Finding Amity

Chapter 2

We turned into the university driveway, headed to the parking beside my dorm rooms. I studied the campus maps for hours yesterday, and made sure that Cooper knew exactly where to go. I did NOT want to the girl who caused traffic on move-in day.

My dorm room was on the second floor of a large off white building with absolutely no sense of architectural style. It was simply a large cube with a single two-door glass entrance.

Cooper grabbed my suitcase and duffel bag, leaving me to carry the bedding and decorations we bought an hour ago at TJ Maxx, still wrapped in their packaging a stuffed into shopping bags.

"What was your room again?" Cooper asked as we stepped onto the elevator.

"203." I groaned, struggling to keep ahold of the bags.

My eyes wandered around the elevator walls. A cork board was attached to my right with posters tacked onto it. Most were advertising clubs and sports teams, which I already decided to avoid out of fear of embarrassment. I wasn't particular skilled at anything other than shutting my mouth and passing classes. But one poster stuck out to me, it was pale pink with bright red letters spelling out "College Camp-Out" and "Join us in Armitage Park Campground". I pulled out my phone and snapped a picture of the poster, not blind to Cooper scrunching his nose.

"Whats wrong with camping?" I asked.

"Camping? With a bunch of horny frat boys? Just doesn't sound like your scene." He muttered.

"You told me to try new things." I joked.

"Not that!" He spat back, unhumored.

The elevator doors opened to reveal a bustling hallway, filled with nervous teens and their parents, the chaos almost comforting. Cooper was right, everyone is feeling the anxiety.

We navigated through the twisting halls, that seemed almost unnecessarily confusing, until we found my room. It was at the end of a hallway, only a short walk from the shared bathrooms.

I stared at the doorknob, unable to force myself to reach out out and open the door. Cooper chuckled at my wide-eyed expression and opened it for me, revealing the tiny dorm room.

One side was completely bare, a full loft bed with drawers and shelves in the base was pushed against the wall, beside it a tall dresser and against the opposite wall was an empty desk and chair.

The other side was anything but bare and boring. My roommates bed was the same as mine, only made with dark red sheets and black pillows. Every inch of the provided furniture on her half was plastered in stickers and pen scribbles. My goody-two-shoes heart ached at the sight of the vandalism.

"Someone's getting fined." Cooper joked as he continued into the room, plopping all my things down on the floor.

"Did they do all that this morning? How is that even possible?" I questioned.

Cooper and I got to work moving in. He opened my new white and yellow striped bedding and set up my bed, while I hung my clothes in the wardrobe between the door and my roommates graffitied desk. I tried to defend my roommate in my internal monologue. Maybe it was there last year and the school just refused to clean it up?

"All done!" Cooper boasted.

With the bed made and my fairy lights hanging around my bed and all my little knick-knacks on display, it felt more like home.

"One more thing." He said as he went to the shopping bags. I looked around the room, mentally checking off each item we bought as I spotted it within the room. Cooper pulled out a small box wrapped in old Christmas wrapping paper. He handed it to me, a sweet smile on his face. "A late graduation present."

I took the box and ripped open the paper, revealing a white box. I scrunched up the paper and tossed it in my waste basket, then gently took off the lid of the box.

Inside was a white photo frame with space for three pictures. One photo was of me, Carrie, and Cooper on my graduation day, smiling brightly at the camera. Another was of my parents and I on the beach. My dad was buried in the sand, a mermaid's body sculpted out of sand on top of his body, while Mum and I laughed at him. The last was a photo from last 4th of July. I was in an American flag bikini, being held by Cooper like a baby. I smiled at the camera as Cooper laughed at me. It was a good day, the first holiday that I spent not grieving over my parents.

"Thank you, Cooper." I reached up and threw my arm around his neck. He wrapped his arms around my waist in a bear hug. I pulled away and looked up at him. "I'm really gonna miss you. And Carrie." I admitted.

"We'll miss you more." He promised.

"I don't mean to interrupt!" A girls voice called from the door. 

A tall girl with jet black hair stepped into the room. She wore natural makeup, a white blouse and blue skinny jeans, a direct juxtaposition of her dark hair and many face piercings. I counted seven: two on the right side of her bottom lip, one through her septum, two in the centres of her cheeks and two on her left eyebrow. 

"But I need to get out of these pants so if you don't want to see that, bye-bye." She directed at Cooper. He blushed, but bid me a quick goodbye and left the room.