I pull my key from my pocket. “426.”
“Do you remember who else was assigned to that room?” Huan asks Dev.
“Sage,” he replies immediately. Huan raises his eyebrows.
I don’t recognize her name from school, but hopefully she’s as excited to be in England as I am. Maybe we can travel around the country together... look for British boys... It would be terrific to have a wingwoman.
“Thanks for the help,” I tell them both. And I swing the door open.
Chapter
5
Sage doesn’t look over when I walk in. Her back is to meand she’s unpacking on the lower bunk... that she’s already claimed for herself.
“Hello?”
“Oh, hello.” She regards me. No smile. I look over my shoulder for help from the boys, but they’ve already retreated down the hallway.
“So... it’s Sage, right?”
She nods and focuses on carefully folding her shirts. “Nice to meet you, Ellie.”
I stand in the doorway for another moment, nervous to come inside and surprised that she already knows my name. Plus, I’m disappointed because the room looks like... a dorm room. There are cheap beds, whitewashed walls, and small desks that probably came from IKEA. Not exactly the castle-like interior found in the common rooms. The only redeeming feature is a large window with a carved window seat.
I drop into the plastic desk chair that’s closest to me and watchSage as she efficiently pulls out her clothes and hangs them in the closet nearest to her. Weirdly, all her clothes are the same—black or gray, simple, no frills or logos. Even weirder, she’s perfectly put together after her long flight. I can’t find a wrinkle in her clothes or a crease of shadow on her eyelids. I must look like a disaster in comparison, with my hair pulled back in a messy ponytail and my face oily and sweaty.
“Wow, good job organizing,” I tell her, trying for a light tone. “I don’t think I’ll have the energy to unpack for at least a few days.”
“I hope that’s not true. I don’t like having clutter around me.”
Okay.
I try again. “How was your flight? I was talking to some other people and they said they didn’t sleep at all. But how could any of us sleep when we knew we’d be here soon!”
“I took a sleeping pill and got a full seven hours.” Her eyes narrow like she’s sizing me up.
Omigod, this is the person I’m living with for the next four months? In this tiny box of a room? I won’t survive. I’ve never lived in the same room as someone else before. I’m an only child so the closest I got was an occasional sleepover or a few days at camp. And I’m not an orderly person. I’m a why-put-stuff-away-just-to-get-it-out-again kind of person. Piles instead of drawers. My dream of happy roommate bonding fizzles around the edges.
Sage finishes with her clothes and starts on another bag... filled entirely with books and notebooks. But not fun books. Not my kind of books. There isn’t a travel guide or dog-eared novel in the mix. Instead, she pulls out one thick tome after another.CellBiology. Principles of Oncology. Advanced Concepts in Population Genetics.
My eyes grow wide. “Are—are those books for our classes?”
That makes her laugh. “No. This is for my research.”
“Your research?”
She rolls her shoulders back like she’s preparing for a long explanation. “I’m not here for this program. It’s fine, but my real interest is in working with Dr. Reese at the University of London. We’ve been corresponding for the last year about her research, and this program allows me to live in England, continue high school, get college credits, and have time to volunteer in her lab.” She shrugs. “It’s a perfect fit.”
Who the hellisthis girl? Doesn’t she know she’s on a fun study abroad trip and not trying to get her PhD? At least she’s probably too busy planning out the next four years of her life to pay attention to the latest viral videos.
“What about you?” she asks, much to my chagrin. “What’s your interest here?”
Hot British guys with amazing accents? Escaping from high school hell? Finding all the hidey-holes in the manor where fairies could be secretly living?
“Um... I liked the idea of getting high school and college credit at the same time.”
She raises an eyebrow. “So you’re not trying to put an ocean between you and Andy, then?”
