Chatoyant College, Book 1: New Student Orientation

Chapter 36: Atmospheric

They were silent for a moment as they walked down the hallway of Gilkey 5, passing the doorway of the room that had once been Annie's and now, evidently, belonged only to Salome. When they reached their rooms, Corrie and Edie dropped off their bags, then quickly joined Dawn and Naomi at the end of the hall. "But how is remembering going to help?" asked Corrie anxiously. "You don't know where Annie might be, do you?"

Dawn shook her head, feeling tears well up in her eyes now that she was in the relative comfort and security of her room. She sat down on her bed and clutched her pillow to her chest. "No, but Lorelei came out of the woods, so that would be the place to look, right? But it's dangerous, and what would be in the woods?"

"Who knows," said Naomi. "At a school like this..." She trailed off meaningfully.

Dawn nodded. "They might want us to stay out of the woods for more reason than just that they don't own it."

Corrie stood up, folding her arms. "So why don't we go find out what it is right now?"

"Because we don't know where to go, and Annie is probably not even there," said Edie firmly. "We should wait until Lorelei is better and can explain to Dawn what to do."

"Much as I hate to say it, you're right," Dawn said. "I want to go too, but I'll probably have a sudden asthma attack too if I go without any preparation. And she said earlier it was something she was supposed to do in the morning, so trying to do it this late in the afternoon probably wouldn't do any good."

"Besides," said Naomi with a grin, "Dawn has a date tonight!"

"Oh God," Dawn moaned. She looked at the clock--not that it made any difference, since she immediately forgot what it said and she couldn't remember what time the movie was supposed to be anyway. "I don't know if I can handle that..."

"Aww, of course you can!" Corrie said brightly. "It's just a date."

She tried to laugh, but it came out as a weak snort. She wiped at her eyes with her sleeve. "It's not the date part I'm scared of. I've been on dates before. I'm just so freaked out now, I don't know if I can calm down enough to enjoy myself."

"Why don't we just hang out for a while? Maybe go get dinner? Doing normal stuff should help you calm down." Edie shrugged. "Besides, an asthma attack is not a big deal. There's no doubt that Lorelei will be fine. We can go visit her tomorrow if you're worried."

Dawn nodded shakily, squeezing the pillow she held. "Yeah. That's a good idea." She didn't really believe that what had happened to Lorelei was just an asthma attack, but it didn't sound like Edie was willing to accept any other possibility. Besides, Edie's way of thinking was less panic-inducing. She stood up, walked to her desk, found a tissue, and blew her nose. "Is it dinnertime? I don't know how much I can eat but having something to drink would probably help calm me down."

Corrie looked up at the clock and nodded. "Yeah, why don't we go now? Then you should have a little time between dinner and when the movie starts."

It was strange to take the walk to the dining hall; all the people they passed and all the people at dinner seemed to be acting just the same as usual. Dawn shivered involuntarily. It was strange to think that none of the rest of campus could see that something had changed. Then again, maybe it hadn't changed, despite the difference she felt in the college's atmosphere; maybe it was only something she was just now noticing.

Their table was a quiet island in the middle of the perpetually noisy dining hall. They tried to make conversation--mostly joking about the food--but Dawn still felt separated from the rest of the college. Her friends were subdued, too, even if they weren't as freaked out as she was. She drank a hot chocolate (it wasn't very good, but it was still chocolate) and ate some vegetables. It made her feel better, even though she had no appetite and couldn't push herself to eat any more.

"Do you feel any better, Dawn?" Naomi asked as they walked back toward Gilkey.

She nodded. "Thanks. Do any of you know when the movie is, though? I never asked."

Corrie laughed. "It's supposed to start at 8. I guess it has to be reasonably dark for them to project a movie onto an outdoor screen."

"Okay." She still had some time to hang out with her friends and relax, then; the clock in the dining hall had said 7:15.