“Stop. The library is closed. Besides, you need to unpack all your stuff,” he said holding up her bag.
She took it and frowned.
“Go check out your room, make sure your key works, meet your roommate, take a shower, et cetera, et cetera. I’ll swing by later with a German dictionary.”
He unlocked the door to his giant room.
“And don’t worry about ghosts,” he said over his shoulder. “You’re not gonna get any ghosts in your room.”
Hailey wrinkled her brow.
“Oh?”
“They’re afraid of your roommate,” he said quickly through the crack in his door, shutting it before Hailey even had a chance to gasp.
Chapter nineteen
The Roommate from Hell
“One skeleton said to another - If I had any guts I'd get the hell out of here.” - Anonymous
Hailey stood in the hallway with her one piece of “luggage” and stared at the door to room 333—her room, wondering what kind of monster could scare a ghost. Whatever it was, its name was Giselle; it waited on the other side of this door, and Hailey would have to live with it for the entire year. Unless of course she fell into an in-between, and someone killed her completely…
As she raised the warped, wrought-iron skeleton key from her welcome kit to the lock, she straightened up and put on her friendly face. The lock clicked, and Hailey pushed open the door.
The room was larger than she’d expected, with a built-in desk, stretching almost the whole length of the left wall. Two chairs were pushed against the desk at opposite ends and in the middle, the desk was divided by two sets of drawers. The wall above the desk was mirrored from end to end. On the wall opposite the door was a large window. In the window hung a golden decoration, which resembled a dream-catcher and had a tiny motor, causing the thing to vibrate and twist back and forth.
There were two closets and two beds. Just inside the door and to the right was an empty, undressed bed— Hailey guessed that would be hers. The otherwas in the far corner opposite the door and occupied by a girl who lounged with her legs outstretched, her feet crossed, and her face hidden behind a beauty magazine.
She didn’t stir when Hailey tentatively stepped into the room.
“Hello,” Hailey said, but the girl ignored her. “I’m Hailey,” she tried again, but the girl never acknowledged her.
Frowning, Hailey set her bag and backpack on her bare mattress. She opened her empty closet and sighed.
She should just shower and wait for Fin, she decided. Tomorrow morning, she would tour the campus and hit the bookstore, where she could hopefully find clothes, shoes, sheets, blankets, pillows, and towels. And somebody to talk to…
Giselle stirred in her bed and Hailey jerked her head around, but she still couldn’t see the girl’s face behind her magazine, which boasted “5 New Makeup Tricks to Make Him Notice You.”
Hailey rolled her eyes and unzipped her luggage. It took less than a minute to unpack, and as she gathered her hand towel, soap, and shampoo, there came a sharp knock.
“Hi!” Hailey said brightly as she opened the door to Fin.
“Here’s your handbook,” he said, holding it up before passing it to her.
“Thanks.” Hailey looked at his empty hands. “Where’s the dictionary?”
“Right here.” He held his arms out.
“You speak German?”
“Yeah,” he said stepping inside her room. “I grew up there once.”
Hailey cocked her head.
“What do you mean, you ‘grew up there once’?”
Fin answered with a half-smile. “What do you need translated?”
