Now and Always (Rierra)

Chapter Four

So avoiding Ramin was going to be harder than Sierra thought. For goodness sake, he did live next door to her. Not only that, but Hadley was also his roommate. 

Hadley as in, one of Sierra's best friends, Hadley. The guy who had already told her to come hang out with he and Ramin five times and it was only the first weekend. Sierra couldn't imagine how frequent it would become when classes started and Hadley was going to want help for all of his gen-ed classes. The thing about Hadley was that he was full-heartedly dedicated to musical theatre, but that was about it. Math? Science? He wasn't about to give any amount of effort into a subject he didn't enjoy. Sierra had already promised to help him out if they both got into the program. 

Sierra's first option to avoid falling for Ramin and getting distracted from her future was to avoid him, and as she previously stated. That was going to be harder than she thought. She desperately wanted to avoid the whole having to hate him thing because he really was a charming guy. But it was going to have to be done, Sierra had never been interested in someone, she had never felt the spark that she felt when Ramin touched her that afternoon. It was dangerous, and it was the last thing she wanted to feel again. 

That was her head speaking.

If you asked her heart, she wanted Ramin to wrap her up in his arms and never let her go. She wanted to sing the great love songs of all time together. She wanted to kiss him until their lips were swollen and red. 

She would never actually admit those things, not even to herself. Those thoughts stayed buried beneath many, many layers of protection. Sierra's guard of her feelings was something like the protection that Fort Knox guaranteed. The two people who Sierra told about her feelings were her sisters, Allegra and Summer, and they weren't here right now.

Besides, if they were here, they'd probably tell her to follow her heart or something like that. As if she'd actually do that. As far as Sierra was concerned, she would follow her heart whenever she deemed it appropriate. So as soon as she made her Broadway debut, but for now? That heart was going to be guided along a very straight and narrow path. Who follows a heart anyway? Sierra would much rather follow a GPS, or even Map Quest. 

So Sierra sat in her dorm room, alone. She decided she was going to get her mind off of this awful situation. She found herself making a decision, a potentially stupid one, but a decision nonetheless. Sitting up, she decided to go across the hall and try to make a friend, that seemed like the best decision. Her only friend couldn't be Ramin's roommate, and in general, her only friend couldn't be a boy. What if Sierra did ever want to tell someone about her weird and oh so infuriating crush on Ramin? It couldn't be Hadley, so she needed another friend. 

Sierra knocked twice on the dorm room door, not wanting to seem over-zealous but also wanting to make herself known. A girl with curly dark brown hair answered, seeming surprised to find Sierra at her door. She was probably expecting their RA, as that was only person knocking on Sierra's door so far this weekend. "Hi!" Sierra greeted her, initially sticking her hand out before realizing she hadn't really introduced herself, "I'm Sierra." 

"I'm Haleigh," the girl replied, a soft smile growing on her face, "do you wanna come in?" Sierra gladly nodded, beyond thankful that Haleigh hadn't slammed the door in her face. 

The two girls shared a few things about each other (Haleigh was from a small town in Ohio, was pursuing a minor in Netflix, and had a thing for chemistry; Sierra was a soon to be cat lady, hated spiders, and could sort of play the guitar quite pitifully) and were now talking with ease together. 

"So where's your roommate?" Sierra's question was met with a look of what could only be described as pained or annoyed. There seemed to already be trouble, Sierra silently thanked being given her own dorm room. 

Haleigh explained, "Her name is Valerie, she's already told me that she's undoubtedly the best performer in this program," her tone changed into something mocking and cold, "and Mommy and Daddy bought her the best lessons money could buy, she's been an astounding tapper since kindergarten and her parents told her she hit an E6 with perfect vibrato when she was just a toddler." Haleigh scoffed, "As if, if she was hitting an E6. I'm sure her parents told her that after she lost the starring role in the school musical to a freshman." 

Sierra laughed and nodded, "She sounds absolutely awful. Like the type of students that you read about on those forums when researching into colleges. 'My daughter's roommate was absolutely awful, we required a switch from the very beginning!' would be the headline." Haleigh giggled, nodding. 

"Only worse!" 

Just then, the door swung open to reveal what Sierra assumed had to be Valerie. She had a pale skin tone, the kind you would expect out of a person who hated nature. Sierra didn't really know how to describe her, each of her features were almost too perfect, too angular, to the point where they seemed to become sharp and harsh. Her platinum blonde hair was pulled into a sleek ponytail and her black dress was wrinkle free and seemed freshly steamed. "Who are you?" She seemed to spit towards Sierra's direction.

"I'm Sierra, I live across the hall." She answered with ease. Sierra had dealt with divas before in her years of theatre, the girls who believed it was their dream and only their dream to be on Broadway, the girls who were in it for the fame and not the thrill of performing. 

Valerie narrowed her grey eyes, "Well could you leave? These dorm rooms are already small enough without another thing in here." She said it was if she truly believed Sierra and Haleigh were not even real people. 

Sierra did not like Valerie. 

"Yeah I can leave, but could you do your E6 for me, first? I'd love to hear the perfect vibrato, maybe it'll give me a goal to work towards when doing work on my voice." Sierra replied, a false sweetness in her words. 

Her request seemed to shock Valerie, exactly the response Sierra had wanted, "I-I wouldn't want to show off. I guess you'll just have to hear it some other time, when I'm doing it for someone worthy of hearing it." Sierra had to hold back a laugh as Haleigh rolled her eyes behind Valerie. 

"Of course, I guess I'll see you around then, Valerie." Sierra replied, heading out of the dorm room and pulling open the door.

Valerie's face pulled into a sneer, "Yeah, whatever, Sarah." 

Sierra gritted her teeth as soon as she closed the door behind her, what a brat. But she couldn't be that upset with Valerie, after all Haleigh was the one who had to room with her. Sierra decided she would give Haleigh the option of staying in her room whenever she needed to get away from the ice queen. 

Sierra already knew this was going to be one crazy year.