Ｓｅｒｅｎｄｉｐｉｔｙ

SEVEN

🅓🅐🅝🅘🅔🅛🅐

As I stepped out of the room, irritation simmered beneath my skin. Gio had no idea what real struggle looked like. His whole life had been paved for him—yeah, maybe he was a solid football player, but it was his dad’s connections that opened doors for him. Opportunities just fell into his lap, while others, equally talented, never got their shot because they weren’t born into privilege. Even if he stayed in that hospital bed for months, he’d bounce back, no question.

And the nerve of him, acting like I didn’t understand what it meant to have everything ripped away. He didn’t know a damn thing about me. I’ve lost it all before—my passion, my freedom, my childhood, gone. But I didn’t just wallow in it. I endured it until I could break free.

I dialed for an Uber, the hospital doors closing behind me. It was almost laughable—yesterday, I had done the same thing and stumbled upon him, lying helpless on the road. And not once had he thanked me for that. Typical. Self-centered prick.

The car pulled up, and I slid in, giving the driver directions to CauloBarrow University. I wasn’t about to waste any more time thinking about Gio.

____________________________________

As I walked back to the dorm, texting Celi, she was immediately on my case, asking why I left so fast. I didn’t even know what to say, so I gave her some bullshit excuse, one that sounded good enough to keep her from digging. I turned my phone off before I could think too much about it and shoved it into my pocket.

I opened the door to my dorm and found Lila at her vanity, doing her makeup. She looked up and gave me a cheerful “Hi,” but I wasn’t in the mood, so I just nodded, keeping my distance. She was on the phone, talking to someone—probably that same girl from the party invite yesterday. I started pulling clothes from my closet because I needed a shower badly. Meanwhile, Lila was deep in conversation, talking about some guy.

“He’s mine,” she said, her voice taking on this sharp edge that surprised me. “And no slut is ever going to touch him.” Her friend on the other end just agreed with her like this was all normal talk, but I froze for a second, taken aback. I’d only met Lila yesterday, and she seemed sweet, almost too sweet. But now? She sounded straight-up scary, like the kind of person you don’t want to cross.

She kept on ranting, but they never said the guy’s name—just "he" this and "he" that. Whoever it was, I didn’t care, but I figured he had to be at the party last night. As they kept talking about him like he was some prize to be claimed, Lila suddenly turned to me. “Hey, wanna come to another party tonight?”

I blinked, not expecting that. “Another one? You guys just partied last night.”

She shrugged, like it was no big deal. “It’s the start of the school year. You’ve gotta live it up while you can, before classes start and shit gets serious.”

I wasn’t in the mood for any of it. “I’m good, thanks,” I said, grabbing my stuff for the shower. “But have fun.”

“Suit yourself,” Lila said, barely looking up as she picked out a dress from her side of the closet. She was clearly getting ready to go all out again tonight, but I was exhausted. I just wanted to clean up and get my head straight.

I grabbed my clothes, soap, body wash, toothpaste, toothbrush, and my key to the dorm. “Have fun,” I muttered before heading out.

Here’s the thing about dorms—they’ll give you sinks and mirrors, but not a damn shower, so I had to leave the building just to get cleaned up. It was already frustrating. Walking around, I realized I had no idea where the showers were.