Enough Courage

☆Chapter 2

I should be studying, I think to myself.

But instead of being at the library on campus. I'm lying diagonally across my bed looking up at the little plastic stars my little sister gave me in August.

You know, the little stars that glow in the dark?

I count them now, exactly 27. For some reason it bothers me that there's an odd number so I pick one off the wall beside me and toss it into the trash can beside my desk.

I roll over and bury my head in my blankets. I can't stop thinking about this morning. Collins probably forgot about me the second he stepped off that bus. Here I am thinking about every word he said to me. His name etched into my brain like a tattoo.

He was just being polite, he kind of had to be. I slammed my head into his.

I sit up and go to the kitchen. I live in a three bedroom apartment with two other girls. We share the "living quarters", the kitchen, and the living room. Oh, and my least favorite part, the bathroom.

There's Shania, and Kelsey. Shania is a year ahead of Kelsey and I in school, sometimes she acts like our mother.

Right now Shania is cooking something on the stove top. It smells like its burning, but I don't say anything. I just grab an orange juice from the refrigerator and head to the living room where Kelsey is watching tv.

I plop down next to her on the love seat we all "share".

"What's Shania cooking?" I ask.

Kelsey looks over at me, her mouth full of potato chips. She shrugs, "some Mexican dish. It's obviously burning again. Why does she keep trying to cook? All she can really manage is packet of ramen."

I laugh, almost spilling my orange juice in the process.

"Shouldn't you be studying, Ellis?"

I nod, then shrug. "Yeah, but I'm not in the mood." I pick at our pillow that's fringing at the ends. "Plus, shouldn't you be studying too?"

"I will be within a couple minutes. I have a study group coming over."

I immediately look around the house at our disaster.

"You can hang with us if ya' want?"

"Yeah, I'll study with you guys." I get off the couch and start picking things up off the floor.

"Geesh, Ellis. You're such a clean freak."

"I just don't want them to see our mess."

"They're just a couple of friends, no big deal."

"Maybe to you, no big deal."

Just then the door bell rings. Kelsey jumped up from the couch, throwing her potato chips lazily to the side. A few chips crumble to the floor.

I quickly snatched the bag, and brushed a few crumbs under the couch.

"Hey guys!" Kelsey greeted her friends, sounding cheerful as ever. "Just come on in and make yourselves at home. I'll go get some snacks, try to ignore the burning smell."

Kelsey took her bag of chips from my hands, "thanks."

"Yeah." I mumbled, trying not to glare at her.

Her friends came through the door, and literally made themselves at home.

I turned around and they were kicking off their shoes wherever they felt necessary.

I was standing there awkwardly, as always.