Lavender

Chapter Two

By the time I finish reading the book, the sky is dark, and Cammie and Daphne haven't returned from their party. It's ten minutes past midnight; what could they possibly be doing for six hours? Will she be out all the time, going to parties every weekend? I should be ecstatic at having the room to myself if she's going to be actively not here, but I'm afraid I'll feel lonely. I hate the feeling already. I've rarely felt it; at home, I was often hanging out with Wyatt at his house and saw my parents around the house. But here... here I know no one except for my absent roommate and her nice girlfriend.

Maybe this inexplicably horrible feeling will go away by sunrise. Tomorrow, I will go out and explore the campus and get to know my surroundings. No matter how introvert I am, I promise to not be a hermit and experience college.

I flick on the lamp on the study desk next to my bed and plug in my headphones. I unfurl the pamphlet for the dorm and use a highlighter to memorize each and every rule and guideline. Obeying the rules is an easy way to avoid getting kicked out for breaking them. I can hear Wyatt teasing me in my ear as I do this, and it brings a smile to my face. He always mocks me for being a 'goody two-shoes' but he means well. There is nothing wrong with following the rules. They are there for a reason, for the greater good. And if I'm a 'nerd' for respecting them, then a nerd I am. I highlight and write them down in small phrases on construction paper and pin them on the wall. I move onto the campus map and study the puzzling pathways and circle the buildings I'll have classes in. I bring out my planner and mark down all the things I need to do before school starts in two days: explore and create a route for my classes, purchase textbooks, and buy more books to read since I've just about read everything I have. Highlighter still in hand and thoughts of going to the bookstore, I fall asleep dreaming of sweaty palms and pathway labyrinths.

***

I wake up to the sound of someone pounding on the door. I jolt upright, Coldplay singing about fixing a person in my ears, and rub the sleep from my eyes. Who could that be? The clock on the bedside table says it's seven in the morning. Won't everyone on campus be hungover from the loud partying all night? Hoping it's Cammie who forgot her key and not a drunk person mistaking my room for the bathroom, I pad over to the door and unlock it... only to find no one. I peer down the hallway and find a boy pounding on a door, slurring his frantic plea to be let in. There are more boys and girls roaming around the hall, asking their sensible roommates to let them into their rooms.

I will never understand how they spend their free time. What's the point of drinking to the point of puking on yourself and stumbling around like the undead? I don't get my peers, and I doubt I ever will.

Wanting to start the day off while everyone is retreating to their bedrooms like vampires fleeing from sunlight, I grab my toiletry bag and head for the bathroom. I hate that I'm so far away from the bathroom; I'll have to sprint back to my room half-naked for everyone to see. I can tell I'll be humiliated every morning for the next four years... especially when I see the boy and girl stick figure on the wall next to the bathroom. Of course, it's a co-ed bathroom. Why wouldn't the university put everyone in an awkward situation?

I sigh heavily and whisper a prayer before turning the knob and entering. Luckily, there's only a handful of guys and girls, and half of them are too intoxicated to notice me racing toward one of the empty shower stalls. I pull the curtain closed tightly, pray no one accidentally opens it, undress and hang my clothes on one of the three hooks, and turn on the shower. The water is freezing for half of the time I'm standing in the tiny stall. I barely have enough room to turn around and wash my hair, but I make do and shower with the trepidation. When I'm all clean, I quickly shut off the shower, wrap my towel around myself, grab my clothes, and scurry over to the sinks. The main area is clear of half-naked bodies, but hearing a suspicious moan coming from one of the stalls, I brush my teeth and am racing back to my dorm room in a flash. Good thing I bought five pairs of slippers; one is not enough if people are doing the dirty in the stalls.