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I’d clearly let the moment hang far too long without answering, and the look Gary cast me was a little strange, but fortunately he didn’t have time to press the issue because we’d apparently reached our destination.
“Here we are, Farrington Hall.” He gestured grandly at yet another tall red brick building, complete with ivy and arched windows beneath a high peaked roof. It looked more like a miniature castle than it did a dormitory.
“There are three boys’ dorms and three girls’ dorms,” he explained as he pushed through the main doors, holding them open so I could follow. We went up a short flight of stairs to a large entry area. “They all curve around this side of the lake, and the dining hall is just up the path in the center. This is the Resident Assistant’s desk,” he said, gesturing toward the currently unmanned desk framing off what appeared to be a large office space. There’s an RA in each dorm, and you’ll have to sign in and out after ten p.m., eleven on weekends.” He glanced over his shoulder at me. “No guys in the girls’ dorms after those times, either.”
I nodded, but scoffed internally. Sneaking guys up to my room was at the bottom of my priority list. Priority number one? Survive through the beginning of October so I could get the hell out of here and gain control of my life again. Priority number two? Find the arts building so I could accomplish priority number one.
On either side of the entryway a staircase led up, and Gary turned to the right and started climbing. I followed, and we ended up on the second floor, rows of heavy wooden doors set at intervals framing both sides of a narrow corridor. He stopped in front of a door with a little metal plaque reading 214. “This is you, try out the key.”
I fished in one of the folder pockets and pulled out a heavy metal key on a ring and fitted it into the lock.
“All the dorms are set up the same way,” he explained as he ushered me through the door. “They’re suites, with four bedrooms, a bathroom, and a common area.” He glanced around. “Looks like you got lucky. You’re the first one here, so you can choose your room.”
It honestly hadn’t crossed my mind to wonder if I would have a roommate, let alone three, but I figured if I had my own bedroom I could just ignore them and it wouldn’t be too terrible.
The common area was stacked high with the boxes I’d had shipped in advance, and was sparsely furnished with only a worn sofa and a row of built-in bookshelves. I wondered briefly if I was supposed to have brought my own furnishings. But when I opened the door to one of the four rooms off the common area, I saw with relief that if nothing else, there was a bed and small desk in the bedroom. My aunt and I had been through the supply list the week before, and while I was set with things like sheets and towels, there’d been no mention of larger items like chairs or televisions. Fortunately, I didn’t plan to be here long enough to care.
Although, I supposed I could always go out over the weekend and get anything else I needed. One of the last things Aunt Naomi had given me before I left was a credit card, and despite the dumbfounded amazement I’d felt at the gesture, I sure hadn’t questioned her. If she wanted me to waste her money, I could oblige.
Each bedroom had a large window overlooking a different part of the grounds, and I marveled at the endless vista of towering trees visible from the first room. From here it seemed like the thick green forest stretched forever. If nothing else, I had to admit this place was gorgeous.
The second and third rooms both faced toward campus and looked out over the path leading toward the dining hall. But when I peeked my head around the door of the fourth room, the view from the window brought me up short. The room itself was a corner room, the smallest of the four, with the bed tucked tight under a sloped ceiling. But outside the window the vast gleaming surface of Lost Lake stretched almost to the horizon, filling my eyes with the vision of endless water stretching out from under the canopy of trees. If I opened the window, I wondered if I could hear the waves.
“Hey, do you have any questions before I take off?”
I turned in surprise. I’d completely forgotten about Gary, but I managed a nod and a vague word of thanks before my attention was drawn back to the view, and I felt the tightness in my chest ease just a fraction.
Maybe I could make this work after all.
* * *
“You had first dibs and you’re taking the smallest room?”
The girl’s wide-set eyes looked out at me from under raised eyebrows, heart-shaped mouth scrunched in puzzlement.
“Uh…”
The puzzled expression melted into a grin. “I’m just messing with you. I’m not complaining if it means I get the biggest room. I’m Nora.” She stuck out a hand, which I forced myself to accept, then had to hold in a wince at the force of her handshake. “And you’re new,” she informed me. “But you’re a senior, right?”
Looks like this would be a question I’d be answering a lot. “Yep. I’m Camilla.”
She looked at me as if waiting for me to volunteer more information, but when I didn’t, she shrugged. “Julie and Frank are the other two—thank God for being a senior and getting to choose your roommates. Frank is really Frances, but if you call her that she might drown you in the lake.” Nora stepped out of the door, where an enormous trunk blocked half the hallway, and started lugging it through the door by one end.
“Anyway—thanks,” she interrupted herself when I picked up the other end and helped her maneuver around the corner. “I’ll help you out so you don’t spend the first week trying to figure everyone out. Julie’s mom is a politician, and Frank’s dad owns a tech company. Everyone here is someone, so if you can’t figure it out, let me know and I’ll save you from wasting time on Google searches.”
I could feel my eyebrows rising into my hairline as her monologue continued, but I forced my face back to neutrality as we set the trunk down in the bedroom facing the forest.
“What about you?” I asked, holding in a smirk.
“What about me?”
“You said everyone here is someone, so who are you?”
“Oh.” She grinned and flipped her short, dark hair over her shoulder. “I’m Nora Glasson. Phil Glasson’s my dad.”
My jaw dropped, but she only winked and went to retrieve another box from the hallway, as if she hadn’t just informed me that her dad had starred in the latest series of Batman movies, and was the number one love interest of half the female population under forty and a good chunk of those over. I could see the resemblance too, with her black hair and pointed nose, not to mention those huge, wide-set blue eyes.
“What about you?” Nora called from around the doorframe.
