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Alex

"Oh, for the love of –" I cried out as I tumbled to the floor. I grasped my foot, rubbing it soothingly while glaring at the corner of the bottom of the bookshelf my mom insisted I bring with me to my dorm. I was tempted to kick it again just because I was mad I stubbed my toes on it in the first place. It was the fifth time today.

If my mom hadn't been watching the movers like a hawk, I would have gladly slipped them a twenty so they could "accidentally" break it. I now stared at the ugly piece of furniture, cursing it with profanities I wish would turn it into a pile of ash. I hated that bookshelf in every humanly way possible, from the time it sat in my father's office, to the time it was sitting right here in the middle of my dorm – sticking out more than my black eye in graduation pictures.

My mom said that she wanted me to have it for all my college books, but it wasn't the entire truth – we both knew that as we watched it get loaded into the moving van.

I scooted over to the end of my bed and looked at the desolate wall across the room. I was actually quite surprised that I was paired with a senior, but hey, maybe she'll be nice? I glanced around the small room, content with my progress. There was only one more box to unpack, the rest were already flattened and stacked against the wall in an organized fashion.

I crawled over to the small box and picked it up. I stood up, flinching at the pressure on my sore toes. I plopped onto my bed and opened it.

Most of it was private stuff, which was the main reason I delayed in opening it. You could think of it as Pandora's Box, but it wasn't anything bad. Inside were beautiful things that brought back painful memories.

My head snapped up as I heard heavy footsteps coming from down the hall, accompanied by two female voices. In a rush of panic, I darted off my bed and shoved the box into the bottom compartment of the bookshelf.

I launched myself back onto my bed and grabbed a book, opening to a random page before I pretended to read while lying on my stomach.

I chuckled at myself. Why did I do that? It shouldn't be a stressful thing to meet new people; this should be a fun experience, right? No need to blow things out of proportion this time around.

Once I heard the voices and thudding footsteps stop at the open doorway I peeked up from my book, heart rapidly beating in my chest. There were two girls, both who looked older than me, staring at me like I had two heads. The one on the left was carrying the bigger box out of the two; she had disheveled light brown curly hair cascading down her shoulders and bloodshot hazel eyes. Her pale freckled face was pink, almost matching her light pink shirt underneath a blue blazer suit top. She nudged the girl next to her with her elbow and motioned forward with her head. The girl walked into the room, sneakers squeaking on the floor and not acknowledging me as she set a couple boxes on the floor. She wore her velvety black hair in a high ponytail that reached down to her hips. Her chocolate eyes glanced over me in a condescending manner before she stared at the other girl. She was dressed very similar, wearing a white blazer suit that contrasted her flawless dark skin exquisitely.

It just dawned at me that we were all staring at each other without dialogue. I almost wished my own secondhand embarrassment would let me drop dead right then and there.

Way to go to make things awkward, Alex.

I dropped my book onto my comforter and stumbled off my bed, tripping over my own feet. I caught myself just before I fell and stood up tall as if nothing awkward happened. I felt heat rush to my face as I smiled at them.

Please let me die right now.

I extended a friendly hand out, "Hi there! I'm Alexis – er Alex is my nickname. Alex Branson. That's what I go by." I stuttered, trying to take my enormous elephant feet out of my mouth. "I take it one of you is going to be my roommate for the semester?" Ending with a smile plastered to my face like my life depended on it, my hand dangled in midair still.

The girl in the white blazer looked me up and down with a smirk on her face before taking a strong step forward to shake my hand. I went against every instinct to shrink back into a corner as her dominant presence was suddenly in my comfort bubble. I was seriously hoping that she wasn't my roommate. She looked so confident that she could probably command a whole room just by walking into it.

She showed off straight pearly whites as she spoke, "Rose Reid. I'm just a friend lending a hand; I'm not your roommate." Our hands pulled apart, mine dropping to my side uncomfortably while hers lingered in the air as she spoke. "Are you a freshman?" She asked while looking at my side of the room, her eyebrows rose as if it was just an observation and not a question.

"Yeah," I answered while blindly picking at the skin near my nailbed.

"That's nice," she replied, "Well, good luck to you then." She smiled, but it didn't completely reach her eyes so I couldn't tell if it was a forced comment or genuine. She spun on her heel and walked to the doorway where the other girl was still standing with an unsure look on her face.

I wondered if this other girl was having a bad day, judging by her puffy lids and bloodshot eyes. In that case, it was probably a nice thing to make sure her friend wasn't moving in with the Antichrist.

Rose stopped and whispered something in her ear just before she turned the corner, cackling up a storm as she strolled down the hallway. The other girl cracked a small smile before officially entering the room and setting a box down. Her back was turned to me, I could tell she was hesitant to turn around because that meant human interaction, and by the looks of her state she probably wasn't looking her best.

"Hi there, I'm Alexis – but I go by Alex most of the time," I offered a bit more confidently than the first time around.

She slowly turned to face me, and tenderly shook my hand. Her beaten eyes barely glanced at mine as she retracted her cold hand.

"I'm Paige, nice to meet you, Alex." She smiled weakly.

"Nice to meet you too..." I replied, careful to not overstep my boundaries. "I take it you've had a rough day?" I prodded, hoping she would feel comfortable with me – after all we were going to be roommates.

She laughed, a smile barely crossing her face before it went back to serious. "Yeah, I guess you could call it that. Just family drama," she winced.

Sympathy flooded through me, "I know how that goes, you doing alright? Do you want to go grab lunch or something?"

"As nice as that sounds, I actually just had lunch with my brother. But do you want to hang out here and tell me little bit about yourself? Don't worry I'm not one of those people who try to get you to join a cult by exploiting your personal life." She laughed jokingly as if that was actually something that happened to her.

Paige must've noticed my frowning when she then said, "Something similar happened to me my first year here," she explained. "It wasn't that big of a deal; however, I did learn some unsettling things about the alleys around here at night." She pressed her lips into a thin line, "Trust me, you don't want to know."

I chuckled at her rambling, she reminded me of me. Besides the blonde hair, blue eyes, and American accent, we could practically be personality sisters. I was glad to see how she was finally comfortable and climbing out of her shell. I'd always had that issue growing up and I missed out on a lot because of it. It wasn't entirely my fault, but I think people just saw me as a ditzy blonde, so I acted like one.

"So, what's your major?" I inquired.

"I, um, am getting a double bachelor's degree in journalism and public communications. This is my second last year here actually." She said.

"Oh wow, that's incredible!" I exclaimed, thoroughly impressed.

She blushed a bit then looked to the floor and crossed her arms. I guess she didn't get that very often. Is that not a common thing here?

"How 'bout you?" She asked me, peering up at me with her head cocked to the side.

"Oh, it's nothing really. I'm going for a Political Science degree, but I'm really nervous about the classes." I said, biting on my nails.

"Oh," She paused for a second as she thought, "How many classes are you taking?"

"I'm taking six classes, I was a bit nervous to not take another class, but the counselor recommended against it."

"I took seven classes when I first got here and I was fine, but I mean, depending on how committed you are, I would suggest seven because it is honestly just about the money for colleges."

"Thank you, I'll make sure to get around to that today," I replied gratefully. I went back over and sat down on my bed, still facing her. I motioned to the boxes, "Do you need help with these?"

Her eyes swept across them for a second, I could see the gears turning in her head. "If you don't feel comfortable, I totally get it, we're still basically strangers." I blurted out.

"No, it's just..." She sighed and sat next to me on my bed. "It's not a lot and it really would be helpful if you lent a hand, but I remember what it was like to be a freshman and having my days be so hectic. You should get to know the campus actually, figure out where your classes are tomorrow before they start – just a few tips." She winked her red eyes.

"I appreciate that a lot, thank you," I clasped my hands together and pushed off of my bed towards the door. "Are you ok, Paige? Do you want me to get you anything while I'm out? I can grab some ice cream from the grocery store if –"

She cut me off sharply, "No, I'm good, thanks. I don't need a babysitter." She chuckled darkly, "You should check out the library before the weather becomes too bad to go outside. Unless you want to get struck by lightning, then you should wait an hour or so."

I forced a small laugh, "Thanks, yeah, I'll check it out. It was great meeting you, bye!" I darted out of the dorms and jogged down the hall.

Dang, I didn't meanto be smothering. I was just trying to be nice to her. I hope this isn't howit's going to be the rest of the term. My eyes widened at the thought as Iskipped a step at a time down the stairs and into the dreary rain.

A/N: I suppose this chapter was a bit shorter than the last, but I hope it was enjoyable to read! The next chapter will be from Harry's pov, so I'm pretty excited about that and I hope that whoever reads this is too! I would greatly appreciate votes, comments, and feedback on my work! All the love xx <3