile and touched Claudette's shoulder. "Honey, it's okay. It really is. You really can't keep doing this to yourself. You are going to have a stroke or something if this keeps up. You stress about every single little thing. That's not healthy for you and you know it."

Claudette looked away and twittled her index fingers together, feeling the blush coming to her face. "I'm-I'm sorry. I-I just-"

Hannah reached out and took Claudette in her arms and pulled her close. Claudette was immediately taken aback by this action, seeing it as awkward but figured this was Hannah doing her best to show her she cared in the language that she was more comfortable with expressing. Claudette returned her roomates hug and found it more pleasurable than she thought she would have.

"No apologizing. You've apologized to me more times than you ever should have. You know that?"

"I-I guess. I don't know. It's still wrong of me to scatter my stuff everywhere even when you're not here because I could forget it like I did today."

"That's your anxiety talking," Hannah replied.

"I don't have anxiety. I swear," Claudette protested making Hannah throw her hands up in defense.

"Okay, okay. I know. I'm sorry, my love. I'm sorry. I just… I worry about you. You're not living a healthy life. Even you can't keep this up forever. You know that you're gonna burn out if you don't make some changes eventually."

Claudette scrunched her forehead up. No, she'd power through. Why did everyone always think she was a fragile little girl? She wasn't. She was as strong as anyone else and probably stronger than over half the people that would question her ability. She didn't have anxiety. She didn't. Why her mother, Lily, Hannah, and everyone who knew her would bring up this ridiculous accusation infuriated her.

"I'm not gonna burn out. I'm stronger than I look. Why does everyone underestimate me so much?"

"We don't underestimate you, Science Girl. That's not with this is at all. I just worry I'm gonna come home one day and find you dead from a heart attack. You're at least stressed and you have to admit that."

Claudette smiled. "Well, yes. But stress can be healthy. It helps me become stronger and keeps me focused on what's important. It's a good thing."

She pulled herself from Hannah's embrace and was about to leave the conversation at that.

"Why don't you at least hear out what I think we should do?" Hannah asked.

"What's that?" Claudette asked turning around and scratching her forehead, but still feeling her roommate's stern stare fixed on her.

"You and me should have a girls' night out."

"What?" Claudette asked almost laughing. "You're joking, right? I don't even know anyone except you. That would be a disaster."

"We wouldn't be doing anything bad. It would just be you and me having a nice dinner and maybe hitting a few bars. It would just be us and you'd be with me the entire night. It would just be tomorrow night and I'll leave you alone the rest of the weekend so you can get any studying that you want done. I think it would be a nice change of pace for you."

Claudette sighed and shook her head at her roommate. "You're not gonna let me get out of this one, are you?"

Hannah's face twisted into a grin. "Nope. I certainly am not."