Changing Prudence (EDITING - ON HOLD)

Chapter 13

That was too much for Rue. She decided to stop looking into Cole’s thoughts and moved onto Regan. That couldn’t be anywhere near as bad as what she had just heard. But that was no better; Regan’s thoughts were full of Cole, in fact some of them seemed a bit possessive considering this was the first time Regan had even seen or spoken to him.

Rue was brought back to the conversation with Cole shouting her name and waving his hand in front of her face. ‘What is up with you recently, you have been zoned out for about ten minutes!’ He laughed and demonstrated the expression Rue had been wearing while she was reading their thoughts.

‘Must just be the lack of sleep.’ She answered simply, hoping that would be enough. She was so shocked that she had just heard that from Cole he had never before had such a strong pull towards someone, and even though she was the first friend Rue had made at the university, she knew from what she had just seen in her thoughts that Cole could not fall into Regan’s trap. She would ruin Cole, who has always been a free spirit.

‘I was just trying to say I will see you tomorrow, Beck and I will be taking the two of you on a tour of the forest. Nine A.M. sharp!’ he pointed his index finger only a few inches from Rue’s face.

‘Okay, okay, I will set my alarm.’ Rue laughed as Cole let himself out of his room.

‘I better get going too... I need to get something to eat. I can tell my stomach will start to growl any second now.’ As if on cue Regan’s stomach rumbled.

‘Okay then, I guess I will see you tomorrow.’ Rue held the door open, giving the best smile she could muster. At least Regan didn’t seem to have noticed.

‘Nine A.M. sharp!’ She mimicked Cole with a deep voice and pointing her index finger at Rue’s face. She walked a few doors down the corridor waving before slotting her key into her own door.

Well at least she seems more confident now. Rue thought to herself. She grabbed her wash bag and walked down the hallway to the bathroom. She was in the shower until her fingers had started to wrinkle. She had been distracted by levitating the water and changing the temperature with her newly found powers, that she was shocked when she heard a frustrated knock at the door. She quickly shut of the shower and changed into the clothes she had grabbed off the top of her suitcase. She rushed out of the shower and into the hallway in embarrassment quickly apologising to the girl who had rapped on the door.

She burst into her room thankful that she had put her keys into her pocket when she let herself into her room after her trip around the campus that day, and dropped flat onto her bed. She lay there staring up at the ceiling, cringing at how long she had spent in the shower. She was shocked still when the door opened five minutes later and a girly voice echoed through the room. ‘Please tell me you don’t usually take that long in the shower.’

Rue’s face turned crimson, she hadn’t even noticed the extra suitcases dumped around the second bed. It took her a while to gain the ability to make a sound come out of her mouth. ‘I’m sorry; I was in a world of my own.’

Her roommate just laughed. ‘I’m Lavender by the way. I’m taking Chemistry, how about you? Any unusual or interesting subject?’

‘Just Bio-Chemistry, and Rue,’ she waved her hand over her body, ‘And the answer to your first question, no I don’t usually take that long in the shower. It’s just been a long day and the warm water made me zone out.’

Her roommate, Lavender, plonked herself down on her bed. ‘Tell me about it, I had to get to the airport at six this morning and I only arrived a few hours ago, I went sight-seeing before we came to the dorms. We told the taxi driver to let us off near the edge of town but to take the luggage to the reception where we ended up. My mum is staying at a nearby ‘B and B’; I hope you don’t mind that she comes up to the room once she is settled in at her hotel?’

‘No, no of course not, I wish my parents could have stayed a couple more days. But at least I have my brother here.’ She had only just noticed her roommate had an accent, though she couldn’t quite make out where she was from. She also noticed that her skin had not one blemish, she was a natural bronze colour, and long luxurious, wavy hair that any girl would kill for. She was model like in fact, she was very tall, most of this height coming from her legs. She was beginning to get a bit jealous of her new roommate. ‘If you don’t mind my asking where do you come from?’

‘I was born here in Aurburn but my family moved over to Australia when I was seven. It’s really nice over there, but I fancied coming back here.’

They spent the rest of the evening getting to know each other, and didn’t fall asleep until around midnight. Rue had an early start in the morning.