That evening, half of us students were in the cafeteria.

About 100 of us were sitting down at the tables, talking to each other. Naturally, I was conversing with Scarlett, as I hadn't made any other friends yet. I was just fine with that. I had been used to going around life with no friends, so this was a welcome improvement.

Scarlett looked impatiently at the clock above the door.

"God, when is she coming?" She yawned, wiping her eyes tiredly.

As much as I enjoyed talking to her, it was all becoming a little too much. Tonight was the night that we were going to be paired with our roommates, and all of the new students were waiting in the cafeteria for Allegra to come and give us pairing list. I was praying that I would be given Scarlett as a roommate, and begged to God that Madison would not.

I knew that out of the 50 or so girls living here, however, it was not likely that I would have been partnered with either of them.

We had already been waiting downstairs for about an hour, and signs of fatigue were showing up in everybody's face. Because we were all new students, our hardcore classes began today. While mine was wrestling, other students' classes were even more tiring, such as cross country or boxing.

Instead of being able to take showers in our own, nice, individual rooms, we had to pack up our uniforms and bring them in a bag downstairs. We would be able to go upstairs and take showers once our roommates had been given. It was supposed to be a quick and easy progress, but we had already been sitting for an hour, and students were growing more and more tired by the minute. I was lucky that I didn't have to do too much today. I would be in much more need of taking a shower if I had actually wrestled.

Everyone turned their heads when the click of the cafeteria doors echoed throughout the room. Allegra walked in, smiling apologetically. Something about her expression bothered me. They were apologetic in the way that it was clear she wasn't actually apologetic.

"I am so sorry," she announced to everyone. "I'm a little later than I expected to be." She looked right at me. "A student who I really trusted broke a major rule tonight and that really made me very disappointed."

I felt the hair on the back of my neck rise. She couldn't have been talking about me, right? I was almost one hundred percent sure that she didn't see me leaving her office. Even if she had, she wouldn't have been able to know that I was in there looking for my phone. It would be safer to assume that I was looking for her. Or...

I felt a weight in my stomach when I thought about who that other student could have been. Dane. It would make sense. He sneaks into her office to get my phone and Allegra walks in on him. She brings him upstairs to punish him and takes the phone with her, putting it in another hiding place. That would explain why she wasn't in her office. That would also explain why the door was wide open. If she had caught Dane, a usually good-two-shoes, sneaking in her office, she would have likely been so flustered as to forget to close and lock the door when leaving her office.

Even though It was plausible, I shut those negative thoughts out of my mind. I couldn't jump to conclusions. It was dangerous to, and I couldn't afford any danger right now.

Allegra pulled out a list from her waistband.

"Now comes the time to pair roommates," she said. I dreaded whoever I would have to share a room with. "These pairings are based upon age, gender, and how close the two students are." I suppose that meant that the closer one was to someone, the more likely they were to be roommates with them.

"Elena and Ruby," She called. The two girls grabbed their bags and went upstairs excitedly.

She continued "Ben and Leo."

I watched as several students' names were called and they got to go upstairs to their shared rooms. I would miss having my own space, my own freedom. I knew that even if I got a roommate who was just as shy as I was, it would be impossible for us to ignore each other. We would have to say good morning when we woke up. We would have to deal with the inevitable 'shared bathroom' battle. This wasn't going to be easy.

"Scarlett and Rhiannon."

We looked toward each other, smiles on our faces. Even if the experience of having to share was annoying, at least I would get to do it with her. We took our bags and walked upstairs, both excited.

Our room was slightly bigger than our individual rooms, but not huge either; we still had to share a walk-in closet, we still only had one desk, and only one of the beds was under a window.

"You can sleep there," I offered to Scarlett. I didn't want petty issues to get in the way of our friendship. She thanked me and jumped on the bed, putting her hands behind her head.

I put my clothes on the other bed, a smaller one next to the bathroom door. I wondered if whoever designed this room wanted me to suffer. They must have figured, 'Oh, the girl sleeping next to the bathroom won't want a bigger bed; she's the type of girl who sleeps next to bathrooms!' I rolled my eyes at myself for giving Scarlett the nicer one. I was too nice sometimes, too passive.

I gathered my pajamas and cracked my neck. I would take a nice shower and calm myself down, just enough to be cheery for dinner tonight. As I put my hand on the knob, Scarlett raced into the bathroom and closed the door behind her.

"Sorry!" she called from inside. "I really need to wash my hair!"

"Yeah, so do I!" I yelled back. I hoped to God that she was not going to be like this for however long we were sharing the room. I'd heard the saying, 'Don't hire your friends.' I felt like I should make a new quote: "Don't share a room with your friend."

She didn't respond. Instead she called out carelessly, "I take long showers, by the way!" Ugh. I was already starting to resent her. At least if Madison and I were roommates, we would just pretend that the other didn't exist.

I sighed and looked in my bag. I had almost forgotten that I stole the tranquilizers from Allegra's desk earlier today. I stuffed them under my mattress. Nobody would find them there. What I could use them for? I didn't know. Would they help me escape? Absolutely.

Scarlett began her shower, and I lied down on my bed and resumed reading Harry Potter. I had two chapters left and planned on finishing the entire book tonight. That was, until a loud knock on our door echoed throughout the room.

Although I knew it wasn't possible, I felt as though Allegra had seen me hiding the tranquilizers. I felt like I was caught red-handed. The person outside knocked again.

"Coming!" I called, stuffing the last of the darts under the mattress.

I reluctantly opened the door. It was Dane.

"Hey," he said, a slight smile painted on his face.

"Hey," I said, mirroring his smile. "I thought you had gotten expelled." I went into the hall and closed the door behind me. Even if Allegra did take long showers, as she already told me, I didn't want her walking in on our conversation.

"Why would you think that?" He asked. I noticed how close we were. I knew he liked me, but I still felt as though he didn't feel the same way that I did to him. I looked down at my feet.

"Well, I was in her office today, and I couldn't find the phone, and it was gone, so I--" I stopped when I realized I was rambling. "It doesn't matter," I said instead. "You're here now."

He took a strand of my hair and tucked it behind my ear, reassuring me that he was, indeed, here with me at the moment.

"So, did you have any luck with my phone?" I asked. As much as I appreciated his presence, my sisters took priority. His wince told me that the luck I was hoping for had not arrived.

"I tried, Rhiannon." I nodded. I understood. The way he always said my full name made me shudder, in a good way. It made me forget all of the bad things that had happened the past week. It made me forget all of the bad things that had happened today.

"I'm still trying, though." He looked into my eyes, nothing but earnestness there. "I'm one of Allegra's favorite students. She trusts me." This was news to me. Nothing about Allegra's face told me that she was the type of person who was nice enough to make friends.

"Like, friends?" I asked. I didn't know how to feel about it.

"I'm close enough to her where I can get your phone easily. You just need to give me some time," He said. I nodded. Dane was one of my only options at this point. I just didn't want him to get hurt.

"Goodnight," He said to me and kissed me on the cheek.

I went back into my room. Scarlett was on her bed, completely naked. I shrieked and covered my eyes.

"What?" She said, a bit annoyed, as though she wasn't lying nude on a bed.

"Can you put on some clothes?" I asked in a tone that sounded more like a demand. My eyes were still covered. For some reason, I wasn't exactly shocked at how ignorant she was being. Sharing a room with her had really exposed a lot about her to me.

"It's my room," She argued.

"It's also my room. You may feel comfortable being nude in your own time, but you have a roommate now. One that wants you to cover that shit up." I was mad. I couldn't see her, but I assumed she was too.

"Fine," she said. I heard her changing into clothes; my eyes were still covered. "You can take your hands off your eyes now." I removed my hands. She was on the bed, now clothed, but her face was sour. I needed to get out of here.

"You know what?" I spat. "Be naked all you want. Rub your vagina all over my pillow if you want."

I stormed out of my room, no longer feeling welcome.

*************

Feisty Rhi! What do you think of Scarlett? 

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