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“It’s okay,” I said quickly, not surprised she had no idea where it was. “It’s just a little town in Idaho.”
The expression of intense interest on her face only grew, and I fidgeted uncomfortably. But then she shrugged. “Cool. C’mon, I’ll show you to the dorms.”
She slipped out of the room so fast I had to hustle to catch up to her. We walked through the main school building and emerged on the opposite side I’d entered from. Two other large buildings sat on either side, the three structures creating a sort of U shape.
“Most of your classes will be in one of these.” She flipped a hand vaguely in the direction of the white-walled buildings as she led me toward the quad—a massive open space with crisscrossing pathways, trees, benches, and a huge fountain in the middle. “But PE and a
nything sports related will be over there.” Her chin jerked ahead of us to our right. “And there are a few extra class buildings and admin buildings over there too.”
“Got it,” I murmured, glancing over at the large gymnasium. I could see volleyball courts, tennis courts, and a swimming pool too.
She gestured ahead of us to the left. “Dining hall is that way. The football field is that way too, but it’s got a separate entrance on the other side of campus. And dorms”—she veered left sharply, around the tip of the U—“are over this way. Which one are you in?”
I was so busy staring around at all the buildings she’d pointed out, trying to get my bearings, that it took me too long to answer her question.
Instead of waiting, she plucked my registration packet from my hand and flipped through it. Her face scrunched up. “Ah, fuck. You’re in the Wastelands.”
“The what?” I finally caught up with her, peering over her shoulder to read the form.
“Prentice Hall. We call it the Wastelands because it’s practically on the edge of campus, and it’s usually only half-full. It’s like the overflow dorm. You probably got stuck there ’cause you registered late.”
Oh. Well, whatever. She made it sound like a shithole, but honestly, it was hard to imagine anything on this campus not being luxurious and pristine.
“I’m sure it’ll be fine.” I shrugged. “What dorm are you in?”
“Stephenson Hall.” As we talked, she’d led me around to the outside edge of the U. She gestured behind us to our right, where several rows of what looked like large apartment buildings could be seen in the distance. “It’s over there. We’re divided into boys’ and girls’ dorms, but they put them right next to each other, the idiots.” Then she chuckled. “Not like it really matters, I guess. They could’ve put them on totally different ends of campus, and people would still be sneaking into each others’ dorms to hook up.”
A sardonic grin curved my lips. Yeah, that sounded about right, even though I hadn’t really dated much myself. My dad had been a sadistic asshole, but for some reason, he’d also been really protective of me when it came to guys.
Maybe he just worried if they got me naked, they’d see the bruises. Who the fuck knows.
“Yeah? So where’s Prentice Hall then?” I cocked an eyebrow.
Leah sighed dramatically. “Over there.”
She pointed ahead to where two smaller apartment-style buildings sat, tucked into a small grove of trees near the wall that surrounded the entire campus.
“Oh. I see what you mean.”
“Hey, it’s not all bad!” she said encouragingly. “You actually get the best view. There’s like a little forest back there. It’s pretty.”
I smiled in spite of myself. She was like a used car salesman, putting a positive spin on every perceived flaw.
Then she peeked down at my schedule again, unabashedly nosing into my business. Not that I really cared. “Oh, awesome! You’re a junior too.”
“Yeah. Do we have any classes together?”
Leah beamed. “We do, actually. Chemistry.” She stuck out her tongue. “Ugh, good. You can help me study for chemistry, because…” She mimed blowing her brains out, and I laughed.
“Trust me,” I promised, “you don’t want my help with chem.”
She shrugged, recovering from her fake death quickly. “Girl, you cannot be worse than me. If nothing else, we can be partners in misery.”
I hiked my backpack higher. “Yeah, all right. I can do that.”
When we reached the dorm, I used the keycard that’d been included in my packet to open the outer door, and we took the lobby elevator to the third floor.
“Prentice Hall also isn’t as luxurious as the rest of them,” Leah said as we pushed into my room. “It should be okay though, I think.”
