The Difference

Chapter 2.

When I made it back to my dorm I quietly put my ear against the door to see if the horror that I called a roommate was home. I couldn't hear anything so I unlocked the door and laid down on my bed.

I hope she doesn't come back today. I'm really not in the mood to get beat up again. I'd rather not start classes with a black eye.

That reminded me, I still needed to buy some supplies before school starts but I have a week so it is plenty of time.

I decided I needed a shower so I grabbed my catty, clothes and headed for communal bathrooms.

I stepped inside of the shower but kept my shower shoes on as the bare ground made me cringe. To think of all the people who must've peed on this floor makes me want to throw up.

I showered as quickly as I could before I walked back to my dorm.

To my shook, Leah was sitting on her bed having a conversation on the phone to someone.

"I'll call you back Harry." Her and Harry sure talk a lot.

"I didn't think you'd come back here." I tried to sound strong but my voice came out shaky.

"Didn't have much of a choice did I?"

"You could've stayed at your boyfriends." I pointed out.

"What? I don't have a-- you mean Harry?"

"Duh?"

"Harry's not my boyfriend. Yeah he's a boy friend. But not a boyfriend."

"Oh..." Now I sounded stupid.

"Look I came back here to apologize for earlier."

"What?" I was shocked. She doesn't seem like the type of person to apologize.

"I shouldn't have jumped you like that." She admitted.

"Yeah. You shouldn't have."

"Well you shouldn't have made assumptions about me!" She yelled and I flinched when she stood up from her bed. "It's happening again, isn't it?"

I wasn't sure what she meant so I stayed quiet and she backed away.

"Us fighting." Leah clarified. "What I mean is if we're going to be living together we can't fight like this."

"No. We can't." I agreed. To be honest I probably would've agreed to anything she said. She was a pretty intimidating person.

"Restart?"

"Okay." I was slightly unsure but we shook hands and I sat on my bed. "And for what it's worth I'm sorry for what I said too."

"I appreciate it." She smiled and I combed my hair out.

"So what are you majoring in?" She asked.

"Journalism."

"That's cool. I'm a Science major."

"Really? What do you want to be?" I was starting to feel more comfortable around Leah now that she wasn't beating the crap out of me.

"Not really sure yet." She laughed. "My parents thought it would be the best choice so I did what they said but I'm still not sure."

I knew how she felt. I wanted to study Journalism but my mother certainly had a part in that decision. She never let on but if I didn't pick it she would've been crushed.

"Leah college is the time to break free from our parents arms and start living our own lives. If you don't want to study science than you shouldn't. Make you own choices."

"It's just scary, you know? Not knowing where my future is heading terrifies me but excites me at the same time. I love not knowing but it can be risky."

"All I'll say is that if you don't follow your dreams now, you'll regret it for the rest of your life."

"I'll take that into consideration." We both laughed. "See this isn't so bad."

"No, it's not so bad." I smiled and she smiled back.

"Look since we're trying this whole 'friend' thing, there's a party on Friday. I'd like it if you came and I'll introduce you to some people so you have some friends other than me."

"What makes you think I don't have friends?" I snapped.

"Nothing. I just thought since you're fairly new here that you'd like to meet some people." She suggested. "But if you don't want to that's totally--"

"No!" I said a little too eagerly. "I mean sure, why not? What's the worst that can happened?"

"Great! I'll let Harry know." She pulled out her phone and was presumably texting Harry.

"It's at Harry's?" She seems so close with him. I wonder what their deal is?

"It's always at Harry's. Why? Is that a problem?"

"Of course not."

"Good." She continued to text him as I pondered what their relationship was.

So I knew he wasn't her boyfriend and it didn't look like they were family, so what were they?

"Leah?" I called.

"What's up?"

"I don't mean to sound too forward but what's your relationship with Harry?"

"Well," she paused as though she was thinking, "we became friends when I was in my last year of high school because I thought he was hot." That sounds quite shallow. "I got to know him and realized he was actually a pretty cool guy."

"Did anything ever happened between you two?"

"God no! But he did get attached and I had to end it before it went any further. Broke his little heart." Leah laughed slightly at his heart break which I thought was a tad harsh.

"But you stayed friends?" I don't know if I could still be friends with her if I was in Harry's position.

"Pretty much, yeah. I mean we're not as close as we used to be, but I wanted to stay friends with him. It would be weird if we weren't."

"That's nice. If that ever happened to me I don't know if I could do what Harry did." I confessed and put my head on my pillow, staring up at the celling.

"Most can't. It either takes a strong person, or a really good liar."

"And which is Harry?"

"Only he truly knows."

Before I could answer my phone rang. The screen read no caller ID but I answered anyway.

"Hello?"

"Hello Cassandra." My heart stopped at that groggy voice. This can't be happening. He's not supposed to have this number. He can't have this number. "It's been a long time."