Home Runs and Heart Beats

Chapter Six

The next time Ella woke up, it was to her roommate rummaging around in the pantry.

She blinked tiredly at Katie's figure. She was wearing a tight tennis skirt, and a fitted Nike sports bra. Her blonde hair was tied tightly in a high ponytail. She'd obviously just gotten back from an early-morning practice.

Ella groaned lightly, and her roommate glanced at her. "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."

"It's fine," she sighed and glanced at the clock. 9:46 AM. "I needed to get up anyway."

She stretched her arms above her head, blinking a few times to kick-start her brain. The sensation of having just woken up felt like trudging through a thick, syrupy dream.

As she swung her legs out of bed, the room swayed, and for a moment, she felt as if she might topple over.

"Holy crap, you look like, well, crap," Katie said, munching on a peanut butter protein bar that was most definitely not hers.

Ella groaned again. "Thanks, I needed someone to tell me that first thing in the morning." she glanced up again. "Also, those are my protein bars."

Katie shrugged. "I forgot to go grocery shopping, and I need something to fill me up for the rest of the day." She rummaged through the box and threw one towards Ella. It bounced off her lap. "You should eat that. It might help you wake up."

"Thanks," Ella said, finally willing herself to leave the comfort of her soft bed. "I'll just stick with my usual iced coffee."

"Coffee can be bad for you," Katie responded, shoving the rest of her protein bar down her throat. "Maybe if you'd put some real food in your system you wouldn't look like that."

She reached for the towel hanging on her bedpost. "Thanks, I'll keep that in mind."

Her roommate eyed her for a moment before sighing. "What time is your last class today?"

"At four-thirty, why?"

"So you should out by like, what, five-forty-five?"

"Six, actually." she wrinkled her nose in confusion. "Why are you asking."

Katie stared at her impassively. "We're going to the dining hall."

"The what?"

"The dining hall," her roommate repeated. "You know, the place where students go and eat."

Ella rolled her eyes. "I know what a dining hall is. This campus has one?"

"What? Jesus—yes. There is a dining hall on campus. You've been here for what? Three weeks and you haven't been to the dining hall?"

Ella felt like the word 'dining hall' was being thrown around a little too much. "No, I haven't been, um, there. I haven't had time."

"You haven't had time to eat?"

I eat," she said, waving to the box of protein bars in her roommate's hand.

"Oh okay, so you just don't eat real food."

"No, I'm just..." Ella closed her eyes, white stars danced behind her lids, forcing them open. "I guess I just never had time."

Her roommate stared at her expectantly.

"and I guess I just had no one to go with."

Her roommate barked out a laugh. "Okay, so you're a loser." She said it like it was a fact.

"No, I'm not a loser." She retorted. "I'm new. I don't know anyone here and I'm shacked up in a dorm hall with a bunch of athletes that seem to only want to hang out with other athletes."