Out Of The Zone

Meeting The Dormmates

A/N: Hey! Just a heads up, this chapter will be much longer due to it being cut into both Tori and James's POV! This is something I'm going to start doing more frequently depending on the content of the chapter! Enjoy!

James

We stood in line for over an hour, waiting for the dorm instructions. When we finally made it to the front of the line, the woman in charge of it, Ms. Wakeman, looked up exhaustedly.

"Names...?" She said blandly.

Tori took a step closer so she could hear her better. "Tori Kendall."

"Tori...Kend...alll." She stretched her name out as she searched through a large container for her specific information. "Here we go. "

She took out a light blue piece of paper, and handed it to Tori gracefully. In big, bold letters was her name. I looked over her shoulder and read it with her silently for a second. The instructions were pretty simple and straight to the point. She was in Dorm 24B, second floor, right side. It said nothing about who she'd shared it with, but the dormmate box was checked in a red pen.

"Hmm." She muttered. 

I stepped in front of Tori as she read over her instructions again. The headmaster nodded, signaling for my full name.

"James Acosta." I said, nonchalantly. 

The headmaster paused for a second. The color drained from her face as her eyes froze on mine. I backed up, taken aback by her reaction. Did I say something wrong? 

Ms. Wakeman finally exhaled shakily, looking for my paper in a rush. She handed it to me, her fingertips shaking slightly. "There you go, Mr...Acosta."

I smiled warily, trying to act as if nothing had happened. "Thanks..."

Tori hadn't noticed our exchange. Her eyes were still scanning the paper. I rolled my eyes. 

"Let's go, Tor." I said, shaking my head. 

She folded her instructions and we exited for our dorms. But, I felt Ms. Wakeman's eyes on me as we walked off.  That was strange...

We followed a brick road down to the dormitories. The area around it was a gorgeous as the rest of the college. Some students sat on small, whimsical benches conversating while others lay in the grass doing the same thing.

Tori turned to me. Looking over her paper again, she pointed to the building west of the building in front of us. "That building over there is for the dorms divided by male students."

I followed the direction of her finger to a modern-built building. Just outside its double-doors, I could make out a sign that read: Men's dormitories.

I sighed. "So, this is where we part, huh?"

Tori smiled reassuringly. "For now. Until we set up our rooms." Her eyes drifted away in thought. "Speaking of which, our things are still in the car."

I shrugged. "We'll get them later, we should see what we're living in first. Then unpack."

"Yeah." Tori said, looking somber for a moment. 

Then, out of nowhere, she hugged me. I wrapped my arms around her, nuzzling my nose in her hair. She smelled like ripe cherries and dust. I was surprised by the way she embraced me, like we were saying goodbye. And I guess in a way, we were. All our lives we lived right next to each other, our bedroom windows just across from another. We'd speak at night, and say hello through them in the mornings. Now, we were living in separate buildings, miles apart. It wasn't the end of our relationship, but it was the end of an era. I suddenly realized how new this would be to me, too.