Both Sides | ✓

Chapter 53

Olivia's POV:

It was far too cold to roam the Yale campus during night. I spent about 20 minutes bearing through the chilly atmosphere and showing Cleo around the school but after my fingers went numb and Cleo stayed unresponsive to the cold, I hurried her inside of the dorms.

"God, you're a wimp," she teased as I rubbed my frozen hands on the denim of my jeans.

"Oh, quiet. You'll like to see me and Cara's dorm, anyway. It's cool."

"Knowing you," Cleo said, pressing the elevator button for the 3rd floor. "I'm sure it's neat."

I scoffed to myself, knowing full well that she was right. I wondered just how messy Cleo's current place of living was. The thought made me cringe so I instead focused on the quiet whirring of the elevator moving upwards. The doors slid open and we stepped out, Cleo pulling my hand into hers. I smiled and continued a few doors down. Loud music echoed through the door at the very end of the hall. Cleo tilted her head towards it and I rolled my eyes.

"Cloke Robinson lives there," I told her as I stopped at my room. "He blares that music till at least 3 AM. It's enough to want to through him out the window."

Our door was the same as everyone else's; a white paneled door with a golden doorknob and whiteboard. Most rooms' were showcasing crude drawings in the humble ink of Expo markers but ours simple spelt "Olivia and Cara's" in Cara's neat handwriting. A smiley face grinned below the writing as I unlocked and twisted the door handle. The smell of lavender candles and peppermint tea greeted me as I stepped in, signaling that Cara had long been asleep. Her desk was left in a slightly disheveled manor with a few textbooks open and laid across it. I huffed and walked right to it, straightening the desk to its normal condition.

"I was right," Cleo said, tracing a finger along the kitchen counter. She lifted it as if inspecting whether or not the space had been coated in dust. "Neat."

A few pictures covered the walls, ones of Cara and I or our families. Two filled calendars lined the wall behind our desks which carried the same light blue stationary sets. I stepped onto a freshly vacuumed room and glanced at the couch to my left, adorned with a few throw pillows and one hand crocheted blanket gifted to us from our friend on the 4th floor.

"Keep your voice down," I whispered, walking to Cara's door and closing it fully. She always left a crack about 3 inches wide. I found it funny and somewhat endearing how she was still afraid of the dark. "Cara's asleep, thank God." Cleo tilted her head slightly. "I just don't feel like explaining what my high school girlfriend is doing at our dorm at the moment."

She huffed out a quiet laugh and stepped up to a closed door. "This your room?" I nodded and she twisted the handle. The lights inside were off besides a lamp with cast a warm glow through the room. Cleo flicked the light switch on and my furniture illuminated itself in the light. A bed pressed against the wall, covered in fluffy white blankets and pillows. The circular rug in the center of the room. The small night stand and chest of drawers in matching green colors.

"Yep," Cleo said with a triumphant grin. "Neat."

"Oh, whatever," I said, rolling my eyes.

"But, your dorm is cute, Vi. Very you."

I chuckled and peeled off the blazer from over my shoulders, hanging it in the closet. Cleo began to wander about my small bedroom, looking over each insignificant item as if it were the most fascinating thing she had ever seen.

"Wait," she paused at a metal pinned to my wall. "You got valedictorian?"

I nodded, shutting my closet doors. "I assumed you knew. Did you cut ties with everyone from Crestview after leaving?"