Despite having only been at university a few months, it felt as though that time had been a lot longer, but that wasn't a bad thing. I supposed that it just meant that I had gotten quite close to my current friends, especially Yasmin, Winona and Xena.
Unfortunately, I couldn't add Lily to that list, and I was trying to not recall the whole fiasco that had occurred at Winona's birthday party several nights back.
It made me blush in embarrassment just thinking about it.
Fortunately, nobody had actually informed Lily of what had happened.
So, that was a good thing.
I had mostly spent my days since then hanging out with the people that I knew that I could trust, and I was grateful that I was able to add Yasmin to that list.
She was a really lovely person, in all honesty, which made me have to question why on Earth she was such good friends with Lily.
Still, though, it had been especially nice of her to have made sure I got home safe. Lance, too.
I supposed that Lance was just one of the nicer members of the Everett family.
Lina didn't seem all that bad, either, though.
She was supposedly visiting soon. So, that would probably mean that Lily would be spending the majority of time with her siblings, and I wouldn't have to become concerned about any drama taking place between the two of us, again.
When I eventually decided to leave my room, as the sun had started shining outside again, I found Lance and Lily stood in the hall way.
"Hey Selina," Lily greeted me.
"Hey," I replied, "Hey Lance," I added.
He turned to me with a kind expression.
"Hey Selina," he stated.
Lily's voice had seemed pleasant enough, when she had addressed me, but I couldn't help but question whether she was just putting it on as a show.
Either way, I was curious to find out how they both were. I hadn't spoken to them in a few days.
"How are you two doing?" I asked.
"I'm great thank you, Selina. How are you?" Lance inquired.
"I'm doing better!" I told him, feeling a little brighter.
I just hoped that Lance wasn't planning on leaving me any time soon.
I could already feel the air becoming a little colder by simply looking at Lily Everett.
"Did you know we have a test soon, Selina? I'm sure I'll do great on it. After all, I did have to literally run away from these weirdos at the club, the other night, just so I could get home in time to study. That's what I call dedication," she stated, and flipped some hair over her shoulder.
Why did I get the sense that she was lying?
Regardless, I wasn't about to find out what had happened there, even if my interest had been peaked.
Before she could speak any further on the matter, her sister entered the dormitories. She wasn't planning on staying long this time around, and I noticed as much due to the fact that she didn't have a bag with her.
"Lily!" she exclaimed, "Lance, too! Hi you two," she said with a sweet smile.
Lily rushed over to wrap her arms around Lily.
"Hey Lina," she stated.
"I'm going to go and get some drinks," Lance announced, and then headed down the hall and into the kitchen.
I wished that I could have joined him.
"That's a good idea. I might go and get a snack, too," Lina stated, and began to head further towards the kitchen, before turning back to Lily for a moment, "Are you going to get something?"
"I'm not hungry," Lily replied, as she simply crossed her arms in front of her chest, and met my gaze for a moment, with that familiarly cold glint in her eye.
Seriously?
"Okay. Well, I'll see you in a bit," Lina stated, and headed into the kitchen, in order to get herself something to eat.
Lily just shifted the weight between her feet, and proceeded to move a hand through her hair, that had grown considerably, since the last time I had seen her.
I supposed that she was using some crazy hair growth vitamins or something.
I moved a hand through my own hair, then.
It was getting a little difficult to manage, so I assumed that I would go and get a haircut sorted out, at some point.
"You know," Lily said, as she stepped forward, then, "You have some really big eyes. They would be cute, if they didn't make you look like a bug," she commented, with a smirk of amusement.
If this was her method of flirting with people, I was sorry to state that it wasn't working out for her very well.
All the same, I couldn't help but feel nervous every time Lily moved closer to me.
"Thank you?" I asked.
"It wasn't a compliment, Cooper," she replied, with a roll of her eyes, as that mean expression reappeared on her face again.
I really hoped that one of my friends would arrive at the dormitories, soon, just so that they could save me from this whole situation.
I wasn't even sure what to say to her, but I wasn't about to think too much on it.
Lily just sighed, and left me for the kitchen.
In the meantime, I was joined by Winona.
"Hey," she said, with a smile upon her face.
I noticed that the jean jacket, that she was wearing, had some water droplets on it.
I presumed it had started raining again.
"Hi Win," I replied.
"How are you doing, Selina? Any better?" she inquired.
I just shrugged.
"About as well as usual," I admitted.
She gave a nod in response to that.
"Right," she said, "So, I'm guessing the whole Lily thing is still sort of bothering you?" she asked me.
"Bingo," I replied.
I just wished that I understood her better.
I wished that I could understand why she seemed to dislike me so incredibly much.
"I mean...it wasn't always like this, was it? When we first got here, everything was fine. So, it's left me wondering, what changed?" I asked.
Winona gave me a sympathetic expression in response to my question.
"I agree. It is a conundrum," she replied.
"Right? I just..." I sighed.
Winona stepped forward and placed a hand on my shoulder, then.
"Hey, you'll be okay," she told me.
I really hoped that I could believe her, on this matter.
It was difficult, though.
As I had stated before, I really had always been sensitive to the opinions of others.
Thinking of Lily, she soon stepped out of the kitchen with a diet cola, and a pack of gum in her hand, which she soon placed in the pocket of her own jacket.
"Hey Winona," she greeted her.
"Hey Everett," Winona replied.
"How was your birthday at home?" Lily inquired.
Oh yeah, I had almost forgotten that Winona had gone home for a few days.
I supposed that I had just spent so long holed up in my room, that I really didn't even notice.
"It was great! Thanks for asking, Lily," Winona stated.
Lily smiled in a friendly manner back at her.
"Of course," she said.
Was it hopeless to wish that she was just nice to me, in the way that she was towards other people?
Maybe so.
I didn't want to think on it all too much.
Yet here I was, feeling as though every other thought I had was about Lily Everett herself.
"I'm going to go and have a photo shoot done for the latest university magazine soon," she announced.
"That will be great, Lily," Winona said, in a supportive manner.
"I know. Do I look okay? Oh, who am I kidding, of course I do," she stated confidently, "Anyway, I better get going," she said, as Lina stepped out into the hall.
"You're going?" Lina questioned.
"I'll be back later. Promise. Love you," Lily said, blowing a kiss her sister's way, and then heading out of the halls.
Once she was gone, Winona turned to Lina with a kind expression.
"Hey Lina," she greeted her.
"Hey Winny," Lina replied.
Winona gave a subtle laugh.
"Is Winny my nickname now?" she inquired, with curiosity.
"I just thought of it just now! What do you think?" Lina asked.
A flicker in Winona's gaze told me that she wasn't the biggest fan, but all the same, she smiled back at Lina, probably not wanting to hurt her feelings.
"Winny works," Winona stated.
"Yeah, I agree," I chimed in, and Lina turned to me with a grateful expression.
Well, it would really annoy Lily if I ended up becoming friends with her sister, who seemed to be a lot nicer than she was. She seemed, in some ways, more mature, too, despite only being sixteen.
"Anyway, I'm going to go to the cafe for a moment, Lance gave me some money to do so!" Lina announced, and then waved to Winona and I before leaving the dormitories.
After a passing moment, Lance stepped back out into the hall with an ice cream.
"Hey girls," he greeted the both of us.
"Hey, Lance," Winona replied, with a smile, as her kind blue eyes met Lance's silvery ones.
Winona sometimes felt like she towered over me, even if she was only 5'6. Every time Lance was around, I felt incredibly small, given that he was 6'2, a couple of inches taller than Ulric.
He just ruffled my hair, then, as though sensing entirely too well by major insecurity.
Okay, it wasn't the time to think on it.
I wanted to talk to Lance, and I wanted to get more information from him, on Lily.
I wouldn't be able to do that, though, as just when I was about to open my mouth to speak again, Lily wandered right back into the dormitories.
"All my photos are done! I got the guy to show me a couple of them and honestly, I looked amazing," Lily stated.
Lance just smirked in amusement at her.
Winona looked between Lance and I for a second.
"I think I'm just going to get some juice," she said, decisively.
"Okay, Nona. See you later," Lily told her.
Winona waved to us, and wandered outside of the dormitories for now.
"Where did Lina go?" Lily asked.
"I gave her some money to go and get some coffee," Lance announced, as he ate the flake of his ice cream.
"Okay, cool," Lily replied.
Her eyes met mine for a moment, but she didn't say a word.
I felt a cold chill again, but this time I realised it was, in fact, just the wind blowing in through the window.
Lance went to close it, thankfully.
"It's getting chilly. I can't believe it's only a month and a bit until Christmas," he said, then.
Lily frowned a little.
"Christmas, joy," she stated.
"Come on, Lils. It's not that bad," Lance replied.
"Why don't you like Christmas? Too many years of getting coal?" I asked her, but then I realised that was pretty insensitive, "Sorry, bad joke," I stated.
Lily just gave a wave of her hand dismissively.
"It was sort of funny," she stated.
"I think I'm going to go and get to class," Lance announced, then, shooting me a look of sympathy, before turning and wandering out of the dorms.
Lily turned back to me, then.
"Christmas is just overrated," she said with a shrug, "The songs are overbearing, and they play the same ones every year. Where's the originality?"
"Maybe you should just create your own song, Lily," I suggested.
"Please, Cooper. Don't make me laugh," she replied.
Before I could protest that I had never heard her singing voice, so I wouldn't know if she would be any good or not, Xena wandered into the dormitories.
"Oh, hey X," Lily greeted them, with an expression of kindness.
"Hey Lils," X replied.
"How are you doing?" Lily asked them.
"I'm good! How are you?" X asked.
"Yeah, I'm alright," Lily said, her eyes meeting mine again, but only for a flickering moment, "I'm going to go and get some pretzels," she decided, and waved farewell to the both of us, then left.
X turned to me and smiled.
"So, are you getting along any better with her?" they asked me.
"Well, not exactly. I don't know. She did tell me that I had bug eyes today. So, there's that," I stated.
Xena scoffed.
"Bug eyes?" they asked, moving a hand through their yellow hair, then.
It was growing a little longer, but probably would have grown much quicker if it hadn't experienced, as X put it, 'chemical abuse'.
"Is that her way of flirting?" I joked.
Xena just shrugged.
"Lily doesn't like people talking about her whole sexuality thing all that much," they told me.
"Oh, why?" I asked.
"'Cause Lily likes girls, and if her father was to find out about that fact she would be in some serious sh- Well, you get the picture. Anyway, apparently she had some drama with a girl on campus, but I'm not entirely sure what happened there," X informed me.
"Oh," I replied.
Well, this was a mystery that I would certainly want to soon figure out.
Xena and I spent the next few hours together, but soon decided to go for a walk around campus, just for something to do.
"I want cookies," Xena said.
I turned to them and smirked.
"Likewise," I said.
"Right? Let's go get some," X said.
Once we got to the cafe, we found Lance there, too.
"Hey! Lina's sitting over there," he said, pointing to where his younger sister was sitting in the corner, "But she's busy doing some of her GCSE revision, so I wouldn't distract her right now."
"Okay," X and I agreed simultaneously.
The cafe felt warm and comforting. The whirs of the machines acted as a sort of white noise, against the sound of people chattering away, and cutlery clanging.
"Cookies," X reminded me.
"I could get you guys some. I don't mind paying," Lance said.
I turned to him.
"You really don't have to do that," I said.
"Hey, it's no biggie," he said, with a slight shrug of his shoulders, and he took our cookie flavour requests, to pass onto the barista.
A minute passed by, and Winona soon came to join us in the cafe.
She gasped as she looked towards the main display.
"Cookies," she said, her eyes practically glazing over in her excitement.
"She has to have one, Lance," X told him.
Lance smirked, and then handed over Winona's cookie order.
"I promise I'll pay you back," she told him.
"Hey, it's no big deal. Really," Lance informed her.
"Thank you, Lance! You're the coolest," Winona said.
The barista passed us all our cookies, and we went to sit down with Lina, making sure not to distract her from her studies.
"So, is something on your mind, Selina?" Winona asked me, as she took a bite out of one of her cookies.
She was always so perceptive.
I really didn't think that I could hide anything from her, because even my expression would give things away.
"No," I replied.
So, that was a total lie.
Honestly, I was still thinking about Lily, and I wasn't even sure why.
I mean, she didn't like me. She barely spoke to me and recently, when she did, it wasn't to say the friendliest of things.
Yet there I was, with her in my mind.
I just turned my attention back to the cookie in my hands.
Cookies could do no evil.
Especially not when they were double chocolate and orange.
Amazing.
"Okay, well, I'm going to go and talk to Mr Jones for a moment. I have some papers to hand to him," she stated.
"See you later, Winny!" Lina said to her.
Winona just smirked in response.
"Yeah, I better head off, too," Lance said then, quickly moving to catch up with her.
"Well, bye then," X said, with a slightly amused smile as they finished up their cookie.
"Are you sure you're okay, Selina?" Lina asked me, with a caring nature to her voice.
"I'm all good," I stated.
Well, partially.
I wasn't about to go on a ramble about matters with Lily right now.
"Are you sure? I know that sometimes my sister can be a little much," she stated.
How did she just know?
"But...I think you should just talk to her," she said, taking a sip of her coffee.
She had been studying in the cafe all day.
"How many of those have you had?" I asked her.
"A good..." she began to count the numbers on her fingers, "Hm, seven."
Xena simply stared back at her, wide-eyed.
"That's excessive," they stated.
Lina just smirked.
"I am so powerful right now, I feel that I could beat the Flash in a race," she stated.
I couldn't help but smile in amusement, at that thought.
"Dude! You like Marvel, too?" Xena asked her.
"Duh! Doesn't everyone?" Lina asked.
"Good point," Xena replied.
I decided to chime in then, with a suggestion that all three of us go and see a movie soon, and Lina and X both appeared to agree with me.
"Yeah! It'll have to be on a day when I'm not studying, though," Xena stated.
"Alright," I replied.
"'Cause I've been working really hard to achieve an A-star on the next exam, and I'm set on doing so," they said.
It appeared that Xena could be just as tenacious as their good friend Winona, when it came to things that they wanted.
"But I'm pretty sure I can get that," they said positively.
"Yeah! You're great in class, X. You've got this," I told them.
"Thank you, Selina. That means a lot," they replied.
Shortly after that, it was time for the cafe to close for the afternoon, so Lina, Xena and I stepped outside into the refreshing afternoon air, and I watched as the silhouettes of several birds flew past, against the amber sunset sky.