When Raine Falls

6 - Late

Chapter 6

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Do you know the feeling of falling in a dream? Where one second your standing up straight and the next you are tumbling off a building, chill in your bones as the air swirls around you. I find it slightly peaceful because it feels like limbo to me. a place between life and death. Nothing left to control.

"Can you please stop clicking your nails on your desk, you're gonna make me have a stroke." Val chirps from across our shared room as she throws up a small hackensack, knit together like a soccer ball. "sorry, this problem is really confusing. I've been stuck on it for the past ten minutes just staring at it." I groan, spinning in my chair and she cracks a smile.

"Here let me see if I can help." she throws the ball to the side and comes up next to me, breathing softly. "What do you know about chemistry? Aren't you a business major?" I raise an eyebrow as she chuckles. "Yes and... just because I'm majoring in business doesn't mean that I'm stupid. I took this course in my junior year so let me just take a crack at it."

I shrug, pushing myself back from the desk and she takes my laptop. "Here is where you put the wrong quantity, it's supposed to be four carbons not five." she points out and I nod as she types out the rest of the equation, explaining it as she goes along.

"What got you into business? I mean you have a knack for science so why didn't you stick with that?" I pull my knotted hair up into a bun as she tilts her head. "I mean just because I'm good at it doesn't mean that I find joy in it. My mom wanted me to go to med school to become a doctor but that's not what I want. I want to make my own nonprofit to help kids get access to education and their interests. Some people deserve more than what they are given and I want to be able to do that for them. I was them once." She sighs before giving the laptop back to me, shaking her head.

"Sorry to info dump onto you, probably more than you reckoned for when you asked. I just want to make a difference you know." she slides back into her own bed, resuming her upside-down position on the bed. "More than you know." but the thought is gone as soon as our door burst open, Violet and Evelyn standing in the doorway.

"I'm guessing this is the sister you've talked about in passing." Val looks at me before standing up to greet them. "I'm Val, sorry if I got on the wrong foot with a lot of people here. New places make me a little haywire."

Violet eyes me before nodding at val. "Violet and this is my roommate Eve, mind if we steal Raine for a second? Sorry to barge into your roommate bonding time." I know she isn't sorry though, she rarely ever means it to new people. she's pretty stubborn, and she has been since we were little.

without another word I'm whisked out of the room, violets hand clamped hard on mine. "Now you didn't tell me that Val was hot! I mean come on she is so you're type!" she squeals, pinching my arm so hard I yank it from her grip.

"I don't like her like that at all Vi. She was such an asshole to me when I first met her and the only reason she's being nice at all is that we share a room and are on the same team so we literally have to. Our season depends on it, especially since I'm playing striker until Parker is better." we end up sitting in some empty chairs at the end of the hallway.

"What did the doctors end up saying after she got her x-ray done?" Vi asks and I groan, "They said no breaks but it is a second-degree ankle sprain so she'll be out for at least a month which fucking sucks. It's her senior year so it's probably the last season she'll ever play and she probably won't get to play much of it at all."

"Remember when you broke your arm sophomore year of high school and the coach wouldn't let you play for a month? You reacted a little like this and it was fine and you made a full comeback, it's not like an acl so not the end of the world you know?"

I remember that injury very clearly, the biggest part of it being why I broke it in the first place. Kennedy and I hammocking in a tree and she not so playfully shoved me out of it over a peanut butter cup. I didn't talk to her for a week and she told me I was overreacting about all of it. a lot of our fights ended like that. her not believing me.

"I guess. to make it clear though, Me and Val: never going to happen okay? Mark my words" we both share a pointed look before I break the eye contact. "You want to make it a bet?" a smirk comes across her face, holding her hand out to me and I smile back, mischievously. "Deal, now let's shake on it."

She reaches over eve, shaking my hand, "A fucking bet then." Eve pushes in between us, separating the clones as she turns to me.

" You have women's lit with Professor Ruby at three right?" Eve asks me and I nod, double-checking my schedule. "Great you can sit next to me then," she slings her arm around my shoulder, side-hugging me, which is one of my least favorite things in the world. People other than family touching me gives me the heebe jeebes, even if it's a friend that I've known for ages.

"Isn't that usually a class geared toward sophomores?" Violet takes the syllabus for Evelyn, looking at it up and down and she nods. "I guess but it's what my advisor advised me to take for my literature credit so.." she trails off and Vi's gaze turns to me and I shrug, "No idea how I made it into that class, but I'm guessing that it's the same for me."

she opens her mouth to say something else but a gasp comes out of eve's mouth and suddenly she has my hand and we are running down the hall, back to my room. "What's going on?"

"we have to be to class in ten so go grab your stuff and let's go!" with that she leaves me at my door and races off to hers. "Fuck my key," I reach down into my jogger pockets and come up empty-handed. "Well here goes nothing." I raise my hand and knock on the door. No answer. I knock again. still no answer. "For fuck's sake." I whisper before banging on the door once again.

"Val I know you're in the now open the door I forgot my key card inside!" it takes a few seconds but the door swings open, revealing a very out-of-breath Valencia. "What do you need Parsons?"

I take a second to look her up and down, her shirt is all deshelved, her hair a mess and she's only wearing spandex. "Is there like a girl in our room right now, Muertos?" I raise an eyebrow and an annoyed look etches across her face.

"God you could have at least put a sock on the door or something!" I groan, rolling my eyes before sighing. "Whatever. Can you just grab my bag, laptop and key card and I'll leave you to whomever you are doing right now." without another word she disappears and reappears with my stuff in her hand. "Now please leave." then the door slams shut in my face and I yell back, "Thanks, asshole," I whisper the last part.

I walk up to vi and evelyn's room and I knock on the door, getting slight PTSD from moments ago and the door swings open, Eve rushing out before I can even get a word out. "Lets go before we are even more late than we already are going to be!"

we barely make it to class before the professor starts talking, introducing the syllabus for the class. "That was close." I breathe out and eve nods as the guy next to us laughs.

"I'm guessing you guys are freshmen?" he smiles and I nod, shyly, a blush tingeing my cheeks. His hair is a strawberry-blonde mess on the top of his head, his brown eyes beaming as he holds out his hand. "Henry Saunders." I reach over to take it and shake his hand eagerly, "Raine Parsons." fuck this guy is hot.