“I’m afraid so.” Mae glances briefly in Francis’s direction, but there’s no way I can ask him for help. If Grandma comes back and he’s gone, it would be a problem for him.
“I’m sorry. Honestly, you don’t have to help—”
“Don’t be silly!” Mae interrupts me. “Of course we’ll help you. We don’t have anything else to do right now, and Pearson chose us to show you around, so that’s what we’re going to do.”
“Mae can be a bit overdramatic sometimes. Not that you’ve noticed.” Zoe winks at me conspiratorially, and Mae feigns being offended and sighs heavily.
“It’s true, I love drama.” She stacks two boxes on top of each other. “Now let’s go! We’ve got a lot to do.”
***
“Hmm, is there anything else we have to show Rayne?” Mae asks Zoe, but she shakes her head. “I don’t think so. You’ll see the ballet studios early tomorrow morning, and the theory classrooms aren’t that exciting.”
“What about the gym and the sauna? And the swimming pool?”
“You have a pool and a sauna?” I somehow missed that when I did my research.
“Cool, right? Not that I used either one of them very much last semester, but it’s still great to have so many options,” Mae says.
Zoe pushes a strand of hair out of her face, her brown eyes glinting happily. “Maybe this semester.”
“It’s definitely not a bad idea.”
Later that day, we’re downstairs in the dorm dining room. With its arched windows and green velvet-upholstered armchairs arranged around the tables, it’s very cozy. In fact, the whole place is pretty cozy for a school, even if it is a ballet academy.
After putting my things in my room, the two of them showed me around the dorm, our common room, and the roof terrace. We didn’t go outside, though, because it started raining again. I guess it’s not cold enough for snow yet.
Now we’re sitting at one of the tables drinking smoothies, which are freshly made for us every morning.
“That’s pretty much everything we wanted to show you for now,” Zoe says. “Do you need help unpacking?”
“I think I can manage on my own.”
Mae plays with the straw in her glass. “Are you sure we shouldn’t—”
“Mae, leave it, okay?” Zoe says, interrupting her friend. “Not everyone needs company when they’re unpacking.”
“I really enjoyed your company,” Mae replies, pouting.
“Yeah, and you’re pretty chaotic too.” Zoe turns to me. “I totally get it if you want to do this alone.”
“Oh, God, please don’t tell me you’re as much of a perfectionist as Zoe.” Mae reaches across the table and takes my hand. Her grip is firm, her skin warm.
I shake my head. “No, I’m part of Team Chaos. But I’d just rather unpack alone.”
“All right, I forgive you because you’re on my team. See you at dinner?”
I nod. “Sure.”
“Super, we’ll pick you up.” Zoe gets up, and we follow her. Our glasses are empty, and we clear the table before making our way to the fourth floor for the second time today. Our rooms are directly under the roof. In nice weather, the view up there must be breathtaking.
We say goodbye in front of our rooms. Zoe’s and Mae’s are right next to each other, across from mine. Then I close my door behind me, and I’m finally alone. My shoulders slump in relief. This room is smaller than the one I had in LA and the one I had at Grandma’s house, but I already like it better. The floor is dark wood like at Grandma’s, but the walls are white and friendly, with pretty plaster moldings. There’s a little entry area with a closet and a tiny bathroom. The bed, desk, and dresser complete the furnishings.My record player has already found a home on the dresser. I’m not quite sure where I’m going to keep all my records, but I’ll find a place for them somehow.
I get my earbuds out of my backpack and reach for my phone. I definitely need music to unpack. A couple seconds later, I hear the first notes of “You Don’t Go to Parties” by 5 Seconds of Summer. I love this song. I love its vibes, but while I can usually let myself drift away on it, that’s not possible at the moment.
I’m still holding my phone, and of course Easton hasn’t written to me yet. Somehow I managed to go all morning without thinking about him, but now when I look at the screen and don’t see any notifications, I can’t help it. It’s been two days since I visited Repeat Records. Two days of silence. It can’t go on like this. God, I want to talk to him. I want to tell him why I’m here in this city, at this school.
We were friends. He was my only real friend in the past six months, and he doesn’t deserve me ghosting him, or running away. I open our chat on Instagram, wanting to tell him everything that’s going through my head, every confused thought. I have so many of them. Instead, I only type two words. But I think they’re the most important ones.
