Poison Ivy League

Chapter 3

Chapter Soundtrack

Stars and Boulevards - Augustana

Look What You've Done - Jet

I woke up to my alarm clock, my head pounding with every beep that it made. Florence was at her desk, writing something on a sheet of paper, and finally I covered my ears, every movement hurting my brain. "Turn it off," I said meekly, and I ran to the bathroom, darting out from beneath the covers and pounding my way through the dorm to reach to toilet. I puked into the toilet again and again. I heard the damn alarm clock turn off and Florence walked in, holding my hair back. One day into college and my roommate was already turning into my mother. If I thought that anything burned my throat last night, this was like Hell's fire itself. Finally there was nothing else in my stomach so I dry-heaved until my body couldn't take it anymore. I stayed hunched over the toilet bowl, waiting for more convulsions until finally I realized nothing else was coming.

Florence got me a cup of water and I gulped it down. "Damn girl, your thirsty," she joked, trying to keep the mood light, but I just crawled into a ball, any sound or movement I make resulted in the feeling that a bus ran over my head. I stayed there for half an hour, curled up in a ball underneath the sink as Florence finished her paper that was apparently due for her historic literature class. I stumbled back to my bed and flopped down lightly, clenching my eyes and jaw. My throat burned and Florence was sitting on her bed staring at me. I looked at the clock. Shit. It was already 11:00. 

"Florence, you don't have to stay here. You have college..." I rolled over, cradling my head in my hands. I definitely did not miss the hangover. The party high was one thing, but feeling like crap for a whole week can have a definite damper on your mood. She looked at me, pity yet guiltiness streaking her eyes. 

"They won't miss me. You need it more. My brother..." She trailed off too, both of us quiet. My stomach was so hollow yet I felt like I needed to puke again. Florence brought me some crackers and I laid on my back, remember my freshman year. So many hangovers, yet no one ever noticed. So many parties yet I was barely invited to birthdays. I had changed a lot over the past four years.

"This isn't your first hangover is it?" she was casually interrogating me. My head hurt like hell but I let out a simple "Nope," 

"When?" she asked again, and weird as it was, I was okay with answering her. Even though I had a battle for the history books waging in my head, I allowed her to ask me questions and I would give her the truthful answers. We were closer than most of the girls in my senior class.

"Freshman year. I tried so hard to be this 'bad girl' going to keg parties and bars and clubs until 4 o'clock in the morning. But eventually the excitement and aura of success and awesomeness wore off and I became average like everyone else. Every year was a new person, new clothes, hairstyles, handwriting..." 

"And you thought when you got to college that everything would change, that you would find your deepest, truest self." Florence ended my sentence and I painfully nodded my head. She knew too. She knew how jealousy and envy can taunt you in the back of you mind until finally you commit murder, your victim staring back at you in the mirror every day because you are your own victim.

Florence opened her mouth to speak and what came out of her mouth was surprising, "Maybe you aren't a virgin like my brother. Maybe you have been that real girl, just everyone ditches you. But for me it was the opposite. I was a fake. Everyone thought I was just this girl who had sex every week with some new guy and went to bars every night just to get hungover yet come to school through them." Something clicked in my head. 

"You are a virgin." Florence nodded her head. 

"But the kid at the club-"

"I never go that far with anyone."

We both stayed in complete silence. 

Finally Florence spoke up. 

"Were you ever in The Clique." How she said it sounded important and I knew what she meant right away. 

"I was the leader of The Clique my entire Senior year." Florence looked calmly impressed. 

So we spent the entire day like that, simply talking, knowing, realizing that we could be surprisingly good friends. Yeah, I hated certain things about her, the persona of this bad girl that is really a fraud, but she hated tings about me too, like the fact I wasn't a fraud. But we had to live with each other for the next year so we might as well be friends and get over the differences. When it reached 5:00, she had to head out to the supermarket, buying some simple foods and necessities. With a washcloth on my forehead I fell asleep, a tank top and pajama pants on. 

At 6:00 someone woke me up.

The blonde hair, kaleidoscope eyed, tall Leo Haul was in my dorm room. 

"What the hell-"

"I am so sorry." Leo came around the foot of my bed, sitting by my feet. He put his face in his hands, his elbows on his knees and he said it again, "I am so, so sorry." In my groggy state the best I could do was go : "What?"

"Emma. I am sorry. Sorry that I got you drunk and sorry that Matt was a dumb ass and sorry that life is life and that life is pointless on this ever spinning thing we call Earth. I am sorry that love is an oblivion that you must choose to fall into and I am sorry that I jumped into that oblivion and expected to see you on the other side. I am sorry."

So Leo Haul, as amazing and captivating yet as confusing as he could ever possibly be got up, the bed's springs creaking under the balance of weight, and he walked out of the room, the door gently closing behind him.

~

Surprise, surprise!

I am sorry for the short chapter. I wanted to express some things about three of the characters. So what do you guys think about Emma and her old self, Florence and her persona of being a bad ass yet have such an innocent life, and what do you think about Leo and his surprise visit at the end of the chapter? I would love to hear you guys in the comments below and I hope that you vote for this. This is my first "published" realistic book so I hope you guys are enjoying :)

Make sure to comment below and vote!

I will post soon my little Socially Awkward Flower Munchkins, so I will hear from you soon.