Dear Terrorists,

Chapter 13

The sunlight shone through the open blinds that failed to block the window, dividing the yellow streaks of bright light across the room. One of those bright streaks shone directly into Amira's eyes as she slept.

Jennie was already awake, trying to get ready for class in silence.

Amira, still sleeping, sensed the sun streak across her eyes and blocked it, rubbing her closed eyes with the heel of her hands.

Jennie froze in nervousness, her heart pumped loudly in her chest. She had never before slept in the same room with someone she knew so little about. She noticed she had been clenching her fingers in anticipation of waking Amira.

When Amira seemed to remain sleeping, Jennie let out a long, controlled sign of relief. She tiptoed to the bathroom to brush her teeth, slowly closing the door behind her by carefully turning the doorknob to the right before returning the knob back into place in silence.

Silence made Jennie feel uncomfortable, even uneasy. She turned the water faucet on low to drip out water to wet her toothbrush. She brushed slowly as to avoid making noises, spit in silence and knocked the toothbrush against her pointer finger to remain stealthy in her morning preparation. Looking into the mirror, she ran her fingers through her dusty blonde hair, untying the knots her tossing-turning sleep tangled for her. She moved her face inches from the mirror, surveying her face for any ripe pimples to squeeze away from the day's attention. Once again, she silently turned the doorknob before opening the door and turning it back in place.

She crept over to her desk to grab her already-packed book bag filled with freshly labeled college-ruled notebooks and color-coordinated folders. As she curled her book bag up to the shoulder, she noticed Amira staring at from her bed.

"Oh my gosh!" shrieked Jennie, breathing heavily. "You scared the bejesus out of me!"

Amira sat up and formed a Cheshire-cat grin across her makeup-less, yet still beautiful face.

"Sorry," she said as she rubbed her eyes shut once again.

"Holy cow," admitted Jennie recovering her breathes. "It's okay, I thought you were still sleeping."

"I just woke up when you were in the bathroom," said Amira as she full-body stretched. "Don't worry, though. You didn't wake me. I usually wake up early. Say, what time is it, anyway?"

"It's almost seven," she answered as she checked her wristwatch.

"What time is your first class?" asked Amira, now sitting up against the wall.

"Not until ten," she laughed, realizing she still had three more hours.

"Where the heck are you going this early?"

"I was just going to go the library before class."

"You do realize that today is the first day of class, right? Like, you have no homework or anything."

"Yeah, I know," blushed Jennie. "I was just going to look through my books and get prepared."

"You've got to be kidding me," joked Amira playfully. "Whatever floats your boat, dude."

Jennie, realizing the silliness of her morning mission, set her book bag down on the floor and sat on her neatly made bed.

"I know," huffed Jennie, still blushing red. "It's just what I like to do. I don't know why I do that but I like to be prepared."

"Hey, nothing wrong with that. It's certainly better than not being prepared," she said before changing the subject. "Do you drink coffee?"

"Uh," thought Jennie. "I like coffee."

"Yes, but do you drink coffee?" reiterated Amira.

"Whenever I feel the need to, I guess."

"I'm thinking about buying a coffee maker. Would you like to chip in for one with me? We could make coffee and it'd be ready every morning."

"That would be cool," concurred Jennie, afraid to say no. "How much does a coffee maker cost?"

"Oh, not that much. We could get a cheap one for like twenty bucks or something."

Jennie's face lightened up. "Oh, okay good," she said as she began to rummage through her purse. "Yeah, here...here's ten, I don't have a car to get to the store, but yeah that would be great."

"Okay," said Amira, excited. "I'll go pick it up today after class. We'll have fresh coffee every morning, just for the two of us!"

"Oh, yay," said Jennie with an unenthusiastic fist pump, attempting to sound excited.

"Hey," interjected Amira with a genuine expression. "Thanks for talking to me last night. I really appreciate it. I've never told anyone any of that stuff before. You're the only one in the entire world who I've told that to."

"Oh," startled Jennie, surprised by her roommate's openness. "Anytime, Amira. Really, any time you need to talk about something, anything, I'm there for you."

"You're so sweet, Jennie," praised Amira. "Really, I've never had anyone to talk with before. I always seemed to annoy anyone I've tried to relate with."

"I can relate," admitted Jennie. "I've always been that way, too. There's some things that I know that I've never dared to tell anyone, ever."

"You can tell me," urged Amira with sympathetic eyes after a brief moment of silence.

"Oh, it's nothing, really," fibbed Jennie, trying to hide her lies by unzipping her book bag and zipping it back up.

"Oh, c'mon," egged on Amira. "I know there's something you've been hiding that you knew, at some point, that you would share."

"Yeah, but it's not something I'm comfortable with sharing," she defended. "It was really tragic and I still have nightmares about it."

"I won't tell anyone, I promise. You can trust me," she pressed.

"Okay," said Jennie as she took a deep breath, then looked up at the ceiling to avoid eye contact. "One time, during my senior year, I did something awful."

"What? What?" urged Amira, scooting forward so her feet touched the floor.

"Well," she dragged her word out. "One time, I found a boy's diary. Her wrote some personal entries in it and I went home and read it."

"That's it?" asked Amira with a look of disappointment. "That's what you have nightmares about?"

"Well, there's more," calmed Jennie.

"Well, what?" she pressured further.

"I read it and I never told anyone, and I could have made a difference if I had told someone."

"What are you talking about?" said Amira, confused and bummed out.

"I can't tell you everything," remarked Jennie. "Besides, nothing really happened anyways. It's nothing, really. Just personal stuff that you probably would laugh at me for anyways."

"Oh, whatever," said Amira with a grin, finally pushing herself out of bed. "You'll tell me sooner or later, I know it."

"Perhaps I will," sneered Jennie. "I better get

going now."

"Yeah," joked Amira. "You're only two and a half hours early now!"