College Pandemonium

Chapter 3

  Perhaps she was dreaming. Yes, she most certainly hoped that she had been dreaming all along. Yet the sight before her told her quite differently.

  Cheryl shifted uncomfortably in her seat, occasionally sneaking glances at Lukina and Elias, who were calmly drinking tea.

  "...Does Elias wear a wig, then?" Cheryl offered timidly, her eyes trained on Lukina. The gray-haired girl sighs.

  "Yes, he does. But why are you asking me, and not him?"

  Cheryl flinches at the question, and her eyes suddenly seemed to find her lap very interesting.

  The black-haired girl was never really good with boys. She rather despised them, in fact. As a child, her father was not the most prominent figure in her life, and she gradually grew to hate him along with most other males after her parents divorced. Her mother didn't quite blame her, and agreed when Cheryl had first suggested attending an all girls' school. She wasn't able to do so until now, since private schools had high tuition fees.

  And so, she had been extremely elated at the prospect of attending Kymbre University...

  ...Only to find that a boy had somehow infiltrated the campus and decided to completely ruin her college life.

  Cheryl let out a groan, burying her face in her hands. Elias smiles wryly.

  "Don't worry about it, Cheryl! I won't be in the room most of the time-" Lukina coughed at this "-and you'll be too busy to talk with me anyways. The classes here are really strict, after all."

  Cheryl didn't reply, instead shooting Elias a dirty look and getting up, tugging at Lukina's sleeve.

  "L-Lukina? Could you maybe show me where my room is...?"

  "I don't mind," she replies, taking a sip of her tea. "We are sharing a bath, though, so you need to decide on times with Elias."

  "S-sharing a bath?" Cheryl squeaked. "B-but he's-"

  "Male, yes. Unfortunately, you will have to deal with it. He won't make a mess, so don't worry about it. I'll show you your room first, and you might want to start unpacking unless you plan on missing dinner." Lukina gets up as she says this, placing her teacup down and turning to face Cheryl. "Your room is this way..."

  Biting her bottom lip, Cheryl gets up from her seat and shuffles uneasily after Lukina, uncomfortably aware of the piercing green eyes resting on her back as she made her way to the hallway.

  As Cheryl and Lukina disappeared around the corner, Elias sighed and dropped his head onto the table, a look of disappointment etched across his face.

  "...I seriously screwed up this time."

❀❀❀❀

   Cheryl stared, stunned at the interior of the bedroom Lukina had led her to. It was perhaps, just as grand as all of the rooms she had seen earlier today-- if not, even grander. Swallowing nervously, the black-haired girl steps into the room, her eyes roaming cautiously over each detail.

  Along the wall were the same glass windows she had seen in the registration office, though they were draped with purple curtains rather than red. The bed was queen-sized, covered with satin and cotton blankets. Along with a couple of throw pillows, a small bookshelf, couch, and desk sat in one corner of the room. There was a small walk-in closet and bathroom-- which had everything, minus a shower and a bath. Cheryl gulped. They really had to share a bath then.

  "Your luggage is by your bed," Lukina said, before turning to head out of the room. "I'll be seeing you later. We usually eat at the cafeteria, unless there is a situation where the cafeteria is forced to shut down. Then we use the kitchen and the dining room. Come on out around six thirty so we can start heading to the cafeteria, understand?"

  She leaves before Cheryl could respond, however, and the black-haired girl lets out a sigh, sitting down on the edge of the bed. It was much softer than she was used to, and she found herself falling backwards onto the bed, relishing in the way the mattress enveloped her body.

  "...Why would the cafeteria ever need to shut down?" she mused, turning onto her side. It didn't make much sense to her. Perhaps it was for emergencies? Considering that Kymbre University was a rich girls' school, occasional lockdowns probably wouldn't be too uncommon, despite the school's high security system.

  Letting out a groan, Cheryl sat up and slapped her palms onto her cheeks, refocusing her attention. "Lukina said to finish up unpacking, so I might as well do so now! Otherwise I won't get to do any of my work later on..." She sighed again as she said this, but got off the bed, grabbed her luggage, and headed over to the walk-in closet with her trunk.

  She unpacked at a rather fast pace, clothes going into the closet in neat, orderly rows. Her hand froze, however, when she saw a picture sitting on top of her pajamas.

  Cheryl picked up the picture slowly, running her hand over the creases. It was an old picture, one that she managed to sneak away with her when her mother had burned all of her father's photos. Even in this picture, however, a part of her father's face had been singed off. Despite her hatred for her father, she couldn't bring herself to throw the picture away.

  The photo depicted Cheryl as an infant in her mother's arm. Her father was standing behind her mother, and all three of them were grinning widely at the camera. Cheryl stared at the picture for another five minutes, before letting it slip from in between her fingers and onto the floor.

  Drawing another deep breath, the black-haired girl forced herself to her feet and continued unpacking. She had no intentions of getting homesick now. She wouldn't be that weak.

  "You can do this, Cheryl," the black-haired girl said aloud to herself. "Don't let college break you. Dad couldn't break you. Being away from your mom won't break you either."

  She said this with finality, and after breathing in deeply once again, she finished up sorting out her clothes.

  Little did she know, that a blond youth standing outside of her door had heard everything.

  And he smiled.