Sim State University Versus Ripp Grunt

Chapter Three

Freshman Year: Nighttime Aftermath

Ripp is sitting at his computer working on his first term paper. Outside, the sun is setting, giving very little light to the already dark room. Ripp gives a sigh of relief, patting himself on the back for finishing the first paragraph; his pocket begins to vibrate.

"That's funny," Ripp says to no one in particular, "Who would be calling me this late at night?"

Ripp pulls his cell phone out of his pocket and flips it open, putting it up to his ear. "Hello?" he uneasily answers.

"Hey Ripp!" the sound of Ophelia's cheery voice erupts from the speaker, "It's Ophelia, didn't you recognize me? Or are you too much of a college big-shot now to talk to me?"

Ripp smiles and manages to laugh a little into the receiver, "Sorry Ophelia, I just wasn't expecting to hear from you this late at night. So, what's new?"

"What's new?" Ophelia repeats, "I'll tell you what's new! School is boring without you! Our class is so small, it's just me and Johnny now."

"What?" Ripp struggles to say before letting his mind wander, "What does she mean it's only her and Johnny? What happened to everyone else? I know Tank and I are gone but what about Brent? What about Isabella…?" Ripp accidentally loses his grip on the phone, letting it fall to the floor at the thought of her name.

"Ripp?" Ophelia calls out from the carpet, "Are you still there?"

Ripp quickly snaps out of his thoughts and grabs the phone from the floor, "Yeah," Ripp quickly responds, "Yeah, I'm still here. I was just wondering…what happened to everyone?"

"Hmm," Ophelia says before answering, "Well, I know Brent went to college, and obviously you and Tank went to college…"

"Yeah, I know that," Ripp interrupts, "I-I was just wondering-you know-what happened to-?"

"Isabella?" Ophelia completes for him, she sighs, "I don't know what happened to Isabella. All I know is that she's gone."

Ripp sits there with the phone up to his ear, unable to speak. After a few moments of silence, Ripp manages to speak up, "Oh, well, I guess I'll talk to you later."

"Ripp," Ophelia says, uncertainty in her voice, "Are you-?"

"Bye Ophelia," Ripp quickly states before hanging up. He tosses his phone on his bed and sits in his desk chair in silence, trying to count all the disappointments in his life.

This would take a while.

Meanwhile: In the Lounge

Isabella enters through Cassandra's dorm with Kea following close behind her. Isabella walks over to the couch in the lounge and puts her backpack down on it, she turns to Kea. "Come on," Isabella states, "There's somebody I want you to meet."

"Okay," Kea responds, looking for a place to put down her stuff, "Umm, what should I do with my coat?"

Isabella scans the lounge looking for a coat rack, finding none, she turns back to her friend, "Here, I'll put it in my room." Kea gives her coat to Isabella, Isabella heads toward her room, "I'll be right back!" she states.

Isabella walks down the hallway, passing by the pictures on her various neighbors' doors. Her eyes land on a picture placed on the door next to hers. She stops to stare at the photo more closely. "If I'd have known better, I'd swear that person almost looks like an older version of Ripp." Isabella quickly shakes her head, dismissing the thought from her mind, "I must be going crazy," she says to herself before opening the door to her room and putting Kea's coat inside.

Isabella is preparing to lock her door when she hears chanting, "Fight, fight, fight!"

"What the heck is that?" Isabella asks aloud, racing down the hall to the source of the noise. She runs into Kea on her way to the lounge. "Kea, what's happening?" she asks.

Kea shrugs, "There's some guy with blonde hair fighting a guy with face paint in the front room."

"Brent…" Isabella speaks under her breath, "Hang on, I'll handle this."

Isabella heads over to the front room but stops herself at the entry way, "Wait a minute," Isabella says contemplating what Kea just said, "Did you say he was fighting a guy with face paint on?"

"Yes," Kea answers, unaware of where this was going.

"There's only one person I know that wears face paint," Isabella says, running towards the lounge. Sure enough, she finds her brother Brent fighting with Tank in the middle of the room. She walks over to them and grabs Brent by the shoulders, trying to pull him away from Tank.

"Alright Brent, come on, break it up!" Isabella shouts over them, Brent reluctantly obeys.

"Fine," he says, getting up from off of the floor, "But he started it!"

"I did not!" Tank speaks up, glaring at Brent, "You were the one who made fun of my face camo!"

"Never mind that," Isabella interrupts, "Tank, what are you doing here?"

Tank turns to face Isabella, somewhat startled by her question, "What do you mean by that? I'm in college now, I live here."

"You do?" Isabella asks, Tank nods, "Since when?"

"Since yesterday," Tank responds, "My dad dropped me off with-"

Brent tackles Tank back on the ground, causing them to fight again. Isabella groans, "Please tell me it's not going to be like this every day," she says to herself.

Three Hours Later

Isabella is sitting at her desk looking through her finished term paper. "Well, this is pretty good for a rough draft. I should probably print it out now."

Isabella looks over at her printer, finding the paper tray empty. She goes over to her desk drawers and begins to search through them. Finding them empty, she stops in the center of her room; her hand to her forehead in disbelief, "Oh you have got to be kidding me."

She heads out of her dorm room door and heads toward her brother's room. She stops, "Crap, I just remembered. Brent has class right now," Isabella thinks, "Now what am I supposed to do?"

Isabella gazes over at the door between hers and Brent's, "Well, I guess it couldn't hurt to ask…"

Meanwhile: In His Dorm Room

Ripp is lying down on his stomach on his bed, tracing the pattern of the teal blue carpet with his finger. "What's the point of trying? Everyone who ever believed in me is gone: Izzy, Ophelia, my mother. I might as well just become what everyone else thinks I am, I might as well become a failure. That's the only thing I'll ever be good at."

Knock-knock!

Ripp groans at the sound of his door, lifting himself out of his comfortable position on his bed. "Tank, I already told you," Ripp says angrily storming towards the door, "You can't borrow my-"

Ripp opens the door, unable to complete his sentence. Standing right in front of him is the red-haired, gray eyed girl that he fell in love with early that year. Sure, she looked a little different, she was a lot taller and more filled out-but it was definitely her, Ripp was sure of it. He blinks his eyes several times, trying to see if the sight before him is actually real.

Guess what? It was.

"Isabella?" Ripp asks, daring enough to speak the first words in months.

Isabella struggles to open her mouth, having a hard time looking him directly in the face. He finally catches her eyes with his own, hoping that Isabella would speak, so he could hear her voice again. "Her beautiful voice," he thought.

"Ripp?" Isabella says, her emphasis on his name making it sound more like a statement than a question.

"Come on Ripp, say something-say anything!" Ripp screams internally, "Tell her that you love her; that you never got over her, that you can't live without her! Tell her how you feel about her, how she's the most beautiful girl that you've ever seen and you haven't stopped thinking about her since you were separated."

Ripp begins to shuffle his feet, "Uh, hi."

Isabella glances at Ripp, who is now staring directly at the floor; her eyes linger to the carpet as well. "Hi," she softly responds, "I-I have to go."

Isabella quickly turns around and walks back to her room. The sound of the door shutting behind her drowned out by the sound of her heart racing. She leans up against her door and slides her back down it until she reaches the floor. She buries her head in her hands, unable to speak.

Next door, Ripp is back inside of his room contemplating what just occurred minutes ago, "Isabella's here? Why didn't I notice this sooner? Did she know I was right next door this whole time? Nah, she couldn't have, she looked just as surprised as I was. Was it good that she was surprised? Does she still love me? Gosh, why is everything so confusing here?" Ripp asks himself, pounding on the left side of his desk. He stops, looking down at the flyer right above his fist. The flyer reads, "Welcome to Sim State."