For Me to Know.

However.

August, Junior year of UCLA.

There's a knock at the front door to our apartment dorm.

"Cassie? Can you get that?" Lynn calls from the bathroom. "It's probably just Marty!" I roll my eyes. Second week back at school and she already has a boyfriend. Or whatever she calls him.

I open the door to reveal, shocker, Marty Colman, all six feet and two inches, 245 pounds of muscle, and freshly bought Nikes, which I'm sure cost more than my car. No surprise a groupie of freshman girls surround him. I force a smile across my face.

"Hey Mary," I say. A confused look flashes in his eyes before he smirks.

"Hey, Castle," he quips and grins like the moron he is. The freshmen squeal with giggles. I roll my eyes.

"Good one?" I turn and stride away. I pick up my book from the couch and retreat to my room.

Moments later my ears are raped by an astonishingly appalling noise that Lynn would call music. I huff my annoyances and plug in ear buds.

Welcome home, is the thought that comes to mind as I drown myself in Macbeth and Vivaldi.

Not even two hours later, my door flies open and slams shut within the same instant. Frustration bubbles inside me.

"What the hell? Did you not see the sign?!" I rip the headphones out of my ears and slam the book into the desk. I look at the scum bag who so self entitled-ly barged into my room.

"Uh, um... sorry, just there was this freshman girl who was really... just... everywhere and then she had to puke because Marty was making out with that Lynn girl, and-" I roll my eyes. "Sorry, I just needed to get... away. I'll go out the window now!" He says with fake enthusiasm. I stare at him blankly as he looks around for a window. "No window?" I shake my head and he nods.

"Just sit down and read a book." He nods and sits on the floor against the wall opposite of me. He picks up a textbook from my sophomore year that was lying uselessly by the closet.

"Advanced Psychological Illness Methods?" He flips through the thick pages carelessly. He lands on a page covered in green sticky notes. He focuses on them like a prisoner would focus on a Playboy. He nods and makes an understanding noise every few sticky notes. He glances at me and his cheeks redden slightly. "Sorry, I just never really got away from the psychology part of 'writing'." He uses air quotes.

"You're a writer." He nods.

"Well, I want to be. You see I transferred from SanFran?" That's what the non-locals call it. "I'm a junior. I'm majoring in film
Production and directing. And you are psychology I guess?" I quirk a brow.

"What makes you say that?" He mirrors my facial expression as he lifts the textbook with one hand. I shrug. "Just some light reading." He laughs. "I major in psychology but I minor in film production." He grins.

"So we might have some classes together?"

I try to think about it but my mind seems clouded at the moment, so I just shrug and say "There is a possibility, I suppose." He nods and a smile tugs at the corner of his mouth.

"Cool."

He looks around the room and takes in the little pieces, like the Christmas lights covered in ping pong balls, the canvases in the wall, the keyboard in the corner. After a few moments he shoves the textbook back to where it was and stands.

"I'm Uriah, by the way." He takes one step and he reaches across my small room easily.  He extends his hand and I shake it.

"I'm Cassiel. You can call me Cassie." He nods.

"Is that what everyone else calls you?" I nod. "Then I don't want to call you that." I scowl at him. "I'm just gonna call you Cas, ok?" I slightly narrow my eyes and nod once.

"Ok... since you asked so nicely." He smirks.

"Right. Well, it's now almost  1 a.m. And I have to work at 10 tomorrow so..." he finger guns the door and spins on one foot, silently opening it. He turns towards me as he slips out and pauses for jut a short second. A part of me thinks he winks, a part of me says I didn't see the other eye so he just blinked.

As the door latches shut, I exhale heavily and realize I hadn't been breathing very well.

There is no more thudding from the stereo system, no more squeals from the freshman girls, no more shouting from the frat guys.

For the first party of the year, it didn't last to long. I tip toe to the kitchen and find Lynn on the floor eating Doritos from a paper plate. I slide down and sit across from her.

"You must be getting older. It's only 1 a.m and you're already crashing," I say. She laughs low and choppy.

"Haha, yea." Her face falls "or maybe I just suck at throwing parties," she sobs as she shoves Doritos in her mouth. I suppress a sigh.

"Well maybe you should stop throwing them for guys and throw them for fun," I suggest. She whines and wipes her eyes with the back of her hand.

"No that won't work then I won't have any guys to party with!" She sniffs tear that I'm sure are pure vodka.

"You're right, you should just stop throwing them all together." She whines again, only though sounding more aggravated this time. I stifle a laugh. Drunk Lynn is way more entertaining than Regular Lynn.

She holds out the plate.

"Are they just Doritos?" She nods. I take one and it burns my tongue so harshly I have to spit it out. "What the fuck?" She giggles.

"Oh my god, I came up with something amazing though. I put taco seasoning on them and then I microwaved them for five minutes." I spit onto the plate and just now see the spilled over bottle of taco seasoning on the counter by the open microwave.

I sigh and dust myself off as I stand.

"Goodnight Lynn. Happy New Year." She laughs low and choppy again.

"Happy new year Cassie."

I peel back thin layers of freshly bedded sheets and burry myself in them.

Just as I begin to doze off, my phone rings softly. I check the screen. My brother's name and picture glows on the screen.

"Cameron, what the hell?" I growl.

"Cassiel, oh my god Cassie..." He sounds panicked and is breathing heavily. And he never calls me Cassie. Only Cassiel.

"Cameron, what the hell?" I say again only in a completely different tone. "What's going on?"

"It's Camille."

My heart drops.