Memoirs of a Science Scholar

Chapter Five

  I wake up to the scent of roses and a hand shaking me, hard. Wait, roses? I sit up abruptly, causing my headache to worsen and making me wince. I look to see who had interrupted my cat nap and end up staring into Mimi's eyes. I should have known. She always smelled like roses, like literal roses. It reminded me of my garden back home in Bohol, even if I wasn't particularly fond of roses.  "Urgh...what is it?" She smiled apologetically and replied, "It's time for dinner. The guys are waiting downstairs."

  At the mention of the male dormers eating with us, I scramble to put my slippers on and fix my hair. It doesn't hurt to make an effort to look decent, right? I mean, there are only three male Emedormers (a nickname we made for ourselves), but hey. Decency.  Mimi watches with her feline-like eyes; I can never figure out what she was feeling through her eyes. She was good at hiding her feelings. When I finally look like I hadn't just come out of a train wreck, I mutter a "Let's go." to Mimi and go out the door, knowing fully well that she'd go out last and lock it herself.

-------------------------------------

  "Today was fun." Several moans and grumbles are heard. It might have been fun for Jon, since he was such a Soc Sci lover, but it was hell for everyone else. Today's Soc Sci period just left everyone feeling pissed and miserable. "Her information was inconsistent!", Ella complains. Several mumbles of agreement are heard. I just keep rubbing my aching head. Chris must have noticed, because he nudges me softly.

  "You okay?" His voice is soft, an underlying tone of concern in it.

   "Piss off.", I groan before shoving another spoonful of food in my mouth.

   He smirks and continues watching me. I roll my eyes. This brother was so annoying. Dinner continues uneventfully, random bits of conversation weaving in and out. I am thankful for the silence, since it's helping my headache. I feel better, in fact, and take time to actually enjoy my food. Dorm food was an enigma, but hey. It's food. You eat it or you don't. After we finished eating, we put away our plates and buy ourselves a drink. Non-alcoholic, mind you. We were young scholars, not some wild party-goers. Although I wouldn't have been surprised if Chris ended up drunk and passed out on the sidewalk after a night of partying. You can never predict that boy's actions. Or his thoughts, for that matter. I mean, who holds a fetish for bunny ears? Strange boy. Oh well. He is my 'brother', after all.

"So..." Jon begins."Truth or dare?" It is still a few minutes past sunset, and aside from the English project, we don't have much on our workload. Might as well enjoy our few precious stress-less moments. "Sure."

-------------------------------------

  "That was...weird." I am currently sitting upright in my bed, my face shaded by the cover Chikara's bed provides from the harsh light. She is texting her best friend while Ella rushes off to take a quick bath. Mimi is in the same position as me, only she is on her bed and I on mine, with our electric fans facing us. She also has a lot of notebooks and papers all over her bed, whereas I only held a book, The Last Time I Saw Mother. It would still be months before we had to write a book report on it, but I like buying books, and this is a legit excuse. Besides, I was running out of material.

The game had been fun, due to Jon's witty remarks and answers to our questions, plus Chris' funny dares. Daniel was also laughing, which was a fresh change from his serious demeanor in the classroom. We girls also contributed to the fun, joking around and making foolish questions and dares. I guess you could say we were different when we were in the dorm, outside the classroom. We relaxed more, and the ...weirder side of us showed.

I am relieved. My headache is finally gone, and I can study properly. Or, at least, try to. Before my hand can reach for my trusty orange  highlighter, there is a knock on the door.