As kids, Leah and Tanner hated each other. To this day, they still do. Tanner Cole is tall, dark, tattooed, and insanely attractive, though his ugly heart drowns all of this out to Leah. At eighteen years old, all Leah wants is to go off to college...
The sound of my alarm pulls me out of sleep, and I couldn't be more excited to be awake. It's finally Monday morning, which means it's my first day of classes as a freshman.
To prepare for today, I set my alarm an extra twenty minutes early as a precaution to avoid a potential stampede in the bathroom. The last thing I want is to be late to my first class because I have to wait for others to free up a shower.
"Zara, I'm going to start getting ready. Are you going to get up?" I ask while I get out of bed and stretch my arms above my head.
She yawns, rolling over onto her stomach. "Mm, not yet."
I shake my head, grinning. "On your head, be it."
I open my closet door and grab my cream colored blouse and blue jeans off the hangers and drape them across my bed before heading to the communal bathroom.
The hallway is empty when I walk down it, though I hear faint music coming from one of the rooms and pass by another where I can make out people talking. Like me, a few are already up and getting ready for the day.
Pushing the communal door open, I'm happy to see it's almost deserted just like I hoped. I stroll over to one of the empty shower cubicles and turn the water on. I stand in the corner for a few minutes while I wait for the water to heat, and when it's ready, I stand under the shower, letting the warm jets of water cascade down my back. I pop the lid of my favorite vanilla body wash and clean my body with this.
By the time I finish and exit the cubicle, I notice that the bathroom has started filling with more people as they prepare to get ready, making me feel grateful that I purposely woke earlier.
When I make it back to my room I find Zara still in bed, lightly snoring. Before I wake her, I decide to dress in case she wants to sleep in longer. I quietly dry myself and put on my clothes, then quickly French braid my hair to one side of my head.
When I finish, I go over to Zara's bed and look at her sleeping form. She must be a heavy sleeper because she has been still since coming back to the room. I check my watch, and it shows there are fewer than forty minutes until my first class starts. I feel a little guilty for doing this, but I don't want to leave and risk her missing any of her classes.
"Zara, it's time to get up," I say softly. But after no results, I keep calling her name louder each time until she stirs.
She groans, rubbing the sleep from her tired eyes. "Ugh, what time is it?"
"Eight twenty."
"Shit!" Zara shouts loudly, leaping out of her bed. She rushes over to her closet, flinging the door open and pulling out her clothes into a heap on the floor.
"Sorry, I didn't know if you wanted to wake up earlier or not," I say in a panic, twiddling the end of my French braid.
"No, it's fine. I've got to school in less time than this, and that was a fifteen-minute drive. I'll just have a quick shower then head out," she says, scooping up a black skirt and a Guns N' Roses top off the floor, then grabbing her toiletries bag from her desk.
"Do you want me to wait for you?" I ask, watching her every movement.
"Thanks, but our classes are in opposite directions. You go on ahead, and I'll text you later to meet up for lunch," she tells me, running out of the door to head to the bathroom.
"Guess I'll see you later," I mumble to myself, standing alone in our room.
Taking my backpack off the door hook, I open the door and head off to class.
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