Benefits

Chapter Sixteen: College

"Well, that was unexpected," Jaida said, and I groaned, putting a pillow over my face. We were all sitting in my bed, and I had just told them what Justin had said to me.

"One minute, he's saying he loves me," I said, my voice slightly muffled, "And hours later, he has a girlfriend."

Gabriela put a hand comfortingly on my shoulder. "He's an asshole," she said. "I... I really thought that you guys would end up together, though. If this was a movie, you'd definitely end up together..."

"Yeah, well," I groaned, "this isn't a movie. He's not going to see me at the prom or whatever and turn down his prom king crown and then come and make out with me. That shit doesn't happen in real life."

"I don't know," Jaida laughed, "with you and Justin, anything might be possible."

But, I was the one that was right on this one, for once. For the rest of senior year, Justin and I drove ourselves separately to school. We hardly ever saw each other, and when we did in the hallways, he was always with Liz. We'd avoid eye contact as we walked past.

I ended up not going to prom that year. Neither did Jaida or Gabriela. We had gone to the one our junior year and didn't want to waste money we had saved for college on dresses and tickets. I had heard later that Justin and Liz had won prom king and queen, however, I hardly thought twice about it, as I had just gotten my letter of acceptance to NYU, Gabriela had gotten hers to the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan, and Jaida had gotten hers to Julliard. We were all going to live together in New York, just like we'd been dreaming of since we were in middle school.

We found an apartment right in the middle of our three schools, which were in walking distance from the place. It had three tiny bedrooms, all very close together, and a small kitchen connected to a little living room area right next to one bathroom. We didn't mind the lack of room, as we were excited to be able to afford a place that could fit all three of us in New York at all.

We moved in August 1st, three weeks before school began. We were all extremely ready to start completely over. I had downloaded Tinder, ready to forget about KC and Justin, leaving them behind completely.

The first night I began talking to a cute boy, I was getting along with him, when the sound of music blasting from the apartment above distracted me. I sighed, getting up out of my bed and exiting my room, surprised to see both Jaida and Gabriela standing in their doorways. Jaida, wearing a black tank top with pink underwear(having said at the beginning that she was hardly going to wear pants), and Gabriela in a sports bra and a pair of black shorts. It made me, in my XL t-shirt and basketball shorts that I couldn't remember where I had gotten, feel very frumpy next to them.

"What the fuck?" Jaida questioned, "This is not happening! We aren't letting this idiot walk all over us!" And without hesitation, she stormed out of the apartment.

"Jaida!" Gabriela gasped, going after her.

"You've got to be kidding me," I groaned. I grabbed my keys from the hook next to the door, quickly locking it before sprinting up the stairs after them.

"Jaida!" I heard Gabriela whisper yelling, "Come on, come back downstairs! It's fine!"

But, Jaida was on a mission.

Before we could grab her to stop her, she was pounding on the door that the loud music was coming from. I groaned, but stopped on the right side of her, Gabriela on the left. If she was going to be crazy, we had to be crazy right along with her.

A tall frat looking guy with short brown hair and a backwards baseball cap opened the door.

"Well, hello," he said, his eyes roaming Jaida's body, then Gabriela's, then glancing at me and looking away without another glance.