At the top of the stairs, Anil and I went our separate ways. We had a Political Science night class together and he'd insisted on walking back with me. He hung around Tom and Rob, and we laughed all the way back trying out our British accents on increasingly random sentences. At one point, I laughed so hard I started to cry. 

As I walked past Josh's room, his phone was ringing, but he was nowhere in sight. As had become the custom on the floor, I yelled, "Josh, phone!"

Down the hall, he emerged from my room at a run and on the way past said to me, "thanks. You're a champ." 

Behind me, I heard him fumble the receiver before he said, "hello" in a breathless voice. For a football player, he seemed kinda out of shape. He should probably be running more and drinking less. 

I glanced at my watch and started to calculate the hours before I had to get up for swim practice. I hated early morning practices because they drastically reduced my do nothing time. Also, Tricia was such a social butterfly that there were always people in our room. Whenever I wasn't around, Lark seemed to take over my spot, spreading her stuff all over the place. It was kind of annoying, but it was easier to say nothing than to risk a war between her and Jill. Sometimes it felt like we were all great friends, and other times it felt like one of us might kill someone. 

I peered around the door to our room and was relieved to find that it was only Lark and Tricia at the moment. 

"What are you guys up to?" I asked, swinging my backpack onto my bed. 

Lark was sitting on the floor across from Tricia's bed and it looked like they had actual school books out for once. I narrowed my eyes. Were they studying?

"Psychology test tomorrow. Multiple choice. We've heard it's a killer," Lark confirmed, sweeping her dark brown hair back behind one ear. She glanced up at me and a smile played at the corners of her mouth. 

"Rob stopped by." Tricia pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. She only ever wore them to read, and it was weird seeing them on her now. She grinned. 

"Oh yeah?" I feigned indifference and moved my backpack to flop onto my bed. "Anyone call?" I was hoping to hear from my parents.

"You could always just call your parents," Tricia suggested. She called her parents about ten times a day. If I was ever looking for the cordless phone, it was guaranteed to be beside her bed. If she didn't have someone in the dorm room, she was on the phone with someone. It was like she couldn't be alone. It was weird.

"Nah, it's fine," I said. I watched them highlighting the text and making notes, talking quietly about the work. "Is that one of the classes you've actually been going to?"

They both looked at me and then laughed. "Ah, yeah, of course. We just haven't done any of the reading."

We were three weeks into school. As Lark turned another page, I heard the creak of the book as she flattened the spine. It was clearly in mint condition. They were both smart, though. We all had to be reasonably smart to get into the journalism program here. It was one of the most competitive programs. Although, as Anil kept pointing out, he thought it must have been a slow year.

Jill appeared in the doorway between the two rooms and surveyed the scene. It was clear that her two favourite people were occupied, so she turned to me. 

"Did you eat dinner?" she asked.

"No, I missed it." I looked at my watch. By a couple hours, actually.

"Do you want to go down to the Oasis with me?" She looked down at her nails and picked at the polish. 

Her brown, wavy hair fell around her face like a curtain. Her voice still made me shudder from time to time, but something about her always seemed a little lonely and sad to me, like a puppy that had been kicked one too many times. Jill's attitude was like blood in the water to Lark who had no trouble playing the shark. She didn't have a lot of sympathy for her, but every once in a while, like now, my heart ached a bit for her. I had no idea why.

"Sure. I'll just grab my swipe card," I said.

I hopped off the bed and rummaged around in my stuff for my meal card. I discovered it at the bottom of my bag. It was slightly sticky for some reason, but I thought it was probably better not to dwell on the cause. I looked up at her and we filed out of the room, down the hall and down the stairs in almost silence.

"You do anything interesting today?" I asked, trying out this idle chit-chat thing I'd heard so much about.

"No, just had class," she said and then she paused at the junction between going outside and taking the tunnels. "Outside, or...?"

"Tunnels," I confirmed and we went through the doors, down into the tunnels. 

When I'd come for my campus tour, the tunnels had been one of the things that had sold me on coming here. Who wouldn't want to be able to walk all across campus without ever having to go outside? Who cared about eight months of winter if you never had to face it?   

The Oasis was a bit like a cross between a diner and a cafeteria and was in the basement of the biggest residence building. It was open late and served greasy food. It was pretty much perfect for those late night cravings. Or, you know, just a random grilled cheese and fries to remind you of home.

"We got really lucky," Jill said as she sipped on her diet coke and picked at the fries on her plate. 

I raised my eyebrows and drenched another fry in ketchup. I could never decide what I liked more: the greasy fries or the Heinz Ketchup.

"What do you mean?" I asked between bites.

"Lark and Trish are so great."

I should have corrected her about Tricia's name, but I didn't. Instead, I chewed for a while, contemplating what she just said. I really liked Tricia and I did think I was lucky. But, was Jill lucky? Was Lark? Most of the time, it felt like they were on the cusp of hating each other. But, I could count on one hand the number of times I'd spoken to Jill one-to-one, so maybe I had it wrong.

"Yeah, they are a lot of fun," I agreed. "Did you know people like them back home?"

"Like them? No. They're so funny. I mean the other day, when we had that really cold day and Lark walked outside and said, 'It's colder than a nun's cunt out here!'" She shook her head in remembrance. "I haven't laughed that hard in a long time."

We'd all laughed. I'd also thought it was maybe a touch vulgar. I wasn't a huge fan of the 'c' word and unlike some of Lark's other phrases, it wasn't one I'd be repeating. 

"Lark does come out with some interesting things," I agreed. "She must be just as much fun when it's just the two of you in the room." I watched her carefully. Sound traveled easily between our rooms if we didn't seal up all the connecting doors.

Jill tilted her head back and forth as she chewed and then swallowed the first whole fry she'd eaten. "Ah, she's kinda quiet when it's just the two of us."

I sighed inside and tried to keep my face neutral. Lark was constantly complaining about how loud Jill was and how she couldn't seem to stop talking. Lark also liked to talk, so I always found that comment a bit weird. Tricia and I had spent a few nights whispering in the dark about Jill and Lark. 

"I guess everyone has their quiet moments." I floundered for something to say.

"You're pretty quiet," Jill stated.

I knew she didn't mean it in a confrontational way. I was quiet, I had always been quiet, maybe even a little standoffish. Tricia had told me the other night as we lay across the room from each other in the dark that I was hard to get to know, but totally worth it. The memory made me smile, which gave Jill more confidence to keep speaking.

"I never know what you're thinking," she continued, "like maybe you're silently judging us."

I laughed. "I'm not judging you, don't worry." 

I was definitely judging her and everyone else. Who didn't? We were all coming from a vastly different background and crammed onto this floor and expected to get along. In some ways, it was utterly fascinating to see the way each person acted and reacted. I was always more of an observer and a dip your toe in the water than a full on belly flopper. 

As we walked back to our dorm, Jill told me stories about her town in Quebec, about taking dance classes most of her life and her uncertainty about her major. She was currently undeclared and none of her classes was that great so far. I found myself liking her, and I wondered if I'd been wrong about her this whole time. As we climbed the stairs back up to the second floor, I turned toward her slightly.

"Thanks for inviting me, Jill. This was fun."

She grinned. "It was fun." 

I grinned back at her, and we were just walking past Tom's and Rob's room when their door swung open. 

"Oh, hello there," Rob said. He looked slightly stunned. 

Jill stopped and giggled. I tried to keep walking, but it clearly wasn't going to happen. Okay, maybe she still got on my nerves a little.

"What are you guys doing?" Jill asked, batting her eyes. 

"I'm Hank Marvin. We're going to the O. Tom's just getting his trainers." He looked directly at me as he said it. 

I didn't want to ask or engage. He'd made himself pretty clear at the top of the water slides. Serious girlfriends need not apply, and I was nothing if not serious girlfriend material. Still, my curiosity had always been my downfall. 

"Hank Marvin?" I asked.

He laughed and his brown eyes danced with amusement. Damn him and his eyes. I could feel an answering smile breaking across my own face and I knew that my eyes were probably also dancing. I just couldn't seem to help myself. This was exactly why I'd been avoiding him.

"Starving. Cockney rhyming slang," he said. 

His eyes searched my face and I felt myself being drawn back in. It was not fair. People shouldn't be able to pull you in and push you away at the same time.

"Ah," I said and nodded my head as if any of that made sense to me. "What's Tom training for?"

Tom appeared over Rob's shoulder. "Training?" he asked.

"Yeah, Rob said you were getting your trainer," I said, looking back and forth between them as they both burst into laughter again.

Jill giggled. "I know this one. I didn't know it, but I do now. It's their running shoes."

Rob's face was bursting with merriment and something in my stomach fluttered. I could be so into this guy if I let myself.

"Oh," I said, staring at Rob's face, basking in his joy. 

"Did you fancy coming to the Oasis with us?" He nodded his head at Tom and then at Anil when his door opened across the hall. "I can teach you more about the English Language."

"You're offering to give people lessons on the English Language again?" Anil turned and locked his door as he spoke over his shoulder.

Rob grinned. "You Canadians, your English is atrocious."

I looked at my watch. I wanted to go, God, did I ever want to go. But, if I went, I'd never go to practice in the morning, and I was already on the cusp of being in the red zone for my practice attendance. 

"I can't," I said, breaking the easy banter.

Rob's smile faded. "You sure?"

"I have practice in the morning," I said, looking down the hall towards my room. 

Tom clapped him on the shoulder and said, "You ready then, mate?"

Jill and I walked down the hall towards our rooms, but just before I turned into the doorway I looked down the hall again. Rob was the last one through the doors to the stairs. He turned to look at me, pushing the door with his back. 

He called down the hall, "maybe another time, yeah?" Then, he was gone. 

Author's Note:

What do you learn about Jill and Lark here? What do you learn about Liz?