The Opposition

Chapter 4: Carter

It took twenty minutes to find Clarence House and the campus isn't even that complicated. I've bumped into at least thirty people and if that doesn't scream freshman then I don't know what does. Now, I stand in front of a door with a brass 112 above the doorknob. Dad is practically breathing down my neck as I shove my key in the lock and I let out a sigh of relief when I can twist it with no resistance.

"Well, thanks, Dad," I tell him, hoping he'll get the hint and leave. It's not that I don't want him here, but um... Okay maybe I don't want him here.

"Don't need some help, Son?" His expression looks forced, but I see his smile drop when I shake my head.

"I'm okay. I don't have that many things to move in," I say, gesturing to the lonely suitcase resting at my ankles.

"They're having tea for the parents in fifteen minutes. You should go."

"You're so grown up, now," he whispers, and then turns to leave.

I don't bother to ponder what he means by grown. Not wanting him trailing me the whole day wasn't meant to be an insult. I shake my head. I'm not letting him do this, he's already made it clear that he doesn't want me here. Even with the free ride, he found at least fifty reasons why I shouldn't go. And I fought them all. Every. Single. One.

I pull open the door to the dorm room, step inside, and shut it behind me. I let out a breath. This campus is–

"Suffocating," a voice says behind me. I startle as I come face-to-face with a boy with light brown skin and dark curly hair. His dark brown eyes are trained on me and he looks scared? Nervous? "It's not just me, right? This campus is kind of suffocating. Like there are so many people and tall buildings. I'm sure it won't always be like this. I think it's the parents; they're taking up a lot of space."

"Yeah," I say, kind of shocked that he just read my mind. "It's not just you."

"Dimitri," he says, shaking out his hand like some young politician.

"Carter."

"Landon." Dimitri and I turn to see a blue-eyed boy with dirty blonde hair. I don't know what it is about him, but he seems older than fourteen or fifteen. He's wearing a black sweat set with at least four holes in the pant legs. "I call the single bed. I have early morning practices. Football."

"Yeah?" Dimitri says, "Well I have early morning... Classes."

Landon snorts, "Yeah, I figured." He doesn't wait for us to say anything else, and he plops three suitcases onto the single bed, already unpacking his athleisure into a dresser.

"Well I'm not taking the top bunk because..." Dimitri stops to think. "Whatever, I just want the bottom bunk."

I don't protest because I'm sure he was just to admit that he's deathly afraid of heights or something. I drop my suitcase on the ground and begin filling my drawer. I've started pulling out a singular picture of Conner and I when a pillow hits the base of my neck, followed by a pack of something that feels like nails.

"Ow! What the hell?" I snap, picking up the package. Not nails, but hooks.

"Put those up by the door, will you?" Landon says, going back to organizing his dresser.

"You could've handed them to me," I roll my eyes.

"I–" he starts, but a pillow nails him so hard in the back of the head that he falls face first onto his dresser drawer.