I shake my head as the door to Lily’s room swings open. “Nah. I have too much work to do.”
Lily steps into the doorway. “No, you have to come. I want to get to know my new roommate.”
She’s wearing a blue dress, plaid jacket, and strappy heels. Wren wears black silk pants, a white shirt, and a leather jacket. Both of them are dressed fancy, at least to my standards. I can put two and two together and guess they’re probably going to a restaurant where food costs more than rent back on northside.
“I wish I could, but I need to do some assignments.” I pick up my shoes and start toward my room.
“Oh, come on,” Lily whines as she hurries after me. “Half the fun of being in college is that we don’t have to live by the standards of when we were in high school. We can go out and have fun any day we want. Plus, we have that party to go to.”
“I wasn’t invited,” I point out.
“Everyone’s invited.” She grabs my arm and starts to beg. “Please, please, pretty please.”
It sucks so bad because I believe she’s being genuinely nice, and I would love to go and make friends with her, but I can’t. Like, literally can’t afford to go. And it sucks.
“How about this? You guys go get some dinner while I do my homework, and then we can meet up after, and I’ll go to the party with you,” I offer, hoping she’ll take it. Otherwise, I might be persuaded to do something stupid. And by stupid, I mean go to a restaurant that I can’t afford and end up staring at them while they eat
Can you say awkward?
“That sounds like a fantastic plan,” Wren intervenes, giving me this look that has me questioning if she perhaps knows about my dilemma. She stands to her feet and urges Lily toward the door. “Let’s go before we don’t have time to eat.”
“Oh, fine.” Sighing, Lily trudges toward the door, collecting her purse. “But you swear you’ll come to the party?”
I nod and draw anXacross my heart. “Cross my heart and hope to die.”
She chuckles as she reaches for the door handle. “We’ll stop by when we’re done so we can go to the party together. And no getting out of that,” she playfully warns as she pulls open the door.
“She’s not going to get out of it.” Wren gently pushes her out of the door. “Now, come. Let the new girl get her homework done.” With that, Wren grabs the door handle and starts to pull the door shut.
When she smiles at me, I find myself mouthing, “Thanks.”
“No problem,” she mouths in return then closes the door.
I slump back into the sofa and release an exhausted noise that matches how I feel inside.
Day two here, and I’m already feeling the social class difference, but I knew this coming in and chose to be here.
That’s what I have to keep reminding myself of.
Since I actually don’t have much in the line of homework and need to eat, I get up, grab my phone, and head out of my room, toward the cafeteria. The place is empty, but the food, as I have learned, is wonderful. Like restaurant quality. I decide on pasta and garlic bread, grab a drink, and take my food with me as I wander back toward my room.
“You know, I think you might be the only person in this school who uses the cafeteria for dinner.” Finn falls into step beside me as I’m going through one of the quads.
“And your point is?” I question with an arch of my brow.
“There wasn’t really a point.” He stuffs his hands into his pockets and offers me what some girls probably think is a charming smile. “I was just trying to make small talk.”
“I bet you do that a lot.”
“What? Make small talk?”
“No, don’t have a point when you talk.” I bite back a smirk when his lips part in shock.
Then his shock morphs into a sputtering laugh. “You know, you’re probably right. I really do have a lot of pointless conversations.” He studies me as we veer down the hallway to my dorm room, tapping his lip with his finger. “I don’t think I’ve ever had anyone be such a smartass to me. It’s kind of refreshing.”
We reach my dorm room then and come to a stop.
“You think my smartass-ness is refreshing?” I cock a brow at him as I attempt to balance my food in one hand so I can dig my phone out of my pocket.
