JONAS
Jonas could finally breathe.
He missed his parents a little bit (he knew he’d probably miss them more later), but at the moment, he was just glad to no longer be the center of attention. His mom had doted on him the entire night, and then she had cried in the hour leading up to the time they’d finally bid him good-bye and left. He hadn’t wanted to feel irritated with her because he knew how hard it was for her to let him go. However, it had gotten to be a bit much. He’d started to feel a little overwhelmed. Like he was carrying it all—his mother’s worries, Rhys’s bitterness—by himself.
Now he was lying in bed, looking at the ceiling, just as if he was at home. He almost missed Rhys’s dumb glow-in-the-dark stars. He closed his eyes, listening to the music playing through his headphones.
His suitemates were in now; he could hear them, loudly celebrating the beginning of their freshman year. He briefly considered going out to greet them, but he quickly decided against it.
He unlocked his phone and opened his email. He scrolled through, opening a particular email from several weeks ago.
Jonas Avery,
I’ve reviewed your academic records and I think it would be perfectly fine for you to take an equivalent course for Anatomy and Physiology (BIOL 4580) at nearby SIUE due to our labs being full. The credits are transferable. The course number there is BIOL 240A.
He stared at the words until they blurred into one long line of text. He’d wanted to tell Brennan that day. He had been about to. What if he had? What if he hadn’t pressed her about the other thing. He’d thought it would be nice to tell her he’d registered for a class at SIUE. He’d take the bus there on the days he had class, and maybe he’d see her. Now it felt stupid. He considered dropping it—why take A&P anyway, if he wasn’t going to be a doctor?—but he supposed he had to just soldier on. They’d already paid tuition.
Jonas dropped his phone on the bed and pulled out his chemistry textbook, beginning to read the first chapter, as an email from his chem professor (already!) had requested.
After all, he really had nothing better to do.
At nine o’clock, he was hungry, and so he ate the leftover pizza he’d brought back from dinner. At ten o’clock, he crossed the hall to the bathroom and brushed his teeth. Then he crossed back over to his room, shut the lights off, and got into bed.
He lay down and pulled the comforter up to his chin. First night of college, only ten o’clock, and already in bed, he thought. I have to be just about the most boring college student ever.
21
brennan
Ambreen returned to the room at around ten. Brennan had been lying on her stomach on her bed, reading the first Harry Potter book over again. She was inwardly debating the pros and cons of having the first pack from the ramen stash under her bed. Pros: fulfilled hunger, soothing warm broth, finding the microwave in the student lounge for future reference. Cons: one less ramen = one meal sooner that she’d have to visit the cafeteria or find a ride into town with her roommate to buy more. It was a big enough con that she decided not to have the ramen.
Ambreen banged open the door enthusiastically, making Brennan jump a bit. She could hear the sound of people laughing and chatting in the hallways, and the scent of hairspray, perfume, and men’s body spray drifted in through the open door. Ambreen shut the door, which cut the noise off for the most part, but Brennan could still hear people, like a low hum in the background. She wasn’t used to this much noise. She wished the walls were thicker.
“Hey!” said Ambreen as enthusiastically as she’d opened the door.
Even though getting down was the last thing Brennan wanted to do, it felt awkward to be up in the lofted bed, talking down to Ambreen. So she reluctantly hopped off and greeted her roommate. She wondered if a handshake would be appropriate. For being a young adult female, Brennan wasn’t very familiar with young adult females.
Before she could give the matter any further consideration, Ambreen was hugging her. Brennan’s eyes widened, and she tried not to give any indication of how uncomfortable she actually was. She’s hugging me, was playing on repeat in her mind. Personal space invasion!
Ambreen stepped back, her hands still on Brennan’s shoulders. “I’m so excited for this year!” she said.
“Uh, yeah!” said Brennan, forcing a laugh and grinning cheesily, despite her earlier mirror practice. “Me too! How was the welcome back bash?” Brennan had heard about the bash and had steered clear accordingly.
“Oh, it was wonderful!” gushed her roomie, already shuffling through the top drawer of her desk looking for something. “So much fun. Why didn’t you come?” she asked curiously, finally pulling out the phone charger she’d been looking for and plugging her phone in.
“Oh, I just had kind of a headache from reading in the car on the drive down here,” lied Brennan. “Just felt like getting settled in and relaxing.” She watched her roommate. Her dark hair swished when she moved. It was so smooth. Brennan was self-conscious about her own (currently very humidity-frizzy) mop.
“I hope you’re feeling better!” Ambreen said, already picking up her wallet and keys once more. She almost bounced, never still.
“Much,” muttered Brennan. “Better, that is.”
“Great! Hey, I’m going next door if you wanna come? Figured we could meet our suitemates.”
No, Brennan wanted to say. No, thank you. “Sure!” she said aloud, grinning. Was she grinning too much? She didn’t know how much was too much. Her face kind of hurt.
“Awesome, come on!” Ambreen grabbed her arm and pulled her into the room next door. Brennan felt weird about being in her pajamas already when everyone else was still dressed up. Then a magical thing happened—no one seemed to care. Still, she awkwardly hugged herself and half hid behind Ambreen.
She tried to inject her way into the conversation occasionally, but eventually gave up and just sat back, listening.
She learned that her suitemate, Jennifer, a tiny five-foot whirlwind wrapped in warm brown skin and colorful fabrics, was an amateur fashion designer who made some of her own clothes and was at SIUE to major in English. Her other suitemate, blond and equally as short as her roommate, Mattie, enjoyed photography and loved anime. “Undecided major,” she said, shaking Brennan’s hand enthusiastically. (Why had Brennan been so afraid of being undecided? Mattie seemed totally at ease.)
Ambreen herself had the most interesting background story of all of them. She was born in India, apparently, and then her family had lived in England for a while before they came to Illinois. Brennan wondered who’d give up India or England for Illinois. Apparently it had to do with Ambreen’s father’s job. Over the summer, Ambreen had told Brennan she was also majoring in physical therapy.
There were also two other girls in the room who weren’t even from their dorm; they’d apparently just tagged along after the bash. Brennan’s suitemates were practically giddy. “Let’s go meet everyone else!” Mattie suggested excitedly. Brennan thought it would be bad if she just excused herself to her room immediately, so she faked a few giggles (she hoped they didn’t sound tortured) and followed the rest of them.