Chapter One:
I
stumbled under the weight of my suitcase and jet lag. The crumpled piece of
paper in my hand insisted that I was in the right place. That and Alyssa, my
community advisor. She had introduced herself as a theater major, and I
wondered if I was supposed to lead with that bit of information myself, though
I was going to double major in graphic design and dance. I was almost
embarrassed by my overachieving ambition. Almost. But not quite.
Once I
managed to get inside my room, I was assaulted with the visual equivalent of
unicorn poop. Every surface of my new home was covered in pink and purple and
sparkles. I almost dry heaved. Setting my suitcase down heavily, I dropped into
a hard backed desk chair. This could not be the right place.
“Oh my
gosh, you must be Astrid!”
I
turned toward the squealing coming from my doorway and saw a girl who was the
human embodiment of unicorn poop. She was small and pale, with flawless,
alabaster skin, reminiscent of a porcelain doll. Her long dark hair only served
to enhance her luminescence, especially the color of her blue eyes, which seemed
to glow almost violet as she smiled at me. She was decked head to toe in hot
pink, and there was indeed a cartoon unicorn on her t-shirt. I didn’t have a
chance to respond before she threw her arms around me.
“And
you must be Kia,” I said, disentangling myself from her arms. Exhaustion was
overwhelming me, and I was having trouble staying calm.
“Have I
told you the story of how I got my name?” she asked.
I
wracked my brain. I couldn’t remember so I just shook my head. “Which bed is
mine?”
“Oh,”
Kia said, looking confused for a moment. “You can pick. I’ve been sleeping on
the bottom bunk because it’s easier for me to get into. I mean, I know I’m
pretty short.”
“That’s
fine. Top it is,” I said, cutting in before she could ramble any longer. “I
just need to sleep.”
“Oh,
that’s right, you just got in, didn’t you? From Paris? That sounds amazing. I
can’t wait to hear all about it.” Kia sighed with either envy or just to take a
breath. I was pretty sure her brain needed more oxygen.
As I
crawled up on to the top bunk I was momentarily glad that I had agreed to let
Kia decorate the whole room. My mom and dad had sent her parents a check for
our share of the expenses. They’d done that once they knew we’d be in Paris
until after classes began, forcing me to miss move in and all the welcome week
activities. In the beginning, that had been fine with me. A trip to Paris was
hard to beat, but that was before my darling parents had decided to drop the
bombshell on me and my sisters that they were selling our family home to travel
the world. I’d had a few choice words for them that they hadn’t appreciated.
Now I
was going to be all alone at a university I had chosen for its proximity to my
family. My older sister, Anya, was already out in the world, living her own
life, but my younger sister, Ingrid and I were close to each other and our
parents. I felt lost, like I was drifting, and I didn’t have the mental
faculties to deal with the emotions bunching up in my chest. I’d imagined
college would be fun, but at the moment I just wanted to block all of it out.
As the blissful oblivion of sleep pulled me under, I could hear Kia humming some
pop song that I didn’t really know but that always got stuck annoyingly in my
head.
When I
woke up it was dark in our room save for a string of fairy lights threaded
around the frame of the bunk bed. I could hear Kia snoring lightly on the
bottom bunk. My mouth felt rotten and dry, like I’d licked sandpaper or
something. I needed to brush my teeth. The thought filled my head, until I
realized that I had no idea even where the bathroom was. Alyssa had offered to
give me a quick tour of the floor, but I had been so focused on finding my bed.
Well, I
supposed it was time that I got acquainted with my new home. Swinging my leg
over the bed, I missed the first foothold and fell several feet to the floor. “Damn
it,” I muttered as pain shot all the way up to my hip. I needed to be more
careful. My first dance class was the next afternoon—or was it this afternoon?—and
I had to be in top form. How would it look if I sprained my ankle before I even
started?
Grabbing
my toiletry bag from where I’d dropped it on the floor. Stepping out in to the
hallway, I peered in both directions. Given how quiet the floor was I figured it
had to be pretty late. Another lovely side effect of jet lag. I wondered how
long it would take for my sleep schedule to go back to normal.
I found
the bathroom with little trouble. “Ugh,” I said out loud. I looked like Dracula
and a zombie had a butt ugly baby. Pulling a makeup wipe out of my bag, I
scrubbed my face, but it did little good. With a sigh, I decided to leave it
for the morning. Quickly I brushed my teeth. I knew Ingrid wouldn’t be able to
sleep either. If I could find the lounge, I could at least see how she was
settling in with our grandparents in Arizona.
“Scattered,”
I whispered to my reflection in the mirror.
“Do you
always talk to yourself in the mirror?”
I jumped
at the sound of the voice. A tall, lanky guy with disheveled hair and glasses
was smirking at me. My gut level, knee jerk reaction was annoyance. It was the
freaking middle of the night. I had been on campus less than eight hours, and
already I had found someone just like Jay. Unbelievable.
“Always,”
I snapped.
The guy
looked taken aback by my vehemence, but I didn’t care. I knew all about guys
like him, guys who thought they were so amazing, that the world revolved around
them. The attitude just oozed out of guys like this one.
“Ugh,”
I said as I snatched up my toiletry bag, and hurried past him into the hall.
To my
surprise he chuckled, and called after me, “We should do this again soon.”
