1 | ARKWOOD

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1

EMBER

The clock ticks above the stove. I pull on the rubber band on my left wrist, exhaling slowly as I wake my body from slumber. The band snaps back against my skin. The bite keeps my eyes open as I wait for my dorm mates to appear.

8:46 AM.

When my phone rings on the cushion beside me. Uncle Pat. I ignore it again.

The clock in the cramped kitchenette is the only sound in the empty place. Hums and murmurs bleed through the walls, but the other students are mostly quiet. 

8:47 AM.

I pull back the rubber band...Snap! 

Snap!

Snap!

If Juan is right, Noor and Vanessa should be here soon.

Snap!

Yesterday, Juan hollered, "Fresh blood! Fresh blood! We've finally got one!" and tried to take me to his fellow residence advisors. I almost snapped, pulling away with the excuse of sickness. He tried to take me to the first-aid office for my poorly bandaged hand—the result of flipping Greyson's empty metal bed-frame across his room a few nights ago—but I yanked my arm from his with more force than necessary to get my point across. He blinked but offered my orientation package and neon green wrist bracelet up.  

I don't like Arkwood Residence. My thoughts ricochet here.

He offed himself to get away from you. You're too broken. Cade Blackwood, the boy I gave everything to. The boy who flung it back in my face.

I pull the band. My hand throbs, the brutal evidence of what I did to my best friend's father less than forty-eight hours ago.

Who am I?

No. No. No. 

The door won't stay shut. Hands wrap around a door frame, clawing in. I push back, but I'm wearing.

The clock above the stove still ticks. The band on my wrist snaps.

8:58 AM.

Maybe I shouldn't have checked the ROOM WITH ANYONE box, but it's much too late now.

"COLLEGE!"

I jump in my skin, my heart stopping as someone stumbles through the front door.

Her bags fall onto the floor, all pink and yellow hard-cover suitcases. On her large, apple-shaped body is a white sundress full of strawberries that pops against her warm bronze skin, glowing with sparkly oil on her legs and arms.

She speeds over to me wearing a million-dollar smile, straight white teeth glinting like a toothpaste commercial. Her round face exudes sheer jubilance, long wavy brown-blonde ombre hair falling around her shoulders pinned back with a thick bright red headband that matches the strawberries on her white dress.

"Hi!" she greets, jutting a hand down to my huddled figure. "I'm Vanessa Gonzalez, but everyone calls me Nes. Your eyes are so cool! Are you...alright?" She drops her hand, wrist decked out in friendship bracelets like we're at summer camp. "Am I in the wrong room?" she asks, a frown on her innocent face.

I clear my throat and raise to my feet. My spine cracks like a glow glowstick as I straighten.

Vanessa is of average height. Her round body can't be more than five-feet-five-inches, but still, I tower over the girl.

She gapes up at me and swallows, her golden cheeks paling. "Please don't tell me you're a volleyball player." Her plump bottom lip juts out in a pout. "My ex-girlfriend played. I miss her. It would just be easier if you played soccer or something. Do you like soccer? Or maybe you're super cool and you play rugby or something. Have you ever tackled someone?" She blows out a breath. "Ten out of ten, would not recommend."

"Uh..." I open and close my mouth a few times before just sticking my hand out for the handshake I missed. "Ember Chapman. I don't sport. No volleyball."

Vanessa beams and forgoes my hand. She wraps me in a warm hug, pining my arms to my sides. "I'm so glad to hear that, Ember Chapman!" she exclaims brightly, squeezing me tighter. "I don't know what I'd do if I had to—"

"I can't breathe."

Vanessa lets me go, stepping back with a bashful look. "Sorry," she offers through a shy grin. "I'm just really excited to finally be here. Is Noor here yet? We have to play the icebreaker games in the orientation package! Have you read it yet? I've been re-reading—"

Our door is flung open forcefully and another girl walks in, her wide mouth twisted into a grimace.

"Oh my goodness!" Vanessa exclaims, rushing over to help with her many black suitcases.

"Stop," the new girl bites, almost hissing at Vanessa, who recoils, hurt on her face.

"My bad," Vanessa apologizes, attempting to shrug it off. "I should have asked."

"No shit," grumbles the new girl, shuffling black suitcases into the room and shutting the door. Loudly.

This must be Noor Baqri, our third roommate. The first thing I notice about the person standing in the doorway is the muscles. She's built. Both lean and buff at the same time, her capped shoulders and popping biceps on display from the tight black tank top on her frame, and toned quads and calves showing from the short black shorts on her waist.

"You're Noor?" Vanessa inquires, rocking back and forth excitedly, dress swaying.

"Obviously," Noor returns, eyes on me. My spine straightens.

Her raven hair is long and frizzy, the waves careless around her shoulders. Her skin is a bit darker than Vanessa's, and cooler, too, lacking the kind warmth of the strawberry girl.

Vanessa squeaks, clapping her hands together in front of Noor. "I'm Vanessa, but everyone calls me Nes!" She points to me off in the corner by the couch. "That's Ember, and she does not play volleyball, thank God." She gives me two thumbs up.

Noor stares at me, face blank. She drops two large duffels from her shoulders and shakes dust off her hands. "No crying late at night. No emotional movie watching. No peanuts. No—"

"Does that mean," Nes begins, jutting her bottom lip, "that we can't watch The Notebook together?"

Noor narrows her eyes. "Are you deaf?"

With a grin, Nes turns to me and stage whispers, "I'm still gonna watch it. You in?"

I shake my head. "I've never seen—"

"No men," Noor continues, buff shoulders set. "Ever. No sleepovers. No visitors. No cashews. No spiders. No—"

"I don't think we can control spiders," I break in.

Noor raises her pointed chin, giving me a once over with a long, sharp face. "So you're that girl. You own a pet spider."

I raise a brow. "Do I look like I own a pet spider?"

She scoffs, eyes of dark, dangerous fire. "I've learned not to judge a bitch by their cover."

Vanessa frowns. "That's not how the saying goes. It's don't judge a book—"

"Ember, right?" Noor quips, stalking a bit closer.

"That's right," I say, swallowing nothing. I extend to my full five-foot-ten-inch height, ready to tower over Noor's short, buff frame, but she stops a few feet away. Smart.

Her eyes mark the pale scar on my forehead and the chain around my neck that disappears under Greyson's blue hoodie, hiding the cross. She grimaces at the messy braid over my shoulder and raises a brow at my swollen left hand—and my bandaged right one. One hundred assumptions flash through her dark eyes.

"Are we going to have a problem?" she asks, crossing two very impressive arms over her flat chest. She could crush me, even with the stark height difference.

"I'm easy-going," I return. "I don't plan on giving you a hard time. I'm just here to—"

"No one ever does!" she snaps, gripping her arms, "but that never changes things, does it. So—are we going to have a problem?"

Vanessa stomps her foot. "Guys, it's been literally zero seconds!"

"Are we?" Noor presses, stepping in a microscopic amount.

"Well, I don't own a pet spider."

Noor narrows her scary eyes that much more. "Good."

"I might look into it," I add.

"Guys!" Vanessa laments from beside us. "We're supposed to be, like, the three musketeers or something! Stop fighting! Juan said we have to do the icebreakers! It'll be fun!"

Noor stares me down for a second longer before turning and dropping to the middle of the floor in front of the table. "Let's get this over with."

Vanessa squeals, digging through a large barbie pink purse and pulling out the green orientation duotang we each got on arrival. She drops diagonally to Noor, who's inspecting her short, bare nails. "This is going to be so much fun!" she says, inspecting the papers like treasure maps. 

I open my palms and see the red that no one else does.

I have nowhere else to go.









A/N

And we've kicked it off! It's been incredibly fun to write a new setting. I hope you're liking it so far!

Initial impressions on Nes?

Initial impressions on Noor?

Nes and Noor are going to be very interesting characters, that much I can promise.

Let me know your thoughts on ch. 1 and where you think this story is going! I love talking to you all <3

Thanks for reading,

Laurel


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