And just like that, 2047 is here and winter recess is over. Today's Friday, January 11th. It's time for me and Jonah to drive back to our schools and wait for the spring semester to start on the 15th. I wish I could say that I was happy to have to go back to Rutgers, but I can't. I've been spending so much time down here with April, eating out and watching movies. I can't bear to leave her again. Alas, I have to go. Rutgers needs me.

It's a cold but beautiful January morning, about four-thirty or so, and Mom helps me and Jonah load up our things into our respective vehicles. Part of me doesn't want to have to do this for the next three years, but at the same time, I have to pursue that BA in English. My future depends on it. I can't help but notice that tears are streaming down Mom's face. She appears to be mourning the time we've spent together during winter recess. I can't blame her.

"Alright, kids, be good," Mom tells us while she's wiping away her tears. "I'm going to miss you so much."

"We're gonna miss you too, Mom," I reply. "We'll be good at school, we promise."

"Yeah, you can always count on us, Mom," Jonah adds.

Mom smiles at us. I look into her blue and brown eyes, and just like before, I can see the inherent sadness and worry in them. I can also see the hope and optimism she holds for us that we will graduate on time in 2050.

"I'm just so proud of you for taking your studies seriously," Mom tells us once more. "Hopefully, we'll see each other again during spring break. I hope everything goes well for you."

"Us too, Mom," Jonah and I both reply in unison.

Mom and Jonah and I all grab each other in a bear hug. After we all let go, Jonah and I separate from Mom, get into our cars, and then go our separate ways. I look over and watch as he puts the key in the ignition and start up the car to go to Delaware State. Once he's disappeared from my line of sight, I put the key into my own ignition and start off for Rutgers. As I head out into the open road, I can't help but think about how the rest of my academic career at Rutgers will play out. I can't help but think about how strong my friendship with Quilene is. She's such a nice woman. She doesn't deserve any of the hatred coming her way. I don't want anything to get between us.

It's about eight in the morning when I finally arrive on campus and park in my usual parking spot at Nichols Apartments. Shortly afterwards, I quickly make my way inside and towards the door of my apartment. I turn the knob for a bit, but it doesn't budge. Hmph, it must be locked. Guess nobody's inside. That's when I fish my spare key out of my pocket and place it inside the lock and turn. In practically no time at all, the door opens up and everything appears to be exactly how Quilene and I left it. Guess I'm the only one here right now. I hang out for a few minutes, spending most of that time watching Netflix on TV. Eventually, the door flies open to reveal a new girl.

This girl immediately piques my interest. For one thing, she's got sand-colored skin and striking amber eyes that seem to take on a coppery hue. She's also got wavy cappuccino-colored hair with tips dyed lavender. Her face is rather angular, with her nose and chin in particular forming an isosceles right triangle and an obtuse triangle respectively. Her eyes are rather big and expressive while also having a downward tilt at the outer corners of her eyes. This gives the illusion that her upper lids are much larger than her lower lids. As for her lips, they're the shape of a heart, wit her lower lip being thicker than her upper lip (or so it would seem). Her lips are coated in dusty rose lipstick from Besame Cosmetics, and her eyes are decorated with deep purple eyeshadow from the Huda Beauty Obsessions 9-Color Palette.

"'Scuse me, is this Room 89?" the new girl asks.

"Uh-huh," I reply. "Are you a new roommate?"

"Yeah... I'm from Atlantic City. Are you also a new roommate?"

I shake my head. "I've actually been living here since last semester. I'm originally from Beach City, Delaware. What's your name?"

"It's Aerolynn. Aerolynn Rizzo. What's yours?"

"It's Hope Harvey-Dahl."

Aerolynn purses her lips. "Sounds like a mouthful."

"Tell me about it. Anyway, what made you move to this dorm in particular?"

"Eh, I guess my previous roommates didn't like me or something, so they conspired to kick me out and here I am."

"Oh... sorry to hear that. Anyway, I'm waiting for my other roommate to get here. Her name's Quilene Summers, and she's been my roommate since last semester."

Aerolynn's face seems to light up upon hearing me say that. "Wait, you've been living with her?"

"Well, duh, we're roommates. Why wouldn't we be?"

"I actually used to attend Piscataway High with her. We were friends for a long time until we just... weren't anymore."

I'm immediately puzzled by that. "Oh, uh, would you mind explaining why you stopped being friends?"

Before Aerolynn can give me an answer, I hear a knock at the door.

"Oh!" I exclaim. "That must be Quilene."

I open up the door. Sure enough, it's her.

"Oh, hey, Quilene!" I greet with open arms. "How's winter recess been?"

"Pretty good, I must say," she simply replies. "Just got to spend time with the family and..." She trails off, having noticed Aerolynn standing there. "What the hell is she doing here?"

I crane my head back at Aerolynn. "Oh, she's our new roommate. Apparently, her old roommates decided to kick her out for whatever reason."

"I don't want her living here."

"Well, why not? She said you guys used to be friends, so maybe it has something to do with that."

"Look, I..." Quilene sighs and pinches the skin on the bridge of her nose. "I don't want to talk about this right now. Even just thinking about it is too painful for me. I can't have her living here. I just can't."

I want to venture on and get to the root of why Quilene and Aerolynn aren't friends anymore, but at the same time, I don't want to push Quilene way out of her comfort zone and possibly trigger her. Besides, it surely wouldn't be fair to kick Aerolynn out before the spring semester's supposed to start. Still, I'm not sure what else I can do here.

"Hey, Hope!" Aerolynn calls out to me. "Everything okay over there?"

Quilene and I turn around to face Aerolynn, who's just standing there, having probably heard every word we've said.

"Yeah, uh, listen," I reply. "I can tell that something happened between you guys that Quilene doesn't want to say, so I wanna propose something."

Aerolynn leans forward. "Go on."

"Why don't we have you stay here on a three-month trial? If you can get past those three months without being a bad roommate, you can stay. If not, you will have to move out and find another dorm. Sound good?"

"I think I can do that. What do I have to do to not be a bad roommate? Help with chores or something?"

"Uh-huh, all that. You're going to have to also learn to co-exist with Quilene without you guys trying to kill each other."

Aerolynn just smirks. "Okay, I think I can do that."

I clasp my hands together in joy. "Wonderful. I'm sure we'll all get along just fine."

Well, I hope so anyway. I don't know how things will last before Quilene or Aerolynn start trying to pick a fight, but I have to hope nothing seriously bad will happen this semester.