Victoria season 1

Episode 3: Keep it together

      The next day wasn't better than the last. When Victoria woke up, she noticed the house was already empty even though the sky was gray with night. Daniel had gone to work at the hospital, Jane had to plan a wedding in Concord, and Marilyn drove to school early in case someone tried to sabotage her. 

     Victoria's room was still the same, except it was covered in boxes everywhere but her closet. She wanted to make sure she had enough clothing. The wallpaper was white with lovely pink roses, something that Victoria loved even as a teenager. The small handmade paintings of bright sunflowers in a vase still hung on the wall above her bed, something that she had outgrown. She had to replace it. It was a vintage style home which made sense considering that this house had been in the Albritain family for several years. 

    There was an old desk moved to the bedroom close to the girl's bed but otherwise, it was almost completely bare. It lacked too much personality but, Victoria admitted, the lovely wallpaper made up for the emptiness of the place. If there was one thing she missed on the East Coast, it was the wallpaper. She also missed having her own bedroom. Victoria often had to share with her cousin Haley whom she got along with. 

   The girls were only a month apart in age and had a lot in common. She really missed Haley. Luckily, Haley was attending school in New Orleans so the time difference wasn't too far apart and she knew that the academy was much better than Haley's old high school in Los Angeles, but still. Haley had just moved to attend school last month. Apparently, southern kids had school earlier than Northern kids and based on the messages, Haley was weirded out by the school.  

         She was weirded out by the weird sorority-like structures and the accents as well as the blatant racism towards some of her friends. Haley also complained about her new roommate who was very loud and obnoxious. Not that Victoria didn't get it. Like most freshmen, she stayed in the dorms of Woodhull University for the first year but afterward, decided to live permanently with her aunt. The experience of the first year had been wild and rocky.

    Her roommate didn't seem to understand her bedmaking rituals and honestly, made fun of it, deliberately messing up her room, causing Victoria to freak out. After the incident, her aunt Maddie suggested she go to therapy which Victoria vehemently refused. After all, if the room wasn't clean and the bed wasn't made, then parasites would kill her. At the same time, Victoria had joined a secret sorority filled with older girls, attending wild parties and shredding it but had to admit, they were very extreme. While she remained for the rest of college, she tried to cut back during the final year, preferring to hang out with Haley and Fergie who had been in journalism school at the time. 

      Haley was the closest thing she had to a best friend as she had trouble being honest with other people. She was her roommate and she promised she'd Facetime her regularly. Her family in New Hampshire had somewhat distanced themselves. Marilyn blamed her for leaving, her dad was work-obsessed, and her mom Jane had visited once for Christmas but they ended up having a big fight after Victoria came out. Apparently, her mom didn't believe bisexuality existed. While the two had somewhat calmed down, the already fragile relationship became nonexistent. 

  Victoria's eyes were heavy. She normally didn't get enough sleep, no matter what day or month it was or where she went. She had always had horrible nightmares that lacked logic, dreams that seemed so real, they terrified her. Last week, she had a vivid dream where she was with Marilyn in an elevator in an apartment building that was on fire.  She hated those dreams and hated the thought of losing people, especially people she loved. Victoria sat up on her bed before pushing the light pink comforter off her legs. 

As Victoria walked to her closet, she grabbed a random red sweatshirt with black jeans. Today she didn't care about her appearance. Well, at least for now. She started to smile as she walked out of her bedroom and took a short walk to the bathroom which was right across the hall. The Albritain mansion was a very large one. Victoria's bedroom was right on the first floor so she was able to tread in and out.