Logan Reese sat in his dorm throwing a basketball up and down. It was the weekend and he was completely bored out of his mind. He had thought about going around campus and asking any girls if they wanted to do something, but he did that all the time. He needed something new.
"Logan?" said a voice across the room.
"What?" said Logan looking up at Michael.
"Have you been listening to anything I've said?" said Michael.
"Um, if I say yes will you stop talking to me?"
"Probably."
"Then yes." Michael sighed and shook his head. Logan stood up and walked over to his duffle bag searching for something to do. As he shifted everything over in order to find his iPod the door opened. He straightened up and turned toward the door.
"Oh, sorry!" a girl was standing in the doorway looking surprised at the sight of them.
"Um, can we help you?" said Michael form his bed.
"Maybe, I'm looking for dorm 161!" the girl said looking hopefully at them. She had long brown hair with a side-bang and one white streak in the middle. She also had a bunch of white and orange streaks through the rest of her hair. Her ripped jeans had writing all over it wore a bright green t-shirt under a rusty orange corduroy jacket. A large black duffle bag was slung over her shoulder as well.
"This is dorm 161." said Logan taking a couple steps towards her.
"Oh," she looked back down at a small piece of paper she was holding. The girl turned it upside down. "Sorry, I had it the wrong way! Where's room 191?"
"Just down the hall and take the third right it'll be somewhere there." said Logan pointing down the hall.
"Thanks." She said and walked away. Logan shut the door behind her.
"I think I just found something to do today." He said smiling to himself.
"Don't tell me you're going to go after her. You don't even know her name!" said Michael.
"Yeah, but I know what dorm she's in!" and with that Logan exited the room.
Logan knocked on the door of dorm 191 ten minutes later. He stood there for a couple seconds with his hands in his pockets. He knocked again. Waited again. He was about to knock for a third time when the door opened.
"Oh! Hi!" it was the girl with the colored hair, "Sorry again for barging in on you guys like that!"
"No problem." Said Logan waving it away.
"Uh, wanna come in?"
"Um, sure!" she stepped back and let Logan in. It was like stepping into a Japanese garden. The windows had sheer fabrics hanging in them like drapes and a strand of colorful paper lanterns were hanging on the windows and around the frame of the beds. A small branch from a tree was duct-taped to a wall. The branch had thirty or so paper cranes hanging on it. A bonsai tree with small faerie lights glowing it the tiny branches was sitting on the shelf.
"So," said Logan, still looking around, "Did you just move here or something?"
"Oh, no! I used to live in Boston, but I moved here when I was about six. I live about an hour from here." She said. For some reason she looked a little sad at the mention of where she lived.
"Cool." Said Logan. He glanced down at the floor. A black yoga mat was lying on the floor. "You do yoga?"
"Oh, yeah. Just to relax ya' know? All the stress can sometimes get to me easily." She said smiling a little.
"Well, I should probably be going now. By the way," he said opening the door, "Who's your roommate?"
"I think her name is Christine."
"See ya' later." Said Logan. He closed the door behind him and headed down the hall.
"Wait!" said a voice behind him. He turned around and saw the girl running towards him. "I don't think I caught your name!" she said.
"Logan." He said.
"I'm Katie!" she said holding out her hand. Logan shook it.
"Well, see ya' later!" said Logan he turned and walked back to his dorm. Katie. That's a nice name! Short, sweet, and to the point I guess.
"How'd it go?" asked Michael when he got back.
"Fine."
"What's she like?"
"She was…" he looked around for the right word, "strange." Michael snorted.
"What do you mean 'strange'? How strange can girls get?"
"You should've seen her room! It was weird! There were all these plants and lanterns and stuff!" said Logan sitting down on his bed.
"Well, maybe you could see if she wants to do something later!" suggested Michael.
"Yeah, sure!"
Around five o'clock Logan was knocking on Katie's door again. Katie opened it slightly and peered out.
"Oh! Hi Logan!" she said grinning, "Um, can you hold on a sec?" Katie disappeared behind the door and let him after a few seconds, "What's up?"
"Not much." Said Logan looking around again. Things had been added around the room since he had last seen it. A glittering chime was hanging in the window. Paper cranes were hanging from lamps, walls, windows, and plants. There were also about a hundred tiny slips of paper on strings hanging on the bar between the top and bottom bunks. Logan noticed that the only piece of luggage in the room was Katie's duffle bag sitting empty in the corner.
"Where's your roommate?" he asked gesturing to the only bag.
"Oh, I think she said she was going to the bathroom. Then again I last saw here at around 2 o'clock." Said Katie.
"Where is she?"
"I don't know. I went to the bathroom to look for her and when I came back her suitcase was gone." Katie sighed, "I don't think she's coming back."
"Oh," said Logan. He felt a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach. He couldn't help but feel sorry for Katie. Logan mentally shook himself and walked over to the bunk ladder and sat on one of the rungs.
"So, I was thinking," said Logan breaking the silence, "If you…if…um, never mind." Logan quickly left the room and ran back to his dorm.
"So?" said Michael when he got back. Logan landed face down on the bed and groaned into the sheets.
"What happened?" said Michael perplexed, "Did she reject you?"
"No, I lost it." Said Logan sitting up, "She started talking about how her roommate moved to a different room and…and I didn't really want to ask her. I mean she just got here!"
"Since when do you care?" said Michael raising his eyebrows, "You usually just ask 'em right away! No ifs, ands, or buts about it!"
"I don't know! I'll just try again tomorrow!" Logan got up and searched for his iPod and jumped back on the bed. He pressed the play button, turned over onto his side, and closed his eyes and fell asleep.
KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK! Logan's eyes snapped open and he jumped up. The playlist on his iPod had ended and someone was knocking on the door. Michael had obviously left him to sleep. The room was empty. Logan got up off the bed and opened the door.
"Um, hi!" it was Katie.
"Hi! Was there something you needed?" said Logan rubbing his eyes.
"Well, I didn't see you come to have dinner! I just wanted to make sure you were okay!"
"Dinner? What time is it?" said Logan looking over his shoulder. Through the windows he could see it was dark outside.
"It's seven forty-two!" she said looking at her watch.
"Oh, sorry. I fell asleep." He said.
"Well, I brought you something to eat just incase you didn't come down!" she handed him a tray of food.
"Um, thanks!" said Logan surprised. He took the tray out of her hands. "Do you wanna come in?" he asked.
"Uh, sure!" said Katie. She stepped inside and Logan closed the door. He set the tray of food on his bed and climbed on. Katie carefully sat on the bed across from Logan. She set her book bag down next to the bed.
"Nice bag!" said Logan picking up the fork and stabbing a piece of chicken.
"Thanks!" The bag was black with buttons and pins covering the strap and front of the bag. Logan continued to eat while Katie glanced around the room.
"What did you have for dinner?" asked Logan scooping mashed potatoes into his mouth.
"Peas, carrots, chicken, rice, and water!"
"Sounds good!" he said sarcastically.
"It was! The carrots were cooked to perfection!" she said dreamily. Logan took a sip water and placed the tray on the nightstand.
"I have a surprise for you!" said Katie taking something out of her bag and hiding it behind her back.
"I love surprises!" said Logan trying to turn on the old charm again.
"Close your eyes!" she said smiling. He closed his eyes praying that he wasn't going to open his eyes to find that she had left him sitting there.
"Hold out your hands!" she said. He did so. He felt something plastic fall into his palms. He opened his eyes and saw a pudding cup sitting in his hands.
"Thanks!" he said ripping off the foil lid. Katie handed him a plastic spoon and took out her own dessert out of her bag. Hers was strawberry jello instead of chocolate pudding. The two sat there eating their desserts in silence.
"Thanks again for the dinner!" said Logan.
"No problem! Now we're even! You help me to my dorm and I bring you food!" they both laughed just as the door opened and Chase walked in.
"Oh! Sorry!" he said glancing at Katie.
"That's okay." Said Logan finishing his pudding.
"Yeah, I have to go anyway." Said Katie sliding off the bed and slinging her bag over her shoulder, "I'll throw that away for you. I think I saw a trashcan in the hall!" Logan handed her his empty pudding cup, "I guess I'll see you tomorrow!"
"Thanks again!" he said. Katie smiled and closed the door behind her.
"Dude!" said Chase as soon as the door had closed.
"What?"
"Do you know who that was?" said Chase.
"Yeah, that was Katie! I don't her last…"
"That's the girl we saw!" he said cutting Logan off.
"Excuse me?" said Logan getting up and putting away his iPod.
"We were all eating dinner and we went up to the counter where you get the food. The lady that usualy serves the food wasn't there, instead that girl was there! I just thought that she was a relative or something!"
"Maybe she's just..."
"Just what? Weird?" said Chase sitting down on his bed.
"Whatever." he said flopping back onto his own bed.
Logan sat and thought. How intriguingly strange she was. He thought about her strange room decorations. Logan didn't say another word until the next day. He had fallen asleep at ten-thirty and woken up early. Logan lay awake at six o'clock in the morning. He had tried to fall asleep, but it hadn't happened. Finally he got up out of bed, dressed, and left the dorm. He was just walking past rooms 190 through 200 when he saw a door slightly ajar. It was dorm 191, Katie's dorm. He knocked on the door. She appeared at the door looking wide-awake.
"Hi!" she said quietly, "What are you doing up so early?"
"I couldn't get back to sleep." Said Logan.
"Oh, sorry. I woke up a while ago! Wanna come in?"
"Sure." he said. Katie stepped back and he slipped in. Once again, things had been added around the room. Logan sat down on the bottom bunk sighed. He felt something brush his hair. He looked up and saw about a hundred tiny slips of paper hang on litte strings. Logan looked closer and saw that they were all fortunes from fortune cookies.
"So...what do you want to do?" Katie asked sitting down on the the ground in front of the single bed.
"I dunno."
"Wait!" she shouted suddenly.
"What?" said Logan.
"Don't move!" Katie said hurrying over to the bedside table and opening up the drawer. She sat back down on the floor holding a large artists notebook and a box of pastells.
"What are you doing?" said Logan. Katie didn't answer, but started to draw, looking up at Logan once in a while. After about twenty minutes she stood up and walked over to Logan.
"Here." she said handing the notebook to him. He looked down at it and was amazed at how good it was. The drawing was a sketch of himself with black charcoal.
"That's amazing!" said Logan.
"Thanks!" said Katie blushing slightly.