Taking The Reins - Book 1 of The Rosewoods (teen romance)

Settling In

Forty-five minutes later, my key card had been reprogrammed and a couple of different guys had followed me up to Celia’s room to move my trunk the four rooms away to my new (confirmed!) home for my stay at Rosewood. My new roommate, Emmeline Somerville, hadn’t arrived yet, so after much agonizing over the decision, I made the choice of taking the slightly less desirable bed on the left (the shared closet was on my side, so she’d have a bit more room for her stuff).

Now that I was settling into my room, I was on my own until dinner. Celia had said I could come back and hang out with her and Kaylee, but although the new Brooklyn really wanted to, the old Brooklyn thought it was a good idea to unpack and not force herself on the other girls.

And anyway, the dorm rooms weren’t big enough to store trunks in, so I needed to get everything out of mine. The orientation package said any large luggage could be tagged and put out in the hall to be taken to storage.  I didn’t want it to be in Emmeline’s way when she did finally show up, so getting the trunk unpacked was a priority.

I didn’t know anything about Emmeline, other than her name and that she was flying in from Paris, or maybe Venice (there had been some debate about that at the check in booth) and may not arrive until very late. I’d been dying to ask Chelly and Celia about her, but it seemed kind of catty.

Since she was entering her third year at Rosewood, Emmeline wasn’t required at orientation, but I got the feeling all the other girls were expected to have still arrived by dinnertime, although Emmeline, or perhaps her family, were held to a different standard.

Which was pretty intimidating. I was nervous enough, but with each passing moment as I unpacked and organized all my things, my anxiety over my new roommate ratcheted up. Sure, all the girls had been really nice so far, but meeting your new roommate is a big deal and I didn’t want to screw it up.

At 5:45 she still hadn’t arrived, but dinner was at six, so I quickly finished up and tugged my trunk out into the hall. With map in hand, I headed to the main stairs to go down to the dining room, which was on the main floor. But I wasn’t alone—the hallway was filled with girls, and I was suddenly swarmed, since I was the new girl. It seemed the third floor was all juniors, so everyone knew each other from prior years and all wanted to meet me. I introduced myself and tried to remember the names and faces of all the girls around me. There were one-hundred girls in each grade at Rosewood, so it was going to take some time before I’d know them all.

It got a bit overwhelming, but suddenly I heard my name from behind me.

I turned and there was Celia, walking toward me and the throng of other students. “Girls! Leave Brooklyn alone—she just got here. You’ll all get to meet her; you have all year!”

She gave me a broad smile and hooked her arm through mine. “Kaylee’s finishing getting dressed, but I wanted to make sure you were settled in and found your way to the dining room.”

I held up the paper I’d gotten from the check in desk. “I have my map.”

Celia started walking down the hall, gently tugging me along next to her as other girls fell in line around us. “You don’t need a map; you have us. So, tell us more about you.”