The next time Ella woke up, it was to her roommate rummaging around in the pantry.
She blinked tiredly at Katie's figure. She was wearing a tight tennis skirt, and a fitted Nike sports bra. Her blonde hair was tied tightly in a high ponytail. She'd obviously just gotten back from an early-morning practice.
Ella groaned lightly, and her roommate glanced at her. "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."
"It's fine," she sighed and glanced at the clock. 9:46 AM. "I needed to get up anyway."
She stretched her arms above her head, blinking a few times to kick-start her brain. The sensation of having just woken up felt like trudging through a thick, syrupy dream.
As she swung her legs out of bed, the room swayed, and for a moment, she felt as if she might topple over.
"Holy crap, you look like, well, crap," Katie said, munching on a peanut butter protein bar that was most definitely not hers.
Ella groaned again. "Thanks, I needed someone to tell me that first thing in the morning." she glanced up again. "Also, those are my protein bars."
Katie shrugged. "I forgot to go grocery shopping, and I need something to fill me up for the rest of the day." She rummaged through the box and threw one towards Ella. It bounced off her lap. "You should eat that. It might help you wake up."
"Thanks," Ella said, finally willing herself to leave the comfort of her soft bed. "I'll just stick with my usual iced coffee."
"Coffee can be bad for you," Katie responded, shoving the rest of her protein bar down her throat. "Maybe if you'd put some real food in your system you wouldn't look like that."
She reached for the towel hanging on her bedpost. "Thanks, I'll keep that in mind."
Her roommate eyed her for a moment before sighing. "What time is your last class today?"
"At four-thirty, why?"
"So you should out by like, what, five-forty-five?"
"Six, actually." she wrinkled her nose in confusion. "Why are you asking."
Katie stared at her impassively. "We're going to the dining hall."
"The what?"
"The dining hall," her roommate repeated. "You know, the place where students go and eat."
Ella rolled her eyes. "I know what a dining hall is. This campus has one?"
"What? Jesus—yes. There is a dining hall on campus. You've been here for what? Three weeks and you haven't been to the dining hall?"
Ella felt like the word 'dining hall' was being thrown around a little too much. "No, I haven't been, um, there. I haven't had time."
"You haven't had time to eat?"
I eat," she said, waving to the box of protein bars in her roommate's hand.
"Oh okay, so you just don't eat real food."
"No, I'm just..." Ella closed her eyes, white stars danced behind her lids, forcing them open. "I guess I just never had time."
Her roommate stared at her expectantly.
"and I guess I just had no one to go with."
Her roommate barked out a laugh. "Okay, so you're a loser." She said it like it was a fact.
"No, I'm not a loser." She retorted. "I'm new. I don't know anyone here and I'm shacked up in a dorm hall with a bunch of athletes that seem to only want to hang out with other athletes."
Katie rolled her eyes. "No excuse, there's plenty of other students on this campus."
Ella sighed. She wanted to protest but she knew Katie was right.
"We're going to the dining hall," Katie said, slinging her backpack over her shoulder. "I'll see you at six."
—---
Ella's first two classes passed by in a breeze. The professors at Northview seemed a lot more laid back at home. All you really needed to do was show up for class and look somewhat attentive to their lectures and you received a passing attendance and participation grade. It was her last class, Media Consumer Behavior, that gave her a bit of trouble.
Lysander was in this class as well, and lo and behold, he offered to be her partner. Much to the disappointment of the girl in front of them, who seemed to be glancing over at Lysander now and then.
After they split into pairs, they were expected to do group work for the majority of the class, with the professor only offering guidance here and there.
"So what do you think of maybe focusing on how the average consumer interacts with online advertisements? I mean this is the digital age." Lysander said, tapping his pencil against the notebook in front of them.
They were currently bouncing ideas off of one another and it was quite obvious that they both had different ideas on what to do for the project.
Ella frowned. "I don't know, I feel like everyone is going to be focusing on online advertisements, why don't we do something a little different."
"Yeah, but this is safe."
Ella resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "I don't think playing it safe got you into this program, right?"
Lysander snorted. "Holy–wow–you sound just like a professor right now."
Ella's face burned. She didn't want to sound uppity and like she knew better than he did. But well, it was true. Everyone would be doing their project on online advertisements and engagement.
"Okay," Lysander said, pushing the notebook towards her. "What are you thinking?"
"Hmmm, can I see that?" she said, pointing to the pen in his hand. Lysander handed it over, and their fingers brushed. She pretended not to notice. "Okay, so what instead of focusing on consumer engagement with online advertisement we focused on the opposite. Like how some consumers actively use ad-blocking tools to avoid online advertisements."
Lysander hummed thoughtfully. "That's not a bad idea."
She smiled giddily and wrote down a few notes. "I feel like now that we have a general idea of what we want, we should be good to go for now. The professor only wants the pitch submitted to him by the end of class today, which we pretty much have."
"Yeah," He agreed, pulling out his laptop. "I'll type this up really fast and submit it on Canvas."
She nodded and started packing up her belongings. "We should probably plan to meet up for this assignment," she said before she could stop herself. "Like outside of class." She added awkwardly.
"Oh, for sure." Lysander said biting his bottom lip concentration as he typed out the pitch. "Text me, and we can set up a day sometime next week."
"Any idea where you want to meet?"
He shrugged.
"Um," she said, not sure if she was bothering him or if this was just how he was most of the time. "How about the library? I work there."
He nodded in agreement. "Sounds good," He smiled. "We could use some of the textbooks and print articles they have available there to help with our research."
She let out a puff of relief at his positive response. "Yeah, for sure." She slung her bag over her shoulder. "I'll catch you around then?"
"Definitely." His eyes never left the computer screen.
Ella walked down the pathway towards Dockman Hall, where Katie was no doubt waiting for her. She glanced down at her watch, It was almost six o'clock. Her roommate would no doubt call her out if she tried skipping their little impromptu dinner. She sighed, speed-walking back to the dorm.
Once she entered her room, she immediately noticed Katie sitting on her well-made bed painting her fingernails. "You're back," she greeted
"Hi," Ella said dropping her bag at the edge of her bed.
"I hope you don't mind but I borrowed some of your nail polish because I didn't have a color that suited my outfit." She held up her hands, showcasing her brightly painted nails. Yep, that was Ella's Juicy Orange nail polish.
"It's fine," Ella said, awkwardly.
"Are you ready to go to the dining hall?"
She scratched her arm nervously. "I guess."
Katie hopped off her bed and slid into a pair of sneakers. She was wearing a pair of flared yoga pants and a tight-fitted crop top. Her toned stomach was on full display. Ella felt a pang of jealousy, wishing she had a pair of abs to display to the world.
They walked down the hall and towards a side entrance that Ella had never gone through before.
As they walked, Katie filled the silence by typing aggressively on her phone. Ella glanced over, trying to take a peek at what she was typing out, but could barely make out any discernible words.
By the time, Ella was mustering up the courage to ask what was wrong they were at the dining hall.
Katie walked through the doors, not even bothering to look up from her phone, leaving Ella to hold open the door for a couple of students walking in the other direction.
As they entered the line for the food and found a place to sit, there was no awkward moment like Ella dreaded. There was no standing at the doorway with a tray, and there was no awkward moment of 'Hi, can I sit here?'
Katie sat at the first empty table she could find, slamming her tray down. It was a miracle she didn't spray food everywhere.
"Aren't you going to be late for practice?" Ella asked, taking a seat across from her.
Katie frowned. "We don't have night practice on Fridays."
"Oh," Ella said, before shoveling a spoonful of baked macaroni into her mouth. It was heavenly. She missed the taste of real food.
They ate in relative silence, Ella occasionally glancing around the dining hall. It was a massive space, filled with students chatting, laughing, and eating. The aroma of various dishes filled the air, and the clatter of trays and cutlery provided a constant background noise.
"So," Katie said, "I'm assuming you don't play a sport."
Ella rolled her eyes. "What gave it away?"
"Well, you lack muscles."
"It was a rhetorical question."
"It also doesn't help that you've lost like what, fifteen pounds since I first met you?"
"I have not," she denied.
"Oh yes, you have. That's what living off of iced coffee does to you."
Ella resisted the urge to roll her eyes again, she swallowed down her food. "Did you bring me here to grill me on my weight and my inability to play a sport?"
Katie shrugged. "No, I brought you here to finally eat something." She leaned over to fork a few bites of salad into her mouth. "And to show you that the dining hall isn't scary."
"I never said it was scary."
"Yet, it took three weeks to get here, Tucker."
"Ugh," Ella said, slightly perturbed by the nickname many of the new people in her life seemed to give her. "Like I said, I never had time."
"And like I said, if god put me in your life to prevent you from being a loser, I accept that challenge."
Ella groaned and shoved a few pieces of Hawaiian bread into her mouth, and if she walked back to the dorm a little bit happier than she had been in weeks, Katie didn't have to know that.