Summary: Excited to start college, Helga Pataki is more eager than ever to face the challenges ahead of her. But then she runs into a cold, distant boy who won't say more than two words to her, and doesn't seem to want to. But the more she finds herself running into him, the more she feels compelled to see what he's hiding. But is he a challenge she can't overtake?
"You're sure you know where you're going?" Her sister asked, for what felt like the tenth, most irritating time.
Looking over to her with a small smile, she gave her a slow nod. "I'm sure."
"Because it's a big campus, and you could get lost pretty easily." She urged her, giving her the same worries that she has had since she started the car an hour ago. She knew she meant well, she always does, it's what big sisters do. It's in their own inherent nature to worry about their little sisters, no matter how utterly pointless worrying is about something so small. Well, maybe she should be a little worried too, she is moving into a dorm for the first time. She will be away from her family, which right now might be considered a blessing, but still, family is family. She will have new people to meet, new friendships to build, new teachers to get to know, new classes to find. But even though she has every right to be a little antsy, when one person is frantic, it oddly makes the other calmer.
So, deciding to let her big sister have her worry, knowing she won't be able to do anything about it even after she is moved in, she lets out a content sigh, and puts her ear bud back into her ear and presses play on her phone again.
True, she only has the name of the building she is moving into, and a haphazardly drawn map on the back of a napkin to help guide her there, and she as a fear that she forgot something vital to her survival back in her room, even though she went through everything she owned at least three times, she knew everything would work itself out eventually. Luckily, they finally pulled off the high way, and entered the city of Pullman, Washington, home of Washington State University.
Living in the city most of her life, she always forgot how beautiful the state of Washington is. She always forgot how hauntingly beautiful the trees are here. Besides Olga's grilling her about knowing for sure where she was headed, she spent most of the hour staring out the window at the passing trees. She's always wanted to get lost in the forest, just because of how beautiful and majestic it looks.
As the trees were replaced quickly with passing brick and concrete buildings, Helga was starting to get a little more excited than she remembers being when she got her acceptance letter. She was finally starting a new chapter in her life. Being independent, out on her own, no one to look after her, reminding her to do the simplest of things when she's been doing them most of her life as it is, it should be a scary thought, going through such a drastic change so quickly, but she was ready to face it head on, just like everything else in her life.
Traffic around campus was hectic, especially around her dorm building, but eventually, they found a parking space and squeezed in between two other cars being unloaded. Her muscles feeling slightly tingly from nerves, she hopped out of the car with child like wonderment and took in the hustle and bustle of people moving into the building. With girls carrying everything from body pillows to duffel bags, while the guys next to them played the macho man and heaved the heavier things on their arms. Still feeling the mixture of excitement and slight anxiety, she sees the trunk lift open and she shakes her head to get her wandering mind back into focus.
Walking around to the fully packed trunk, she first grabs her backpack tucked tightly in the side, between the chest she bought from an antique shop and the side of the car, and swung it over her shoulders, while her sister grabbed the suitcase that was on the other side, along with her pillow. "Do you know what-"
"309..." She interrupts, finally answering the question she was waiting to be asked.
She replied with puckered lips and squinted eyes in a look of feigned concentration while Helga started for the front doors. Not bothering with waiting to cram into the elevator, they took the stairs, and managed only to squeeze by a few passers by who had the same thought as they did. They stepped onto the third floor and into the long hallway, and saw most of the doors open, a few people rushing in and out, and started down the hall until they reached her door, which was among the ones already open.
After triple checking that it was the right room number, she peered inside the relatively small space, and panned the room, seeing someone had obviously claimed the right side of the room for themselves already. Stepping inside, she could feel her sister look past her and into the room. "Guess I'm taking the left." She said, walking over to what was now her bed and placing her backpack down onto it, hearing Olga place the duffel bag and pillow she was carrying with her down next to her back pack.
She paused for a moment to take in the room, which she could tell right away was smaller than her room back home. She moved over to the window and slid open the curtains, flooding the room with bright sunlight, and the spectacular view of the campus. "Wow..." She said, the child like wonderment coming back full force as she gazed out over the land scape.
"This is it?" Olga's voice asked from behind her.
Helga snapped around and saw her sister standing in the middle of the room, crossing her arms, raising a disapproving eye brow as she panned the room. "What's the problem?" She asked, honestly not knowing what was so bad about it.
"It's so small!" She heard her exclaim, throwing her arms out to her sides.
"It's a dorm room, Olga, not Buckingham Palace. And besides, look at this view!" She defended her living space, turning back around to look over the campus again.
"Come on, why don't we get the rest of your stuff up here... if it will fit." She muttered under her breath as she turned toward the door to go back down the hallway.
Helga sighed again and followed. Coming down the stairs, and quickly making her way over to her sisters car, seeing her open up the back door to grab something that was light, she stepped forward, ready to grab the chest which she was sure weight at least eighty pounds. As Olga passed her, carrying a small box in her arms, she took a deep breath and latched onto the handles, readying her arms to take on the weight. "Why don't you let me get that for you." A smooth, all too familiar voice whispered in her ear.
She spun around, seeing the face that matched in, and felt her own light up in a bright smile. "Oh my god!" She cried, throwing her arms around the neck that the face belonged to, hugging him tightly, his arms returning her grip tight enough to left her off the ground a couple inches. As he set her down, she stepped back, still feeling herself smile as he leaned back.
"I saw your sisters car. I thought you were going to text me when you got in."
"I know, but I got distracted. I had a lot on my mind." She innocently shrugged. Shaking his head, he leaned in a place a quick, yet lingering kiss on her lips, pulling back and quickly turning to heave the chest out of her truck.
Justin, once a senior at her high school, now a sophomore attending Washington State on a football scholarship, has been her boyfriend for a little over a year. She likes him a lot, they are comfortable with each other, and he isn't bad looking either. She lead him up the stairs and up to her room, just as Olga opened her closet, looking as if she was taking mental inventory of everything they brought. Justin passed by her and set her chest down in front of her bed. "Thank you," She said as he sat down onto her mattress.
"Yes Dad, I got here just fine, geez." A voice said from the door way. "Yeah, bye." The girl said, taking a few steps in and stopping when she looked up to see the people in her room. Helga turned around and took in her appearance. With a pair of tight blue jeans and converse sneakers, and a black t-shirt with the words 'no gods, no managers' on the front, her hair dark with highlights of blonde coming just down to her shoulders, having the expression of a deer in headlights, Helga took a step forward and extended her hand to her new roommate.
"Hi, I'm Helga." She said in a cheery voice, hoping to get off to a good start with the person she would be living with for the rest of the year.
The girl in front of her looked down at her hand as if it was radioactive, and paused before she placed her hand in the one that was being extended to her and shook weakly. "Rhonda."
"It's nice to meet you, Rhonda." She said with a friendly smile.
Telling she felt awkward, Rhonda smiled a nervous smile and stepped around her, grabbed her purse off her bed and quickly made her way out of the room without another word. "That was rude." She heard her sisters voice say behind her.
She spun around and gave her sister a pointed look. "Maybe she's just shy." She defended.
"Oh, I have to go." Justin said from across the room. Helga looked over and saw him looking down at his phone. She sighed, disappointed to see him leave so quickly, but gave him a small smile anyway as he stood up, placed a chaste kiss on her lips before breezing out of the room.
"Are you sure that your stuff will fit in here, Helga?" Her sister asked again, drawing her attention away from the doorway.
"No, but I'll make due." She said, coming to stand in front of her chest and unlatch the top.
"Well, I better go. Mom and Dad are probably wondering where I am."
Helga turned to her sister, and lifted her arms out to her, while Olga didn't hesitate to step forward and lightly hug her little sister. "I'm so proud of you, Helga."
"I know, Olga." She leaned back with a sad smile, and paused for a minute, taking in the thought that she probably wouldn't see her for a while. Olga looked down and turned to walk out the room, waving weakly when she turned to walk down the hall, and with another step, she was out of sight. Sighing lightly to herself, she turned back to her chest to finish, or rather start unpacking.
Tuning out the chaos out in the hall, she spent the next hour and a half cramming her belongings in the two foot wide closet at the end of her bed, while some miscellaneous possessions remained at the bottom of the chest, and shoved against the wall behind her. Now, finally relaxed with her laptop out on her lap, sitting on her bed, trying desperately to figure out how to connect to the internet, she was so busy that she didn't realize that she was alone. Her roommate hadn't come back yet from where ever she was. Even her things still laid packed on her side of the room, what little of it there was. Just a ratty old backpack, the bottom covered in duct tape, and a green army duffel bag.
After finally figuring her way onto the internet, and checking her email, she plugged in her headphones to listen to some music, turning on her small music library to shuffle, and spent the rest of the afternoon fooling around on her laptop, until her phone buzzed next to her leg. She picked it up and saw that she had a text message from Justin, asking if she wanted to go with him to a party at a frat house just off campus. He knew that parties weren't really her thing, and she always felt kind of bad giving him an excuse when she didn't want to go to something with him that she wasn't interested in. But thinking about it, it was her first day here, and she hadn't seen him all summer, since he was on vacation with his parents. And she knew that since he was on the football team, he would be there with or without her. And she could use a night out for once, so why not?
After replying with her answer, he told her that he would be by to pick her up in an hour along with an emoticon. Smiling to herself, she tossed her phone back down onto her bed, and debated changing only for a second. Looking down at her favorite pair of blue jeans, along with a pink t-shirt and a pair of white running shoes, she figured it was good enough and continued to play on her laptop. She dressed for comfort, not attention. She did like to look nice, but she wasn't going to go out wearing a string bikini just to get a few stares.
An hour later, hearing a knock on her door, she smiled, closed her laptop, and jumped up to answer it. She pulled the door open, and saw Justin standing on the other side, wearing his jersey, his dark short hair spiked up. "Ready?" He asked.
She nodded with a smile and grabbed his hand as they walked down the hall and outside. The walk was made in silence, save for some idle chit chat about the classes she had signed up for, and after twenty minutes, they saw the large colonial house, with four white pillars, the door wide open, and people strewn about the entrance. Hearing the loud thumping of music, she was starting to regret coming. She didn't drink, and he knew that. She didn't mind if he did, but she just didn't see the appeal. Climbing the steps, squeezing past the people rushing out, she regretted coming even more when she saw that most of the girls were dressed a little more liberally than she was.
Watching Justin greet his team mates as they made their way further into the house, most of them completely ignoring her, she wondered if it was like this all the time. After all, college was infamous for parties, but was it always this hectic? Even when she was sitting on her bed in her dorm, she could hear the sounds of people shouting up and down the halls outside, people running down the hall, and she was glad that no one decided to bother her for those few hours. Snapping herself out of her regret was a red plastic cup being shoved into her hands. She looked up to the already drunken guy off to her side who had offered it to her, and waved her hand with a polite smile, declining his offer. He shrugged, uninsulated and downed the drink himself.
"I think I'll just go back to my dorm room." She said, pushing up to whisper into his ear. She turned to leave, very anxious to leave, until she felt him lightly grasp her wrist, drawing her attention back to him.
"Let's go to the back room, I heard that there was something going on there that's a little quieter." He said into her ear.
Not wanting to let him down, she signed and nodded, watching him smile and take her hand, leading her through the crowd and into what looked like a study. Seeing a large group of people, some sitting on the floor, and some on a couch up against the wall, it did seem a lot calmer than what she was just led through. "No, I didn't, I swear." A guy sitting on the floor said.
"Oh, come on, we all know it was you." A girl said, pointing a finger over to him and smiling, narrowing her eyes over to him.
"It wasn't me!" He defended himself again.
"Hey Justin!" A voice called from behind them. Both Justin and Helga looked back to see one of his teammates wave him over, and he turned to her, asking her if she would be alright alone for a second. Not wanting to sound pathetic, she said yes, and watched him run off.
"Alright, whose next?" Someone on the couch called.
"What about Arnold? He hasn't gone all night."
"Yeah, Hey Arnold!" A guy sitting on the floor shouted.
Helga looked at the group in front of her, and saw all of them looking over toward the window. She followed their eyes and saw a guy wearing a plain black t-shirt, and denim jeans, and a pair of black steel toed boots. He had unkempt blonde hair, that looks as if its never seen a comb, but somehow, it worked really well for him. He was sitting at a small table with two chairs that were facing each other, the other one unoccupied, with he sat in the other, his eyes down onto a book with a plain black cover. "No..." He said, his voice barely audible to her.
"Oh come on, Arnold! Live a little!"
"No." He repeated.
"Just do it!"
"Yeah!"
"Will you leave me alone?" He asked, not taking his eyes off his book.
"Yes!" A few of them shouted in unison.
He sighed, folded the corner page down, closed his book and stood up. He was pretty thin, not as muscular as Justin, but as she imagined it, he probably wouldn't look as good as he does now with thick arms, and shoulders as broad as Justin's. He crossed his arms over his chest, with a blank expression on his face. "Dare..." He said in a slightly firmer voice.
As she recalled, wasn't truth or dare a little too middle school for a college frat party? Never the less, she was starting to get sucked in, waiting to see what they had in store for this person who obviously was indifferent about the whole thing. "Alright." A guy on the couch said, looking from person to person in the room. "I dare you to..." She looked over to Arnold again, who was still looking expressionless off into space, "Go upstairs with her for five minutes."
As the group cooed, she looked back at the group to see whom they had chosen, only to see them looking at her.
"Oh, um..." She nervously tried to explain herself, feeling very scared by the group of strangers all looking at her. A nervous sweat breaking out over her, she looked over her shoulder to see if Jason had returned yet, only to see him standing in a group with his teammates around a keg. "I just..."
"Yeah, that's a good one!"
"Who is she again?" She heard someone mumbled.
Already feeling herself blush madly, more embarrassed than she ever remembers being, she looked over to this stranger she was just dared to go upstairs with, and saw him hang his head down in front of him and shake his head, before he met her gaze only for a second before closing his eyes and nodding his head off to the side, motioning for her to follow him. As he calmly walked out of the room, keeping his arms crossed over his torso, she looked over again to see if Justin has come back yet, only to see him being held up by the legs in front of the keg. "Go get 'em, champ!" Someone in the room called, she looked down at the group, all grinning evilly at her, and just wanting to get out of the room, she quickly jogged to where she saw Arnold walk.
Right as she saw his blonde hair, half way across the foyer, she quickly pushed through the crowd and caught up with him, following him up the stairway just a foot behind him. What am I doing?! I don't even know this guy! She thought to herself, as she trailed behind him. They reached the top of the stairs, and followed him until he turned to the right and opened a door and stepped inside. She took a long stride up to see him holding the door open to a bedroom. She really didn't want to go in there, and just when she was about to swallow her pride and make a run for it, she heard a crash behind her, startling her back a few steps, and before she knew it, she was stumbling back into the bedroom she just told herself she wasn't going to go into.
Hearing him let out a long, frustrated sigh, he slid the door shut, crossing his arms over his chest again, and turning around, leaning back against the door he just closed with his eyes closed. She stood there for a moment, waiting for him to do something, even talk to her, but he never did. He just kept standing there, arms crossed and eyes closed. "Um..." She began, but was stopped when he raised a hand and put a finger over his lips.
She stayed quiet, obviously knowing that he was unwilling to talk to her. She crossed her arms over her chest protectively and looked down at the floor, somewhat glad that he wasn't doing anything, and even more so that it was quiet. She looked back over to him, and saw him raise his foot up in front of him, and sent his heel into the door with a loud bang, hearing a muffled cry of pain come from the hall way. She did a double take to see him still standing there, eyes closed and arms crossed as he was before. "How did you..."
"Those simpletons are as predictable as clockwork." He mumbled in a low voice.
"So... you aren't... going to..."
"They said to come upstairs. They didn't say I had to do anything." He said in the same low voice.
Well, I guess that's true. She thought, feeling a little more comfortable with the knowledge that he was going to make an advance on her. Not wanting to spend the next couple of minutes simply casting glances at him, she turned and paced away from him, looking down at the carpet. She looked across the room, seeing a book shelf lined with books on one shelf, the next two lined with CD cases. Who buys CD's anymore? She thought, with a chuckle to herself. Hearing the door open behind her, she turned around and saw him standing off to the side, arms crossed, looking down at the floor. "You can leave." He said, not looking at her.
"Oh." She said, taking a step forward. As she came within a few steps, she spoke. "Thank you for not... well..."
He looked up to her with the same blank expression he's had all night, "I don't like people in my room." He said, nodding his head towards the open door.
"Oh... I'll just be going then." She said with a feigned smile as she passed in front of him. She stepped into the hall way again, seeing a broken nightstand on the floor in front of them, and heard him shut the door they just came out of.
Okay, I'm going back to my room now. She said to herself. She didn't care if Justin saw her out anymore. He knew that she was hesitant to come when he asked her, and if he didn't, then he didn't know her as well as she thought. Pushing through the people on the staircase, she saw the front door, and kept her eyes on it, afraid to be swept up in something again. As she stepped off the last step, she quickly made for the door, until she caught Justin's eye just to her right. "So how was it!?" She heard someone shout, recognizing the voice as one from before. She looked over toward the guy leaning out, then back to Arnold whom had just stepped off the stairs, not even cracking a smile, nor a frown for that matter. He simply raised his hand in a fist, and lifted his middle finger to them. Hearing them 'Ooo', she didn't bother looking up to Justin, not wanting to see him angry, or heartbroken.
"I'm gonna go now." She said, quickly pushing through the rest of the people and out of the house, quickly jumping down the steps and out onto the side walk, taking in a large breath of fresh air into her lungs.
She walked back to her room, already hating herself for even agreeing to go upstairs. True she didn't do anything, but she didn't have the energy to argue about it with her boyfriend. As she dug out her keys from her pocket and made her way to her room, which was empty, except for her roommates still unpacked bags, she closed the door behind her, and laid back down on her bed.
Not exactly the start she had in mind.