Letters by Her [Book 2]

Chapter 14

The following day Dusty awoke earlier than her roommate to prepare for her early morning meeting with Miss Dunne. The previous night had been anything but quiet with Kappa Pi throwing a welcome party for all the new sisters.

Dusty had tried to excuse herself early but without much luck. At two in the morning, she had crawled into bed. Now it was eight a.m., and she was standing beneath one of the communal showers, desperately trying to wake up. But the cool stream of water did little to wash away her fatigue.

The campus was eerily quiet as Dusty made her way towards the building that housed the faculty offices. There was still another week of induction to go before classes commenced, so most students weren't yet up and about so early. Dusty saw maybe two other people as she wandered in the early morning sunlight, shivering beneath her hooded top at the cool fall breeze, which had arrived early that year.

Finally, she entered the building and walked up the mahogany staircase towards the second floor and Miss Dunne's office. Her footsteps echoed all around, as there was no other sound to muffle them. Dusty wished she were still in her bed, sleeping blissfully.

As she rounded the corridor to the office, Dusty stopped short; surprised to see a figure sitting hunched outside the office she was headed for, a mess of dark hair obscuring their face from her. Suddenly feeling self-conscious, Dusty tried to make her footsteps softer so that she didn't sound like an elephant in boots as she approached the mystery figure.

As Dusty drew closer, the person sitting in the corridor looked up at her from beneath their thick long lashes and their dark hair to reveal intense large penetrating brown eyes, which regarded her with subdued interest. The face revealed the elegant bones that had made her a stunningly attractive woman in her youth and the high cheekbones still served her well, and Dusty blushed as she sat down on the vacant seat opposite.

The intriguing girl grunted slightly to herself and then resumed looking down at the floor, having seemingly lost interest. "Are you waiting to see Miss Dunne?" Dusty asked, both out of genuine interest and also as an opportunity to strike up a conversation with her.

She looked up at Dusty and smirked as though humored by some private joke. "Yeah, sure." She shrugged, her voice resonantly soft and laced with the hint of a Bostonian accent.

"At least I'm in the right place," Dusty chirped a little too happily; she was making her nervous. Dusty played with her hands as an empty silence settled between them, a silence that made Dusty even more uneasy. "I'm Dusty," she offered by way of introduction, certain that the girl opposite wouldn't even care who she was. "Dusty Black."

She didn't respond. "What's your name?" she pressed her. The girl sighed wearily before answering. "Kyera."

"Nice to meet you, Kyera." Dusty smiled.

"Is it?" Kyera challenged, yawning and stretching in her chair, uncoiling her long sexy legs so that they filled the corridor. She straightened, showing an impressive physique. She wore distressed denim jeans and a faded band T-shirt, though Dusty didn't recognize the band emblazoned across her chest. She looked a mess, but there was something incredibly alluring about that mess.

She felt Dusty's eyes on her and held her in Kyera own intense gaze. Her brown eyes were so soft yet so alert, Dusty wanted to lose herself in them. "Have you been waiting long?" Dusty inquired, aware that around them the campus seemed uncharacteristically quiet. "Too long." Kyera groaned, glancing up and down the corridor. "I hope Miss Dunne shows up soon," Dusty noted.

"What did you even do, sorority girl?" Kyera asked, scrutinizing her face.

"Do?" Dusty was puzzled. "What makes you think I've done anything? And my name is Dusty not...how do you even know I'm in a sorority?" She was growing agitated by Kyera's demeanor.

"Firstly, you only get early morning office visits if you've done something wrong," Kyera informed her in her sultry tones. "Secondly," she continued, "you scream sorority whore. You're blonde, slim and your eyes are bloodshot, which hints at attendance at those lame house parties they throw. The tiredness could be attributed to late night study sessions, but since you're here so early, I think not. You're a pampered princess who has partied too hard, like everyone else I meet in this corridor." Kyera waved a dismissive hand at Dusty as though tired of her presence.

"You don't know me," Dusty said defensively, internally seething at having been called a pampered princess. The image of the trailer back home glared in her mind, a stark reminder that she was anything but pampered.

"So you're not in a sorority?"

"No, I am in a sorority." Dusty felt flummoxed by Kyera brash hostility towards her. "But I'm not pampered," she quickly added.

"House dues are pretty expensive," Kyera mused sarcastically. "How do you pay them if you're not pampered?" Dusty was incensed by this stranger who was judging her so harshly. She wanted to scream at her that her life was anything but a bed of roses.

The privileged life she believed her to lead couldn't be further removed from the truth. She wanted to tell Kyera that the only way she could afford to be in a sorority was because her best friend had taken pity on her and paid her way out of kindness. And that the only reason she was even at the college was because she was on a scholarship program after a teacher had taken pity on her.

Valentine. Thinking of her sent a surge of guilt through her body, reminding Dusty of how much time had elapsed since they'd last spoken. "See, you're a dumb princess, just like all the others," Kyera remarked , sounding self-satisfied.

"How dare you judge me." Dusty was enraged. "You've no right to put labels on me, especially incorrect ones. And what makes you any better? You are just some spoiled rich brat who is wasting the opportunity she has here by being a pothead and a waster!" Flushed and alert with adrenalin, Dusty tried to calm herself as Kyera regarded her with calm interest.

"You think I'm a pothead?" she asked her.

"You look like one," Dusty retorted. "Your clothes are dirty, your hair is a mess, and you are in desperate need of a good makeover. Either you are too high to care or homeless, but I imagine it's the former."

"How rare, a sorority girl with a sharp tongue who judges someone by how they dress," Kyera said.

"You judged me by that same standard," Dusty seethed.

"The difference is that I was right," Kyera quipped, but before Dusty could retaliate, their argument was disturbed by the sharp clip of heeled shoes upon a hard floor as Miss Dunne came strutting down the corridor. Miss Dunne completely ignored Kyera and looked down at Dusty.

"In my office please, Miss Black," she ordered, her voice cold. "I'll see you next, Ms. Aroura," she addressed Kyera but didn't even turn to face her.