× Mercury
The room needed a lot of work. I enjoyed color like every other girl, but there was such a thing as having too much of it. And my new dorm was a grand example.
"This one is your bed," Chloe said, walking the room and patting the twin that was pushed up against the window. It had a navy blue comforter and some matching pillows on it - it seemed like the only thing in the room that wasn't bright. "And that's your desk," she continued, pointing to the wooden surface in the corner next to the foot of the bed.
I picked up my suitcase and plopped it on the comforter and took a seat next to it. The bed was softer than I expected, which wasn't saying much because I had low expectations... but still.
Point 1 for London.
"You can change or add whatever you want to your side of the room. The stuff already there was defaulted before I knew I was getting a roommate. I'll take my stuff back tomorrow." She walked over and grabbed my other two bags and sat them next to the bed by my feet. "You can keep the duvet and pillows, though. That came with the bed."
"Oh, good," I said, relieved, thinking back on my checklist of things I absolutely needed to bring to London, and the comforter wasn't one of them. "I'm glad I have something until I can go out and buy what I want."
Chloe smiled, showing me her white teeth. She seemed like a sweet girl and I was happy to have her and not that other chick that was in the room to be my roommate. Chloe was tall, a little taller than I was, with short platinum blonde hair that fell in layers to her shoulders. Her eyes were the color of salt water, blue with a hint of hazy green, and her skin was a cream that reminded me of New York vanilla ice cream.
"If you want, I can show you around the city," Chloe offered. "I know where the best deals are."
"That would be great, thank you," I said honestly with a smile.
"Hey, Chloe," the other blonde interrupted. She was standing in the doorway in her ugly pink dress. "I'm going to go. I'll talk to you tomorrow."
"Ohh," Chloe teased. "Spending the night with Niall, yeah?"
The girl opened her mouth to respond but when she looked over Chloe's shoulder at me, she seemed to change her mind and said, "of course," with the wickedest smile I had ever seen.
And then she left the room as swiftly as she had appeared, Chloe yelling after her. "Stay safe! Use protection!"
The image of the girl hanging on Niall's arm as they walked down the hall played in my head and I couldn't help but think that she was trying to let me know that Niall was hers and no one else's - marking her territory, if you will. But the joke was on her because I couldn't of cared less about their sex lives... or their lives in general.
"You're going to love it here," Chloe continued where she left off. She took a seat at her desk and said, "Just the other day someone tried to cook a single deep dish pizza with a blow dryer. It set off the smoke alarms and everything."
I laughed. "Are you serious? Did it work?"
"Oh, yeah," she grinned and gestured to her small garbage can in the corner of the room. Sticking up from the top of the trash was a Chicago Town deep dish pizza box. "And it was delicious."
Shenanigans in the dorms sure to keep things interesting. Point 2 for London.
I reached down and pulled out something comfortable to wear to bed along with a towel and toiletries bag from my suitcase. "I think I'm going to go take a shower and crash. Where are the bathrooms at?"
"I'll show you!" Chloe opened the door and walked out in the hall, expecting me to follow. I quickly hurried after her, making sure to shut the door tightly behind me. "There are bathrooms on every floor of the building, thank god. My tip to you is always, always, bring clothes. You do not want to run into someone with only a towel around your waist. Trust me."
I smiled at what could have happened to make Chloe learn that the hard way.
We passed what I thought was a communal lounge that seemed rather small, but very welcoming. There were comfortable looking chairs and sofas that made me sleepy just looking at them, along with some tables and desks. I saw a bookcase with all kinds of novels and textbooks - I think I might have seen the Harry Potter saga and a book titled How to Be a Brony for Dummies. Next to that was a compartment that seemed to be filled with games like Twister and Life along with decks of cards.
I was a sucker for reading and board games. Point 3 for London.
"There's another lounge on the ground floor and one on the patio in the backyard," Chloe informed.
As we walked down the long hall, a group of kids passed and Chloe said hi to them, but failed to introduce me, I couldn't help but notice. That was fine; I wasn't really in the mood to talk to anyone anyways. We passed a small kitchen before we finally got to the showers - genders separated, thank God.
"Here they are," Chloe said as I opened the door to the girl's room. "No promises that I'll be in the room when I get back, but I'll leave it unlocked for you. I'll put the second key on your desk. Goodnight, Lynn!"
Before I could say it back, she was shooting down the hall in lightning speed and I laughed. That girl was too energetic and talked way too much. She reminded me of my mother.
The bathroom was empty and I found a shower and stripped down, turning the water on. As I washed, I thought about the last twenty four hours. London. I was in freaking London! I made a mental note to myself to set a schedule to know when to call Grandma or my friends now that the time zones were way off.
Jetlag was really kicking me in the ass when I got out of the shower and started to change into my shorts and tank top. I found myself wanting to crawl into bed and sleep for the next three days.
The clock on Chloe's nightstand read eleven thirty at night by the time I got back into the room. But that didn't mean anything to me as I found my head on the pillow expecting sleep. But for the longest time it didn't come. My mind was in haywire about my friends and family back home in California and I instantly grew sad. I wouldn't see Jamie's smile every day, or Emily's stories about her time at kickboxing, or Macey's clothing advise. I wouldn't hear Grandma getting up at five in the morning every day or listen to Coach Sharp's voice shouting across the field for me to work a little bit harder and run a little bit faster.
Instead, I would see someone else's smile every day, I would hear someone else's stories, someone else's fashion advice. I would hear Chloe walking in and out of the room at odd hours of the day and hear a different coach's voice in my ear.
Minus 10 points for London.
× × ×
The opening of the door woke me, or at least I thought I was awake - honestly these past three years it was hard to tell the difference. The heaviness of my eyes told me I was still sleeping, but I could hear everything going on in the room around me at the same time.
"Where's Lynn?" I heard an unfamiliar voice ask. Their tone sounded low and a little pissed off. I found it slightly alluring and... hot.
"Sleeping," a higher whisper said that I recognized as Chloe's.
There was some shuffling around the room, a door closing, some whispers of protest, and then something soft hitting me in the head, hard. I shot up in bed from the sudden impact and looked around the room, disoriented. It took me a moment to remember that I wasn't in my room in California anymore.
"Get up," the lower voice boomed. "It's three in the fucking afternoon."
I looked up and saw Niall standing over me. His hair was styled up and he was wearing a black shirt under a denim jacket.
"Come on! Get ready, you look awful," he observed casually like it was normal for him to insult girls the second they wake up.
I grabbed the pillow he had thrown at me and chucked it back with full force. "You're such an ass."
Niall caught it with ease and glared at me. "Don't do this shit with me, Mercury," he sneered and threw the pillow back on Chloe's bed. "I have to show you around before practice or else I'm going to have to spend even more time with you after. Now get dressed so we can get out of this damn flamboyant room."
I glared at him before reaching down into my suitcase to find a shirt, jeans, and some underwear while Niall stood in the center of the room waiting intolerantly.
"Could you maybe leave so I can change?" I snapped at him.
He rolled his eyes and turned his back to me, but didn't walk out of the room. Did he really expect me to change while he was right there? I saw Chloe looking at me apologetically but I just ignored her and looked around the room to make sure there weren't any mirrors Niall could look through and see me change because the last thing I wanted was for him to see me naked.
Once I saw that there wasn't any reflectors in his line of sight, I changed out of my clothes and into clean ones as fast as I could.
"Should I bring my shin guards and things?" I asked Niall as I sat down on the bed and tugged on my shoes.
He turned around to look at me, his eyes trailing down my body. I sat up straight, feeling uneasy under his gaze. "Yeah," Niall said. "There's no way in hell I'm coming back here ever again."
"I don't have a bag for any of my stuff..." I sheepishly said as I gathered all my soccer things and did my best to rake my hands though my hair to at least make it a little bit tolerable.
Niall bent down and grabbed my carryon bag from the flight and dumped the contents - a brush, a compact mirror, headphones, passport, ChapStick, some granola bars, a water bottle, and a small container of Advil - onto the bed and threw me the now empty bag.
"Now you do," he snapped.
Giving him a dirty look, I put my things in the bag and stood up. "I'll see you later, Chloe," I said over my shoulder, Niall already leaving the room. She smiled at me before I closed the door, following the annoying boy down the hall.
We drove off to the college and after I got my class schedule, Niall took me to where my first class would be taken place. It was Monday, but since I just got there, I didn't actually start until Wednesday, and according to my sheet I had on my lap, psychology would be my first class that starts at eight in the morning. I groaned. A true blessing about my schedule at UCLA was that none of my classes started before eleven.
"This is the science building," Niall was saying as he pulled up to a tall brick building. "Psychology is at the left wing, it's not that hard to find once your inside. Environmental is over there, too. What's next?"
He was rushing though the list as fast as he could, and I was honestly fine with it. I just hoped I didn't forget everything he was saying when Wednesday came around like I knew I would.
"Uh, math," I told him.
Niall pulled out of the science parking lot and made his way to the math building. We did this for what seemed like hours when we finally got through the list. The only time we got out of the car was when he showed me the creative writing class because they were hidden around corners that we couldn't see from the lot. In the beginning, I was writing myself notes to how to get to the places but by the fourth building I ended up giving up.
On the bad side, campus was pretty spread out so everything wasn't in walking distance, which was going to be a problem since I was car-less. There must be some kind of transportation for the poor like a light rail or a bus, right?
Before I could ask Niall about it, my phone rang from my pocket and I took it out, seeing that it was Jamie.
"Hey!" I said cheerfully into the phone. I saw Niall give me a look but then put his attention back onto the road.
"Lynn!" she responded excitedly. "I don't have much time because my class starts at nine but I just wanted to call real quick to see how your flight was and if your roommate is as rad as I am."
"My flight was fine except for when a kid almost put gum in my hair," I told her with a laugh. "And no one is as rad as you are."
"Damn right!" she shouted into the phone and then started laughing loudly. "No, but really. Is your roommate nice?"
"She's talkative," I tell her honestly. "And yeah, she's nice."
"That's good, just don't replace me," she warned, a smile in her voice. "I should probably go, though. I'll call you later if you're awake, okay? Make sure to tell Jace I said hi, remember!"
"Yeah, yeah. Bye, Jam," I told her and we hung up. I noticed Niall looking at me and I spun on him. "What?"
"Nothing," he said monotonously and focused on the road again.
We were about to fall into another uncomfortable silence we had created last night when he swore under his breath.
"Shit." He quickly did a U-turn at the next intersection and gunned on the gas.
"What's wrong?" I asked as I gripped onto the leather seat.
"Practice. It starts at six and we're supposed to be there a half hour early."
I looked at the clock and saw that there was five minutes to six. Great. My first day and I'm already late for the main reason why I was even at that freaking college.
Once Niall parked his car in the lot in front of the arena, he quickly got out and started running toward the athletic building, locking his car from his keys before I even had the chance to get out. I fumbled with the lock on the door and grabbed my pack, making sure to lock the car door again once I was out (I was already on Niall's bad side, I really didn't want to be responsible for his car to be stolen) and followed after him.
Before I got to the building, a flash took my attention like someone was shining a mirror into the sun at just the right angle to hit me in the eye. I quickly looked around for the source and found a tiny girl with a brown bob standing next to a street light, a camera in her hands. She took another picture as I was looking at her. I ignored her and continue into the building before it got any later.
It was a couple minutes after six once I found Coach Mathews talking to Niall inside the arena.
"-taking her around like you said," I heard Niall tell Coach.
"It's fine, Niall, just go change. The other lads are in there now."
Niall nodded and turned around to go to the locker room. When he passed me, he frowned and continued on his way.
"Lynn!" Coach said, taking my attention off Niall. I looked over at him with a smile. "It's so good to see you again. I'm sorry I couldn't pick you up at the airport or show you around today but I had a lot of paperwork to get done."
"It's fine," I told him. "Niall was a pain, but I managed."
Coach laugh. "I knew you would. I'm counting on you to keep the boys in check. Now, how about you go get changed and meet me here when you're done. The other lads will be out soon. The locker room is just across the hall from the boys'. For now, just pick any locker and some other time I can assign one to you with a lock."
I nodded and went in the direction Niall went just moments ago. I found the door and went inside; hoping my first practice will go a lot smoother than the arrival to get there.