Black Rain

Chapter 1- Encounter

She sat at the front of the class like always, jotting down notes in silence as the professor droned on with his lecture. It had been months since she first walked through the doors to college life but Cheyenne still wasn't used to this new reality that'd hit her like a freight train. No one cared if she ate every day, no one cared if she showed up to class, no one cared if she said a word. As the lesson came to a close she packed up her things and left in the herd of exhausted college students. Pulling the hood up of her hoodie she walked out of the lecture hall and into the pouring rain.

Silently Cheyenne made her trek back to her dorm room on the 5th floor of Building B, dorm 514. A group of laughing obnoxious guys walked past her, one bumping into her shoulder but didn't say a word or even glance in her direction. None of this was new, she wasn't anyone and none of it seemed to bother her very much. Since middle school this was her norm, just being the chameleon. As she reached the stairs to her dorm building Cheyenne looked at the rain soaked cars in the parking lot, wishing she had one of her own so she didn't have to wait at the bus stop in another hour in the rain.

Once she'd reached her dorm room, a little out of breath from climbing the stairs to the 5th floor, she opened the metal door and walked inside, pulling her soaked hood down. She closed the door after she entered and took off her shoes and hoodie so the water didn't get all over the tile floor of her dorm room. Cheyenne set her damp backpack down next to her desk and flopped down on her bed, looking at the bare other half of the room. Her dorm mate had requested to change rooms just weeks into the first semester and had moved out shortly after, claiming that she "couldn't last a year with an antisocial weirdo".

A sigh escaped her lips softly as she rolled over and hugged her pillow to her chest. Her head hurt and she was dreading going to Physics in an hour, but more so about going back out into the rain and getting wet all over again. She reached over and grabbed her alarm clock and set it so she could take a quick 45 minute nap. When she set it back down she pulled over her headphones and slid them on over her head, turning on her iPod and starting up her usual Breaking Benjamin playlist. Cheyenne closed her eyes and drowned herself in the lyrics as she drifted off to sleep.

The jarring beeping of her alarm clock snapped her out of her deep slumber as she quickly sat up and turned it off. She held her head as she felt dizzy from getting up so fast and gave herself a second to regain her composure, her headache even worse than before. Climbing out of bed she straightened out her clothes on her way to the bathroom, checking her hair in the mirror before pulling her still wet hoodie back on over her head. She grabbed her backpack, slid her shoes on at the door, and began her walk in the rain to the bus stop across the street.

Physics was as boring as she'd predicted, walking back to her dorm silently she was dreading the mountain of homework she'd have to do that night. Her clothes were soaked and clinging to her as she climbed up the stairs to her dorm. Cheyenne opened the door to her dorm room, startled by the large stacks of boxes lining the wall just inside the door. Maneuvering around the crowded doorway, she made it into the main room, more boxes on the previously empty side of the room. She walked over to her bed and picked up a note lying on her pillow. The note read:

"Cheyenne Reese,

You will be assigned a new dorm mate, however there are a bit of complications regarding the matter. Please report to the Dorm Administrator to discuss the matter. Thank you."

Sighing Cheyenne stuffed the note in her pocket and left her dorm room. She took the stairs down to the first floor and knocked on the Dorm Admin's office door. A weary looking woman opened the door, a quizzical look on her face. Without a word Cheyenne pulled the note out of her pocket and showed it to the woman. Realization washed over the woman's face as she invited Cheyenne inside. The both of them sat down on either side of the woman's desk, the Dorm Admin shifting through some papers before she spoke.

"Lately we have been getting a lot of new applications to live in the dorms, which means we are pretty much filled up across the board. Your dorm is one of the few exceptions," The woman paused and met Cheyenne's gazed. "This is your new dorm mate, I know that we don't usually allow this kind of thing but this is a very rare exception."

Cheyenne took the paper that the woman slid across the desk towards her, looking at the man in the picture. She read over his short bio before looking up at the woman. "I don't have much of a say in the matter do I?" Cheyenne asked, looking the woman in the eye.

"Well, you do, but we don't have many other choices. So are you ok with this, or not? You have every right to deny this."

Cheyenne sighed softly, looking back at the man's picture. "I guess its fine, he doesn't really have any other place to stay and he's all the way from the...UK? So I guess its ok."

The woman smiled softly, "Alright then, if you have any complications with this later on please feel free to come talk to me and we'll try and figure something out. I appreciate you being so understanding of the situation. He will be here starting tomorrow, so if you could show him around and give him a hand until he adjusts."

Cheyenne nodded and stood, leaving the paper on the woman's desk and showing herself out. Walking back up the stairs to her dorm, Cheyenne was lost in thought. She didn't know whether to be happy now that she wouldn't be completely alone, or worried for what was to come. Just getting a new dorm mate is one thing, but that dorm mate being someone from the opposite sex is another. When she got back to her dorm, she changed into pajama pants and a t-shirt, finally happy to be out of her wet clothes.

Cheyenne hung them up on hangers to dry and climbed into her desk chair, flipping her text book open. She turned on her laptop and began working on her homework without a word, listening to her YouTube playlist to concentrate. Working diligently well into the evening and into the night she didn't stop until she passed out at her desk, her laptop still on and music still softly playing.

She awoke in the morning with a start; there, just inches from her face was a set of bright blue eyes staring deep into her gray ones. Cheyenne's cheeks heated up and she fell out of her chair, completely thrown off guard and startled. A laugh escaped the man's lips as he watched her land flat on her butt, her face as red as a tomato. He walked over and helped her up with ease, each one of his movements fluid and graceful, completely different from the awkward and clumsy girl he'd be staying with.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, I am Jay Andrew and I'll be your dorm mate for the rest of the year", His accent was thick and his voice was a little gruff but still cut through her like a knife.

Cheyenne stuttered as she replied, "I-I'm Cheyenne Reese, the pleasure is all mine. Sorry for not being awake when you got here. I hope we can get along together."

He flashed her a cocky smile, making her heat beat fast and hard in her chest. "I'm sure we will," Jay responded, still holding Cheyenne by the waist from helping her up.

She quickly pulled away, her cheeks turning a deeper red as she stared at the floor. "I-I don't have any classes today so I'll lend you a hand unpacking if you need it..."

"Thanks, that'd be a great help actually."

The two worked hard for most of the day, getting almost all of the boxes emptied a little after noon. They had gotten to know each other a little better as they spent most of the time laughing and throwing jokes at each other. It'd been a long time since Cheyenne had laughed this hard and had this long of a conversation with anyone, it was a great change of pace, a smile never leaving her face the entire time.

"So I've got to ask," Jay started, his tone getting more serious. "What do we do if I want to bring a girl or something?"

"Honestly, I don't care as long as I'm not there, you don't tell me about any of that, and you just don't do anything with my stuff." Cheyenne met his gaze, flashing him a smile, "You seem pretty confident in yourself. Planning on picking up many girls with that stunning accent of yours?"

Jay laughed, relaxing a bit, "Well, you never know."