Page 43

Story: Pretty Poison

We stayed there for a few more seconds, listening. I even tried to identify who the lucky one was, but I was unsuccessful. She didn't say any name.

“What do you think about going to my room?” Sid suggested. “That way you can stay there until Troian… well… finished.”

I couldn't stop laughing.

Emily snorted and accepted the offer for both of us. I followed the two to the next floor and followed Sidney in, finding Kendra in the common room with ice on her ankles as she tapped on her cell phone, smiling at whatever was on the screen.

“Hey, I brought company!” Sidney warned, drawing the attention of… that girl who was part of the same team as me. “Who are you talking to?” Sid asked her.

“Nobody…” Kendra replied, blocking the screen and actually looking at us. “Why are you here?”

“Well, because Troian is fucking someone in our room.” I commented.

Kendra grimaced.

“Don’t say fucking, it seems, I don’t know… too offensive.” I rolled my eyes. I wasn't going to give in to the temptation to answer her rudely. “Anyway, are you going to stay here then?”

“Basically…” I replied.

“Excellent!” Kendra smiled, expressing her false excitement about the situation.

“We can gossip…” Sidney suggested and soon Jazmine opened the door to her room, taking the sleep mask off her face. “She always shows up at the right time.” She mocked, referring to Jaz.

“I heard the word gossip and I particularly love this word.” Jaz joined in the fun. “And I'm thirsty too.”

Sid directed us to the couch and I ended up staying next to Kendra while the other three sat on the other couch.

“Let's talk about Emily's crush…” I suggested, making my roommate turn into a very ripe tomato.

“Shut up, Veronica.” She grumbled, but there was a mischievous smile on her lips. The other three were excited, eager to hear more.

“Who's the lucky one?” Jaz asked her.

Emily's eyes swept the room and she made us promise that the matter would stay between us. We all swore and then she admitted that she did have a crush on Logan, our dearest teammate.

The message I had received from Hayley was amusing. She had sent me a stupid meme, and I was enjoying our online chats. I wasn't able to take the time to see her and the last thing I wanted was for her to come to campus, so the digital had to do it for now.

Unfortunately, I couldn't stay isolated in my bubble enjoying my sore ankle with the ice on it, because Veronica Torres invaded my personal space along with Emily, her antisocial roommate. The two arrived complaining about not being able to go back to the room, as Troian was having sex with someone there, but didn't want to know much about it. The opposite happened when Emily admitted that she had a crush on one of our teammates: Logan. This made my afternoon more interesting. We gossiped a lot and studied absolutely nothing.Which forced me to leave my evening practice straight to the library. I needed to get a book before going back to my room.

With a bottle of water and a little sweat still accumulated on my body, I walked around campus ignoring any alarm about having people staring at me. About ten minutes later, I arrived at my destination. I swiped my college card and went through the turnstile at the door, entering the library.

The silence that reigned there made even my slightly labored breathing seem like too much noise.

I looked for the totem where I could search for the title I needed for the Econ 101. As I typed what I wanted, checking the shelf and floor of the library where the book would be, I noticed Colleen arriving at the place. My cousin was smiling with Becker by her side. The two were a good stun and top girl duo, they had an absurd chemistry, but it was clear that Colleen only saw him as a friend. Which was a shame, because he was cute.

She looked at me and waved, but didn't come to talk to me. As I was in a bit of a hurry to take a shower and go to sleep, I didn't try to talk to her either.

I did what I needed to do and, on the way out, I found my private haunting.

“Hey...” A tiny smile took over her.

“Hey! I need to go, I'm in a hurry.” I said, cutting off any attempt at conversation.

I felt like I was giving that poor thing too much space in my life.

“Okay, see you…”

I rolled my eyes and snorted, but luckily she didn't see that.