“Oh no, please no,” that weird Amber nagged annoyed, turning back to her mirror.
“I was just leaving...” was all I said, and quickly turned away to leave the room.
Jackpot, Bayla. You managed to get into student housing with the most arrogant goats in town.
“Nice to see you again, too!” the blonde beauty called after me, and I heard a squeaky laugh behind her.
After pulling the door into the lock behind me as quickly as I could, I walked straight past the stairs to the other door.
Nothing worse could come now.
And I was right.
The room I entered was just as spacious as the other and had four beds. Opposite the door was a completely glassed wall, in front of which was a very long desk with four chairs. On the wall next to the door were two large closets. The floor was made of dark wood laminate.
I liked it here in itself because you had a great view out to the other houses, the pond on which we were with a wooden walkway, and the nearby forest. This house was in the very back in the middle, and from here, I saw for the first time how beautiful the pond was. Otherwise, there were only the trees around us and a few students who had just arrived and dragged their suitcases, just as awkward as me, along the path.
Satisfied, my eyes wandered around the room when suddenly the door opened and my jaw dropped.
Standing before me was none other than my best friend. Larissa Champson.
Chapter 13
Larissa
“Surprise!” I shouted and dropped my suitcase, which I had laboriously dragged up the stairs, to the floor with a crash. My arms ached from the dragging, but when I saw my lost best friend standing five feet away, I forgot all about the arrival crap.
When I had seen that fierce lodge a few minutes ago, I had looked exactly like Bay was doing right now.
A big grin spread around the corners of my mouth, and I couldn’t help but fall around my best friend’s neck. It had only been ten days, but I had missed the hell out of her, and the network in this backwoods town was a disaster.
“Larissa, what... What are you doing here?”
I quickly broke free from the embrace.
What I was doing here? Couldn’t she tell by looking at my suitcase?
“Do you think I’m going to let my absolute best friend languish here in the middle of nowhere all alone?” At that, I made an all-encompassing gesture and then pointed toward the hallway. “And living in a house with people like that.... What was the administration thinking, man?”
Apparently, girls of a special kind lived next door. Anyway, they thought they were something better.
First, they wanted me to stay with them, and when had I said that I was looking for my best friend, they had looked at me really stupid and pointed outside.
Bay, still looking at me stunned, closed the bedroom door. Then she looked at the suitcase for two seconds and then back at me.
“And then you just decided to study here?”
“What would I do at some highly prestigious university without you? Babe, I’d die of boredom,” I exaggerated, continuing to grin.
I had been serious. Life was half the fun without Bay.
“Sometimes you just have to do crazy things,” I replied, smiling.
It took a moment for her speechlessness to fade. Then, finally, she returned my smile.
It was good to be with her again. Especially when you had no one else in your life. I found it damn hard to have to keep looking for new people, and yet inside, there was still this feeling of loneliness.
I tried to focus on Bay.
“So, what’s it like here? Have you met anyone yet?”
Bay rolled her eyes and I knew immediately it was about a guy.
“Tell me!”
I sounded a little demanding. Bay was used to that, though.
“My neighbors are pretty nice. They have a son. But he’s an arrogant pushover.”
Immediately, I had to grin again. Although her last boyfriend had been the biggest asshole on earth and I had always wondered when she would finally break up with David, she usually didn’t fall for guys like that.
I had thought well of David at first, but in the end, it had been him who had slept with Olivia fucking McConnell. Lucky me had caught them in their hookup and then when Bay had found out about it, she had burst into tears.
I had threatened the guy that if he ever came near my best friend again, I would prove to him that I had mastered several martial arts.
I – unlike Bay – had been on more dates. But they had all been the same in the end: daredevils, troublemakers, aspiring drug dealers, or some sick combination of all three. Apparently, some part of me was looking for just such people. And there had to be something about me that attracted them like flies.
“And otherwise?”
