Author's Note: SORRY SORRY SORRY I haven't updated in so long. It's just, the Monster School and his evil sidekick Homework have captured me and have now enslaved me in chains. So I'm lucky to have this short time to update for you.
Doctor Kiba, thank you for the compliment! It really means a lot. Beverly, so glad you're back. Star Breacher and mauriceP, be patient. Palantiri, same goes for you but you already know a bunch other people don't know, so don't complain! Yumi-clone, you are awesome (enough said)! Same goes for you, dreamcaster555! And thanks to all those of you who emailed me! I love getting to know you better! You guys are more like me than you think. You ROCK!
Most importantly, enjoy this chapter!
Angela held up the piece of paper to the light. 134, it read. Okay...
She looked up at every door she passed. 130...132...
She stopped in front of the door marked 134. Taking a deep breath, she placed her hand on the doorknob and twisted it, pushing the door open.
"Oh my god."
"Holy shit."
Angela stood in the doorway, staring at her roommate. Her roommate stared back just as stunned.
Her roommate was the first to recover. "So, what happened after I left? Was there a food fight that I apparently missed?"
That snapped Angela back to the present. She was amazed that her roommate had actually tried to crack a joke. Not a very good one, but close enough.
She entered into the room and went to sit on the empty bed on the opposite wall. She gave her roommate a shaky smile. "No, you didn't miss a thing," Angela stated, exhaling and gazing at her suitcase and bags on the floor beside her bed.
An uncomfortable silence hung in the air as no one spoke. Angela felt the ice form, like a barrier between the two girls. She had absolutely nothing to say. Maybe she had been too forward, too outspoken when they had first met. Maybe she needed some time alone. She was just about to suggest that when her roommate spoke. "Um...Angela, is it?"
Angela looked up, surprised. "Yes. How did you know?"
Her roommate replied without emotion. "I saw the name tags on your stuff."
"Oh," Angela looked down again at her hands in her lap.
"My name is Lori, by the way." Angela looked up again at the brown haired girl. Violet eyes stared straight into Angela's brown ones. They carried a hardness that Angela had never seen. "Let me give you some advice, Angela," Lori said, leaning in as if she was going to confide Angela in a secret. "Stay out of my life and I'll stay out of yours. Believe me, it's the best way to keep both of us happy."
"Oh," Angela said again, her former resolve lost. Lori leaned back, satisfied. I knew she was no match for me. I was scared over nothing. Once again, Lori had won. She was content...for now.
Without another word, Angela stood up and walked out of the room.
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"I am very disappointed in you two. The first day of school and you two are already up at each other's necks."
The principal gazed across his desk at the two youths before him. Each one of them both had heated looks on their faces and no intention of apologizing in their eyes. The principal sighed slowly and leaned back in his leather swivel chair. This was going to be an interesting year, he thought to himself.
Then he leaned forward again, like a broken rocking chair. "Now why did you two start fighting?"
The dirty blonde haired boy spoke up immediately, choosing his words carefully, no doubt to prevent from sounding like a tattle-tailing first grader. "Ian decided it would be funny if he tripped me as I was finding a seat..."
The black haired boy immediately interrupted, also choosing his words carefully. "I did not! Principal, you can't believe him. Charlie was a well known liar at the previous school we went to..."
"What are you talking about? You shouldn't be talking at all, because you're the liar..."
"I am offended!"
"Oh shut up. And besides, if I'm the well known liar, then you're the well known prankster and the person that likes to beat up people for the heck of it..."
"You shouldn't judge people you don't know."
"Oh, I know you, Ian. I know you well enough."
"Oh yeah? Well..."
"Silence!" the principal roared, sending both boys inching a bit back into their chairs. The principal's stern gaze became like cold stones as his wish was granted immediately. "Now," he said, lowering his voice to a regular speaking volume, "I don't care who lies (Ian gave Charlie a smug look) or who plays childish tricks (Charlie gave a equally smug look back at Ian), but you both are at fault. And you both will be punished. You will be sentenced for three days of detention after school, starting tomorrow." The principal scanned both boys' faces for any reaction. Both of them kept their faces carefully void of feeling. Well, this will be something to get their blood boiling. The principal almost grinned, but resisted it. Maybe I should wave the three detentions. I mean, they'll be punished enough already...
The principal made a grand show of clearing his throat and taking into his hands a clipboard with a few pieces of paper clipped to it. He was pleased to see the two boys exchange skeptic glances. He continued flipping through the pages and when he finally came to the one line he wanted, he reached for a yellow highlighter.
"Um...what's that?" Charlie asked, trying to sound as unobtrusive as possible.
"Oh this?" the principal asked, feigning ignorance. He held up the clipboard. "Its just the dorm assignments for every new student. Tell me, Ian, what is your dorm room number?"
"Uh," Ian reached into his pocket and pulled out a small piece of paper that was evidently ripped from a larger piece of paper. "143."
"You're kidding, right?" Charlie said, glancing at Ian with a raised eyebrow. "143?"
Ian looked confused. "Uh, no I am not kidding."
Charlie shook his head, convinced. "No, no. You can't have dorm 143."
"And why is that?"
"I have dorm 143."
Silence hung thickly as Ian absorbed the information. The principal capped the highlighter after use and looked politely from one boy to the other.
"No way. There must be some mistake. Obviously, you got the wrong dorm room."
"Did it ever occur to you that you got the wrong dorm room?"
Ian's temper flared a bit at that. He thrust his little slip of paper right under Charlie's nose. "Here, poem boy. Can you read?"
Charlie shoved his arm away. "Of course I can read, dimwit." Charlie turned to the principal. "You said that you are holding the list of all the dorm assignments. Could I take a look at it?"
The principal allowed a slight smile. "Help yourself." He let the pages fall back in place as he gave the boys the clipboard. The boys immediately started trying to find their names. They found it highlighted, together, under the same dorm room number.
The principal almost laughed at their expressions.
The horror on their faces was unimaginable.
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"I thought maybe you needed a friend."
The soft-eyed, blonde haired girl chose her words carefully, pushing her glasses back up her nose again. She clutched her laptop tightly in her crossed arms and gazed at the black haired girl sitting before her with a stunned expression on her face. The wind whipped through, sending both their hair rippling in the wind's direction. But neither moved and neither showed a sign of feeling the cold.
"You seemed awful lonely and..." the blonde haired girl trailed off, looking toward her feet again. Why didn't I make friends before? I'm so bad at this! She had now made it sound like either she was desperate or that the girl before her seemed desperate. Either way was not a good position to be in.
"I guess your right," the girl before her said quietly, so quietly that the blonde almost missed it. But she heard and she smiled brightly at it. She went to go sit next to the black haired girl who now had brought her knees up to her chest and was hugging them.
"So..." the blonde girl said, trying to start a conversation as the black haired girl just stared straight ahead vacantly. "How'd you get up here?"
The reply was unexpected and fast, completely taking the younger girl by surprise. "How'd you get up here?"
"Um..." the blonde girl blinked a couple of times. "I climbed the tree that's next to this building."
"There's your answer." The black haired girl's voice held no anger, no contempt or any trace of annoyance. It was just a pure, straight answer. It contained a gentle kindness and the blonde could tell the clipped answers were not made to discourage conversation. They were her personality.
Suddenly the black haired girl shifted her position and her knees fell toward the younger girl's direction. For the first time, the blonde haired girl got a full close up view of her face. It was a beautiful face. A face of an ebony doll.
The black haired girl's face was cheery when she spoke next. "And considering you're in a skirt, that must have been some climb."
The blonde haired girl was speechless again. She quickly recovered herself, with more dignity than last time. She smiled. "Believe me, it wasn't easy. But I'm used to it. I've been here for a few years."
"I certainly admire you. Explorer even in a skirt." The black haired girl's eyes seemed to dance with friendliness. "I'm Angela. Angie, for short."
"I'm Cynthia," the blonde haired girl supplied, smiling brightly at Angela in front of her.
"Cynthia..." Angela seemed to trail back into her sea of memories. "I had a doll once named Cynthia. She was the most beautiful person I had ever seen." She turned back toward Cynthia. "You are beautiful, just like her."
Cynthia flushed and looked down. Angela's sure blunt. "Um...thank you..."
"So tell me," Angela said, facing Cynthia all the way now. "Do you really carry around that laptop to everywhere you go?"
"No, most of the time I leave it in my room."
"Thought so. Can you go online on it? I haven't checked my email in ages."
Cynthia smiled. "Not out here. But in the dorm building you can go online. Why don't you come with me to my dorm and you can check your email there? But first maybe we should stop and get you cleaned up."
Angela laughed and her eyes twinkled in merriment. Angela remembered this feeling. She hadn't felt it truly in days. "Sure, let's go."