by Bella King
“Thanks,” I said, taking the ticket and change. I tucked it into my pocket and pulled my luggage with me to one of the metal benches inside where the others sat in anticipation for their bus. I plopped down on a seat that wasn’t occupied by anyone too sketchy-looking and sat with my hand between my knees.
I pulled the ticket from my pocket and looked down at it. My bus was in twenty minutes. I leaned back and sighed, thinking about the life I was about to leave behind. This was it. I was setting out to fulfill my dreams, but it didn’t quite feel that way. I felt like I was running away from something, not running toward something. There was a big difference between the two.
My phone vibrated in my pocket. I took it out to find a message from my aunt, reminding me to do the laundry. Jesus, she was in for a surprise when she got home from work. Hopefully, I would be long gone by then.
I ignored her message and put my phone away.
BREAK
After riding the first bus all day, I hopped off for an overnight one that would be going to the next state and beyond. It was going to have a few more stops before I got to East Bridge University, but I was confident that I would make it there long before classes started. I could register, get settled in, and prepare myself for the hard work ahead of me. My journey was just getting started.
My phone began to buzz in my pocket a few hours into my second ride. It was my Aunt Martha, calling to undoubtedly check what the hell had happened to me. I considered ignoring it, but I figured she might call the police if I went missing without telling her what was going on. I was sure she already kind of knew what was up, but I was going to have to spell it out for her over the phone.
I closed my eyes and breathed in deep before I accepted the call and held the phone up to my ear. I looked out the large bus window into the dark blur of traffic as I answered, “Hello?”
“Jane, where in the world are you?” my aunt asked, her voice more angry than concerned.
“I’m on the bus,” I answered bluntly.
“The bus? Why are you on the bus? Why isn’t the laundry done? Why are the dishes still on the table from this morning?”
I had to hold the phone away from my ear. On the one hand, I felt bad that I had left the house in such disarray, but on the other hand, it was amusing to hear her freak out over it like I was going to be in trouble for it. I was out on my own now. Her rules no longer applied.
When she finished spouting off everything that I hadn’t done, I placed the phone back to my ear. “I’m going to college, Aunt Martha. I decided that I have to pursue my education.”
“You’re out of your mind if you think they’re going to accept you there,” she snapped.
“They sent me a scholarship. Why wouldn’t they accept me?” I said with a light chuckle.
“You better shut your trap, young lady, and come home immediately,” she said.
“I already told you that I don’t want to work at the factory. I have dreams. Don’t you understand?” I pleaded with her quietly, trying not to wake up the sleeping passengers on the bus.
“You’re being awfully disrespectful to someone who raised you,” she shrieked through the phone.
I was embarrassed that people could probably hear her with how loud she was being. I turned down the volume a few notches and continued. “I’m trying to do what’s right for me, and you’re not listening.”
“You, you, you. That’s all you care about. Everything has to be about you,” she rebutted.
I thought it was funny that she was talking that way about me when it was her who was self-centered. Guilting me into agreeing with her wasn’t going to help.
I sighed. “Please try to understand.”
“I don’t understand why you would leave your poor aunt to fend for herself. How am I supposed to pay the bills without you? I’ll be out on the street within a week.”
That was a lie. She had faired just fine before I got a job. Sure, it as a struggle, but that wasn’t my business. I did my best to help her while I was there. The inkling of doubt that had crept into my mind was starting to grow the more she talked, though, and it was becoming uncomfortable to listen to her.
“I have to go,” I blurted as she continued to speak.
“You’re coming back right now,” she demanded.
“No, I’m not,” I replied, trying to sound strong. I didn’t feel that way.
“Please, Jane. Think about someone other than yourself for once.”
I jerked the phone away from my ear and pressed the red hang-up button on the screen. That was enough of her games. I had enough of her manipulative talk. There was really nothing more for me to say to her. She knew where I was and that I was safe. That was all she needed.
I turned off my phone completely so that she wouldn’t be able to call me again.
Chapter 6
The week was long and exhausting. My muscles were cramping in ways I never thought possible, my hair was a matted mess, and my ass was sore from sitting for so long. I took to standing in the bus near the end of my journey just to keep my body was hurting so badly.
After the more grueling journey I had ever had the misfortune of partaking in, I arrived at my final destination. East Bridge University was waiting for me in all it’s splendor as I walked the rest of the way to its campus.
The first thing I noticed was how beautiful it was at East Bridge. Even though autumn had taken a stronghold on the rest of the city, the university campus was as green as it would have been in the middle of summer, with golden flowers and vast expanses of grass cut with brick sidewalks. Not a single weed was present on the lawn as I walked to the main office to check-in.
The second thing I noticed was how terribly out of place I was compared to all the other students there. The young men wore full suits, while the women were in an array of elegant and form-fitting dresses. I was dressed like I had crawled out of bed to go to Walmart at 4 AM. I instantly knew that I was going to have to change my look drastically if I wanted to fit in here.
The closer I got to the main office, the more nervous I became about being here. What if this was all a huge mistake? The letter could have been sent to the wrong Ms. Devlin, and they might take one look at me and kick me out of the school.
The wheels on my luggage clicked slower against the brick sidewalk as I came up to the tall office where I would need to check-in and receive the key to my dorm room. My hand shook as I gripped the handle to the front door and pulled it open. I wondered if my parents had felt the same way when they first arrived at the prestigious school.
The air was cool, almost cold, as I strode up to the front desk with my acceptance letter in hand. I pulled my suitcase behind me across the marble floor as an elderly woman at the front desk scowled at me as though I were a crumbled paper bag that had drifted in with the wind. I shrunk down as I arrived at the desk.
“May I help you with something?” she asked, eying me suspiciously through her gold-rimmed glasses.
I cleared my dry throat and placed the acceptance letter on the desk. “I’m here to check-in,” I said softly.
She pursed her lips, not bothering to look at the letter. “Name?”
“Jane Devlin,” I answered.
She paused, then typed my name into the computer to her left. “Ms. Devlin, you’re starting this year as a freshman,” she stated.
I nodded.
“Alright. You’ll have to pay the deposit fee for your books before you register for classes,” she said. “Would you like to do that now?”
“Deposit fee?” I asked, my heart sinking.
“Yes, dear. You can pay by cash, check, or card,” she replied, looking at me expectantly.
“Oh, how much is it?” I asked, thinking about what my uncle had said about hidden fees. I felt pretty stupid coming here without any money.
“The standard deposit is $1000 for freshmen, but may increase or decrease depending on what classes you register for,” she recited.
I didn’t have a thousa
nd dollars to spend on books. Hell, I barely had enough to eat dinner tonight. My cheeks were hot as I licked my lips, trying to figure out what I was supposed to do. “Um, does the scholarship not cover that?”
She frowned and clicked her mouse a few times while glancing at the computer. “Oh yes, you have the full scholarship. Books fees are waved.”
My shoulders came down, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Thank god I wasn’t going to have to fork over a thousand bucks just to start school. It would have been humiliating to have to return to my aunt over something so small.
“Let me just sign you into the system, and I’ll get your introductory booklet and keys for you. Everything you need to know will be in the booklet,” she said as she typed.
“Thank you,” I said, hardly believing that I was going to be allowed to go to East Bridge. This still felt like a dream to me. It was too good to be true, but it was true. I was here, and I would do my damnedest not to make a fool of myself.
The woman at the desk slid back across the marble floor on her wheeled chair toward a black filing cabinet behind her, sticking a small silver key into one of the drawers and opening it to reveal rows of manila folders. She walked through them with her thin fingers before arriving at the right one, pulling it out with a flourish and rolling back to me.
“Please check the dress code before classes begin,” she said, tapping a finger on the folder as she handed it to me.
“Okay, thank you,” I said, blushing. She was indirectly calling me out on my poor presentation. I knew it would catch up to me at a place like this, but I didn’t know there was a uniform code. I guess I was going to have to visit the local thrift store to see if I could find something cheap that would pass.
I left the main office with my suitcase rolling behind me, feeling horribly out of place as I passed a group of women who all wore dresses and pearl necklaces. They glanced at me with distasteful expressions as I hurried past them, manila folder in my hand.
I was going to have to do some shopping as soon as I could. I hoped to do it today if I could manage to get settled into my new room before the shops began to close. I didn’t have much money, but if I skipped dinner, I should be able to find something cheap at the thrift store.
I rolled my luggage all the way to the dorm rooms. There were several of them, all lined up almost like dominos at the edge of campus. They were brick buildings, matching the sidewalk, and they looked like they had been built a long time ago. This school was quite old but very well maintained.
I could hear people in the building as I walked up to it, pulling out a keycard from the manila folder that I had been given and holding it to the scanner next to the door. The lock clicked open loudly, and the door opened on its own. For a place so old, it had very modern technology.
I walked into the lobby of the dorm building. There were two hallways, one leading left and one to the right. Each one was labeled with an array of room numbers pressed into a gold plate above the doorway. I walked toward the right hallway, reading off the numbers on the plate then glancing down at my keycard to check if I was going in the right direction.
Wrong. My room number was lower than that. I was in 236.
I spun around, still looking down at my keycard as I headed toward the left hall, only to bounce off a large object and go toppling backward onto my ass. My folder and its contents went flying across the fine carpeted floor. As I fell, I caught sight of a navy-blue suit and the most handsome face I had ever laid eyes on. When I looked up after my fall, I fell again. This time, it was into love.
“Watch where you’re going,” the man above me scolded, frowning down at me with eyes like smoke and cobalt.
“I’m sorry,” I blurted out, scrambling to my feet.
The man wrinkled his nose at me as I bounced back to my feet. He was a lovely fellow with thick ringlets of brown hair on top of his head. The sides were shaved down drastically, and his jaw was so cleanly shaved that I would have thought he had been born without hair on his face if not for his perfectly groomed eyebrows.
The man was clearly a student, around 21 years old with wide shoulders and dramatic features. He was in good shape and looked like he could rip a girl like me into two pieces. I wasn’t sure if I would put up much of a fight if he chose to do so. I was too captivated by his refined charm and attractive features.
“Are you looking for something here?” he asked as I ogled him.
“Oh yeah, my dorm room,” I said, bending over and picking up papers from the floor.
His eyes flickered down toward my breasts. It was obvious, but I let him look. I had never actually found myself so intensely attracted to a guy before. The men who I was used to were ugly and smelled like malt liquor. This guy was from another planet entirely.
“What number is it?” he asked, craning his head down to my keycard.
“236,” I answered, still completely enamored by him.
“Right beside mine,” he said, gritting his teeth as though this annoyed him. “Come, I’ll show you where it is,” he said, jerking his head toward the hallway.
“Thank you,” I said, blushing as I gripped the folder to my bosom and grabbed my suitcase to follow him.
He waved a hand at me but didn’t respond, taking quick steps toward the hallway. I rushed after him, trying to keep up with his long steps as my suitcase pulled at my tired arm. I really wished I had dressed nicer for today, but I didn’t know I was going to be running into such a gorgeous man. His demeanor was cold, but I completely overlooked it because of how attractive he was. That was my first mistake.
“So, I guess you’re a freshman,” he said, coming to a stop in front of a set of golden elevators.
I nodded. “I just got here. Are you a freshman too?”
He scoffed at me and pressed the button for the elevator. “That’s cute,” he said dryly. “I’m a senior.”
“Oh, so how do you like it here?” I asked as the elevator doors slid open.
“I liked it just fine before they started accepting… certain types of people,” he said, looking me up and down once we were in the elevator.
I blushed and adjusted my shirt. I looked like a gremlin next to him, and I was embarrassed about it. I felt like I wasn’t supposed to be at East Bridge in the first place, but now I was certain that I was in the wrong school. How could I compare to someone as elegant as this man?
“What’s your name?” he asked as the elevator rolled up to the second floor.
“Jane,” I replied.
“Plain Jane,” he replied with a smirk. “My name is Austin.”
I was taken aback by his rude remark on my name for a moment but brushed it off as an innocent tease. I doubted that he was trying to harass me when he barely even knew me. This was probably how everyone treated freshmen anyway. He was having fun with me.
“It’s nice to meet you,” I said, placing the folder on my suitcase temporarily to extend a hand to Austin.
He didn’t so much as glance down at it as the doors to the elevator slid open. He stepped out, ignoring my attempt at a proper greeting. I rushed out behind him as he began to walk down the hallway. He made next to no noise as he glided across the carpet like he didn’t weigh a thing. It was amazing just to watch him walk.
“Your room,” he said, gesturing to a door halfway down the hall on the right.
“Thank you so much,” I said with a friendly smile, trying to get one in return. No luck.
“By the way,” Austin said as I fumbled through my folder, trying to find the keycard again. “We have a dress code here. I suggest you follow it,” he said, the words leaving his mouth with a sinister burn.
I wasn’t expecting to be met with such opposition the minute I stepped onto campus, but it seemed that everyone here had a problem with the way I looked. I knew straight away that I was going to go to the shop the second I got settled into my room. I couldn’t continue looking this way when the most handsome man I had ever seen was sneering at the way I dressed. I had
to do better.
Before I could respond to Austin, he spun around, gliding back down the hall toward the elevators. I watched him leave, trying to decide whether he was an asshole, or just trying to help me. I knew that wealthy people could be a bit odd, but I didn’t want to excuse him if he was just being a prick. I had enough of that sort of thing back home to know not to put up with it. I was turning a new page, and I would have to stand up for myself.
I entered my new room and gasped at how nice it was. This place would be my home for the next four years, and it was built like a five-star hotel. The bed was huge, the windows were wide, and the carpet was thick, soft, and pure white. Even if I was out of place, I would continue going here, if not just for the living arrangements.
I placed my suitcase down on the floor near the door and went into the bathroom. I wanted to take a shower and change as soon as I could, so I didn’t draw any more stares from people on campus.
When I saw my face in the mirror, I groaned. I looked atrocious. There were deep bags under my eyes, my hair was a total mess, and my shirt was all wrinkled and lopsided. It was no wonder people kept looking at me weird. Even I would have looked down at someone like me in disgust. I was a complete slob.
I shook my head at my reflection and began removing my clothes. I was an attractive woman, and I knew that well enough, but I didn’t always portray myself as such. It was a defense mechanism that I needed to lose fast if I was going to survive four years at an elite private university. That scholarship wasn’t going to waste — not today, and not ever.
Chapter 7
I read through the dress code requirements carefully as I sat on my bed naked after my shower. My hair was still dripping wet down my back as I looked over the booklet that had been given to me when I was at the main office.
I leaned back on the plush mattress, propped up with a tall stack of feather pillows, and held the paper up, rereading everything several times to commit it to memory. I had an excellent memory, but I often doubted my own ability to recall information. It had never failed me yet, but I still felt the need to overread documents so I wouldn’t forget them. I was pretty sure I could recite every one of my high school textbooks by heart.
