Short Story Sunday 229: Union Academy [Part 2]

“It wasn’t a mistake, Erin.”

Erin turned to look at Kay. She furrowed her brows in confusion. She wanted to ask what she meant, but was almost afraid to say anything. She looked all around her hoping that no one was overhearing this conversation.

Kay pressed her lips together rubbing in her fresh coat of lipstick. She closed her compact mirror and turned around to face her friend. “I told my parents that I wanted my own room this year. Only poor kids have to share dorm rooms.” She sneered.

Erin rolled her eyes. “I know. We can all afford our own dorm rooms. But the four of us agreed that we would share so we would all be together. Olivia and Zoey were supposed to share a room and you and I were supposed to share a room.”

Kay shrugged her shoulders. “Well, I changed my mind.” She turned her head to look the other way as though she was bored with the conversation.

“Fine, but you could have at least told me. I would have told my parents I wanted my own room.” Erin protested. She folded her arms across her chest and lifted her shoulders up. She turned her gaze down to the ground. Even though Kay wasn’t looking at her, she felt intimidated for some reason.

“Where are they…?” Kay muttered.

Erin looked up and noticed Kay craning her neck over the crowd of people. Did Kay even hear her? Of course she did… She was just ignoring her.

They stood in silence for a few more moments. Kay standing before Erin with her head held high looking like the almighty while Erin stood with a slouched posture and her gaze plummeting to the ground.

Kay scoffed. “Whatever,” she turned her attention to Erin. “Let’s head up to my room. We can text the other girls from there and tell us to meet us.”

Erin nodded her head and stepped to the side. Kay shouldered her way past Erin and walked on ahead, Erin following reluctantly behind.

*

Kay opened her dorm room door pushing it all the way open. It opened wide knocking into the wall and starting closing on its own. Erin pushed it back open to let herself in. When she crossed the threshold she looked around the room in awe.

“You already decorated the place?” Erin asked.

The walls were painted a pale pink and her silk throw was already covering the bed with a white see-through canopy over it.

“My father made some calls and they allowed me to come in a little earlier to set up the place.” Kay explained. She crawled onto her bed. She sat up by the pillows and put one on her lap.

Erin walked over to the other side of the room where Kay’s desk was set up. Her notebooks and pens were lined neatly up on the surface. A picture frame was on the corner of a picture herself with Kay, Olivia, and Zoey. Erin smiled remembering that day.

“Hello, hello!”

Erin turned around to see Olivia and Zoey enter the room together. Olivia closed the door behind the two of them and crawled onto the foot of Kay’s full sized bed. Erin watched not realizing that she had a bigger bed size than the other dorms too.

“Kay, this room is amazing! I wish I could have gotten my own dorm.” Olivia said.

“Hey, what’s wrong with bunking with me?” Zoey asked.

“Nothing. But it’d be so cool if we all had our own space, you know?”

Zoey nodded with a satisfied shrug. “Still, I’m glad you and I are roommates.”

“Me too!” Olivia giggled.

Erin folded her arms across her chest and leaned her back against Kay’s desk. She looked down at the ground. She couldn’t believe this was how high school was starting out. She was ditched by one of her friends and had to bunk with someone poor. Meanwhile, Olivia and Zoey were having the time of their life as though nothing was going on whatsoever.

“Who’s your roomie, Erin?”

Erin looked up like a deer in the headlights. Olivia and Zoey were staring at her expecting an answer while Kay was smirking at her. She sighed wondering if this was something Kay had cooked up to make their high school career start off with a bang.

Erin swallowed a lump in her throat and let off a shrug knowing her friends wanted an answer.

“I don’t remember her name.” she muttered.

“Sorry you have to share a room with a stranger.” Zoey frowned.

Erin cracked a small smile, but only because Zoey seemed genuinely sorry, despite that it wasn’t even her idea in the first place.

It was Olivia’s idea for the four of them to share rooms so that they could stay close with one another. Now that Erin thought about it, Kay didn’t seem to be too thrilled about the idea. They picked each other’s names out of a hat so the room assignments would be random. Olivia had pulled out Zoey’s name. That left Kay and Erin together.

Erin was excited at the time. She always had a feeling that Olivia was Kay’s favorite one of the group, but she thought that if they were roommates then maybe she would get to step up in the ranks of their small group. Apparently, Kay didn’t want to be with Erin.

She wondered if she was bunked with Olivia would she still have opted to get her own room? What if she was bunked with Zoey?

“Erin, it’s fine.”

Erin looked back up at the three girls. Kay was rolling her eyes at her.

“Just think of all the juicy gossip you can get on your roommate and her friends.” Kay explained.

“What makes you think she has friends?” Olivia laughed.

“Poor people have to stick together.” Kay replied.

Erin cleared her throat. She took her phone out of her pocket and checked the time. “Guys, I should probably get back to my room… I haven’t unpacked any of my stuff yet.”

“Be sure to meet us in the lobby tomorrow before orientation.” Kay reminded her.

She nodded as she put her phone back into her back pocket and headed for the door. She opened it up and noticed that the halls were clear. Everyone must have been in their rooms, unpacking, meeting their roommates, or meeting up with old friends. That was something she should have been doing, but for some reason… She just didn’t feel comfortable with them anymore.

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