I Hate You, but I Love You!

Chapter 16: Brian, my Freaking Tutor!

It was about 7:15PM when I walked into mine and Clair's dorm. I was wrapped in a wool scarf and mitts, wearing my thin fall jacket which wasn't very warm.

Clair was in the bathroom, straightening her hair. I knocked on the open door in greeting and heard a "Hey!" as I set my stuff down on the end of my bed.

"Chloe? Can you come here for a sec?" Clair called. I shrugged off my shoes and walked over to the bathroom, taking my scarf and mittens off in the doorway.

"What's up?" I asked. In the mirror I could see that my cheeks were slightly flushed from the cold and that my lips were chapped. Clair was watching me in the reflection, half focused on me and the other half her hair. The right side of Clair's head was straight and the left was being occupied by crazy, caramel coloured curls.

"Uhm, did you get the email?" She asked, trying to appear casual.

"No..." I said, turning slightly suspicious, "I still haven't checked it. What email?"

Clair looked away from me and suddenly yelped, accidentally burning her ear with the straightener.

"Oh, um, well," she said, still not looking at me, "You'll read about it."

I raised an eyebrow, suddenly very suspicious. "What email, Clair?"

"You should go read it."

"Just tell me."

She sighed nervously, finally looking at me. "There was an email about our dorm."

I crossed my arms, my stomach clenching. "Our dorm?"

She nodded her head. "Yeah. They decided to raise the rentals. Again." She looked away again.

My posture went stiff and my mouth went dry. Clair was nervously glancing at me then back at her hair, scared of my reaction. She already knew that I was paying for my own dorm, and that 3 months ago I had a fit when they raised the rentals by 200$.

"Oh." Was all I said. There was silence echoing in the little bathroom before I hastily said, "I'm going to go read that email now."

I walked out and sat down at the desk, where my laptop was currently sitting. I opened it and waited for the ancient thing to turn on, chewing my chapped lips and anxiously shaking my leg.

How much did they raise it this time? My heart was starting to beat quicker from the anxiety and my throat was constricting. This was not good. This was definitely not good.

I played with the flaking laptop sticker as it finally loaded and turned on. I logged in quickly and opened my email within 30 seconds, hastily reading over the words.

...In light of recent events and activities, we have no choice but to raise the residency rental by 750$ to the original payment, due to...

My mouth went in a straight line and I pressed my lips together. My stomach turned over and I suddenly got very lightheaded.

I would now be paying 8,400$ for a place to sleep and eat every year. The panic started setting in, my hands beginning to shake slightly. On top of that I had to pay my college tuition, gas money, food and who knows what else...

My heart was pounding so hard I could almost feel it against my rib cage.

"Chloe...?" Clair stuck her head out of the doorway, worriedly looking at me.

I was trying to breath but no air was coming to my lungs. I was starting to gasp for breath and Clair rushed over to me and put her arms around me, telling me to breathe and try to relax. The room was suddenly filled with the sound of my shallow gasps and I couldn't seem to stop shaking.