Chapter 7

I carried my lunch tray toward Larry’s and Laney’s table, feeling drained. On top of not getting much sleep in bed with Susan last night, the adrenaline that had carried me through the morning had deserted me. I wished I could go back to my room for a nap, but I had a class at 1:00.

Both Larry and Laney were smiling expectantly as I pulled out a chair and sat. Larry spoke first. “So? How’d it go?”

I smiled and sighed, feeling the exhaustion still more now I was sitting down. “She was great. I know she would have wanted to last longer, but it was pretty understandable that she didn’t. She’s the lucky one. At least she gets to rest now.”

Laney looked at me sympathetically. “Long night, huh?”

I nodded. “I’ll sleep about ten hours and get over it ... oh, shit.” I frowned. “I have to figure out whose room to live in.” I had understood that from the start, but had pushed it out of my mind with all the hubbub of Susan’s sendoff.

Larry cleared his throat. “We were meaning to talk to you about that...”

I looked up, realizing what Larry was going to say. “We can’t do that. They wouldn’t let us.”

Laney shook her head. “No, it’s okay, we checked. There’s no rule that says a First Year can’t share a room with Second Years. Our dorm parents asked the Dean, and he said it’s okay.”

“That’d be...” I stopped; my mind spun, conflicting thoughts flashing through it.

Larry squinted at me. “Amy? You’d want to, right?”

I sighed and rested my chin in my hands. “I’d love to live with you guys more than anything. Except...”

Larry bit his lip. He and Laney sat silently, waiting. They could see the fight going on inside me, and sensed it was the wrong time to push me.

I groaned and shook my head. “Okay, listen. I love both of you. You’re the best friends I’ve ever had. But ... I know I need to live with other students in my own class.”

Laney shook her head, puzzled. “What difference does it make?”

My eyebrows knit as I tried to put it in words. “I ... well, I’m glad you know me well enough that this won’t offend you, because it won’t surprise you. You’re both really important to me, but nothing’s more important than being the best NooseGirl I can be. And I learn more by being with First Years. They’re studying the same material I am, and ... it’s like we all need each other. I understood a lot of that science stuff better by helping Susan with it—it was really cool the way a lot of it straightened out in my head because I was trying to explain it to her! I wouldn’t have that if I was with you. You see what I’m saying, right?”

Both of them looked at me in silence, and finally nodded. Larry said, “But you’ll still come and see us and spend the night sometimes?”

I laughed. “Maybe you don’t know me, if you had to ask.”

Laney grinned. “Okay. So tell us all about the demo.”

I sat a moment, deciding where to begin. “Have you ever seen the play...”

I quickly gathered my notes at the end of my afternoon class, intending to stop Jackie on my way out, and looked up in surprise to see Jackie and Erland standing by my desk. Jackie spoke first. “Have you found anybody to room with yet?”

I laughed. “Maybe I have. If you were about to invite me.”

Jackie laughed with me. “Yeah, I was talking with Erland. We’d love to have you.”

I grinned. “Well, that was easy. Let’s go talk to Gil and Bridget.”

The dorm parents weren’t in when we arrived at their room—the note on their door said they were interviewing a potential buyer for Bridget. I shrugged. “I need to get some studying done, and start getting my stuff together to move it. Let’s try them again after dinner.”

Jackie nodded. “Sure. See you then.”

After dinner, Jackie, and Erland and I went down to Gil’s and Bridget’s room again, to get approval for the new rooming arrangements. Bridget had gone down to the gym for a workout, but Gil was in the room, studying the script for his hanging, which he hoped to perform in the near future. Gil simply ascertained that all three of us were happy with the arrangement, though it was hard to imagine why we’d be there if we weren’t. As we turned to leave, there was a knock on the door. I was closest, so I opened it, and was surprised to see Shawna, Grant’s roommate, standing there in tears. It wasn’t at the tears that surprised me, just that she was here right now. I would expect tears—or even homicidal rage—from anyone who shared a room with Grant. And Shawna, who had struck me as being bubbly and upbeat when I first met her, had become steadily more withdrawn as the weeks went by. I looked at her sympathetically. “What’s wrong, Shawna?” I could easily imagine.

Shawna sniffled out, “Is Gil or Bridget here? Oh, hi Gil,” he went on, looking past me. “Gil, is there any way to switch roommates?”