If I Could Give You the Moon

Miss Perfect

The dorm building didn't look half as bad as Scarlett was imagining. Leafy vines climbed the ancient brick walls, giving off a pleasing aesthetic that comforted her. Arching windows lined what Scarlett assumed to be each dorm floor, adorned with a small balcony that overlooked the campus. Huh. I thought I'd be in like, gay jail, or something.

"I'll take your cart up with the move-in elevator and show you to your room. Would you like me to help you set up, or will you be okay to do it on your own?," Peter broke the silence, stopping at the entrance to the building.

"I think I'll be okay on my own. Besides, it's not that much." Scarlett glanced over to the cart with a small tinge in her chest, only seeing a couple boxes that contained her clothes and favourite books, with a couple of pictures to remind her of her friends back home.

"Alright. I'm sure your roommate would love to help you as well, and it could serve as some bonding time for you two." Peter took the cart into the rickety elevator, gesturing for Scarlett to follow him. "I promise it's safer than it looks, and we only use it during move-ins. The rest of the time, you have to take stairs."

Stepping into the death trap, Scarlett watched as Peter pressed the button for floor number 5. Oh fuck me. And I have to take the stairs? Scarlett could already feel herself growing tired at the thought.

Once they left the elevator, Peter began to walk her down a long hallway, and he stopped at the door that read 512.

"Here you are. Your keycard should let you in, but we can just use mine. All staff have a master card that can get into every room for night checks." Peter knocked on the door, and swiped his card, pushing the heavy oak open. "Miss Bridgers?," he called out making his presence known.

"Yes, Brother?," a feminine voice called out from within the room. "I'm just reading my daily scripture, I'll be over in a minute."

Oh god. Daily scripture? How am I going to survive living with the "perfect child of God"?

"No need! I was just helping your new roommate bring her belongings up. I'll be gone in a minute." Peter looked over at Scarlett. "I'll be back a little bit later to bring the cart back to the main hall. If you need help, just use the phone in your room and dial the main building." He gave her a pat on the shoulder, and started off to the stairs, leaving Scarlett to fend for herself.

She took a deep breath. I don't want to do this.

"Hi! Welcome to The Sisters. We are all children of God, and being her will just bring you closer to Him. I'm excited to join you in your journey."

The girl had platinum blonde hair, so light it was almost silver with the light shining on her. Her brown eyes caught Scarlett's. She's stunning. Of course she is.

"Here I'll help you move in. My stuff has been set up for a long time, so you'll know which part of the room is yours when you walk in." The girl brushed past Scarlett, pulling her boxes onto the floor.

"Oh, you don't have to help me. I can do it on my own." Scarlett interjected, following the girl's actions, pulling her boxes into the room.

"Nonsense. Look, everything's already inside."

She looked over at the boxes piled up in the entryway of the room. Wow. That was fast.

The blonde girl reached behind Scarlett and shut the door. "C'mon, let's get you settled."

"You can go back to reading your scripture if you'd like. Seriously, I don't have that much to unpack. I don't want to take you away from what you were doing."

"Wait. Dude, did you seriously think I was actually reading the Bible?"

"Well, yeah. Sister Edith told me you were her star pupil, so I assumed you were."

The girl giggled. "It's all an act, my friend. The more devoted to Christ that you seem, the more privileges you get on campus. Plus, it just makes everything easier to just seem like you're really believing the shit that they're feeding us. Oh, by the way, I'm Phoebe, in case you haven't already heard."

She breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm Scarlett. God, I was so scared to be rooming with the headmaster's pet. I thought you might kill me because I'm-"

Scarlett stopped herself. She didn't know if she could trust Phoebe just yet. Just because she wasn't devout, didn't mean she was safe.

"What? Whatever you were going to say doesn't matter. I literally could not give two shits about why you're here. From what I can see, you'll fit right in." She looked at Scarlett.

Scarlett already felt safer. "Fit in? Girl, do I really look like a church girl to you?" She watched as Phoebe dragged her boxes around the corner, to what she assumed was their bedroom.

"Dude, no. Are you really that dense? I meant me and my friends."

She followed the blonde, taking what was left of her stuff. "Oh. My bad. I'm just a little on edge. Everything has happened so fast."

Scarlett stopped and looked up, observing the room. Phoebe's side looked like a normal teenage girl's room. An expensive looking record player sat atop her desk, with piles of books and paper surrounding it. Fairy lights hung beside the twin bed, casting a calming glow over her rocketship covered sheets.

She looked over to the other side of the room. Blank walls stared back at her. She felt her chest tighten. Looks just as empty as me.

"What, not what you expected? Since I'm Miss Perfect, they don't come up to the fifth floor and check on me very often. Like I said, privileges. Now, let's crack open these boxes and make it your home too."

—

"Who's this?" Phoebe questioned, looking over at a picture frame placed on Scarlett's desk.

While spending over an hour putting everything away, the two girls used the time to get to know each other. Phoebe felt comfortable enough to ask the question that had been on her mind for a while. 

"That's my... best friend. Or what was my best friend. She's the reason I'm here." Scarlett looked over at the frame, studying the smiling face. "I don't think we'll talk ever again after what happened." Scarlett's mind was swept back to that day. I'm sorry, Scar. You know my parents are even worse than yours. You're stronger than me. I had to make it seem like you forcibly kissed me. I don't want to lose my family. She walked over and slammed the frame face down into the desk.

"May I ask what happened? It's totally okay if you don't want to talk about it, though. I don't want to overstep." Phoebe looked at her, her gaze gentle and sincere.

"I think that's a story for another time. I don't really feel like reliving it right now. I already feel alone, I don't really want to make it worse." Phoebe's concern made her flush, despite the sadness that ran through her.

Scarlett sat down on her now freshly made bed in an attempt to distract herself from the heat climbing up her face.

"Perfectly fine with me, man. But, I'll tell you this, you'll never be alone here. It might feel like it, but you aren't. And I don't mean that God's always with you."

Scarlett snorted.

"You've got to meet the boys. They're going to love you. Then you'll have even more people to-"

As if she'd summoned them, there was a knock at the door.

"I thought this was an all girls school?"

Phoebe jumped from her own bed laughing, making her way to the door. "Just wait. You'll see who I'm talking about. It's a little inside joke."

A/N
again this is not edited, pls be nice
*cough, allie, cough*