why we fall apart

twentieth ; why we fall apart

"Grace, it seems that our system has made an error. We roomed you with Alex because his dorm was the only open one left. But he was placed in the girl's side since we had a space issue, so we assumed Alex was a girl when we assigned you. It is against our bylaws to room a boy and a girl together."

"So I'm getting a new roomie?"

"No. You're getting a new room."

They had been working on building new dorm buildings ever since the new administrators were announced. I chuckled humorlessly. I'm finally getting my own room at least.

I'd been through so many roommates that word got out about my certain...tendencies.

I was always angry, frustrated, I rarely talked, stared off into space lots, and blanked out more than I should've.

Not exactly good roommate material.

"I heard you're moving out. So soon?" Alex gestured to my boxes gathered around my bed.

"Yep."

"And you're okay with that?"

"Yeah."

"And you have nothing else to say about it?"

"No."

I continued rustling through drawers. Alex just stood there.

"Am I supposed to have something to say?" I asked.

Alex just looked at me, with what emotion, I couldn't tell. He shook his head slowly and left, grabbing his jacket and slamming the door on his way out.

I rolled my eyes.

Lugging all my stuff over from my last room to Alex's was easy because I had an ex-roommate eager to get me out of her space.

Now, I only had myself and my weak spaghetti arms. As I struggled to hoist a cardboard box full of books down the hall, I heard yelling. Turning the corner, I saw Tristan yelling into his phone. His eyes snapped to me and barked something into the receiver before ending the call.

"What did you hear," he said menacingly. Unabashed and in a bored tone I replied, "Absolutely nothing. Your yelling was unintelligible."

His face, marred by a scowl, slowly morphed back into his former angly face.

"Sorry about that. Had something to take care of."

"Right."

"You're leaving Crawford?"

"I wish. Just to a new dorm."

"Need help?"

"Please. Look at my arms, they're practically made of pipe cleaners." That warranted a slight grin from Tristan and I flatly smiled back. There was definitely something more to hallway kid than I thought. But isn't there always more to someone than you originally see?

The new dorm was smaller than a shared one, and I was the only one occupying the newly built wing.

"I heard they're pulling in new kids soon," Tristan said, setting down one of the last boxes.

"So I guess I'll just have to enjoy the peace while it lasts."

I plopped down on the bed and Tristan leaned against the doorway.

"Do you like mysteries, Gracie?" Tristan asked randomly.

"Why do you ask?"

A knowing grin crept up his lips. "There's this secret I know. A secret about Crawford. And I want to know more."

That piqued my interest for sure.

"You want my help to figure it out?"

Tristan shrugged. "You're good at getting around unseen." He shook his head. "Do you know how many times I walked those hallways without ever noticing you?"

"Gee, thanks. I always knew I was the resident wallflower," I rolled my eyes.

"You're welcome," he said, unashamed.

"So what's the big deal? Got more dirt on Crawford than the new admin already do?"

Tristan let out a cold, humorless laugh. "Oh, it's more than that."

I was in.