nerd.

quarante-et-un

3 Months Later

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Arielle Evans

Today is the day. I enter Yale University as a freshman in college. No more bullying, no more boys, just my future. My phone buzzes as I am packing the last of my bags into my new car, and I pull it out of my pocket to check the text.

Harebear: well hello there smarticle (: I know we're just friends now, but just wanted to wish u good luck on ur first day at Yale (: xx, hazza

I giggle quietly. I had told both the boys that the drama between the two of them was too much to handle along with the stress of college, so we could just be friends. Of course, both of them had completely respected my decision as promised, but I could still sense the hatred when the two of them saw each other.

  Ari: haha thank you harebear (: good luck at your uni too!

 I put my phone back in my pocket and hug my mother one last time before I drive away, to leave my horrible past behind and finally start over.

  *

 I arrive at Yale at 3:00, which gives me enough time to unpack my things into my new dorm before I start socializing with the other people in my dorm house.

"236, 236." I mutter under my breath as I glance up at the shiny golden letters on each of the doors. "Aha!" I finally find 236, and I use my key to unlock the door, breathing in the fresh scent of pinewood given from the small Air Wick plugged into one of the power points. I see a girl with shoulder-length brown hair and a tattoo on her wrist leaning against the window, and she smiles at me when I set my suitcases on the bed.

"Hey, I'm Delilah." she says, holding out her hand for me to shake.

I do, which seems to please her, because she grins. "Arielle. Nice to meet you." As I start to put my clothing neatly in my closet, there is a sudden knock on the door, which startles both of us. Delilah giggles at my shocked expression as she reaches for the door handle, swinging it open.

"Adam!" she squeals, wrapping her arms around the boy at the door's neck.

 "Lilah!" he sighs, embracing her tightly. "I missed you."

 "I missed you more." she smiles. "Oh, Adam, this is my roommate Arielle. Arielle, meet my older brother Adam."

"Nice to meet you." I shake his hand, and he smiles at me. Dimples appear on his cheeks, which instantly reminds me of Harry, causing me to look away.

"I should get going, but Lilah, I'm in the building across the road if you want to stop by." Adam smiles, waving goodbye to me before he leaves the room.

"Your brother is nice." I smile at Delilah, continuing to unpack my belongings. I place a photo frame with a picture of Harry and I at the dresser, smiling fondly at it before returning to my suitcases.

 "Yeah, he's pretty cool." Delilah shrugs, sitting down by the window again. I finally finish unpacking, putting the last photo frame, this time holding a picture of me with my parents, on my nightstand. "Come on, let's go meet the others." Delilah motions for me to follow her, and I do, shutting the door behind me. We go downstairs, where a few people are sitting and talking in the kitchen.

 "Hey." Delilah says loudly, and everyone pauses their conversations, looking up at us. One guy rolls his eyes and continues talking to his friend. Jerk.

 "Hey, Delilah, right?" A girl with curly blonde hair asks, walking up to us.

 "That would be me." Delilah says proudly.

 "Hey, I'm Teagan. And you are?" she asks, pointing to me.

 "Arielle." I tell her, and she nods, grinning at me.

 Another girl comes up next to Teagan, smiling kindly at us. "I'm Gianna, it's nice to meet both of you."

"You too." I reply.

"So over there is Kyle," she points to the guy who ignored us earlier. "He's a total jerk, don't even bother paying attention to him. And then there's Sam," she points to a guy on the recliner reading a book, with thick brown hair and a nice smile. "And here we have Nick," she motions towards Kyle's friend. "Again, total jerk, don't bother. And finally we have Megan." Teagan leans in closer, and then whispers, "She is so dumb, she can't even spell 'basically'. It's wasting your time talking to her." I nod, smiling at Teagan's reaction towards Megan, and wave at another girl who is perched on the counter, looking at something on her phone.

She smiles and waves back. "I'm Riley." she yells, and I nod, giving her a thumbs up.

"Arielle!" I yell back.

"Do any of you girls know how to cook?" Kyle asks suddenly, annoyance apparent in his tone. Teagan, Riley, and Gianna shake their heads, and so does Megan. "How about you, new girl? Can you cook?" Kyle snaps.

"I can, but never in a million years would I cook for a jerk like you." I snap, a sudden confidence building up inside me.

"Ooh, burn!" Sam hisses from the other room, and I giggle softly while Kyle glares at him to shut him up.

"New girl is feisty. I like it." Kyle smirks, and I roll my eyes at his arrogance.

"Piss off, Kyle. She's not going to date you." Teagan sighs.

"Hey new girl, how about you make us some dinner?" Nick whistles.

 "How about you get your head out of your ass and make your own dinner, Nick?" I snap, unsure why I am saying all these things all of a sudden. I would've never had the guts to do this back in Belgrade.

Sam whistles, sending me a thumbs up from the other room. I smile at him and Nick huffs, whispering something incoherent to Kyle.

"We'll just order pizza." Kyle shrugs.

"You can't order pizza every night for the rest of the year, Kyle." Teagan points out, and Nick rolls his eyes.

  "True, but we can until New Girl decides to finally make us food." Kyle smirks smugly.

  "Yeah, well, that's never going to happen." I snap, my blood boiling at Kyle's ignorance.

  "You'll see, new girl. It'll happen. You'll see."