Eighteen.

Chapter 5

Aimee's laughter penetrated the still night air, about a month into the college year. Not much had changed, really. She could- finally- find her way around, after a few weeks of getting lost.

"Aims, come here!" she heard her best friend's voice call to her from somewhere in the darkness, and she checked the time before heading in her vague direction.

"Where are you?" she laughed, looking around futilely- it was too dark to see a foot in front of you. "Shouldn't we be getting back?"

"Over by the fountain," came Jen's reply, and Aimee heard the faint splashing of water. "And we will. After we teach you how to live a little."

The small LED lights of the fountain illuminated its trickling water, turning it blue, then green, then pink. Aimee paused about three feet away, to see Jen standing on the stone ledge on the outside of the fountain, and burst into loud giggles.

"No way. You are not jumping in. It's nearly midnight, Jen!" Aimee said, though her voice lacked any ability to be stern.

"You're right," her best friend smiled, as she hopped off the cold stone, looking around for her flip flops. "Can I borrow your phone? For the light?"

Obligingly, Aimee handed over her phone, waiting in the semi-darkness for Jen. 

Jen slid Aimee's phone into her back pocket, and Aimee assumed that she'd found the flip flops. 

"Hop up on the side," Jen instructed. "Walk around the edges. I'll look on the ground. I can't find the bloody things."

Aimee did as she was asked, not questioning it in her haste to get back to the dorm.

Her scream ripped the darkness into shreds, as her entire body met the freezing cold water of the fountain. A light flicked on in a nearby dorm, and she heard Jen's loud laughter to her right.

"You should see your face right now," Jen said, breathless from exuberant giggles. "It's priceless."

"One day," Aimee murmured, though she was trying hard not to laugh. "I will get you, Jennifer."

Her entire body was starting to shiver from the icy water, so she hoisted herself out- with no help from her still-laughing best friend- and slid over the stone, to land shakily on her feet. Jen produced a towel out of her beach bag, and Aimee immediately grabbed it.

"Why do I trust you?" she laughed, as she pulled the warm towel around herself, her blonde hair stuck together in clumps from the water. "It's gonna take me like an hour to clean up."

"You're going to bed," Jen laughed, as they finally began to make their way toward the dorm. "Why would you even bother?"

Aimee stuck her tongue out. "Because maybe I don't sleep in soaking wet clothes?"

Jen hit her hip with her own. "But Aimee," she leaned over to whisper the next part. "YOLO."

Aimee burst out laughing yet again, and began to run toward their building. "For that, I'm locking you out."

Jen smiled as she attempted to run with her, her flip flops prohibiting the movement. She gave up and just kept walking, knowing Aimee would have the door wide open for her.

Neither girl picked up on the faint smell of cigarettes outside the building, too intent on getting back inside. 

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The next morning, Aimee did something she had thought she would never do- she slept through her lecture.

Not that it was her fault, of course.

Jen, ever helpful, had taken it upon herself to turn off Aimee's alarm, to allow her best friend to sleep. 

When Aimee woke up, for once well-rested, she could have screamed at the time blinking at her from her bedside alarm clock.

"Jen," she said, hopping out of bed and going to her roommate's side, attempting to shake her awake. Jen woke up groggily, her eyes still sleepy. 

"Mm," she murmured incoherently, turning on her side, so her back was to Aimee.

Aimee smirked at this new challenge, the sleep vanishing from her own eyes on her new mission- vengeance.

She got a thin cloth and soaked it under the cold bathroom tap. Making her way back to Jen's bed, she laid it gently on her friend's face.

It didn't take long for the shock of the cold cloth to wake Jen up; its sheer contrast to the humid Australian air was shocking.

"What?" Jen demanded as she tossed the cold cloth back at Aimee, who deflected it with her arm so it hit the wall limply. 

"You turned off my alarm," Aimee mused, shaking her head.

Jen mumbled something that sounded like 'full college experience' under her breath.

"As punishment," Aimee smiled. "Today, you do as I say. We spend a day in the life of Aimee, instead of trying to make Aimee more..."

Jen interrupted her here, with a peal of laughter. "Badass," she finished her best friend's sentence.

Aimee let out a reluctant laugh. "Yeah, unfortunately for you, Jen, badass isn't on my list of aspirations for life."

Jen smiled as she reached across to ruffle Aimee's hair. "Not yet, it isn't."