"Morning," is the first thing I hear as I exist the apartment building.
My twin sister is leaning against the wall, flinging her car keys on her left index finger.
"Morning, Vi."
"Slept well?"
"I guess."
"Taken you meds?"
"Yes."
"You ready for this?"
"No."
She just stares at me for a while. Then she gestures me to get in her car.
It's her work car. A fucking police car. Exactly what I needed on my first day at college.
"I think I'll walk, thanks."
"Don't be stupid, it would take you an hour to get there. Get in the damn car, it's not like I'll start the sirens or some shit."
I mumble an insult towards her as I open the car door and sit down.
Vi gets in on the driver's seat.
"You know, if you had a driver's license, I wouldn't have to drive you everywhere."
"Oh yeah, after being locked up for five years, my first concern is to get a driver's license. And then, I guess, I'd just steal a car, because the money I have is barely enough to buy enough food."
Vi doesn't respond and just starts the car.
The drive to the college is silent. I watch the sky as the grey clouds come closer.
"I'm sorry."
My thought are interrupted by Vi's words.
"What?"
"I said I'm sorry. It's been over five years and I still can't deal with what you've done."
"Well, maybe if you talked to someone instead of keeping it a secret... like, your lover for example."
"She's not my lover. And there's no way in hell I'm gonna tell her the criminal who ruined her city is my sister."
"I didn't –"
"Shut up. I'm gonna deal with this my way."
"Yeah, because that worked out really well so far."
Silence again.
"There," she stops the car, "Now get out of my car."
"You have a nice day too, sis," I mumble as I grab my bag and get out of the car.
She speeds off as soon as I slam the door shut.
I can feel the people standing around me staring at me.
I would too, if I had just seen someone get dropped off by the police.
I tighten the grip around my bag, take a deep breath and, slowly, walk towards the big building in front of me.
I guess this is it. College.
Even before I lost my mind, I never would have even dreamt about attending college one day.
I didn't even finish middle school. (Of course, they drilled everything I missed into my brain while I was locked up.)
"Hey!"
I wince. Suddenly there is a pretty, young woman all in up my face. I blink a few times.
"Can I help you?", I ask.
"I was wondering the same thing about you. You seem a little lost. You new?"
Her voice is unlike anything I've ever heard. So clear and soothing. No too high, not too deep.
"Yeah, I... just, uh, moved here. First day."
"I remember my first day. Sucks, especially when you don't know anyone. What do you study?"
"Psychology."
My therapist's idea. To 'help me understand myself better'. This whole college thing is basically a journey to find myself.
"Really? Me too!"
So she's not only pretty, but intelligent as well.
… Stop that thought right there, Jinx.
"So what's your name?"
"J- Hannah. It's Hannah. My name is Hannah."
Nice job. That sounded totally convincing.
"Nice to meet you, Hannah. I'm Olivia."
She reaches out to shake my hand.
I haven't had any physical contact with anyone for years. Except for the doctors and nurses trying to restrain me whenever I had one of my meltdowns.
It feels like something's exploding inside me as I shake her hand.
She smiles at me. She has dimples. And a few lonely freckles on her nose, as well as a heavy, black pair of nerdy glasses that doesn't quite fit her slim face. Her thick, dark brown hair is braided into pigtails that are resting on her perfectly sized breasts. She's tried the braids with little, light blue bows. Fucking adorable.
She's like the definition of innocence. But at the same time, incredibly attractive.
"Do you know how to get to your classes?"
I'm so captivated by her, it takes me a second to respond.
"No idea," I say with an awkward smile.
"Well, since we're studying the same subject, you're lucky. Follow me."
There's that smile again. Fuck. Fuck.
She turns around and one of her braids flies over her shoulder, now resting on her shoulder blade as she starts walking.
I'm mesmerized. I follow her, not taking my eyes off her.
The campus is huge and we've probably been walking for a good ten minutes, but the time just flies by as I listen to her talk about our professors, the cafeteria food and the college clubs.
"There we are. Right on time, too, class is about to start."
We walk inside the (huge-ass) classroom and I sit down beside her. Not two minutes later, the room is filled with chattering people in their early twenties and a man that looks way too old to still be teaching walks in.
He briefly notifies the other students of my existence, I hear a few "Hi, Hannah"s and then our professor, whose name vaguely escapes me, starts the class.
He does a short introduction into the human mind and then does what I assume to be a repetition of what they've done in class so far.
Olivia repeatedly raises her hand during class and by the way she talks it's obvious that she's fascinated by the human mind. And also, probably, a straight-A student.
Oh, if only she knew. I could be the subject of master thesis or something.
I wonder if they've ever talked about complete nutcases like me in this class, or if they're still only discussing the mere surface of just how messed up a person's mind can be.
When, after three long hours, the bell that announces lunchtime rings, the first words out of Olivia's mouth are "Finally, I'm starving!"
Then she looks at me, and flashes that beautiful smile of hers again.
"Come, I'll show you the cafeteria," she says.
"Maybe you could do that later. I'd like to have a word with our new student, if you don't mind, Miss Percal."
The professor is standing next to us and looks at me with what I can only describe as the 'death stare'.
Olivia grabs her bag, mouths "See you later" and leaves.
I would've given anything to not be alone with this guy right now. This can't be good.
