SHE’S THUNDERSTORMS;;
She came and substituted the peace and quiet for acrobatic blood, flow concertina, cheating heartbeat, rapid fire.
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November -- probably the hardest part of the year for me -- had finally ended and I was in the home stretch on my first semester. I was doing poorly in all my classes; I had all Cs, except for a D in my stats class. Math had always been my worst subject, and it didn’t get any easier the older you got.
We had only two weeks until we were released for our winter break, which was an entire month long. I couldn’t possibly be more excited. I hoped that with an entire month, I’d have time to focus on myself, relax, and look into transferring colleges for my sophomore year. I realized that without Patrick and Manderson, Monmouth was no longer a place I wanted to be. It was great to have them show me the ropes my freshman year, but I couldn’t picture myself being at Monmouth without them.
I briefly looked into colleges and universities in the city, but I then realized my parents would probably force me to spend the weekends with them, and I’d also be with probably every person I’d hated in high school. When I looked at colleges as a senior, I really seriously considered several of the schools in the city, but I couldn’t stand the thought of having to see kids from high school. High school was probably the worst four years of my life. So far, anyway.
But I didn’t want to think about that right now. I was going to have Patrick and Manderson over to my dorm tonight. Patrick realized that keeping me at the frat wasn’t doing me as much good as he’d originally thought. Plus, if Kenny caught me again, that was the end of my time at Monmouth.
I spent most of the afternoon with Carly, cleaning up our dorm. She blasted her ridiculous country music through our speakers. It was nice to spend time talking, cleaning, and occasionally hitting Carly with my many pillows. I hadn’t spent very much time with girls since I’d come to Monmouth, so it was fun to be a stereotypical teenage girl. Besides, I’d missed out on that a lot while I was in high school.
Carly and Taylor left eventually for a chapter meeting, leaving me alone to wait for Patrick and Manderson. I didn’t really mind; it gave me a bit of time to write and reflect, which I hadn’t done very much of lately. I heard a knock on my door and sprung out of my bed to answer. I opened the door to find Lucas. I was about to slam the door in his face and lock it, but he took a step forward and shut the door behind him. “We need to talk about what’s been going on lately,” he said quietly. His eyes were red rimmed and he looked like he hadn’t slept in several days.
“No, no we don’t. We need to stop talking, is what we need,” I returned, backing up slowly.
“You don’t understand what’s been going on with me lately,” he said.
“That’s okay,” I whispered. “I don’t need to.” He turned to face the door, then beat his fists against it twice. He exhaled loudly and forcefully, then ran his fingers through his hair. I could see the large muscles on his back tighten and relax beneath his shirt. He turned back to face me and took a few steps closer to me. Just as he opened his mouth to speak, the door swung open, and Patrick stepped in. He saw the fear in my eyes and Lucas’ anger.
“Out,” he said firmly. “Get your ass out right now, Lucas. I think the frat’s gonna have a little chat with you later, buddy.” Lucas clenched his jaw and shut his eyes.
“Fuck this, and fuck you,” he muttered as he left, slamming the door behind him.
“What the fuck’s been going on with you and him? Someone told me they saw something weird going on in the lunchroom, he told Kenny about … you know. And now he shows up in your dorm? What an asshole,” he seethed.
