Roommate [girlxgirl]

Gravity

I knock on the only clean-slate door in the hallway. Humming music comes from within, but there's a lot less chatter and body movement that I can hear. The door cracks open so small that I can't tell who's on the other side.

"Jynx? You're not on the list," a voice says, but I'm almost positive it's Betsy.

"Praise said she'd get me in," I say.

Silence rings for a few seconds before the voice closes the door. An even longer eternity passes until the door is opened again. This time, the door is wide open for me, and I walk into a cloud of smoke.

Betsy closes the door behind me. "It's mostly vape, but the closet is drug-friendly," she says.

I nod but don't say anything because I already know all of this information. I was a party girl in high school, after all. I notice that everyone's pretty drunk or high, but barely anyone's holding any substance. Even the closet to my right is empty.

I realize that this must be Betsy's dorm because it's bigger and more complicated than the others. There's still no bathroom, but the room is much wider than mine. There's at least 30 people packed in here.

"First on me," she says and hands me a beer.

By the time I open the can, Betsy's gone into the crowd. I look for anyone I know, but I'm suddenly filled with dread. Everyone here is new and Canadian. In fact, most of the people who go to this college are either from the town or from Toronto. I feel completely but unpurposefully ostracized.

A hand clutches my upper arm, causing my muscles to flex and even strain themselves. I jump around into a horrified stance, but it's just Praise. She looks down at me with the same smile that greeted me in our dorm room doorway.

I chuckle and relax my body. "Hey, what's up? Thanks for inviting me." I clonk open my beer and take a sip. I'm only 18, but I'll be 19 soon, so I'm ahead of the game.

She leans down to whisper into my ear, but she stumbles into me. Thankfully, my hand on the not-side of Praise's trip is holding my beer, so I don't spill on her. Now I'm just holding onto her with my shoulder strength.

"Sorry!" she laughs, and her laugh is slow and enticing. "I've had a few of those," she says while reaching for my beer.

I yank my beer-holding arm away from her and shove her back upright. She wobbles but finds her sealegs.

"Hey!" she exclaims. "Let's go talk to boys!"

Before I have the opportunity to break the I-don't-like-boys news, she grabs me by the upper arm again. She tugs me along through the small crowd, and chatter blurs past us. We wind up right at the center-rear of the room where a standard window overlooks the chapel across the street and the humanities building at the far end of the campus.

"Praise! How you doin', lil mama?" a boy says to her. I don't see him as top of the chain, but he's attractive. He looks familiar, though.

Praise finally lets go of my arm and nudges me towards this boy and his friends. "This is my friend, Jynx. She's also a freshman here."

He stares at me for a few seconds before making the duck face with his lips. "Yo, Praise, she was the emo lesbian from our old school."

My mouth drops open, and I feel like it's swinging in some imaginary breeze. My heart doesn't stop—God, I wish it did so that I could drop dead. Sounds come through my throat, but my tongue stops any words from forming. I'm about to leave when Praise wraps her arm around my waist.

"Fuck you guys! Be nice to all my friends or else you won't get hook-ups with any of them!" she shouted.

The party didn't stop for that conversation, but I feel like everyone's watching me now.