Back at the dorm Mallory was figuring out ways for her to become less shy and more open with people, she was not having much luck. She was on the verge of crying when Rhianna came in all smiles. "Oh I had the most wonderful time with Michael, he is the most wonderful boy in the whole wide world. I think I am in love," she cried out happily.
"Good for you," Mallory bitterly snapped back.
"I know it is good for me. I have never felt this way about any guy. I think I may actually want a serious relationship with this one. I mean I felt this immediate connection with him, and we are going out on Saturday." She fell on her bed and had this dreamy look on her face that made Mallory become all queasy and jealous inside.
Concern came over Rhianna's face. "What's wrong Mal, you don't look good or seem happy for me at all. Are you sick?"
"Yeah, now that you mention it I do feel a little like throwing up. I'm sorry I don't seem happier for you, I am very happy for you I really am." Mallory said trying to hold back all the anger and jealousy she felt right now.
"Well ok…maybe you should just go to sleep; I'll go out for a walk so I don't bother you." She walked out of there leaving all alone to think.
Mallory threw her pillow across the room hitting a picture of Rhianna that she had on her desk. It shattered into three pieces. "I'll fix it in the morning," she muttered.
Upset and tired she tried to go to sleep, but couldn't. She kept thinking of Rhianna and how she could get always get what she wanted. "Why I am so jealous of her. It's not like she is ever happy in her little relationships that last about what…two weeks. I am gonna meet the right guy at the right time and be way happier than her. And this boy she's going to see, I bet he is like all the other ones, a jerk. I shouldn't even be upset about him."
Deciding sleep was obviously not going to happen she went to get a glass of water from the lounge, constantly telling herself that she is way better off than Rhianna. But yet when she got back she felt worse than ever. She finally cried herself to sleep that night, always telling herself that one day she would be happy and Rhianna wouldn't be the only one.
Later that night Rhianna slipped back into her room hoping Mal hadn't waited up. It was pretty late and she wanted Mal to feel better. She saw Mal asleep on her bed and tiptoed across the room to her bed, but something shiny caught her eye. She picked it up and noticed that it was a picture of her that had been smashed into pieces. "Why would Mal break my picture? Is she mad at me or something?" She looked over at Mal and noticed that she was moving around a lot and it looked like she was having a nightmare. She looked over her sleeping face and noticed that her face hadn't been washed and saw her mascara and eyeliner running down her face like she had been crying. "I wonder what's wrong with her. Well, I'll ask her in the morning."
The next morning Rhianna woke up refreshed and ready to face the day. She saw Mallory was still asleep and decided not to bother her. So she got dressed, put on her makeup, and headed down to the cafeteria for breakfast. Only a moment after she had sat down to eat that someone came and sat next to her. She looked over and saw that it was Michael.
"Hey, I wasn't expecting to see you here," Rhianna said sleepily but happy. "I mean it's still pretty early and most guys I know like to sleep in."
"No not me, I'm an early riser. I don't like to waste my mornings sleeping when I could be out doing something."
"Oh, me neither, I have never gotten how some people can just sleep all morning. That's the way Mal is, she can sleep till 12:00 easily."
"Hey by the way when am I going to meet her?"
"I'll probably introduce you to her after our date Saturday, she seemed kinda sick last night so that's probably why she left the other day before you got to meet her."
They ate the rest of their breakfast getting to know about one another. They talked about their families, their likes and dislikes. Rhianna told him about how she was on the volleyball team there. And she learned he was in the choir.
"Shut up, you are not in the choir, what part do you sing?"
"I'm a tenor."
"Well sing for me, come on let me see, I mean hear what you can do."
"Nope sorry you don't get to hear me sing, nobody gets to hear me sing solo not even my family."
"Oh come on please," she said smacking him playfully and giving him her puppy dog eyes.
"Well… ok but only because you have those cute eyes that I can't seem to ignore." She laughed happily. "So what do you want me to sing?"
"Ummmmm, how about you sing a verse of 'Bad Day' by Daniel Powter. Do you know that one?"
"Yes I do it's one of my favorites."
"Hey me too."
"Well here goes… Where is the moment we needed the most, you kick up the leaves and the magic is lost, you tell me your blue skies fade to gray, you tell me your passion's gone away and I don't need no carrying on, you stand in the line just to hit a new low, you're faking a smile with the coffee to go, you tell me your life's been way off line, you're falling to pieces every time and I don't need no carrying on cuz you had a bad day you're taking one down you sing a sad song just to turn it around you say you don't know you tell me don't lie you work at a smile and go for a ride you had a bad day the camera don't lie you're coming back down and you really don't mind, you had a bad day, you had a bad day"
His voice came out crystal clear and Rhianna thought it was the most beautiful voice she had ever heard. "Wow that was amazing. You have the most wonderful voice. You could be a professional singer, no joke."
"Well I don't know about that," he said looking a little embarrassed. "But anyways do you know what time it is?"
"Oh yah it's… oh man it's 11:30, we've been talking for 3 hours now. I better go wake Mallory up now so she can finally get her day started."
"All right I'll see yah Saturday, Bye."
"Yah see you then."
Back at the dorm Rhianna not surprisingly found Mallory still sleeping. She walked over to wake her up and teasingly said, "Mallory it's time to get up, if you don't get up soon I'm going to do stuff to you while you sleep, now come on you don't want that to happen."
Sleepily Mallory replied, "You will do nothing to me even if I don't get up."
"Oh I just might, I'm going to get the honey right now so I can spread it in your hair"
"All right, all right I'll get up knowing you I might just wake up with that honey in my hair. What time is it by the way?"
"11:45. Now get up, up, up. We have stuff to do."
"Like what?"
"Well I don't know but I'll think of something as you take a shower."
While Mallory was showering Rhianna noticed the picture on the floor and remembered she had to ask Mal about that.
When Mallory was out and getting dressed Rhianna casually said, "Hey Mal I noticed that picture of me was on the floor broken. How did it get there? Are you mad at me or something?"
"Oh no I'm not mad at yah, I was uh…just feeling so sick last night that I threw my pillow across the room and hit your picture. I thought I would just pick it up in the morning."
"Oh I see, well I figured out what we can do today."
"Go play volleyball on that sand court outside our dorm. I mean until classes actually start we're basically only going to be doing conditioning at practice, so this will be our chance to actually play some real volleyball."
"You don't need to ask me twice, I'm there."
They headed off for the court, and when they got there a game was already going on so they went over to a different court across campus and saw a five-on-five game going on with a bunch of guys and asked if they could join. Of course right away the guys laughed in their face saying they couldn't handle playing with them, but after some serious convincing from Rhianna they finally let them play.
"This is a perfect chance for me to be a little less like me and more like Rhianna," Mallory thought to herself.
"All right so what positions do you girls play?" asked a tall, handsome blonde guy.
Rhianna was about to answer when Mallory beat her to the chase, "I'm a setter and she is an outside hitter, would those two positions happen to be open."
"Well that actually works out perfect we need a setter, and we can just move one of the other guys to middle hitter so Rhianna can hit outside. We'll put you on separate teams so the teams aren't uneven. Oh and by the way would you like the net moved down, you know so you can handle it," he said arrogantly.
This time Rhianna jumped in first, "I think we can handle it."
They played for a few hours and Rhianna's team ended up winning by two points. All the guys were impressed by Rhianna and Mallory's performance. Mallory was secretly more impressed with her social performance.
After the game the same blonde guy came up to them and said "Good job girls you were amazing, way better than I expected. Well anyways the reason I came over here was to ask if you two would like to come out tonight with us to a party. We do it after every game. Losers also always buy the winners pizza before we head out. Would you guys be interested?"
"Of course, we'd be interested we'll stop by later," Rhianna said. "What time were you guys thinking of leaving? It's gotta be after 8:00 because that's when volleyball practice gets out."
"All right we'll pick you up at your dorm at 9:00, you're at Osten dorm right?"
"Right," both girls said together.
While walking back Rhianna started to praise Mallory. "You were so awesome today. Not just with your volleyball but with the way you acted around those guys. You seemed so confident in your self. You're not usually so open with people, much less guys, you just meet. I mean you were flirting with them laughing and having lots of fun. It was nice to see you be so open and fun for once."
"Was I really ok around them, acting that way was the scariest thing I have ever done."
"Are you kidding, I think they may have liked you better than me. And I also think that brunette guy wearing the blue swim trunks kinda liked you. All you need to do is work yourself up to him tonight and you're his."
"And that I will do," Mallory said finally feeling a little better about the way she was. "Oh I can't wait for that party tonight."