Chapter 15
At the curb of our apartment building, Mom helped load boxes into Lin’s car.
A beautiful blue sky with the slightest breeze made it the perfect day for moving.
The last few weeks had flown by, and I still hadn’t given IK the ring.
There had been opportunities, but I hadn’t known what to say.
It felt momentous, like I was declaring my love.
I guess I kind of was, and that made me nervous.
I liked someone whose face I’d never seen, and they’d never seen mine. But wasn’t that the point?
I worried about how Mom would handle being alone. If she would eat. If she would stop crying at night. Because although she had acted mature in front of me, Dad’s impending wedding had broken her a little.
“Study hard. And don’t forget to eat proper food. I love you.” Mom gave me a big hug, and I squeezed back, letting the lavender soothe me. I was going to miss her.
“Love you too,” I whispered. “I’ll be back for the holidays and summer.”
I had hope that this would help her start a new life. One where she didn’t think about or depend upon Dad in any way. She had her friends, and her work, and that was a start.
With just Lin and me in the car, we both preferred to sit in our thoughts while the music played. It felt weird sitting up front as if I was stealing Charisse’s spot, but she’d already gone to the house to start unpacking. Lin’s stuff was already there, of course.
“You’re here!” Charisse shrieked when we drove up.
The cute-as-a-button house stood out among its neighbors with decorations that showed money and taste.
It was freshly painted slate blue with white trim and a matching white porch swing out front.
Small, as houses went, but bigger than my apartment. And it was all ours.
I grabbed a box, as did each of my friends.
I hadn’t thought I had that many things until I’d started packing and filling Lin’s trunk.
Another car pulled up behind Lin’s, and we all turned.
The dragon got out of the passenger side, and RogueStriker got out of the driver’s seat.
He winked at me. Were they following me now?
Did they want to ruin my college life too, all because I had spurned his advances and stood up to her pettiness?
“Get the boxes.” She tilted her head toward him.
He went around to the back of the car.
“What’s going on here?” Lin put her arm around the box so she could hold it on one hip and put her fist on the other.
“Didn’t your parents tell you? They owe my dad a favor, and I’m staying here until my escrow goes through.”
Lin set my box on the ground, blocking the way to the house, and pulled out her phone, dialing in a second. There was a heated argument in what I assumed was Chinese coming from the other end of the line. Then Lin hung up and pocketed her phone.
She looked at me. “You can bunk with me.”
Great. Fun was officially dead. If I had owned a car, I would’ve gone straight back to Mom’s. But I had only my bike to get around campus.
I balked at sharing a room with Lin; this was her house, so I bunked with Charisse.
Lin immediately ordered a loft bed with a desk underneath and drawers along the side.
That way, I would have a place to put my stuff.
The room would lose the nice open feel it had now, but it would be more functional for sharing.
In the meantime, I left most everything in boxes—it wouldn’t be the first time I’d lived out of them.
The shared spaces would be more unpleasant.
Lin, as always, began as she meant to go on.
Someone had to keep the dragon in check.
“Some rules, ladies. That means you too, Stephanie. Everyone will be assigned chores to help out. Everyone will be in charge of their own food. No touching other people’s things without permission.
And after all the boxes are in...no guys. No one but us is allowed in the house.”
“Are you kidding me? I can’t bring my friends over to my own place?”
“Nope. You are just living here temporarily until your escrow goes through. No sense in getting too comfortable.”
Stephanie huffed. “You are out of your mind.”
“Yep,” Lin replied.
I didn’t dare say anything. Stephanie would either blow it off or blow it out of proportion anyway, so there was no point. Charisse, uncharacteristically, kept silent too. I wondered if she had ever had to deal with Stephanie’s wrath without the buffer of Lin.
Once RogueStriker left, things settled down some.
But without my own furniture in the room, only Charisse’s, I felt a bit displaced.
Charisse offered to let me use her desk for the time being, but she had music blasting and was singing along, beautifully but loudly, as she unpacked.
I just took my laptop out to the living room.
It was quiet, as everyone else was busy settling into their new rooms. I wanted to log into COTSA, but the recent reminder of RogueStriker and the ring looming over me had me avoiding the icon.
I double-checked that my books were ready for pickup and that everything was correct in my schedule.
I also needed to pick up my meal card. That would be super useful when I was on campus.
Technically, the house was just off campus, but it was less than a half mile from the computer science building where several of my classes were.
Thanks to my dual-enrollment AP classes, most of my general education credits were already out of the way, leaving me free to dive straight into my major.
Before I knew it, I’d be coding and testing games full-time.
I was well past the basics, what with a first place under my belt.
It was common for gamers to use an already-built engine and pre-made assets to practice creating their own maps and skins, making it look like a completely new game. I wasn’t any different.
Stephanie sat across from me with a cup of water and a magazine.
Why did she have to sit right there? Wasn’t her own room—my room—comfortable enough?
Watching her drink made my throat suddenly feel dry.
I jumped up and crossed to the kitchen, rummaging through my box of food and drinks, which had to tide me over until Lin could drive us to the grocery store.
I grabbed a can of grape soda and popped the top.
The hiss was accompanied by a thoroughly unconvincing oops.
I turned, and Stephanie was looking at me. “Could you get a towel?”
I raised an eyebrow. Like I was going to do anything for her.
“I spilled my water, and I think some got on your laptop.” Her eyes glinted.
Slamming my can down on the counter, I rushed over to check. The entire contents of the cup had soaked every inch of my computer. I saw red.
My screams brought Lin and Charisse running.
My friends restrained me by the arms, to keep me from physically attacking Stephanie.
I would no longer sit around and be bullied by her.
To be fair, I was the idiot who had left her alone with something I cared about.
Once Lin found a towel in one of the boxes, I dried the computer as best as I could, and I left it off in my room for the next two days.
Lin donated a bag of rice for me to store it in while I prayed for a miracle.
I’d been debating on when to give IK the ring, and now I’d gone AFK.
I worried it was a goner. It had never been the same after the lightning strike. While the donated power supply, thanks to Ni, had made it serviceable, it hadn’t run as smoothly as it could have. Besides, it was five years old already, which was ancient in the tech world.
Lin suggested I buy a new one—well, actually, she had threatened Stephanie into buying me a new one.
But despite my parsimonious tendencies, I wanted nothing that Stephanie had touched.
I’d rather spend the money and buy something according to my specs.
After all, I had the money now through my scholarship and a job at the school bookstore.
We only had a few days left until classes officially began, and Lin was determined that we go shopping.
I think I would rather have my fingernails removed than go shopping, but I’d promised them a shopping trip at the awards ceremony that I’d never gone through with.
Charisse and I had gotten into the habit of locking our door whether or not we were there, and I think Lin was doing the same.
The house wasn’t safe with Stephanie in it, but we didn’t have a choice.
For now. Their parents’ business dealings seemed thoroughly entwined like vines in a bush.
They’d already proven that work came before Lin, no matter how much they bought her.
The dorms were already full for the semester; I’d checked after the laptop incident.
ON THE FIRST DAY OF classes, Lin had cajoled me into wearing some of the new clothes Charisse had picked out for me and leaving behind my jacket—so progress.
I’d tried on several more girly shirts. The ones I liked all had a few things in common.
They were a solid color, on the looser side, comfortable to wear, and the embellishments were all at the waist, neckline, or sleeves—away from the front.
Not that I was trying to look my best. It wasn’t like IK could be one of the guys I was passing in the hallway.
Hopefully he wasn’t one of those distasteful boys walking the other way who were checking me out.
Not that he knew what I looked like. Yet.
I checked my watch; it didn’t really fit with the new look. But I was loyal. There was time. Not much, but I wasn’t going to be late yet. I walked up a set of stairs and glanced down at the map. No, it had to be on the bottom floor. I went back down.