I felt somewhat stress-free now that my girls were taken care of.

There still was the matter of my roommates. When I made it to my room, they were not there and I let out a sigh of relief. I texted Diallo, and he was still with his mother, doing whatever it was they were doing.

I was free. I was alone. And I was okay with that.

I undressed and changed into my loungewear shorts and tank top. I lay in bed and scrolled through IG before I was bored of that. I checked to see what was happening tonight as far as parties. There were a couple of good ones. I would see if JuJu and Chantel wanted to go. Might as well make the most of them being here.

I texted Angel to let her know my first Homecoming was going well, I was having fun, and that JuJu and Chantel were having fun...which was only a slight lie. I was having fun so far. The tailgate and the game were all nice so far.

After I texted Angel, instead of her texting back, my father called me.

"Hey, Daddy." It was great to hear his voice. I did not want to admit it, but I missed my father.

"How's my baby girl?"

I rolled my eyes and huffed out a breath. "I'm not a baby, I'm eighteen! And adult. And I know you just talked to step mummy about my text. I'm fine. School's fine. My friends are here and we're...fine."

Okay, maybe my father could see through my fake enthusiasm. Did he have a spidey sense and sense something was off? Maybe Jared ran his mouth and he already knew what was going on.

"I miss you, Rave. You never call me, only Angel. Are you upset with me or something?"

"No, Daddy, no!" My daddy was my everything. Before I could count on Angel, he was the adult in my life I looked up to. He made a success of himself even after everything he had gone through in his younger years. Angel was different, she was born with a silver spoon in her mouth. My daddy bought it himself. "Daddy, I'm not upset with you. School has just been...a lot, and then my mom...I mean-"

I stopped myself before I got into my mother's ordeal. She had not begged for more money lately, so that was good.

"What about your mother?"

No way was I ready to have that discussion with him.

"Nothing Dad, just that...I miss all of you guys. I'm just trying to focus on school. I'll be home for Thanksgiving soon."

"That's not soon enough. Why don't you come next weekend for your sister's birthday? We're throwing her a big party and  know she wants you there."

How could I forget my own sister's birthday? I was a bad big sister.

"Of course, I will be there."

"But I want us to spend some quality time, okay? I mean, if you don't mind hanging with your old man."

I chuckled at him. "You're not old, Daddy. Angel is." We both laughed because we always joked about Angel being five years older than him. She was almost forty!

"Alright baby girl, I mean, Rayvn, call me later this week. Go have fun for your Homecoming...not too much fun. I will see you next weekend. Love you."

"I love you too, Daddy."

I hung up with my father and felt a whole lot better. I smiled and thought of home, with my daddy and Angel, baby brother, and Symone. I looked forward to being there with them soon.

I must have dozed off because I jumped awake when I heard pounding on my door. It made my head hurt it was so loud. I stepped out of bed and went to open my door.

My two roommates stood there and by the looks on their faces, they were not happy. Allura, always pretty, had a scowl on her face and Twyla still looked as if she had been crying all day, with red eyes and dry, ashen-looking skin.

"Where are your little friends?" Allura poked her head into my room as if she expected them to be inside.

"You saw that they left." They were there when they packed up their things earlier, although no words were said between them, they saw them with their belongings as they left.

"Like, are they really gone or just hanging around somewhere?" Twyla asked.

I shrugged, it wasn't their business. And if I told Twyla that Chantel was right across the hall with her "so-called" boy toy, what would that do?

"Guys, I'm sorry about what happened. They won't be n your hair anymore."

"Great!" Twyla said. "Because we really like you Rayvn, that's why we didn't report you."

I internally groaned, grateful for that at least. Now how was I supposed to get along with my roommates after this fiasco?

"Scum like that doesn't belong at a college like this. Just thugs!" Allura huffed.

Now I was up in arms about what they said about my friends. "They are not thugs! They are just like me, we all grew up together. How can you even say that about them and you don't know them?"

"Obviously you're different Rayvn, you're here, so therefore better than them. You said your father and stepmother have lots of money, that's why you can afford Mizzou without being on a scholarship. Imagine if they received scholarships to attend school here. It would be the ghetto!" Allura stated.

Now I was pissed off. Not only were they badmouthing my friends, but they were also insulting me as well. These two little nitwits were not my friends. I barely wanted them as my suitemates anymore.

"Listen, I don't like how this conversation is going. I'm from the hood, one of the poorest neighborhoods in St. Louis, but that doesn't make me a thug or ghetto. My mother still lives in that neighborhood. My baby brother lives in that neighborhood and he will not be a thug!" I glared them both down. "JuJu and Chantel have more integrity in them than you two ever will. Money doesn't buy class."

"Excuse me?" Allura stepped closer to me as if she was about to do something.

For a second I feared she would punch me in the face as payback, but I was not scared nor did I back down.

"We don't have to like each other to be suitemates. You stay on your side, I will stay on mine. Good day." I closed my door on their shocked faces.

I let out a breath. Did I really do that?

The rest of the year was going to be torture.

A/N: Poor Rayvn cannot catch a break in college!