Butterfly Keeper // h.s. au

Chapter Two

Cara and Angela never came back to the room that night and I was grateful. I spent half the night tossing and turning from wild nightmares of making myself look like an a.ss in front of everyone on campus.

My mom always said I had a wild imagination and that usually showed in my dreams. It would get so bad that I would wake up with sweat dripping down my forehead, and the only thing that could comfort me was what Jessica said to me before she left.

I try to keep her words in mind as I sit outside at one of the courtyard tables to have lunch. A few other students fill the tables around me but I keep my eyes set on my lunch rather than scoping any of them out. I still have a week before any of my classes so I figure that gives me some time to settle in and maybe make some friends. I take a bite of the sandwich I bought from a small bistro right outside of campus and text my mom that I miss her and dad already.

"Hey, anyone sitting here?" A girl with warm brown skin and honey colored eyes asks as she stands across the table from me. Her hair is made up of an abundance of tiny braids going all the way down her back and she's wearing a gray hoodie with dark jeans.

"Nope, just me." I reply, feeling proud of myself for managing to form a normal sentence. She smiles brightly and takes a seat across from me at the table.

"I'm Courtney Smith and this is my second year at JSU." She holds out a hand for me to shake.

"I'm Charlotte Martin. This will be my first year here." I shake her hand awkwardly and quickly return the hand to my lap.

"So are you from here or are you an out-of-towner?" She asks while pulling a burrito wrapped in shiny, silver, foil from her backpack.

"I'm from New York," I say with a laugh that sounds more like a cough.

Her eyes bulge and she lets out a bellowing laugh that causes a few of the bystanders to shoot us glances. My eyes meet with those of a boy a few tables over who's sitting alone. There's something odd about him but I can't put my finger on it and the longer we stare at each other the more it feels like an electric shock is building between us. He suddenly turns away and I'm pulled back into a confused reality. I clear my head and turn my attention back to Courtney.

"You moved to Ohio instead of some fancy New York City college?" She questions with humor in her voice.

"Yeah," I can't help but laugh a little too. "I didn't want to be around all of those preppy rich kids."

"True! But no matter where you go to college there will be preppy rich kids, unfortunately."

"Well, I guess I wanted a fresh start too." I explain.

It isn't the whole truth of my attending college here but it is some of it. I feel pleased with my honesty, granted, she did make it really easy to hold a conversation. If making friends here is this easy then I should have no trouble fitting in.

"Well Charlotte," She says through a bite of burrito. "Welcome to Ohio, land of the corn fields, unfinished road traffic, and bipolar weather patterns." We both laugh and this time no one looks up at us.

After we finish our food she invites me back to her dorm room and I accept. She says she's studying law and wants to be a lawyer one day and I tell her that I'm torn between business and journalism. We make our way through the dorms until we reach her room that's in the dorm building across from mine on the first floor.

"This is my room, make yourself at home." She gestures out towards the tidy space before us.

"Is your roommate nice?" I ask.