The Hall Speaks #fallsemester

Dealt Cards

#Carly #Shandi

"Shandi, why don't you come sit with me?" said Owen nervously, moving his tray over.

"Okay," said Shandi plainly, though she was glad to see Owen. They had grown to be fairly close. She put her books down then started to walk off.

"Where you going?" Carly asked, looking perplexed.

"To get food. I am eating, Carly."

"Sorry, Shandi," said Carly ruefully as Shandi walked off to the vegetarian lunch line.

"So, Owen, you never told us about the Drag Ball," Carly continued.

Sage rolled his eyes like he wanted to move past this topic.

"It was awesome, better than last year, till word got out that a student committed suicide. No one knew who it was or where it was so people started to panic. Everyone started wondering if it was someone they knew or if it was their friend who'd been a little down lately. Needless to say it put a damper on everyone's mood. We ended early, of course. It seemed wrong to party with someone being... dead somewhere on campus, you know."

"Right, sorry I didn't make it. I really wanted to," said Carly, and she meant it. She had actually planned on making it to the Ball, but other circumstances got in the way.

After the Thanksgiving party at Landon's sister's, Carly decided to stop by Patrick's apartment. They still hadn't spoke; he wouldn't return any of her calls or respond to any of her emails. Carly thought standing in front of his door would get his attention and force him to talk to her. But when Patrick opened the door, he simply slammed it in her face. Carly didn't feel like partying after that. She decided to go shopping, which always made her feel better.

While Shandi stood in the lunch line, Marcus spotted her and approached her with open arms.

After Marcus hugged Shandi, he looked at her, shaking his head, looking remorseful. "Are you all right? I just heard about what happened when I got back from D.C."

Shandi shrugged her shoulders. "I'm hanging in there," she said, trying to push out a quick smile. She felt a sense of relief that Marcus had been out of town and didn't have to carry around the dark memories of that night. Just looking at him, she could see that the full-of-life and full-of-self, Marcus she'd met during training had resurfaced. It didn't make her happy, though. She knew she'd never see the old Shandi again.

"Well, you let me know if you need something. Duty, desk coverage, you name it and you got it. Okay?"

Shandi nodded. After she got her food she went back down to sit at the table with Will, Sage, Owen and Carly. She tried to catch up to their conversation, hoping it had nothing to deal with RA life. She could tell them about her plans to quit after this week.

"Sage, I haven't seen you riding your motorcycle much lately. Is it not working?" asked Will nonchalantly.

Sage's eyes shifted slightly, unprepared to answer the question. "Ah... it's home. I took it early since we'll be going home for Thanksgiving break soon. I couldn't exactly pack my stuff on the bike."

In reality he took his motorcycle home because he feared getting attacked again and his bike stolen. The words of his assailant echoed in his ear every day. I'm taking back everything you cost me. The bike was the most expensive thing he owned.

"That's too bad, I was hoping you'd take me for a ride. You know, since you gave Alana one. I love motorcycles," said Carly. She suddenly stopped, distracted by Patrick who was approaching their table.

Patrick looked only at Shandi. "Hey, sorry to hear what happened, are you all right?"

"Hi... I'm fine. How are you?" Shandi looked at him from the side.