Second Lanark

The Oasis - Part 9

At the top of the stairs, Anil and I went our separate ways. We had a Political Science night class together and he'd insisted on walking back with me. He hung around Tom and Rob, and we laughed all the way back trying out our British accents on increasingly random sentences. At one point, I laughed so hard I started to cry. 

As I walked past Josh's room, his phone was ringing, but he was nowhere in sight. As had become the custom on the floor, I yelled, "Josh, phone!"

Down the hall, he emerged from my room at a run and on the way past said to me, "thanks. You're a champ." 

Behind me, I heard him fumble the receiver before he said, "hello" in a breathless voice. For a football player, he seemed kinda out of shape. He should probably be running more and drinking less. 

I glanced at my watch and started to calculate the hours before I had to get up for swim practice. I hated early morning practices because they drastically reduced my do nothing time. Also, Tricia was such a social butterfly that there were always people in our room. Whenever I wasn't around, Lark seemed to take over my spot, spreading her stuff all over the place. It was kind of annoying, but it was easier to say nothing than to risk a war between her and Jill. Sometimes it felt like we were all great friends, and other times it felt like one of us might kill someone. 

I peered around the door to our room and was relieved to find that it was only Lark and Tricia at the moment. 

"What are you guys up to?" I asked, swinging my backpack onto my bed. 

Lark was sitting on the floor across from Tricia's bed and it looked like they had actual school books out for once. I narrowed my eyes. Were they studying?

"Psychology test tomorrow. Multiple choice. We've heard it's a killer," Lark confirmed, sweeping her dark brown hair back behind one ear. She glanced up at me and a smile played at the corners of her mouth. 

"Rob stopped by." Tricia pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. She only ever wore them to read, and it was weird seeing them on her now. She grinned. 

"Oh yeah?" I feigned indifference and moved my backpack to flop onto my bed. "Anyone call?" I was hoping to hear from my parents.

"You could always just call your parents," Tricia suggested. She called her parents about ten times a day. If I was ever looking for the cordless phone, it was guaranteed to be beside her bed. If she didn't have someone in the dorm room, she was on the phone with someone. It was like she couldn't be alone. It was weird.

"Nah, it's fine," I said. I watched them highlighting the text and making notes, talking quietly about the work. "Is that one of the classes you've actually been going to?"

They both looked at me and then laughed. "Ah, yeah, of course. We just haven't done any of the reading."

We were three weeks into school. As Lark turned another page, I heard the creak of the book as she flattened the spine. It was clearly in mint condition. They were both smart, though. We all had to be reasonably smart to get into the journalism program here. It was one of the most competitive programs. Although, as Anil kept pointing out, he thought it must have been a slow year.

Jill appeared in the doorway between the two rooms and surveyed the scene. It was clear that her two favourite people were occupied, so she turned to me. 

"Did you eat dinner?" she asked.

"No, I missed it." I looked at my watch. By a couple hours, actually.

"Do you want to go down to the Oasis with me?" She looked down at her nails and picked at the polish. 

Her brown, wavy hair fell around her face like a curtain. Her voice still made me shudder from time to time, but something about her always seemed a little lonely and sad to me, like a puppy that had been kicked one too many times. Jill's attitude was like blood in the water to Lark who had no trouble playing the shark. She didn't have a lot of sympathy for her, but every once in a while, like now, my heart ached a bit for her. I had no idea why.