Grabbing for one of the boxes I had not opened yet I began pulling clothes out looking for a specific outfit. “Here it is. I can wear this.” I held up a pair of dark blue jeans and a white ruffled shirt. They were the closest things I had that resembled what I had seen people wear to parties on TV.
Cindy scrunched up her face and stared at the clothes while I held them up. “Put it on. I need to see how it looks on your body.” I looked around the room and headed for the bathroom. “Where are you going?” Cindy asked.
“You said for me to go ahead and put on my outfit, so I was going to change.”
“Hailey, we are going to be roommates for a long time, so you might as well get used to changing in the room. You don’t have to run into the bathroom just to change your clothes. Besides, we are both girls so it isn’t like you have anything I haven’t seen before.”
I felt a slight panic rush through me. She had a good point but I had never changed in front of anyone other than my mother, and even that had been when I was much younger. I was one of the girls who always carried my clothes into one of the empty shower stalls to change for gym in high school. I walked back over to my bed and began undressing to change, but I made sure to keep my back to Cindy until I had my new outfit on. When I turned around I found Cindy standing in nothing but her bra and a thong while she rummaged through her things. When she turned around she had some clothes in her hand but she laid them out on her bed and walked back up to me to look me over.
“Alright, we can make this work. The outfit isn’t bad; we just need to enhance the rest of you a bit.”
Cindy leaned in closer to me and began undoing my braided pigtails. I could feel my cheeks flush with embarrassment. I had never been this close to anyone who was as close to being naked as Cindy was right then. She shook out my hair and stepped back to look me over again. “Now you just need a little makeup and you’ll be all set,” she told me. When she was done I barely recognized myself. My makeup was heavier than I would have ever worn it on my own. She had given me dark smoky eyes, and they were lined with black eyeliner. I had to admit, it looked good and really made my eyes pop.
“You’re ready!” Cindy declared. She threw on a little red dress and grabbed my hand and out the door we went.
CHAPTER TWO
When we get to the party it is in full swing. I have never seen so many people inside of the same house. It is loud and with all of the people bumping into each other it is more than I can take. “Cindy,” I said as quietly as I could while still making sure she could hear me over the loud music, “please just don’t leave me alone in here.”
Cindy looked at me like I was crazy. “Hailey, seriously, you will be fine. You just need to relax already.”
I looked down at the ground to break eye contact, embarrassed by what felt like Cindy giving me a reprimand. “I’m trying.”
“Look,” Cindy placed her hand on my forearm and I looked back up at her. “You just need to relax. Let the music help you get into the spirit of things. Maybe you should grab a drink so it will help you loosen up.”
Cindy grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the kitchen where a keg was set up and red solo cups of beer were being passed around to the people waiting for a drink. She grabbed a cup that was filled and handed it to me, then she took another for herself. When Cindy turned up her cup and took a large swallow of the foaming liquid, I figured I should follow suit. One swallow and I knew that beer was not for me. It took everything in me not to spit it out in front of Cindy and the kitchen full of people. I forced myself to swallow it and decided to get rid of the rest as soon as I had the chance without Cindy noticing.
It wasn’t long before the opportunity came up where I could dispose of my drink out of Cindy’s sight because her eyes were caught by a boy. “Come on,” Cindy said when she grabbed my arm and drug me across the room. She stopped in front of a tall, and incredibly muscular blonde boy. His hair was spiked up with gel, and his tan skin and blonde hair looked good around his green eyes which locked on Cindy the second they stopped in front of him.
“Cindy! I was hoping I would see you here.” He smiled at Cindy and I was sure that it was his most alluring smile. It was bright and only made his already handsome face look even better.
“Hey Jeff,” Cindy said. She was twirling her hair with her finger and I wanted to gag at the blatant bedroom eyes she was flashing this guy. Sure, he was good looking, but this was her first day at school too which meant she had just met Jeff today. “I knew you would be here so I had to stop by to see you.” I shuffled my feet a bit which apparently caught Cindy’s attention enough to remind her of my presence. “Oh, this is my roommate, Hailey. Hailey, this is Jeff.” Cindy gestured between the two of us and I offered a timid hi, but Jeff barely acknowledged my existence; his eyes never left Cindy.
“Since you came all the way here to see me, how about a dance?” Jeff winked at Cindy. It was obvious that he didn’t give a crap about meeting me. He just wanted to get her on the dance floor.
Cindy didn’t even hesitate when she answered him. “Yes.”
Without either of them saying a word to me they took off for the dance floor in the middle of what should have been the living room, and I was left alone just outside of the kitchen. On the plus side, it did allow me the opportunity to dispose of the beer Cindy had given me without her noticing. If her behavior towards Jeff up until now was any indicator, I was going to be alone for most of the night. I noticed a group of girls hanging out together and decided to give the whole making new friends thing a try.
I walked up to the girls and introduced myself. “Hi, I’m Hailey Rose. Are you all new here too?”
The girls seemed to be focusing on one girl in particular, like she was someone they looked up to. It felt like they were waiting for her opinion before they responded while she checked me out. She was short and so skinny I worried that she hadn’t eaten in ages. Her hair was jet black and she had brown eyes. Like the rest of the girls with her, she didn’t look like the typical popular mean girl with blonde hair and blue eyes, and that was what had made me feel like I could approach them in the first place. When the girl finished looking me over and met my eyes, I knew that I had been wrong in that estimation.
“Where the hell did you come from?” the girl asked me. I heard one of the girls beside her whisper the name Anna, and the girl glared at her effectively shutting her up.
“I’m from Kansas. It my first …”
The girl, who was apparently named Anna, burst into laughter. “You’re shittin me, right? Kansas? That is perfect. It matches your country ass clothes. Where’s Toto at Dorothy?”
For a moment I stood there shocked. How could someone I just met be so incredibly cruel for no reason. When her friends started laughing I turned around and took off for the front door. I was fighting to hold back my tears and looking at the ground to keep people from seeing my face because I was not doing a good job against my tears. Without looking where I was going I slammed into something solid and warm.
“What the fuck!” a deep voice bellowed. When I looked up to see what I had ran into I was staring at a solid chest. I looked up and into the piercing blue eyes of a handsome boy. He’s quite a bit taller than me, and his brown hair flops down over his forehead just above his right eye. “Why don’t you watch where you’re going?”
He brushed past me, grumbling and angry, towards the group of girls I had just left. I didn’t waste any more time and quickly made my exit. I practically ran back to my dorm room and as soon as I was inside the damn broke and I burst into tears. My very first attempt at putting myself out there to make friends and it was horrible. I couldn’t think of a worse way for my first day on my own at college to have gone. All I can think about while I cry myself to sleep is that I was right and I should have stayed home in Kansas.
CHAPTER THREE
Other than eating and buying the books I needed for my classes, I stayed in my dorm room after the party that first night. Luckily
, I didn’t have to worry about Cindy trying to convince me that I should go out again. I hardly saw her other than when she came by to change clothes; she was always with that Jeff guy it seemed. The first time I really left the dorm was on the first day of classes.
When I got ready for class, I through on a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved shirt and braided my hair into two pigtails. After the failure at the party I figured that I should just be myself and dress comfortably. Clearly, trying to fit in hadn’t one me any good, so if I was going to be on my own I was going to be comfortable. My first class was U.S. History 101, and when I got into class I headed straight to the back. Not long after everyone seemed to have taken their seats the professor introduced himself and began to call roll. Everyone he called was present and raised their hand to indicate who they were except for someone named Liam Elliot.
In high school, it hadn’t been unusual for kids to miss the first day, or be late at the very least, but I was surprised that anyone would miss a class here where they had to pay for classes. A few minutes into the professor’s lecture the classroom door opened and someone came in.
“Well, thank you for deciding to join us Mr. Elliot,” the professor said when the boy walked right by him without a word.
“Yeah, sorry I’m late.” He didn’t look at the professor, and his tone suggested his apology was anything but sincere.
When Liam looked up to glance around the room for a seat my breath caught. The boy standing in the front of the classroom had piercing blue eyes; eyes that I had seen before. Liam was the boy I had nearly ran over in my attempt to flee the party my first night at Westwick. As if it wasn’t bad enough that he was in my class at all, I watched him make his way to the back and take the last available seat which just had to be right next to me. I refused to look at him and kept my eyes trained down at my desk. I focused all of my energy on making sure I didn’t look in his direction and I completely failed to take any notes throughout the rest of the class. Before I knew it, the professor was dismissing the class and I had not heard a single thing he’d said since Liam entered the room.
“We can get together later if you want to copy my notes,” a male voice came from my right. Even though he wasn’t yelling this time, I definitely knew that voice. I looked up to see that Liam was leaning across the aisle and while I stared at him he placed a piece of paper on my desk. “Just call me if you want to get my notes. Since we have a quiz next class I would highly suggest you take me up on my offer.” When he stood up and walked away I looked down to see that the paper he had placed on my desk had his phone number written on it. I picked it up and stared at it for a moment before it hit me that I needed to be heading to my next class, or I would be the one walking in late and interrupting the professor. I stuffed the paper in my bag and took off for my next class praying I wouldn’t be late.
When I make it back to my dorm I work up the courage to call Liam and ask if he is available to let me copy his notes like he offered. Despite my attempts to meet him wherever is most convenient for him, he insists that he will just drop by my dorm and bring them to me. Before he gets there, I run around my dorm room to make sure it is clean. This could be a chance for me to get to know Liam. He cannot be as bad as I thought when I ran into him at the party. I just couldn’t imagine him offering up his notes to help me out for no reason unless he was actually a decent guy. Liam could be my chance at a friend here in New Hampshire.
It isn’t long before someone knocks at my door and I quickly check myself in the mirror to make sure I look alright before opening the door. However, when I opened the door it only took about half a second for my smile to completely fall. Just on the other side of my door stood Liam and Anna. As soon as Anna saw me she rolled her eyes and turned towards Liam so she was no longer looking at me.
“Here,” Liam held out a few sheets of paper towards me. “I made copies for you to keep at the library. Figured that would be the fastest way to share this information with you.”
“Oh,” I too the papers from him. I couldn’t stop staring at Anna and the way she had started hanging on Liam. “Umm, thank you for that.”
“No big deal. Just remember to pay attention and take some notes next class.”
“Oh, right. Yes, I will.”
Liam waived and turned around to leave with Anna right on his heals After I shut the door I walked over to the window overlooking the grounds in front of the dorms. I watched as Liam and Anna walked out and Anna had her arm threaded through his as they stayed close to each other. I turned away and yanked all of my books back out so that I could study. I never had a chance with a good-looking guy like Liam so I might as well get back to what I am good at and study for tomorrow’s pop quizzes. Cindy came in while I sat on my bed aimlessly staring at Liam’s notes. Since she didn’t know me well, I must have been ridiculously obvious because she could see right away that something was wrong and wouldn’t leave me alone until I gave her something.
“Liam came by to bring me some notes, but he couldn’t even be bothered to come in for a second. Too busy with that Anna girl to say more than a few words at the door. When he offered me his notes and insisted on bringing them here I honestly thought he was reaching out. That maybe he wanted to be friends or something. Guess I was wrong.”
“Girl, you should be grateful,” Cindy told me. She plopped down on the end of my bed and I looked at her questioningly. “Sounds to me like you just dodged a bullet.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” I asked her.
“Well, I heard that Liam has some mental health problems or something. Apparently, he has some serious anger issues.”
I studied Cindy trying to decide if she was telling me the truth or not. From what I could tell she seemed to be serious. She didn’t hang around for long though, and soon I was alone again; just me and my books to study. This was probably what the next four years of my life was going to look like at college so I needed to get used to it.
CHAPTER FOUR
Despite Cindy’s warning the night before I cannot help myself; I want to know more about Liam. I know how school rumors can go. Somebody does one little thing that gets blown out of proportion, and suddenly they get turned into this crazy outcast that nobody wants to associate with. Maybe that was what was going on with the rumors about Liam. Surely if he had crazy anger problems he would have reacted even worse when I practically ran him over that first night at the freshman party. Instead his reaction had been pretty typical of someone who was unexpectedly slammed into by another person.
When I got to my U.S. History class the professor gave out a pop quiz as soon as the bell rang and signaled the start of class. Liam had been right, and if it had not been for him offering his notes I would have undoubtedly failed my first college quiz. Since I am at Westwick on an academic scholarship, I must maintain a certain high GPA and failing my first quiz would have put a big damper on that. Just before the end of class the professor passes our quizzes back out to us and I am happy to see that I got all of the questions right.
When the bell rings I tap Liam on his arm before he walks out. “Hey Liam, I just wanted to thank you again for the notes. I would have been in big trouble without them today.”
“It was no problem, really.”
“Any chance you will let me take you out for a coffee as a thanks?” I asked Liam.
He gave me a small smile. “Yeah. I could handle a cup of coffee.”
“Great!” I nearly slapped my hand over my mouth at my over excitement.
Liam followed me to the coffee shop and once we had our drinks we made our way to the quad and sat together on one of the benches.
“So, where are you from?” I asked Liam while he sipped on our hot coffees.
“I’m from New York.”
“That’s great. I have never been, but then again I have never left home in Kansas before I came here for school. Living in a big city would honestly terrify me. Where I come from it is rural country. I live in a small town where pretty
much everyone knows each other, and most folks don’t even lock their doors unless they are leaving town for a long time.”
I stopped talking when I noticed that Liam was staring at me strangely and I realized I had been rambling like a fool. For all I knew he was just tolerating me, and here I was talking about myself like it was the most interesting person in school. “I’m sorry, Liam. I know I am probably boring you talking about some small town when you come from such a lively city.”
“No,” he shook his head, “actually I like hearing about your home. I’ve always wondered what it would be like to live somewhere for rural.”
“Seriously?” I am skeptical. Maybe he just doesn’t want me to feel bad.
“Yeah,” he smiled at me. “I have honestly always thought that the idea of home on the range has a nice ring to it. I think that living somewhere with some peace and quiet would be great actually.”
His smile is beautiful and I can feel myself blushing. I was about to say something when Anna suddenly walked up to Liam and interrupted as if I wasn’t sitting there at all. My mood immediately because I was sure my one on one time with Liam was over. He was surely more interested in going out with Anna and partying, or whatever it was they always did together.
“Hey Liam,” Anna practically purred at him. “Let’s get out of here. I know something we can do that is way better than having some crap coffee in the school quad.”
Anna shot me a snide look and I tried not to let my emotions show on my face. I didn’t want either one of them to know I was upset by Liam leaving with her, but the next thing I knew Liam surprised Anna and me.
“Nah. I’m cool right here. You can go do that, whatever, on your own.”
Liam barely looked at Anna. He took a swallow of his coffee, but kept his body turned towards me the whole time. Anna was furious! It was written all over her face, and if looks could kill then I would have been a dead woman right then and there.
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