Diane Young [Camp NaNoWriMo July 2014]

Bonus Chapter [1]

"Dia, there's a guy here to see you!" Kennedy comes into our room and grins at me watching Netflix on my laptop. I sit up and she explains further. "He's really tall."

"Taller than me?" I start putting my shoes on, thinking that it's perhaps my brother. She nods and that's all I need to know it's definitely Ruben. 

There aren't a lot of people out and about in the hallways of our dorms and I wonder why. Crystal, another of my roommates who talks a lot but is incredibly friendly smiles at me and gives me a hug. 

"There's this good looking guy outside, Dia! He's tall and brooding and just looks plain hot." She says and starts tying up her hair in a tight ponytail. "Do you wanna go flirt with him?"

I shake my head. "I have a boyfriend."

"But you told me you haven't spoken to him in almost a month! You're as good as broken up."

Crystal wouldn't have known but her saying that caused my chest to burn and my head to hurt. I didn't want to think of breaking up with Elijah West even though that's what looked like was going to happen. It was my fault really. We had this massive fight back in August mostly because I was overreacting about him flirting with a girl that wasn't me and he kept on saying something pretentiously Elijah West like that I can't even remember. It's gotten to December now and he had kept calling and calling but I had been too stubborn to admit I was overreacting to him by phone. Our conversations dwindled into nothing from there and it honestly hurt to say that Diane Young and Elijah West were probably not going to see their four year anniversary this up and coming summer break.  

"I have to go see someone." I told Crystal abruptly and left before she could answer me. 

Unfortunately, it was raining outside and I didn't bring an umbrella with me to protect me from the onslaught of rain. I saw a familiar umbrella just beyond the doors of the building. 

"Ruben?" Assuming it was my brother, I called out to him twice and rushed over when he didn't answer. He had a habit of ignoring me when I called him so it didn't bother me too much. 

"Roo, you've got to stop -" 

The person with the umbrella turns and faces me and surprisingly enough, it's Elijah West. He looks at me pointedly and I feel myself blush. 

"Hi, Diane," he says, smiling slightly. I look down at the grass, feeling the rain soak my hair, waiting for the Young that never comes. 

"Um, hi."

"Do you want to come underneath my umbrella? You're getting wet and I know you don't really approve of the rain."

I don't want to be too close to him but I don't want to get wet either. He knows me well enough to know that. 

"Do you want to come inside?" I ask instead. 

He shrugs. "I don't mind."

We go towards the building again, but this time he's holding out the umbrella over my head. I notice he's getting wet in the process but he doesn't seem to mind about the fact his curly hair is getting soaked, which tells me something is completely wrong. 

I show him to my floor, where Crystal and Kennedy are talking animatedley about something. They stop when they see Elijah West and I coming along. 

"Dia?" I feel him tense next to me and it's only a matter of time before he tells them to call me Diane Young. He doesn't. "Diane, who's this?"