I thought my sleeping patterns would get better as I settled into my new home. Last night proved my theory wrong. When I wasn't tossing and turning, I was dreaming. Although, I still can't distinguish whether or not they were dreams or nightmares. My "business," or whatever you want to call it, was attracting attention, and a lot of it. Within these dreams, everyone seemed to be talking about me. Whether or not their opinions were good or bad, I'm not sure. That was when things seemed to become a little scary. I was never an "all eyes on me" type of person, so I wasn't exactly basking in all of the attention.

When I woke up, I felt overwhelmed and exhausted, like the dreams were snapshots of a life I was living. An alternative reality, yet not nearly as cool as I would want mine to be.

Out of the parts that I can remember, there were several factors that stuck out. The most prominent was that I was obviously a hit. That's a good sign, right? What made it difficult to tell was the fact that I was unable to determine whether or not the majority of the gossip was good or bad. In my experience, no gossip about me was ever good gossip. I have many stories to back my case. Far too many.

Whatever played through my head last night, I've lost the bulk of it now that I'm up. 

How many times have I decided to go through with this, then try to psych myself out of it? That happens to me way too often. Well, I'm ending it here. No more doubts. I am going to shake off my neuroses and buck up. I've spent too much time overthinking every aspect of my life to the point where I don't let myself live. I never have any fun. 

I get the hints! Everything in my life is telling me to do this. My computer, my friends, even my mom was encouraging me to do this before it was even completely necessary. Now I'm having dreams about how popular my services are going to be! Yes, this is a good sign. I don't want to jinx myself, but what could go so horribly wrong that I completely regret this one, single decision?

  ↞↠  

"EEK! I'm so excited!" Elizabeth was bouncing up and down on the edge of my bed. "I can't believe - Ouch!"

"Hey, don't blame me! I told you to stop moving so much. I can't help it if I jab you with a pin when you refuse to sit still." Elizabeth makes a mocking face and tries her hardest to stay still. I could tell because her legs were still tapping on the floor, trying to release her pent-up energy without moving her upper body. It wasn't working.

"I know, I know. I'm just so excited!"

"Haha! You already said that about thirty times!" 

Mariana came in and began to nod her head in approval.

"Ooh, you're looking great, Liz!" She began to lightly play with her curls. "Wow, it almost looks as good as mine!" We could tell she was clearly joking, but Elizabeth still felt the need to stick her tongue out. 

You know, most people would probably expect six teenage girls living in close quarters to have trouble getting along, but I can't imagine it getting any better than this! They really make me feel like I fit in for once without feeling embarrassed or pressured to act differently and change who I am. 

"Hey! Don't touch yet! I'm not finished!" They both laughed as I swatted her hand away from my work.

"Okay, little Miss Bossy! I'll leave you to finish your masterpiece." She leaned down and hugged me on my side. Then, she looked into the mirror on the wall and admired her hair. "I still can't believe you can do this!"

She was lightly tousling her curls. It only took me less than fifteen minutes to give her a casual half-up-half-down style.

Elizabeth's hair was taking much longer, mainly because of her constant squirming. She might as well be square dancing on the bed with how much her head was shaking.

"What is with you today? First-day jitters?" I don't think Elizabeth is the type to get nervous about classes, but something is definitely going on for her to be acting this crazy. I mean, Liz is usually full of energy, but it looks like she's on the verge of exploding.

"No way! I wouldn't say 'jitters.' That would imply that I'm nervous about something. I cannot wait to start classes! Just think, this is the first time we are able to completely handpick our courses and curate our own schedules. This is freedom, Sara! Independence! I just can't stop thinking about how different our lives are from high school. We live on our own. We finally get to control our own lives!"

"Okay, okay. Don't get too far ahead of yourself Liz. We're still in school." I lean to my left to see Maddy crouching in front of Elizabeth's dresser drawer. "Do you mind if I borrow these?" She was holding up a pair of white shorts. 

"Sure, just don't spill anything on them. I don't know how to get stains out yet."

"That is a perfect example of how much you still need to learn! Now hurry up, you don't want to be late."

"Oh shoot! What time is it?" I look nervously at the clock on my desk. "Is it really almost 9:00? My first class starts in ten minutes! Damn it, Liz, it should not have taken me this long to do your hair!" After some scolding, Liz turned into a statue so I could finish fast. By the time I was out the door, I only had a few minutes to run to a building halfway across campus. 

By the time I arrived, on time, thank God, there was one seat left. I didn't expect there to be so few students in my Intro to Psych lecture. I quietly made my way to the middle of the room and sat down. I usually like to sit in the very front, but I'm not complaining. I am relieved that I don't have to go through the embarrassment of having to ask the professor for a chair. 

As I reach into my bag to take out my notebook and pen, my head slams right into something. I thought it was the seat of a chair or a desk at first, but as I looked up, my stomach dropped. A boy, no, a guy was clutching his nose in pain. Please let there not be blood, please let there not be blood. It would be just my luck to break a student's nose on the first day of class. I can just picture it now. My face plastered on the front page of the Yale Daily News along with the before and after pictures of this random guy. This very attractive random guy. Well, not attractive anymore, thanks to me!

"Oh my gosh! I am so sorry! What can I do? Do you need ice? What do you - " He cut me off before I could finish making a fool of myself. Oh wait, I already accomplished that.

"Don't worry about it. I'm fine." I could hear the edge to his voice. He loosened his grip on his nose so he could assess the damages. Thankfully, there was no blood. But, he had to wriggle his mouth to get feeling back. All I could do was sit and cringe at my clumsiness. 

I faced forward and began to rub my temples, silently cursing myself for not paying more attention to my surroundings. As if I didn't feel bad enough already, he was burning a hole into the side of my head with his stare. I could tell without even having to look at him. 

This went on for the entire lecture. The entire time, he was staring at me. It was extremely difficult to pay attention to the course overview and take notes when I could see him from my peripheral vision. 

By the time the professor had finished his speech, I was preparing myself to bolt out of the door without having to have any further interaction with the creepy Edward Cullen copycat, who, by the way, was still staring me down.

I grabbed my bag, quickly apologized once again for good measure, sped-walked right out the door, and embarked on my trek back to the suite. I'm so embarrassed, I don't even want to tell the girls. They'll probably find it hilarious and think that I'm overreacting. As I try to plan my response to the questions I know they will soon pepper me with, I feel a large hand on my shoulder.

Oh crap.

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Hey guys! I'm so sorry for disappearing last week! Between prom, graduation, and tons of other events and appointments, I was pooped. But, I hope this week's installment made up for my brief hiatus! 

I love talking to everyone in the comments! I'm excited to see how you feel about this interesting turn of events. And it's just going to get more interesting from here!

Thank you so much for reading my story! I really appreciate all of you taking the time to vote and comment on my work.

I hope to see you again next week!

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*I do not own the Twilight photo: https://www.google.com/search?q=edward+staring+at+bella&rlz=1C1PRFA_enUS424US428&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjMx5Oyh_jbAhXC6FMKHemICB0Q_AUICigB&biw=1440&bih=809#imgrc=3UEFgYq8XkINPM:

*I do not own the Twilight gif: https://giphy.com/gifs/twilight-kristen-stewart-robert-pattinson-jH27z5evTYS64

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Well...