"Mom, you don't need to worry about it, I'm studying, I promise. Besides, it's not like I'm having any extra curricular activities or anything, aside school and work, I have nothing to do." I whined to my mom over the phone, she was constantly telling me to focus on my studies and not give my attention to anything unnecessary including my storybooks, her words, not mine.
I sighed, it's been twenty minutes since we started talking and I was all in for giving an excuse and hanging up. I shut that thought down though, it's still only been a few weeks since I left, not even a month. If I started doing this now, then by the time I go a year, I wouldn't even be calling home at all. She was just worried, I just left, and my mom has always been a tad bit overprotective, coupled with what happened with Felix, it was just a normal reaction, nothing extraordinary. Suck it up We spoke for a few more minutes before she had to go check on her stew and hanged up. I almost told her to save some for me, but that would be impossible. No matter how busy my schedule was or how consuming it was, I still managed to miss them, badly. When she reminded me she loved me and I should take care of myself, before hanging up, I couldn't help it, I smiled. I was sitting on a lover's bench on campus. Sienna was inside the dorm with her friends, and they were loquacious, and in an annoying way. Even though I went out because of the call, I didn't want to go back inside even though I was done. I liked the peace and silence out here under the stars, and I wasn't ready to leave it and go inside to all that noise. I stared up into the night sky, it wasn't as starry as back home, but it was starry enough to make me smile. I relaxed into the bench, imagining how if I were in a book, specifically one of my romance books, I'd have my prince charming sitting with me and whispering sweet nothings into my ears, probably holding my hands as well, I smiled widely. I loved that thought, but I didn't think I'd be finding a prince charming anytime soon, not with my current home school work schedule. I got up ready to head inside when something, or someone moved. I turned towards it, coming to a stop in front of Jason, again. He was standing a little far from the bench, but close enough that his long legs could eat up the distance in no time. I hadn't seen him since he took me to class the first day, and I hadn't even had time to think about him since then, but remembering it now had my fave heating up against my will. I was glad it was dark, at least he couldn't see my flaming cheeks. He wasn't saying anything though, just standing there and watching me. My brows furrowed in confusion, I was sure it was him, or was it not? It was dark, but not dark enough to conceal his features from me, but I double checked just in case, and I was certain it was him from his blond curls, his angular features, his tall muscular build, and of course the familiarity. But why wasn't he moving or doing anything? Suddenly he begun to move away, towards the dorms, I was confused, until his words came back. "You can come find me whenever you remember who I am, if you ever even remember who I am." "Jason" I called, thankfully he stopped, but didn't turn. "Jason Clove" he still didn't turn. I bristled feeling uncomfortable for some reason. "I-I remember you now, from school. You asked me out to prom and...and I..." "Turned me down" he turned then, a smile on his face. I breathed out in relief. "I'll take it, even though I'm sure you cheated." He sauntered towards me. He was right, I did cheat, but I didn't need to openly admit it...at least not yet. "I see your dreams did come true, and now you're no longer in our small town, it was never enough for you, so I'd be shocked if you stayed." "Not everyone wants to live a small life."he scoffed. "Of course that's what you'd say." His tone held disappointment but there seemed to be a hint of anger in there too, though I couldn't be sure. "Why..." "Forget it Rosette, I'm not going to expect you to miraculously change the way you see things." "What's wrong with the way I see things?" "It's haughty and self centered." He didn't miss a beat in answering. "That's not..." "Forget it Rosette. I need to go, I have a game tomorrow so I need to rest." "Game?" "Yeah, I'm on the school's soccer team." "Oh, wow that's good to know. I'm happy for you." I smiled, genuinely happy for him. He returned the smile with one of his own. "I'd be happy too if you can make it to the game, I'd love to see you there." He grinned. " Oh I don't know,..." I said kicking my feet. "I'm not a fan of sports, and I don't know a thing about soccer." "Doesn't matter, you can still come and cheer me on. You don't need to know about the game in order to enjoy it." He shrugged, but he looked hopeful. I considered my brother's words about staying away from Jason, and my schedule, and... "You can consider it an apology for turning me down for my prom, and no, I didn't go with anyone else. That should make your decision easier, at least it should help you stop looking for outs." I guess he was right, one game wouldn't hurt...I hope. He walked me to my dorm room and left me at the door after saying goodnight. I stood in front of the door listening for any noise, I heard nothing so I walked in... Big mistake. Sienna was still in the room with three of her friends now instead of the four who were here when I left. She was on her bed with another while one boy was sitting on my bed and another was standing by the window in the middle of both beds. All of them had their eyes on me the moment I stepped inside, and they looked like I was interrupting something, like I shouldn't even be there. And the boy on my bed didn't even look like he was getting up anytime soon. He had spiky purple hair that was obviously dyed. It was shaved at the sides, almost to his scalp and longer at the top. I didn't like dyed hair, mom was against it. He also had piercings, a nose piercing and two on his left eyebrow. His clothes were all black and gothic looking. My mom wouldn't approve of him, at all. The boy by the window had sandy blond hair, but he wasn't so different. He was also in all black, a black t-shirt with black jeans and boots, but he also had tattoos littered all around his arms, and he was glaring at me. Before I could assess the girls, Sienna's impatient voice cut through the silence. "Scram already, you're interrupting." Then as if I was worth nothing, they all started conversing and planning something it seems. Tears burned the back of my eyes, but I didn't let them spill. I turned and swiftly made my way out of the door. It looked like I'd be locked out of the room for a while.I think I look like one of the zombie's from Hotel Transylvania, because I undoubtedly felt like one. I was supposed to be rushing off to my early morning class for a quiz, but I honestly couldn't find it in me to walk without dragging myself around because I just felt tired and drained, sluggish. The reason? Sienna.It's as simple as that. I could say it was lack of sleep, but the root cause of that lack of sleep was Sienna. She was slowly trying to make life unbearable for me, I could just feel it. I couldn't feel it before because I thought she just didn't like me, but the small devilish smile she gave me when my alarm woke me up this morning was nothing I could overlook. I don't believe I hate people, but after last night, I was pretty close to it.Sienna's friends minus one left well past 1am when I was already struggling to keep my eyes open. At least I was glad I could got back to my bed and sleep...only, I couldn't.I entered the room and God knows if I could bleach my eyes
Unfortunately, I didn't bail like I wanted to, I stayed for ninety minutes and watched boys pass a ball around and occasionally put it in a net while people cheered and yelled. And throughput the game, nothing triggered my gag reflex more than watching number eight playing well and being all friendly with number six. My personal brand of hell. After the most excruciating ninety minutes of my life, the game finally ended and I was all but out of here, even as the cheers went on because the white and blue team won with Jason scoring two out of three goals. It was a team I suspected wasn't the Business and Accounting team if the looks of disappointment on some of mates' faces was any indication, that meant that Jason belonged to the STEM department.I was out of my seat and far from the cheering fans before long, and I knew deep down that I should at least wait for Jason, or let him know I made it, but with how friendly he was being with number eight, I could tell that they were good
I unlocked the door to the dorm and stepped inside, and even though I was holding my breath and hoping Sienna wasn't around, she was. She was in bed, scrolling through her phone and as soon as I entered the room, she put it down and sat up, her sheets falling to her waist. "Hi Rosette" she sounded chirpy, not the least bit apologetic for what she had done to me or even how that affected me. And that annoyed me, not that I wasn't already mad at her for what she did, so what did I do? I ignored her. I plugged my phone into the charger, stripped and got ready for a shower. Then I left her staring at me with narrowed eyes as I went to take my bath. Surprisingly when I got back, she was asleep, and I didn't mind. I just pulled on my PJs dried and braided my hair before settling between my sheets. I unplugged my phone and there was a text from Alexander around the time I'd gone to shower. After agreeing to meet up with him again, he had us exchanging numbers saying that he will keep in
"Packed and ready to go." My dad said, patting the hood of the car as the last of my boxes were packed into the back of the worn out red pickup truck. His voice lacked its usual enthusiasm, and he sounded sad even though he was trying his best to sound happy for me, excited. It's not that he wasn't...well the whole family wasn't excited, it's just that...I sighed. Ever since my acceptance letter from the North Seattle College came in, there had been this blanket of sadness over the whole family. They wanted me to stay and go to a local college, and then help them on the strawberry farm, or at least use my degree in Business Administration to run the shop, and I honestly didn't want that. I wanted more than strawberries and little shops, a small town with a handful of people that you see everyday, I wanted more. I didn't know what I was going to meet out there in Seattle, but I knew I wanted it, and I was ready to go, my mind was made up. "Promise me that you'll be fine, Rosie." my
The problem with moving to a new place when you know no one and are expecting someone is the annoying brick called anticipation residing in your stomach layered with cements of skeptism. I was laying on my made up bed after packing all my stuff, making my side of the dorm room honey to me and taking a shower. The walls were white washed, and while my roommate's side of the room was covered in posters of some boy band, my side was clear, I had some of my novels neatly arranged beside my bed, beside them was a framed picture of my family at the farm, and a digital clock that doubled as an alarm in the shape of a strawberry. Then nothing else. My sheets were white with little pink flowers, and everything about my side was neat and tidy. I liked my space neat and tidy all the time, but that's not all, I wanted to make a good first impression. Something my roommate will appreciate, I hoped she would like me, or at least she wouldn't have issues with me. She certainly didn't have i
Over the next few days, I went everywhere I possibly could on campus, I didn't want to get lost especially on my first of class come Monday. After orientation, I would go around and find out where different things and places where. After my in campus tour, I begun to go out of school. It was weird, the difference between my home and school, it was like two different worlds. There were so many people around, and even more different things to see and do. It was refreshing and addictive. Had I not been out looking for a part time job, I would have spent much more time exploring. But I needed to get looking. By the end of the week, I'd secured a spot for myself in a bookshop not too far from school. I was elated, I guess Lizzy's dream was coming true, just in a different form and place. The owner, Mr. Henry Potter (funny as that sounds) was a jolly old man who had the bookshop overflowing and had no help around the place because people thought the bookshop creeped them out. For some re
I was nervous, wringing my arms in front of me and straightening my white shirt all over again. I woke up early today and got ready for my first class. My hair was held up in a neat bun, and I was wearing a neatly straightened white shirt with form fitting jeans paired with black flats and a black handbag. I looked good on the outside,but inside was a different matter all together. I was a nervous wreck, my stomach was all tied up and in knots, and...yeah, it wasn't pretty.I was just standing in front of the double doors of the lecture hall,hoping I can rewind and be back in bed. I just didn't know what to expect. Everything was so different from things at home, and I didn't know what to expect.I'd never had a panic attack before, but I was certainly seconds away from one now, and even though it was a little chilly, it seemed I was going to break into a sweat. I wasn't even sure I was breathing right at that point.I turned, ready to bolt and go take care of my nerves before openi
He was sitting at the front desk, nose deep in a...my brows furrowed, was that my book? Rude. I just studied him as he sat there reading my book. He was indeed handsome, and while he didn't look too old, he was also wasn't so young. Probably somewhere in his thirties. He kinda reminded me off one of the male protagonists from my romance books, lots of money, matured, handsome, true his word, because he definitely stayed when he said he would, and we'll... I didn't know him yet, so I couldn't tell who and what exactly he was. I took a step forward and suddenly his eyes snapped up to look at me. I like his eyes, like melted chocolate. My mouth watered, even though I'd just consumed a whole meal and my drink was still in my hand. He stared at me with a lazy smile on his face, and I think I went weak in my knees. I should have hoped he gave me a guilty smile for going through my stuff and reading my book, but my knees almost gave way under me for that lazy smile that just looked glo