Chapter Four

Editor's note: Although some places in this story are based on real places, all people and uses of the places mentioned are fictional, and from my own imagination. Any similarities to real people/situations are purely coincidental.

“Did you officially change your major?” Kia asked me a few weeks later as she shoveled scrambled eggs into her mouth.

                “Well, no,” I said, pausing midway to my seat. “Is that something you think I should go do right now?”

                Kia groaned and shot me a look of disgust. I plunked my tray down on the table, and grinned at her. I was glad to see that she was finally getting my sarcasm. “I just think you’re dragging your feet because you hope that you’ll be able to go back to dance.”

                “So what if I do?” I snapped. “I’ve been dancing my whole life.”

                “Look, I get it,” Kia said. She chewed her eggs thoughtfully. “Maybe you should spend this year trying all kinds of new things.”

                I frowned at her. Even if she was right, what kind of friend told you those things to your face? Picking the crust off my toast, I began to build a little pyramid. “Maybe I should take up sculpture,” I said, choking on the laughter that I could just barely keep in.

                “What’s wrong with sculpture?”

                Kia and I both looked up at the sudden, deep voice beside us. A sudden flood of heat rolled over my body as I realized that this was the same guy I’d met in the bathroom back at the beginning of school. I hadn’t seen him around since, so I’d put him out of my mind. But he was still just as good looking as he had been then.

                Without waiting for an invitation, the guy plunked his tray down beside me, and dropped into a chair. He broke a piece of toast in half, and stuffed it into his mouth. “I’m Mark,” he said..

                “Kia, and Astrid,” Kia said, pointing with the end of her spoon.

                “Astrid and I have already met,” Mark said.

                “Oh?” Kia said, tapping her spoon on the table.  I knew what she was angling at, that I hadn’t told her some juicy gossip.

                “Yes, Mark likes to lurk in bathrooms in the middle of the night so he can scare new students,” I said, cutting my eyes sideways at him.

                Mark had the courtesy to choke on his dry toast, and he started to cough. Reaching for his milk, he knocked the whole thing back in one long gulp. When he had recovered, I couldn’t keep the smirk off my face. Kia shot me a look, and I shrugged.

                “I wasn’t lurking,” Mark protested. “I heard someone talking, I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

                “Who were you talking to?” Kia asked.

                “Oh my goodness,” I snapped. “I said one thing to myself. If he hadn’t been lurking, it wouldn’t have made a difference.”

                “Well, this is the weirdest meet cute I’ve ever heard of,” Kia said.

                “A what?” I asked.

                “A meet cute,” Kia repeated. “You know, when a couple tells the story of how they met. The best ones are the ones with a cute meeting.”

                I rolled my eyes. “Well, we aren’t a couple,” I said. “So there’s that.”

                “Well, you could be,” Kia said as she took a scoopful of cereal and shoveled it into her mouth.

                “Your friend presents an interesting point,” Mark said.

                With a groan, I stood up. “No, she does not,” I said. “Mark, it was…interesting seeing you again. And Kia, I’ll see you back at our room.”

                Grabbing my tray, I turned quickly, sending cereal sloshing over the side of the bowl. I could feel my eyes widen in horror as the milk and soggy wheat bits spilled onto Mark’s shoulder. He looked more amused than upset, but that didn’t stop me from turning on heel to rush out of the cafeteria.

                I realized as a cafeteria worker yelled at me that I still had my tray with me. Dropping it on the top of the nearest garbage can, I hurried to the elevators, unsure if I was pissed off or mortified. Part of me felt like I was right back in high school, which was bad enough, but there was so many other things pushing around in my head that I was starting to feel dizzy.

                “Astrid!”

                “Leave me alone, Kia,” I groaned as I leaned my forehead against the wall. Really, I just wished I could bash my head into said wall, but instead I just turned toward her.

                “It’s not as bad as you think it is,” she said, striding up beside me.

                “Yes, it is really that bad,” I said. “I just spilled soggy cereal on a hot guy. It’s bad.”

                “He is pretty yummy, isn’t he?” Kia agreed.

                I groaned again as the elevator doors slid open. We got on, thankfully before anyone else could get on as well. Not that I would admit it to Kia, but I had been a tad bit worried that Mark might come to find me, and exact some kind of breakfast related revenge.

                We rode to our floor in silence, blissful silence, and by the time we stepped off the elevator, I was almost feeling better. Then Kia gasped and grabbed my arm. As I extracted myself, I looked around the hallway, trying to figure out what had excited my roommate.

                “What?”

                “One of us got a blue bunny,” Kia whispered.

                “A what now?” I asked. Then I saw what she was staring at; a small blue bunny figurine sitting on the floor in front of our door. “And what does that mean exactly?”

                “How do you not know?” Kia squealed, dragging me down the hallway.

                I didn’t know what she was dragging me toward, but I had a bad feeling I wasn’t going to like it.