I watched her and for some reason, I decided to do something that I wouldn’t normally do. Lying was a daily occurrence for others but never for me. Especially, because I wasn’t any good at it but here I was giving it a shot.
“I was just making arrangements to meet some friends later.”
Crap, I didn’t go with one friend, which she might have believed. Oh no, I implied there was more than one.
I moved around, avoided her stare and hoped that the lie would stop. That it wouldn’t keep rolling off my tongue like ice-cream melting down a cone. Whenever I felt anxious like I did right now, I’d just go on speaking, just to cover the dead air until the other person finally interrupted and stopped me.
“Oh. I was going to ask you out with the girls and me, but if you have plans…” she grinned at me, in that know-it-all way that I’d seen occasionally. I’d figured out by now that Rachel wasn’t just a nerd with a gorgeous body. She was a little bit of a trickster that could usually get what she wanted. Which didn’t make me dislike her, it just told me that maybe I needed to be careful around her.
She nagged at me a lot to go out, which I knew she did for my own good, but she also wanted to know why I stayed in so much. She couldn’t believe that I was just studying, and I saw that look in her eye now, that told me she was up to something.
Whatever it was she had planned, I knew that this lie was going to get me into trouble and for once, I didn’t care. I thought about Mom’s words about why I’d come here in the first place, “Don’t only study, but try and have some fun.”
“So, what are you guys doing then?”
What I felt like doing right now.
“Just getting a few drinks.”
By myself, but I would leave out that part.
My phone beeped in my hand and then another lie came out, “Shoot is that the time!”
I gasped as I looked down at my phone. Her hand jerked away from it and it was then I realized the real reason that she sat on my bed in the first place. It wasn’t to be near me or even to figure out if I’d lied to her. No, she wanted to grab my phone.
“Well, you better run along then, little Miss Mysterious.”
I nodded my head in agreement and then I moved my phone away from her quickly so she couldn’t grab it. She pretended that she was trying to stretch, but I knew her game and I didn’t like it. I shook my head over the whole thing. Rachel was an imp, the type that made me want to laugh and be mad at the same time. But could her impish ways go further, I wondered as I left the room. I barely knew her, after all.
***
My head spun like a top as I thought about Rachel and her games. I had to wonder now if she was the one sending the messages. She had the number now, right? But then why would she want my phone, if she already knew what I’d sent to my mysterious texter?
I sighed as I stuffed the phone into my bag and thought about my secret fantasies, which had been lost in the space of my first week in college. I’d gone from thinking that I had the perfect roommate, to wondering if she was an absolute bitch. I’d also had to start a job the first week of the semester not the second because I failed to put in the right start date. I was so nervous when I filled it out, that I messed it up. And last, but certainly not least, I felt alone. So alone, that I even contemplated going back home as I headed to a diner.
It was far enough from campus that no one would spot me. I laughed to myself at the idea of it, someone might spot me. It wasn’t like anyone would even recognize me, because no one really knew me.
If I hadn’t been in such a rush to leave the room and campus, then maybe my feet wouldn’t be so tired, and I wouldn’t be sweating uncontrollably from doing more exercise today then I’d done the entire year.
My heart raced as I headed into the diner and thought about the biggest meal I could have tonight. I was going to eat a burger, fries, ice-cream and a brownie. It might mean that I couldn’t eat tomorrow, but tonight I didn’t care so long as I wasn’t near Rachel.
The thoughts came back to me then. I’d only been there for a week and so far, the one person that I thought would be my best friend, turned out to be… maybe not so much.
Rachel smiled and said all the right words, she even made me laugh sometimes, but it was as if she had a plan for me that I didn’t really want to be a part of. Or maybe I was just too damn paranoid and should learn to trust people? I’d just have to wait and see.
Chapter Nine
Celia
“What does a girl have to do to get fed around here?” I stare
d at the menu and tried not to let my frustration show. The place was busy, but the waiter hadn’t even come over to ask if I wanted a drink yet. But with every booth filled, it was hardly his fault, was it?
I waited a few more seconds, then I sighed as I put the menu down. I put it down hoping that he’d know I was ready to order.
“That’s a good idea. He’ll come over now. Mind if I sit with you? The place is full.”
I looked up as the sound of a feminine voice beside me broke through the noise in the diner. “Pardon?”
“I asked if I could join you?” I’m starving!?” She slid into the booth on the other side and put her arms up on the table, her hands crossed. She had medium brown curly hair and green eyes that now begged me to answer her one and only prayer. She was cute, pretty even, and she looked ordinary enough. Not a threat.
“Sure, that sounds alright.” The waiter came just as I agreed, and I ordered what I wanted. He turned to the other girl and smiled.
“Oh hey, Becky, I didn’t see you come in. Want your usual?” The guy was clearly flirting with my new eating partner, and I couldn’t help but smile.
“Yes, please, Mike. With a strawberry milkshake, please.” She smiled and watched as he walked away, still writing on his order pad. “Can you believe they still use a pen and paper system here and not tablets like everywhere else?”
“I hadn’t noticed. You eat here often, then?” She was a little bubbly, happy about life, and I liked that about her, even if it did make me nervous.
“All the time, it’s the only place I’ve eaten all week. They do breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and my dorm is right over there, so it’s not much of a walk.” She waved behind her in the general direction of the dorms and smiled. She had a medium frame, was about average height, and everything else was average about her too. Except she had a slight gap between her front teeth and her eyes held a delight with the world that I thought little could dim.
“Hi, I’m Becky Adams, freshman and the one and only member of the Becky Adams fan club. Nice to meet you.” She held her hand out and I saw her fingernails were colored bright green with splashes of orange. “Oh that. I’m a painter.”