Second Chances

Chapter Nineteen

The next morning, Evelyn woke up from the vibration of her phone under her pillow. She reached under the pillow and picked up her phone. The time read 7:30am and notifications of texts from Caroline and Ava appeared across her screen. She swiped to the conversation with Ava first.

Ava: everything is goooooood. Don't worry bout me. Night!

Evelyn smiled then switched the conversation to Caroline.

Caroline: Sorry if this wakes you, but I was wondering what time you'd want to go to the bookstore today? I'm free whenever.

Evelyn: I feel like we should go close to when it opens since most people won't be awake / going then?

Evelyn stretched in her bed then tossed the sheets to the side and stood up. She set her phone down on her desk, then walked to her closet and pulled out clothes for the day. Her roommate was still asleep, so Evelyn turned her back in her direction and then changed. As she put her grey t-shirt on, she heard her phone vibrate. She scooped her phone off the desk and read the message.

Caroline: Ok! Should we meet at 8:45 then?

Evelyn: Sure! See you soon.

Evelyn slipped her phone into her back pocket then walked to the bathroom to finish getting ready. While she brushed her teeth, she heard shouting through the wall connected to Brooke and Olivia's room. She couldn't distinguish which sister was yelling, but at one point, it sounded like books were being thrown against the wall. Evelyn quickly finished brushing her teeth and rushed by their room back into hers.

Once she was back in her room, Evelyn grabbed her wallet and tucked it into her back pocket. She then slipped on a pair of sneakers and checked herself over in the mirror on the back of the door. Her hair was in loose waves that fell beyond her shoulders. Her makeup, while done lightly, covered up the dark circles under her eyes. She tucked part of her t-shirt into the side of her skinny jeans and then billowed the rest of the material out in front of her stomach. With her roommate still asleep, Evelyn opened the door quietly and pushed it shut slowly behind her.

As she walked down the hallway, she felt her phone vibrate. She ignored it while she made her way down the elevator and out the front doors. Her phone vibrated again as she crossed the road to meet Caroline. This time she pulled it out of her pocket and looked down at the screen. She saw Ava's name on her screen as she heard Caroline call her name.

Evelyn looked up from her phone and saw Caroline standing near the traffic light with a piece of paper in her hand. She held the paper out for Evelyn to grab it when she got near. Evelyn tucked her phone in her pocket and grabbed the paper. She glanced down at the sheet. "What's this?"

Caroline looked down at the paper. "It's the list of textbooks we need to get today."

Evelyn skimmed the list in her hand. $200 for a fucking book?

Caroline watched Evelyn look at the prices. "Wait until you flip the page over."

Evelyn turned the page and looked at the book at the top of the list. "This is insane!" She folded the paper and tucked it into her pocket.

Caroline laughed. "Go to school they said...it would be worth it they said."

It was Evelyn's turn to laugh. "No joke. But I guess we should just rip the bandaid off as soon as possible."

As they walked onto the campus, Evelyn looked at the buildings beside her. To her left was a structure that looked to be the size of an average high school. At the end of the building was a glass walkway that created a bridge from it to the building next to it. There was plaque in the middle that identified the buildings. The first building was the Edison Engineering building. The second was the Galileo Astrology Tower. While she saw the buildings at night, they looked vastly different during the day.