Chapter 2
Rebecca kept them separated after that disastrous game, like some sort of kindergarten teacher. But when it came time to sign up for classes, there was only so much she could do in a small computer lab. And if there was one thing Cat and Peter had in common, it was that neither of them were very good at whispering.
About anything. Least of all, insults about one another.
“Stats will be too hard for you,” Peter mused over Jeffrey’s lap at her when she asked Rebecca about it. “How about remedial algebra?”
Cat didn’t even bother looking at him anymore. This was the hundredth stab he took at her intelligence this afternoon, and none of it stuck anymore. Now, the irritation was constant, not just when he spoke or when she accidentally looked at him.
“How about a remedial fist in your face if you don’t shut up?”
“Remedial English too, so you learn what words mean.”
Rebecca looked insane by now, her hair stuck in a tizzy from pulling at it all day long. She sounded hysterical when she said, “Stats is fine for you, Cat! If you got an A in trig, you’ll do fine in stats.”
Jeffrey sounded just as uncomfortable when he shouted, a little too loudly, “My computer is broken and I need to change seats!”
“No you don’t, Jeffrey!”
Cat didn’t waste any time. “I’ve heard demons affect electricity. Maybe it has something to do with sitting next to the Prince of Darkness?”
“Or maybe it’s—”
“I swear to GOD, if you two don’t shut up—!” It was Josie this time, sitting behind them. Cat wasn’t an aggressive person by nature. But she wasn’t a coward or a pushover, either. If Peter thought he could get the last word in, he was sorely mistaken.
“If you’re done signing up for classes, you can just leave. This is the end of orientation.” Rebecca’s announcement forced a hush to wash over the room. Suddenly, everyone studied their screens intensely and clicked faster than ever.
How anyone could be that careless about future classes was beyond Cat. She continued to compare times to professor ratings, and almost everyone had left by the time it came to choosing her last class: communications.
Jeffrey scrambled out of his chair faster than his legs could carry him. When Cat looked up, it was just him and Peter left. And now their barrier was leaving.
“Shit,” she muttered to herself. Semi-fair teacher with no support three days a week, or less-fair teacher twice a week with more office hours?
“Just pick!” Rebecca shouted from the front of the room.
“I-I’m done!” Cat announced right when Jeffrey let the door slam behind him. Communications three times a week it was.
And just like that, she saved her selections and pressed the power button on the computer to speed up the shutdown process so she could leave. She would have rather had a root canal than stay any longer in that stifling room without anything to stop her from punching Peter in the face and getting expelled.
But she was signed up for her first semester: advanced expository English, statistics, human sexuality, communications, and an open track and field class that just said she had to turn in proof she ran a mile a week. So long as Peter kept to his schedule and his own major, there was a very little chance she’d have to see him again.
Catherine had never truly felt loneliness before. Despite being completely surrounded by strangers, new coworkers, and potential friends for life, she returned from her Saturday and Sunday shifts at work to a hallway where it seemed like everyone already knew someone and a mostly empty dorm.
Sunday afternoon, she lay on her bed, exhausted from trying to memorize a new menu for a new coffee shop she now worked at, the special training that came with working on a college campus, and trying to memorize even more people’s names. Thank goodness her coworkers had name tags. And one she even recognized from orientation!
So she sort of, technically, kind of had a friend. But Jeffrey lived off campus and commuted to work, so there wasn’t much of a chance to grab a late lunch with him. Besides, she didn’t want to look desperate by asking in the first place.
The last thing she wanted to do was text her family. She was supposed to be out with people her own age, without any care in the world. But curled up with her only pillow and the sounds of laughter outside her door, nothing felt like it was supposed to.
Not like the way people told her it would. It was hardly day three, classes hadn’t even started yet, and she already clutched her phone in her hand and debated crying to her mom. What was she, four years old?
The frustration only made her want to cry even more. To make matters worse, she finally let the building pressure in her chest release and turned into her pillow to let out a sob. But of course, her door had to open at that point.
“Hi, roomie!” came the familiar, excited voice. Henrietta! Or…was it Harrah?
Cat did her best to cool her face down with one breath, to suck in enough air and plaster on a fake enough smile to look excited, but the gig was up before she even started. “Cat? Are you okay?”
“Yes! Fine!” Cat shot up from the bed and discarded her pillow to the wall faster than the last time she got caught dirty texting a boy in her room by her father.
“Sorry I’m late—I mean, not late, but… My parents live just twenty minutes down the road, so I don’t have much to prepare.” Hannah. Her name was definitely Hannah.
“Oh, that’s great.” Cat’s friendly words were muffled by Hannah entering the room with three large bags, one on wheels. “Can I help you unpack, or…?”
“Sure! I don’t have much, but then we can grab dinner together after, if you’re free? I don’t want to impose if you have plans…”
“No plans! Dinner sounds great.” Fully taking advantage of Hannah’s momentary stress, Cat was careful to craft every question to be about her new roommate, her life, where she grew up.
The next couple of hours went quickly and didn’t entirely feel that forced. The questions came up naturally after a while, and she nearly forgot that she was upset earlier until Hannah brought it up on the way to the dining hall.
“So, now that that’s all done… Were you upset before I came in?” Hannah was gentle. Everything about her was soft, from her round face, her doe-like eyes, and her gentle curls.
Her voice was no exception, and every bit of her words sounded genuine. Cat desperately hoped she stayed that way.
“I was just feeling a little overwhelmed,” she admitted with a shrug. Hannah seemed to have everything together. She was peppy, her parents were close by.
Her siblings were grown and had families of their own, she had friends from last year she planned to meet for brunch tomorrow—which Cat couldn’t attend despite the invitation, due to work.
Thinking about how she must have looked when Hannah opened the door was a little embarrassing. How was someone supposed to react to a little brown girl crying like a child in their dorm?
“Your family live far away?”
“Culosa.”
“Oh, NorCal! You guys say hella up there!” Cat raised a brow, and her roommate opted to move on. “So, Culosa. Quite a long drive.”
“Even farther bus ride.”
“They couldn’t come to see you off?”
Cat frowned. “No, couldn’t get time off work.” Any of them. Too busy banking money for her education.
“Have you called them yet?”
“No, just texted… They haven’t called me either.” Who was supposed to call first? Weren’t her parents supposed to be calling her every hour, checking on her? Or did they just assume she was perfectly fine?
Hannah opened the glass doors to the common dining area to let the overused AC brush onto them. It was a nice contrast to the heat that rose to her cheeks.
“You’re going to feel worse for a little bit, then you’ll call them and remember why you’re here. You should call them after dinner. Trust me, if it’s as bad for me, and my family’s close, I can only imagine how much it will help when they’re far.” It was such genuine advice.
Cat was taken aback, to the point of hesitation, before she finally nodded to join her friend in line for the Thai food they previously agreed to get together.
“There are quite some perks to being roomed with a sophomore,” Cat echoed, recalling what Hannah said when they met during orientation.
“That’s right!” Hannah lit up like a Christmas tree. “I’ll show you all the good places to study and nap, and where to not get food. First lesson—stay away from the chicken nuggets.”
Oops. “What?”
“Everyone gets stomach cramps from them. No idea why.”
So maybe it wasn’t all just from anxiety. Maybe she was doing better than she thought. The idea alone softened the pangs in her stomach.
The final night of rest before classes was borderline blissful compared to the other days. Cat called her parents after dinner to say hello and catch them up, and her father only cried twice. Hannah was right about feeling better after.
And she was right about knowing everything to do with the campus too.
After talking with her parents, Hannah offered a brief tour of the place, pointing out which buildings Cat’s classes would be in so she had an idea of where to go tomorrow.
The sunset was breathtaking, disappearing behind the trees. The orange and pink rays speckled the cobblestone walkways through the canopy of palm and oak trees, and from the gentle breeze, the shadows looked like they were dancing.
At home, sunsets were hazy and angry red. Here, there was more pink, a hint more purple. Hannah said it was because the morning fog burned off a lot of the smog from the inner city.
They returned to their dorm building at the cusp of twilight, and Hannah was already deep into the explanations on how each floor had its own culture.
“First floor is always the party floor. Even if a party starts on the second floor, it ends up on the first floor. The stairs are so killer. They’re the tallest stairs of any building, so lots of people just fall back down on them. Don’t ever use those bathrooms, if you can avoid it. My friend, Magenta, says she got a staph infection from one of the showers, just by being barefoot.
“Second floor, where we are, isn’t so bad, especially our side of the building. It’s quieter, since it’s by the pool. There’s also a duck pond by the football field, and you can kind of see it from our window.
“Anyway, third floor is usually reserved for the upperclassmen, if they still live on campus. They tend to be nicer, sometimes more expensive. Not many lowerclassmen get to the third and fourth floors unless they are either very lucky or know someone to room with.
“My friend, Cameron, who’s also a sophomore, managed to get a room on the third floor, though. He’s rooming with a junior. He was going to be roomed with a senior he knew, but that guy dropped out, and then this junior came in and didn’t request anything specific, Cam got to keep his room.
“Actually—Cameron is one of the people I’m meeting tomorrow. Him and Kelsey, my old roommate. Thick as thieves, probably not still sleeping together.” For the first time since Hannah arrived, there may have been a cause for concern.
Cat’s voice took a nervous edge. “Why aren’t you roomies with Kelsey anymore?” she dared to ask. Obsessive? Crazy? Boyfriend-stealing—
“She’s a slob, and it caused a lot of fights. But she’s a good person. You’ll like her. She’s a lot of fun. Not as fun as I am, but still fun.” Oh, well. That was surprisingly tame.
Cat silently scolded herself for assuming something more along the lines of a TV drama. She was smarter than that.
“Anyone to look out for?” Cat dared to ask, brows raised.
“Umm…” Hannah seemed deep in thought as they made their way to the elevator of the building. “Not really. Haven’t met any crazies. But I guess, like… Cameron, he’s a bit of a slut. So if you like him, don’t expect anything serious. The guy doesn’t know what that word means.”
“Fair… So…you dated him too?”
As they exited the elevator, Hannah flashed a smile. “For a bit. But it got boring too fast for both of us, so we agreed we were much better wingmen.” As they passed the open doors down the hall, Hannah waved to a few people, but mostly kept speaking to Cat.
It was an odd feeling. Was Hannah a sort of popular person that everyone knew?
“I could use a couple wingmen,” Cat murmured, more to herself. She wasn’t exactly looking, but this was college, after all. This was what part of the experience was.
“Ooooh, you’ve got the right roommate! Guys or girls?”
Well, that wasn’t a question she’d ever considered. And there certainly wasn’t any time to think about it now. “Um, I think guys. I’ve never been with a girl.”
Upon admitting this, Hannah seemed to light up once again.
“You ever want to, you know where I live.” Huh? “Oh, and if you ever wanna do the sock-on-the-door thing, just text me instead. People steal socks as a prank, so you never actually know here.” Well, at least Hannah’s advice was all encompassing.
