Starlight

ONE

Jade was taping Polaroids to the concrete wall of her brand new dorm room. 20 minutes ago she said her final goodbyes to her dad and brother, sending them back home to Nashville. She was only a few hours away but she's never been this far from home. She took a shaky breath before collapsing on her bed, tears forming in her eyes. Jade was excited for school to start, but since she last minute switched her decision on where to attend school, she had to settle for whoever the school stuck her with as a roommate. The only thing Jade knew about her was her name, Veronica Mattson. Jade tried to reach out to her in multiple ways, from emails to social media but Veronica never answered back. She grabbed her phone to see how much time had passed since she got left in another state without knowing a single soul. 10 more minutes had passed since her family said goodbye. She decided there was nothing better to do than to start to unpack, something she usually procrastinates for at least a week. She hung a few botanical illustrations above her desk, saving her favorite, which was in a frame, for over her bed. The hand drawn roses were broken down into the different parts of the rose, lightly colored in colored pencils. Jade unpacked her clothing next, organizing it by color and style of clothing, something she has done for as long as she could remember. She was in the middle of organizing the blues from lightest to darkest when her door slammed open, making her let out a screech. The girl, who Jade assumed was Veronica, rolled her eyes as she threw her bag on her side of the room.

"Well, you're going to be annoying I can already tell." Her roommate made a face in her direction before going back out their dorm door. Jade's eyes widened a little bit in shock, since this was their first meeting.

"Maybe try watching where you're going?" She heard coming from the hallway, followed up by a different voice yelling. "Maybe you should try not being such a bitch? You don't run this dorm, we literally just moved in today." The voices that were arguing got closer before her door aggressively opened again.

"Fuck you Natalia." Veronica slammed the door shut, yelling after a short girl with grey hair. Jade was able to get a real first look at her, uh, delightful, roommate. She was a short girl with long, dark hair, and an obviously feisty attitude. "I'm Veronica, but you probably know that already. I don't know your name, and I haven't decided if I want to bother learning it. I have two rules, babe, 1. don't get in my way and 2. you do what I want you to do around here."

"Uhhh, yeah I don't think so Veronica. I'm your roommate, not your servant." Jade couldn't help but slightly chuckle at Veronica's outrageous demand. "I'm going to get dinner, hopefully when I get back you've realized that I am a person who has feelings and have an apology ready." She grabbed her keys and phone before running out the door, not wanting to deal with her roommate.

"Bitch, what did I tell y-" The girl, who Jade guessed was Natalia based on her hair color, stopped in the middle of her sentence when she saw a different person than she expected to storm out of their room. "Oh! Sorry, I was expecting the devil to come out of your room! Oh god. Does this mean that beast is your ROOMMATE?" Jade groaned and nodded her head, which made Natalia pull her in for a pity hug. Jade could tell she had made her first friend, one who shared a mutual hatred of her terrible roommate.