Not Alone [Sequel to The Lonely]

Chapter 9

I jumped up from my seat and rushed to the door. "Beverly!" I called out. I peeked in the hallway looking both ways. Empty.

Except for one girl who had trouble pulling her luggage down the hallway. Her glasses fell down to the floor and she cursed. Quickly shoving the cases to the side.  I walked out of the room and paced towards her. "Need help?"

"Yes, please." She placed her glasses on and looked up. Just then I immediately recognized her from Yolanda's group. She was the girl who had asked Yolanda when we were having the assembly. 

"Where's your dorm?" I asked. 

"Down the hallway to your left." She huffed.

"Just a few doors in front of mine." I announced.

"Yay! I met a neighbor!" She paused in the middle of the hallway and extended her arm out. My name is Belinda."

"My name is Christina." I shook her hand. "Belinda, that's a nice name."

"Thank you. I think it's italian." She picked up her bag and continued down the hallway. 

"It's pretty." I smiled.

We both dragged the suitcases down the hallway. "You're pretty strong." She commented.

"There's a club called 'Mothers Forcing Their Daughters To Go To Their Yoga Classes Every Saturday'." I joked. She laughed. "Which made me sneak out of class and join Strength Training. "

"At least your mother tries to spend time with you. My mom is too busy spoiling the oldest daughter." She rolled her eyes. "Do you have any siblings?"

"None." I answered. 

"Lucky." She muttered while reaching for the door knob, she opened the door where she revealed a room identical as mine. "Hey, Louise I'm back!" (Author's note: I changed the name from Rebekah to Louise)

A dark haired girl wearing a pink shirt and jeans turned around. "Hey Belinda," She froze at the sight of me.

"Louise?" I recognized her.

"Kendall's girlfriend." She blurted out. Belinda looked back and forth between us and fixed her glasses. 

"Sorry, I forgot your name." Louise shrugged.

"You two know each other?" She asked.

"We met at a party a few months ago," I turned to Louise. "Kimberly's party."

"That's right! Christina?" Louise guessed. I nodded. "I didn't know you we're studying in Boston."

"Neither did I. Kendall convinced me." I rolled my eyes. She nudged my side. 

"This is a small world." Belinda placed her suitcase on her bed. "But we gotta run, assembly starts in ten minutes."

***

The girls and I ran across the courtyard and rushed inside the auditorium. We walked in from the side of the room and saw hundreds of faces.

"Great, this is just great." Louise complained. 

"We could stand in the back like the rest of them." I pointed to a group of students leaning against the wall behind the last row of seats at the top of the stairs. 

"I'm not so fond of heights." Belinda gulped. Louise raised her eyebrow. 

"You'll be fine." Louise spoke. She took Belinda's hand and pulled her up the stairs. 

"Christina!" I heard a faint scream. In the far right hand corner I noticed Beverly waving her arms at me while Amelia flirted with some football players. "Over here!" 

I pretended to not see her and continued to look around. I was not going to face her in public. We had reached the top of the stairs and placed our backs against the wall. 

"This is not good." Belinda began to pant. I looked down at the crowd and saw the steep slope of the seats. It made me dizzy. 

"Maybe if we sit down." I suggested. 

"Agreed." Belinda slid down to the floor, bent her legs and pulled them to her chest. Louise sighed and sat down with us. 

"So how is Kimberly? I haven't seen her since that." Louise asked.

"Great." I responded. "I couldn't say goodbye to her since she went on a cruise with Kevin."

"Ugh Kevin. I remember the last time i saw him." She giggled. 

"He's crazier than ever." I rolled my eyes. 

"How about Kendall?" She asked.

"I just talked to him this morning, he's great, I'm gonna call him after the assembly."

"Awww. Did he cry when you left?"

"He did, we both did." I looked down remembering Kendall's heartbroken expression when I waved goodbye and boarded the plane.

"Is he going to visit you?" Louise asked.

"Hopefully." I smiled and looked up at her. She smiled back.

There was still something about her that made me feel weird. It made me feel comfortable too. Maybe it was just a gut feeling that we were going to be great friends.