Dorm mates
~Euphoria~
I have a new friend!
I was still unsure about Natari, but I hoped she would also want my friendship.
“You want me to be your dormmate?” I just needed to double-check.
“If I’m not your dormmate, that whore Clarice will be out for your blood.” Niera tugged my arm down the hall, following her sister.
My violin case swung in my grasp.
Natari opened a room all the way down at the end of the hall on the second floor.
My mouth dropped open.
I slowly stepped inside.
It looked so magnificent.
My eyes wandered around the room, taking in every detail.
A wardrobe.
Bookshelves.
Desks.
Four real beds lined the rounded corner wall.
Soft blue curtains created canopies over the twin-sized beds.
Thick blankets and fluffy pillows rested neatly on every mattress.
The windows were enormous.
Blue drapes hung on either side, swaying gently from the breeze coming through the cracked windows.
Dark wooden bookshelves stood against the walls.
A matching wardrobe sat near the entrance.
Between the beds were desks and small tables for studying.
A large blue rug covered most of the floor.
My throat was dry.
For weeks, I’d been sleeping in my car.
Before that, I’d shared a tiny house with Ba.
But this…
This felt like something special.
My fingers tightened around my violin case.
I had a bed.
A place to put my things.
A roof over my head.
For the first time in a long time, I felt safe.
A small smile found its way onto my face.
I put my things down on the bed farthest from the door, ready to settle in.
Suddenly, the sound of girls fighting erupted from somewhere down the hall.
“The cat fights have begun,” Natari said as she unpacked one of her three suitcases.
“Cat fights?” I didn’t understand.
Were there cats in the dorms as well?
Were they beasts?
“Yeah.
You know, bratty girls yelling and fighting with nails and words instead of strategy or fists,” Natari answered.
I nodded like I understood, but I didn’t.
I noticed that Natari was the sister in charge.
She led, while Niera was the action to Natari’s lead. This chapter is updated first at g.com.
Seconds later, the sound of the door swinging open behind me pulled me from my thoughts.
I turned.
A girl stepped into the room carrying her luggage.
Her hair was disheveled, and her face was scrunched with anger and annoyance.
“I hate her,” the girl muttered before turning to face the three of us.
“Oh.” She blinked rapidly and wiped her eyes.
“Looks like we’re roommates.”
“Excuse me, Clara.
We don’t want you and your drama.” Niera crossed her arms and leaned to one side, her eyes narrowing as she glared at the blonde girl.
I just watched as it played out.
“Niera, come on.
You and I have no problems.
Your problems are and have always been with my sister.
And if you hate her, imagine how I feel having to see her face every morning, and I don’t just mean looking in the mirror,” Clara yelled back.
“Don’t you come into our room and raise your voice at me.
As far as I’m concerned, you’re of the same blood, made from the same cloth.”
“Circumstances of birth are nothing I can control.
Want to switch places?” She fired back.
“Hell no.
Why the hell would I want to be a white girl like you?
My skin is black and beautiful.”
Niera was definitely not interested in Clara staying here.
I wondered how deep their discrepancies went.
“Niera, come on.
If you want, we can take her down together.
Knock her off her pedestal of perfect.” Clara offered.
She seemed very serious.
Niera stopped, and she appeared to be considering it.
“You can stay, but remember, there’s two of us and one of you.
And we’ll be watching you, so don’t do anything stupid and make life miserable for yourself,” Natari spoke up.
I was right.
She was the leader.
“Wouldn’t dream of it, Natari,” Clara insisted.
She turned her attention to me.
“Oh, I see why my sister was so worked up over you.” She walked up to me with all this confidence, the kind someone untouchable with money had.
“You’re a natural.
Something she could never be.
You look like you’re one of the beasts.
If I was as insecure as my sister, you would definitely threaten me too.”
What?
She also thought that?
Did everyone think that?
“I’m sorry, I don’t really understand.
She’s threatened by me?
I’ve never said anything or done anything threatening.”
Could it really be that I resembled the beasts? This chapter is updated first at g.com.
“You being naturally prettier than her, that’s the threat,” Clara answered confidently.
“You’re serious?” I asked.
There’s no way someone who looked like her would be threatened by someone like me.
There’s just no way.
It doesn’t make any sense.
It just didn’t add up.
“I’m sorry, I just can’t believe that,” I confessed as I unpacked.
“Well, it doesn’t matter if you do or don’t.
That’s my twin sister, and I think I might know her weaknesses and tender subjects better than anyone else.
If I say she’s threatened by you, it’s true.”
The girl, Clara, wasn’t backing down.
She walked closer to me.
“You aren’t even wearing makeup.
My gods, how is anyone this pretty without makeup?
It seems totally unfair.”
She turned my head to face her.
I gasped and stumbled back.
She caught me, pulled me forward, and lifted my chin.
I was frozen stiff.
I wasn’t sure what to do.
“And such blue eyes.
I’ve never seen eyes this shade of blue before,” she confessed.
I blinked rapidly on instinct, avoiding the direct eye contact.
It always made me feel uneasy when people stared into my eyes like that.
Searching for a truth I myself didn’t see.
Some hint of falsity behind them.
But I knew she wouldn’t find any.
These eyes had been looking back at me for as long as I could remember.
“Yeah, people say I have too much water in me, and that bringing me around is as good as summoning a monsoon.” I laughed it off, pulling away from her hold and returning to my things.
She left it at that, and by the time we all finished unpacking, it was well after midnight.
“Are they going to feed us?” Clara asked as she stepped out of the bathroom.
Her blonde hair was hidden by a towel wrapped around her head, and she had another one draped over her shoulder.
“That’s a good question.
I just realized I’m starved,” Niera agreed.
“You think we can at least move around the dorm building at night, or are we confined to our rooms?” Clara asked.
I smiled.
The conversations were flowing between everyone peacefully, no animosity in their tones.
I was grateful the tension in the room had thinned enough that we could all breathe again.
“Should we wander and figure out if this place has some food lying around?” Niera asked all of us.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea, just in case it’s against the rules.”
The last thing I wanted was to be sent away when I finally had a home, just because I wanted food.
“I’ll go,” Natari offered.
“Natari, but what if you get in trouble?” I asked.
I instantly worried for her.
“Then I’ll remind them we need food and they forgot to feed us.” Natari sounded so confident.
I nodded, taking a seat on my bed and pulling one of my few books from the shelf.
I picked up reading right where I left off.