Taking a step back, I rested my hands on my hips, surveying my four suit cases full of clothing resting in the back of Lexi's car.
"How are we going to fit all your crap?" I asked, referring to her wardrobe. We had already sent a rented U-Haul truck wit our essential living furniture, dishes, etc. etc.
She smile sweetly, flinging her blond hair over her shoulder and going back to her mobile conversation. "Most of my stuff is already in my dorm. I hardly need to move anything."
A loud bang made both of us jump, and Lexi screamed, putting her arms over her head. I looked around the yard and saw Tucker jumping off the riding lawn mower. He opened the hood and gazed at the engine for a few seconds before taking a step back and kicking the machine.
"What is he doing?" Lexi muttered, holding her hand up to block the sunlight in her eyes.
I didn't answer, but watched as he banged around in the engine for a few minutes and then jumped back on and attempted to restart it. The engine turned over and sputtered for a couple seconds before another loud bang resounded through the yard and the mower died again. After going through some sort of temper tantrum, which involved kicking it a few more times, he turned and began to trudge toward us.
Lexi got off her bum and puffed her chest out, folding her arms in front of her. "Tucker, what'd yo--"
"You need to buy a new lawn tractor before you leave," He grunted, coming up to us.
My sister gave a humorless laugh. "I can't buy a lawn mower. We're leaving in an hour."
Tucker shrugged, looking around. "Guess this place will look like a deserted wasteland then. When you come back, the grass will be taller than you are."
She sighed dramatically. "How much does a lawn mower cost? $300?"
He snorted. "Sweetie, you're talking a hell of a lot more than that."
"Okay, $1,000?"
"Okay, how about you give me $3,000, I'll buy the tractor, and never tell your parents about your boy-toys."
I watched the two interacting, but froze when Tucker mentioned the number of guys Lexi had slept with over the summer. I watched her face carefully as it hardened like a stone. Her unblinking eyes glared at him for a solid minute before she reached a hand into her purse and withdrew her wallet.
I never knew my sister ever had over a thousand dollars cash on her. I watched, wide-eyed as she stiffly handed him a wad of 30 one hundred dollar bills. Tucker almost looked surprised that she took his deal, but didn't say a word. He put the money in his pocket and then nodded solemnly. "Good luck at school, ladies,"
After giving me a once-over, he turned and walked away. Lex growled under her breath and stomped up to the house. I followed her, opening the front door for myself after she slammed it closed behind her.
"Can you believe him!?" She screamed once I stepped in the house. She stood at the kitchen island counter, completely fuming. "It's like he thinks he can control me like a puppet!"
I raised an eyebrow at her. I could easily see the feelings she had for Tucker, but I never said anything.
"I mean, just because he hasn't slept with me, suddenly I'm a slut!"
"Lex, stop." I tried.
She raised her voice. "No! That bastard is just playing me. He's trying to make me feel bad about myself! You know, I feel great! Do you know what kind of endorphins flow after sex?"
I blinked, taken aback. "Lexi, don't go through this. He isn't worth it."
Tears were filling my sister's eyes. "I can get any guy I want. They fall over me. So why doesn't he? Aren't I pretty enough? Is it because I'm blond?"
"Lexi, enough!" I yelled at her. She stopped talking, but the tears were flowing now, and there was no stopping her. I reached over and took the keys from her. "Get in the car. I'm driving."
I watched her slowly shuffle out the door before making a jump to the cabinet above the fridge and grabbed as many chocolate bars my hands could carry. This was about to be the longest car ride ever.
Six hours later, candy wrappers littering the car and chocolate smeared over our faces, we were singing "To Be a Man" from the movie Mulan at the top of our lungs.
As the song came to an end, we pulled onto campus and Lexi directed me to the dormitories.
"Over there is Raymond's Hall--it's all boys. This one here," She said, pointing to a large, castle-like building. "is co-ed. They call it Burrstown. It's supposed to be community like. There's another boys and another girls dorm on the other side of campus, but this here is our home."
I pulled to a stop in front of a brick building that stood four stories tall. All the windows were lit up, some had chistmas lights hung around them, and others had plants on the sills. Girls walked up to the two wooden doors and walked in, bearing pillows, tubs, and duffel bags. Although it was 11pm, it was still move-in day. Two girls walked up to our parked car and Lexi rolled down her window.
"Hey, shmexy ladies!" She said in a seductive tone. "Wanna help a girl out and bring in some of our junk?"
An Asian girl with straight black hair bent over, her boobs practically falling out of her shirt. She smiled at me. "Is this Lexi Jr.?"
Lexi looked at me and smiled, talking to them as if I weren't there. "Yep, this is Jane. Jane, meet Tyra," The Asian girl nodded. "And Steph." The other girl was all legs and boobs. Her curly brown hair looked like a super model's, and her eyes were enormous brown saucers. She nodded without smiling.
"So, you gotta boyfriend?" Tyra asked mischievously. There was a twinkle in her dark eyes, amusement at questioning me.
"Cut it out, Tyra," Lexi huffed, getting out of the car. She went around to the trunk and waited for me to open it. As I popped the trunk open, Lexi continued. "You guys can help us, and then she'll share every single dirty detail about her life and answer your questions and shit..."
The next hour consisted of us unloading our luggage and hauling it to our rooms. Lexi's room/apartment was on the fourth floor, while mine was on the first floor. Perks of being underclassmen. On a campus that only educates High School Juniors and Seniors, we were the inferiors, therefore, we got ground level living quarters.
With my arms full of boxes, a backpack on my back, and two duffel bags on my shoulders, I busted into my room: room 118. Although it was considered one "room," there were really two rooms, connected by a foyer room. In the foyer was already a body length mirror, a complementary table and two armchairs that didn't look the least bit comfortable.
An awful screeching noise was coming from the room that I guessed inhabited my roommate. The noise stopped suddenly when the door slammed and a few seconds later a girl poked her head out of the door. She looked surprised but smiled nonetheless.
"Hiya, sorry about the racket, I thought you weren't coming until tomorrow morning so I...."
I shrugged, looking straight forward into the other darkened room. "No problem. Is this mine?"
I walked forward into it, still holding my things, nudged open the door and used my elbow to switch on the light. Two beds inhabited the space in front of me. Confused, I looked around. I was sure I had applied for a two person, not a three...
"Yeah, um, so your stuff came yesterday, and the delivery guys said they were paid to set everything up." She was rambling. "And they wanted to know WHERE to put it, so I just took the liberty in setting it up like this."
I frowned. "But this is my room..."
Her nervous smile faltered slightly. She moved to the opposite side of the room and opened a door near the window. "Well you see, they connect! So I was thinking, we could do it dorm style, share a bedroom and then use this other room as a social space! What do you think?"
No. That's what I think. I'd like my own space thank you very much. I looked at the clock: 12:22. I blinked and took a deep breath. "Whatever, we'll figure it out tomorrow. How about that?"
She smiled. "Great. I was just thinking about bed too." She walked over to a wardrobe at the foot of her bed and ripped off her t-shirt, exposing her torso to everything, the only thing covering her was her blue sports bra.
"What are you doing?!" I gasped.
She pulled down her athletic shorts and slipped on some Snoopy print boxers. She turned to me, pulling her dirty blond hair up in a bun. "Changing?"
Motioning toward the open window I gaped at her. "People can see you!"
She looked completely unfazed. "Look, I'm fine if you're all into that religious crap, but don't expect me to dress all modest and everything. I don't really dig turtle necks..."
"Religious? No." I countered quickly in my own defense. "I just don't think that stripping in front of a window--"
"It's great that you can think and all, but it's just a bra. I'm not stripping down completely."
She climbed into her bed and turned off her bedside lamp. And that was that.
Jumping awake at the terrible screeching noise that had welcomed me into my room yesterday, I blinked around at the room. My roommate was out of her bed, it was bright outside, and my alarm clock read 11:54 AM. Damn, I slept well.
Screeeeeech! I flinched and got out of bed. Swinging the door open to the other "Social room," I found the girl sitting on a wooden chair with a giant violin resting in her lap as she fiddled with the strings.
"What the hell are you doing?" I asked, my voice coming out as a croak.
She looked up and grimaced. "I have practice with my partner today. My cello was sounding bad the other day, so I've been trying to tune her up..."
"Does it occur to you that I'm trying to sleep?" I complained. She looked at me blankly, like she harbored no remorse for waking me up.
"It's noon."
"I'm aware of the time," I snapped harshly. "I'm also aware that it is still summer for another four days, and I'd like to cherish these last days, if you don't mind..."
She shrugged. "Sure. But people don't cherish anything when they're fast asleep..."
I sneered at her. "Just get back to your violin." After closing the door behind me, I heard her reply.
"It's a cello, genius."
Ignoring the comment, I threw on a pair of shorts and a v-neck. Time to make some friends. I left our room in a hurry, completely forgetting to put makeup on, and made my way up to Lexi's room. She and her roommate, Vinna, were putting up a mural of pictures of themselves and guys along their entire wall.
"You'll make it on this wall some day, Jane. You just gotta sleep with a guy first," Lexi winked at me and popped the gum she was chomping on.
Gazing at the wall of faces, I lifted an unimpressed eyebrow. "I'll pass on that one, thanks."
Vinna, a girl with awkwardly wavy-straight brown hair, revealed a beautiful smile. "That's what I thought my first year. Two weeks later I was getting laid every other night..."
Her words didn't faze me in the slightest. I was used to people trying to pressure me into losing my virginity. Honestly, it wasn't a "purity" issue or anything like that. I just had no interest in making love to anyone. "Maybe you're gay," my sister once pondered. We quickly ruled that one out. I had been in love before, but that had been something I put behind me.
"I'll sleep with you,"
I quickly turned on my heel to find the body that belonged to the masculine voice that just spoke.
A tall boy was leaned against the door frame, arms crossed and a small smile spread across his lips. Jet black hair, dimples, aaaaand an eyebrow twitch.
I was two seconds delayed by the dimples, so Lexi beat me to retorting back at him.
"Are you kidding me, Hatter?" She jumped off her bed and walked up to him, her hips swaying. "You have never slept with a girl, and you think you can start with my sister?"
The boy leaned over my sister, smiling ever so slightly. "I'm joking. Calm down, Lexi. I'm not sleeping with anyone."
He then pushed past her and reached out his arm, offering his hand to me. "I'm Ty. Ty Hatter."
I looked at his hand half deciding if I should shake it, and half avoiding his pale blue gaze. I took his hand finally and met his eyes. "Jane."
He smiled as if he had just learned a secret. "Jane. I like it," he mused, nodding his head in thought. "It's simple, but sophisticated."
I frowned at his strange critique of my name. I didn't need his approval on it. But before I had time to tell him that, Vinna spoke up.
"Tyler, why are you here? This is a girls only dormitory."
He clapped his hands together, stepping around the room. "That's right! Ladies, it is still summertime; let us not wallow around letting the sun pass us by as we weep the fast approaching days of torture! Let us ignore those looming days that are almost upon us and let us enjoy the summer like we meant to!"
"And how would we do that!?" Lexi asked cautiously.
Ty stopped by the door, obviously thrilled that she had asked him that particular question. Dread quickly overcame the three of us girls in the room when we realized what was happening when two other boys appeared behind Ty, both wearing swimming trunks, and the three of them charged at us.
Shrieks and screams were futile, just as the failing and kicking was. Each one of us girls were thrown over the bare shoulder of a giddy boy.
Then they ran, and all I could see was the Birdseye view of a random dudes butt.