Bella finally arrived at the Admissions Office, and as she could see, she was definitely not the only student who was unaware of the dorm assignment.
She groaned to herself and wondered how long this would take. The line moved at turtle speed as one by one the office workers sorted through the students.
At last, almost two hours after she arrived, Bella was at the front of the line.
She looked up to see an older woman; crow's feet, cat-eye glasses, rounded out with a large smile, and an even larger bee-hive hairdo. Her name tag shone on her left lapel, Ms. Cope.
"Hello, what can I do for you today dear?" Bella smiled at the term of endearment, she had seemed the matronly type.
"I would like to know my dorm assignment, please."
"Of course ", she clicked and clacked away asking Bella her name.
"It's Isabella Swan ma'am."
"That is a very nice name, now where is that assignment…."
Bella blushed and said "Thank you".
As Ms. Cope finally seemed to find what she was looking for, she cleared her throat and said "You are Engelman Hall, room 245, it's just to the west of the quad."
"Thank you again, ma'am", and with that short goodbye Bella was now off to find her dorm and hopefully snag a great bed for herself.
When Bella arrived at Engelman Hall the front doors oft eh dormitory were propped open with large bricks and groups of students were seen coming in and out.
Laughing and throwing footballs, it all seemed so full of possibility and as much as Bella wanted to observe, she knew that meeting her roommate was going to be a more instrumental part of today.
She walked up two flights of stairs and came to the middle of the hall.
Shockingly her door just like the main entrance was propped open.
Bella just about to peer inside was stopped when she heard a piercing screech:
"OMG , what do you mean there aren't any single rooms available, I can't believe I am stuck sharing a space with some plebian! What if they're ugly or gross? How could this be done to me, Jess?"
Bella, now extremely hesitant, walked in the room and the first thing she noticed was the girl in front of her looked like a Rosalie knock-off.
Her overly tanned skin reminded Bella slightly of an oompa loompa, her blonde extensions with black roots, and pale brown eyes, to top it all of her expressions was marred with a frown as she chewed her gum like a cow chews cud.
Throughout this perusal, Bella somehow stopped herself from dropping her smile.
She looked over at her roommate and said "Hello, I'd like to think that I'm neither ugly nor gross, if it helps." Hoping that the joke would break the ice, but not unsurprised when the girl just looked at her.
She tried again, "My name is Bella, nice to meet you."
This time reaching her hand forward for the other girls' and finally she heard some response "I'm Lauren and eavesdropping is so rude."
Her voice was not necessarily unpleasant, but her attitude had left a bad taste in Bella's mouth.
Lauren spoke again "I'm on the left side of the room, the air from the window will mess with my vocal chords, so you can be on the right."
Wanting to avoid any kind of disagreement so early, Bella just nodded. Honestly, she had wanted the window and the situation to her was just fine.
"Great and just so you know don't even think about touching my stuff, when I go out. I don't even think that your plain style would work with any of this" ,waving her hand toward the mountain of clothing just waiting to be put away "Also, my boyfriend will be visiting every other weekend so I may need the room to myself on those nights."
Again, Bella nodded not in acceptance, but in wonderment of what kind of hell-hole she had just entered. Bella had never been religious, but on this day she di all she could not to drop on her knees and pray.
Lauren babbled on "Great so if you follow those rules, then we will get along just fine. Who knows maybe I'll even allow you to come to parties with me and my friends."
With that she departed the room, and as she walked out Bella could hear her harping to her friend, Jess, about her new roommate. Bella exhaled, wiped her brow and gnawed her lip.
She walked over to the window and observed the same scene from before.
Sighing, she began to unpack her clothes, wondering how long it would be before she could join in on life.