the revenge plot ; lrh

one

"HOW MUCH STUFF DO you need, Cal?" I huff as I drop the last box of my twin brother's belongings on his mattress, stretching out my back once I do so. "You have more crap than both of us should combined."

Calum casts me a disapproving glare from where he begins cutting open his boxes and pulling out all of his belongings, starting with his ridiculous shoe collection.

College move-in day was something that I had been anticipating all summer, but I couldn't quite believe had finally arrived. Our mother had driven us all the way across the country to New York City to help us move in, only to be called back to work just as we arrived, leaving me in charge of carrying our belongings up to our dormitories. All around us, freshmen and their parents unpack boxes, teary-eyed as they think about the inevitability of having to leave — but not me.

While I am sad that I won't be seeing my mother as often as I would perhaps like, I am mostly excited for what is to come. I have everything I need right here in New York — independence, freedom, a college education, my twin brother, most of my friends. The only thing I seem to be missing is my boyfriend. Stop it, Rory, I scold myself as soon as I think of him. I've hardly spent an hour at NYU and I'm already thinking about how much I miss Luke — something I vowed not to waste so much time on.

"You didn't have to help me bring it all up," Calum reminds me, thankfully breaking me away from my Luke-riddled thoughts.

"I wouldn't have if I knew it was going take ten trips," I grumble, collapsing onto his bed and watching as he continues to unpack his seemingly thousands of boxes.

"It wasn't ten trips," Calum glares at me again, already seeming to be sick of me — the next four years are going to be fun. "Besides, I helped you with all your stuff."

"Whatever," I shrug, already dreading having to unpack all of my things once I return to my dormitory. "You'd better unpack quickly. Your roommate's going to think you're crazy if he sees how much crap you've got."

Calum turns to me, his face already morphed into one of complete and utter annoyance. "No he won't," he retorts angrily.

I raise my brows in disbelief, ready to retaliate to this comment when somebody appears in the doorway.

"He might."

I glance over Calum's shoulder, sitting up slightly in his bed as I look over to the source of the words. A tall, olive-skinned boy with chocolate-brown, curly hair stands in the doorway, dressed in skinny jeans and an AC/DC shirt with a cunning smirk. He stops for a moment, staring at us both before entering the room and dropping a box he is carrying on the ground.

"Theo," the boy — Theo, apparently — introduces himself with a smile and offers his hand out to Calum, who reaches forward and shakes it. "I'm your roommate."

"Calum," my brother blushes slightly, glancing around at the mountain of boxes surrounding him. "I—sorry about the mess."

Theo shrugs, waving him off nonchalantly. "It's nothing, really," he looks over to where I sit on the bed, still smiling widely. "You rooming with us, too?"

I laugh lightly at the joke, pushing up on the bed to introduce myself. I want to make a good impression on Calum's roommate — after all, they are going to be spending the entire year living together, which means I'll be seeing him around almost every day.

"Rory," I reach out boldly to shake Theo's hand, though almost instantly question my actions. I don't think I've ever tried to shake someone's hand before — certainly not somebody my own age. Nonetheless, Theo accepts this gracefully. "Calum's sister — twin, actually. I'm just down the hall."