AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Let me get the circus out of here while you unpack,” she said, trying to shoo her family out. “Do you have family?”
Here. She meanthere.
But I would’ve said no anyway. I shook my head.
“Okay! Then once I get them to give me some space, we’ll go to dinner tonight. Six?” She called over her shoulder as she gently shoved her father out the door.
“Six is good,” I answered.
The room felt quiet after they left. I sat down on the mattress, feeling exhausted after only a few moments of being Aurora. My whole life had been a cover story; why was this so tiring now?
Maybe I just wanted to be myself.
Then I thought about what kind of results would come up if I googledDelilah Kane,and I knew, no, that wasn’t what I wanted.
I just wished I could genuinelybesomeone else.
* * *
By six o’clock, I’d unpacked my belongings into my room. I was glad that Jenna wasn’t here to see me pull the tags from some of my clothing and hastily discard them, covering them up with crumpled paper at the bottom of the trash bin. I’d had to buy everything new, enough to make it look like I had a real past. I’d scuffed up my shoes in a hotel room, washed some of my new clothes and run them through several dryer cycles on hot, but I hadn’t had the chance to do that to all of them.
By six fifteen, I thought Jenna wasn’t coming back after all, and I was relieved. This would be so much easier if my roommate wasn’t nice.
Then the door swung open and she rushed in. “Oh good, you’re still here! I’m sorry I’m late!”
“No problem,” I said, feeling a sudden sense of dread about heading down to the dining room. “I knew you wouldn’t abandon me.”
She laughed. “No, freshmen have to stick together. Especially around here!”
I wanted to know why, but she was already kicking the rubber wedge that held the door open, holding it for me to go with her.
As we headed down to the dining hall, she prattled on, “I wouldn’t miss dinner tonight anyway. The frat that helped our dorm move in will be eating with us tonight, and I want eye candy as much as I want some chicken tendies.”
I had to smile. “How do you know everything that’s going on around here? I’m pretty sure thateye candywasn’t in the scheduleIgot from the school.”
“Oh, I’m a legacy,” she said lightly. “My parents met here and fell in love here! My mom didn’t just get her Mrs. degree though, she also did pre-med here.”
“She’s a doctor?”
She nodded. “And my dad’s a mechanical engineer. Don’t even get him started talking about gardening—he’s engineered all these automatic watering systems and grow lights. If you walk past our basement windows in the spring and see the glow, you’d think he was growing something besides tomato plants.”
“What are you going to major in?”
“Pre-med. Not because of my mom,” she added quickly. “I want to be a completely different kind of doctor. She’s a dermatologist. I am not devoting my life to other people’s acne!”
Jenna was easy to talk to, especially since she did most of the talking anyway. The two of us separated in the busy, noisy cafeteria, and by the time I’d begun to load up my tray, I felt a little lost and alone.
But then Jenna waved at me manically from across the cafeteria. She clearly didn’t care if anyone side-eyed her nonstop enthusiasm. It was refreshing.
And dangerous.
No, just refreshing, I reminded myself. Just because I knew how dark the world could be, I couldn’t stop trying to believe in the happier, brighter version that co-existed right alongside it.
I walked over to Jenna and let her chatter wash over me as I took in the students around us. People were already forming into groups…or trying to. We were such pack animals.
There was a change in the air, a sudden tension, a bit of a hush. I looked up, curious about what had driven the change.
Four of the most good-looking guys I’d ever seen had just walked into the room. But what was fascinating to me wasn’t the perfectly styled hair above handsome faces or the broad shoulders and athletic bodies.
