NATHAN 
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Room number 37. My room for the next four years of my life. However, knowing myself, I knew I would spend more time in the cafeteria anyway. I wonder whether the food here is any good.

The door is locked. Which means, I'm the first one in here. I get inside the room and plop down on the first bed in sight. Oh well, looks like I get to claim this one. If the other guy wanted this, he should've been here earlier. Placing my guitar on the side of the wardrobe, I look out the window to find the most scenic view I've ever seen before. Out the window is a hill, and in the midst of it, a single tree stands. Beyond that is what I would call the unknown. Literally, the unknown - because I don't know what's there. But the tree standing alone in a hill is enough to intrigue me. Why was that the only tree in the hill?

I guess I must have been too mesmerised by the tree in the mountain, since I do not hear the door open. What I do hear is this: "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't see you there." Like what? Why was this person apologising? On turning around, I come face to face with a guy my height, with black hair and a linen shirt. This must be my roommate. He sees me and something dawns on his face. Recognition? Did I know this guy from before? 

"Did you complete whatever you paused on Netflix?" He smirks. What was the deal with this guy? 

"Um... what?"

"You don't remember me?" His brows pull up in amusement.

"No. Why don't you tell me which part of my memory you are from?"

He extends his left hand. "Rayden, mate. You met me the day you came to pick up your girlfriend from the Education Council at Paddington. Do you remember me now?"

"Girlfriend? I don't have a- Wait, you mean Rissa? She's my cousin, not my girlfriend. Whatever made you think that way?" I roll my eyes. This guy is delusional if he thinks Rissa and I were a couple. Especially Rissa. Sure, she fantasised about meeting her very own Prince Charming one day, but she also was the girl who believed God would bring her to the right person at the right time. She was the girl who didn't want to date, since she wanted whatever relationship she was going to get into to last. To be honest, I don't see her in a relationship anytime in the near future.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I just assumed that-" He looks bewildered

"Never mind. People tend to jump to conclusions anyway. I'm Nathan."

"Rayden." 

I raise my brows. "You already said that." Before he could reply, my phone rings from my jean pocket. "Excuse me a minute," I tell Rayden, glancing at the phone to see the name flashing on the screen. Joy. "Hello-"

"You need to call your mum. Like, now." Joy's cool voice comes across the phone.

"What?" 

"Aunt Lily's a bit inconsolable. I mean, she's probably calmed down now, but you need to call her. Asap." She orders

"Okay, okay. I'll give her a call. Or are you still at home?" Balancing the phone on my shoulder, I get ready to unpack my stuff when I notice that Rayden's facing the window, probably looking at the same tree on the hill. 

"Nah, I'm at the studio. I left after a while. Honestly, it's Nia who's been holding the fort there. She pulled out her guitar the moment you guys left and started singing some Italian song. I didn't even know she knew Italian," Joy says. I imagine her throwing her hands up now, dropping her paintbrush.

"Ugh... I dropped my paintbrush," Joy groans and I chuckle. Clumsy girl, that one. "Stop laughing, Nate! You're ruining my concentration. Ugh, you know what? I'm leaving. Bye."

"Oh come on, Joy. You sounded cute when you said that. I couldn't help but laugh," I chuckle again, placing my youth group journal inside the draw. Brian insisted we take our journals to university and continue writing in them. Even if Judah was in a different university - at Cambridge to be exact.

"That's it. You're testing my patience, Nate. You don't call me cute, remember?? We had an agreement." The voice on the phone soundly deadly. But, as deadly as she sounds, Joy could never be angry for more than five minutes straight.

"When we were six. We're eighteen now." I reply casually, glancing at Rayden, who has now started throwing stuff on the other bed, and the floor. Oh no, I've got a messy person for a roomie. I should probably ask him to arrange everything in a proper manner. Not that I care. It was Rissa who coerced me into maintaining my room properly. She hates it when anything's a mess. 

"You're eighteen. Nerissa and I turn eighteen in October, remember? Or did you leave your memory behind when you left here?" Sarcasm drips heavily from her voice. "I knew it. You left your memory behind, didn't you? How long till you forget us?"

"Alright, Madame Sassy. That's enough with your sarcasm," I roll my eyes. "Listen, I've got to unpack. Can I call you later?"

"Uh... I'm not free later. Tonight's game night with my grandparents. Is Nerissa with you?"

"No, I'm in the boys' residency. She's probably at the girls'now." 

"Oh. Well then, call me when you see her next. I don't have to call her and you separately then," Joy says. "I gotta go too. Talk to you later, Nate. Bye"

The line goes off and I put the phone back in my jean pocket.  Glancing at Rayden, I find him dumping the contents of his bag on the bed. Dear God, I've got to stop this guy. "Hey, dude. Do you want help?" 

Rayden looks up from his reverie of throwing stuff on the bed.  "Huh?"

"You're just throwing stuff on the bed and the floor. Do you need some help?" I offer.

"Oh, um... I'm just looking for my camera. I can't seem to find it," he says, rummaging around the bag. 

"Camera? Why would you need a camera now?" I ask, curious.

"That." Rayden points to the tree standing solo on the hill. "It's beautiful, isn't it? I want to capture it. But I can't seem to find my camera. I did bring it with me. Where did I keep it?"

"Um, can't you take a picture with your phone or something?" Like, seriously. I do it all the time with the guys.

"What? No! That would ruin it. I love taking photos with a professional camera, it's like, my passion. I own a DSLR, which my dad bought for me last year, but I can't seem to-"

We were interrupted by the sound of the door being knocked. We had a third roommate? I thought this was a two sharing room! The door opens and a boy with dark hair peeks his head inside. "Ah, there you are! I thought I had the wrong room."

"Drey... What are you-" Rayden starts, but is interrupted by the boy whose name is Drey. 

"You left your camera in the lobby." He reaches out and gives Rayden a camera. "Henry had me get it up to you before you thought you lost it. Oh, and dinner's at 7, at the cafeteria. Mr Hargrove will address the freshers before that. Don't get lost in your own world, okay?" He turns to me with a smile and extends his hand. "We haven't met before. I'm Drey. I'm in the next room."

"Nathan," I shake his hand. "How do you know each other?"

"We ran into each other in the lobby. Like, literally ran into each other. He dropped his stuff and we both had to pick it up." Rayden's looking into the camera as he explains. "I think that's where I put my camera down, so I could help you, Drey. Thanks for getting it back."

"No problemo brother! After all, we're in the same class. So I was just helping a fellow classmate out," Drey gives a small salute. "See you at dinner fellas!" That said, he leaves the room.

"He seems nice," I tell Rayden, who's currently focussed on shooting the tree on the hill.

"He is. And he's a psychology major, which is a big plus for me." Rayden replies without looking at me.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait a minute. You're a psych major?" I pull him by the shoulders to make him look at me. 

"What on earth, dude? I was busy with something!" He says, exasperated. "But to answer your question, yes. I'm in psychology or psych - as you call it."

"That's dope. Wait till Rissa finds out we're all together in class. Do you think she'll be surprised to see you? I think she will." I would have continued rambling if Rayden hadn't stopped me, the way I did two seconds ago.

"Your cousin, the red-haired girl, she goes here?" He looks bewildered and I couldn't help but smirk. Somebody looks too lost when I mentioned Rissa. I wonder what's going on.

"She does. The same psychology major that you and I are in for. Why do you look so shocked?" 

"No reason. I wondered if I would ever see her again after our encounter at the council. Glad to know we're going to be classmates for the next four years," he says, grinning. "Your cousin is a very fiery one. How do you think she'll react when she sees me here?"

"Rissa isn't fiery, she's bold. I have no clue how she'll react. There's only one way to find out."

Rayden lifts his brows and his glasses fall to his nose "And what is that?"

"Let's go to the cafeteria!"

...

"Rayden?" Rissa looks shocked to see the boy standing beside me. And then, her hazel brown eyes light up as she smiles. "What are you doing here?"

"What's going on here? You know these people, Nerissa?" A petite girl with a head full of brown curls emerges from behind my cousin, stopping Rayden from whatever he was going to say.

"I do," Rissa nods, "This is my cousin, Nathan. We came from Paddington together. And that is Rayden. I met him at the council interviews." She turns to us with a big grin. "This is Theresa, my roommate. Also a psychology major."

"Hello, boys!" Theresa exclaims, putting her hands out as if she was going to embrace us. But she decides the better of it, "Any friend of Nerissa's is a friend of mine! I can't wait to start class with y'all!"

"You're very chirpy," Rayden points out. 

"Haha, I get that a lot. I just love to be happy. Isn't happiness a wonderful feeling?" She sighs to herself. "Oh, is that the kitchen. I'm going in there to find out if students are allowed to work part-time. Can you find us a table, Nerissa?"

"Sure!" Rissa beams. The brunette girl then proceeds to skip to the kitchen with a huge smile plastered on her face, I begin to doubt if she knows any other emotion.

"So, different friend group or the same one?" Rissa's eyebrows shoot up as she tilts her head, her dark red hair falling into her face. "If you want, since you have a new friend and all that, you can find a table for you two, while I find another one. Else-"

"We're all friends, aren't we?" Rayden cuts in. "Why do we have to find different tables?"

"Do you want to answer that Nate?" Nerissa turns to me with a smirk on her face. She actually has the audacity to smirk! This little...!

"Answer what?" Rayden turns to me with a confused look on his face, all the while Nerissa is still smirking, a gleam in her eyes. One chance to tease me, and she doesn't let go, does she? 

"Nothing. Like I said, she's my cousin. And I promised her father I'd look after her. So yeah, we're all in this together." Rissa's face contorts into a pout and I know it's my turn to smirk.

"I don't need looking after!" She rages. "I'm going to find a table. You can do whatever you want." She huffs off to find a table and I laugh. The one thing that irritated Rissa? Being treated like a kid. Especially if the person doing it was someone she loved.

"What just happened? Why'd she storm off?" The poor guy looks too confused to understand what's going on. Of course, he wouldn't know unless we told him. He wouldn't know that Rissa and I made a deal that the fact that we're related shouldn't affect our friendships. He wouldn't know that we always have separate friend groups so that we don't have to depend solely on each other. He doesn't know that I promised to take care of her, even though I fully well know that she is capable of taking care of herself.

"Nothing. Just a deal we made between ourselves. C'mon, let's get ourselves a table." I'm about to follow Rissa when someone bumps into me.

"Ooof! I'm so sorry, I- Nathan?" Staring right back at me were the chocolate brown eyes of a boy I met two weeks ago, at a coffee shop in Paddington.

"Nash!" I'm not surprised I ran into him here. I knew he was going to be a classmate anyway. "I was wondering when I was going to run into you here." 

"Yeah, me too. Is Nerissa...?" He trails off, staring straight ahead at Rayden. "Do I know you? I mean, have we met before?"

"No, I don't think so. I would've remembered you if we met before." Rayden extends his hand to Nash. "I'm Rayden Jonathan."

"Jonathan? Are you related to Lewis Jonathan in any way?" 

"Yes. He's my father." Rayden's reply is curt, which makes me wonder if he has any problems with his dad. I think of my own dad, who died when I was two. Pain flashes through me and I push the thought aside. This is not what I should be thinking of right now.

"Oh, that's nice! My dad worked with him a couple of years ago, before he quit. I'm positive I've met your father and before that's why you seem familiar. I'm Nash. Delighted to make your acquaintance." Nash then looks at me. "I meant to ask before. Where is Nerissa?"

"Not here." Nash gives me a confused look and I chuckle. "She went table searching. We were going to follow her before I ran into you. Come with us, I think she went that way."

It takes us a while to find Nerissa in a crowded cafeteria, but we eventually do find her and the brunette sitting at a table, laughing about something. Rissa's sitting cross-legged, her light blue sneakers forgotten on the ground, her hair falling into her face yet again. She laughs yet again, making me sigh in relief. I had assumed that Rissa would be a crumbling mess on the first day since she hasn't stayed away from family even once. Instead, she's been handling it well. She looks at us as we approach, her previous anger completely gone as she grins.

"Nate, you won't believe what Theresa just told me! It's super hilarious!" Then, her eyes widen as they land on Nash. "Nash! Where did you come from?"

"Umm... Planet X?" He questions and Rissa rolls her eyes. "I'm sorry, I couldn't resist. How are you doing?" 

"I'm doing fine. How 'bout you?" She gestures to the seat opposite to where they were sitting. "Have a seat. Theresa," she glances at her newfound friend."This is Nash. We met at a coffee shop in Paddington."

"Funny how you know half the people before you even reached here," Theresa mumbles. "I didn't even know anyone from here before today. But it's okay, I have a feeling we're going to have so much fun. It's a new beginning after all!"

"You're right. This is a new beginning for all of us," Nerissa says, her hand reaching to touch her cross pendant and I know she's thanking God for this moment. 

"Today marks a new beginning. It's a beautiful day!" Theresa squeals again making Rissa laugh.

"You know Theresa? It's practically impossible to be anyone to be miserable when you're next to them. Like, I'm trying to miss my family, but I can't since you've been frankly chipper since the moment I stepped foot into the room," Rissa says, serious expression and all.

"Yeah, we can't hear our own minds over all that squealing." Four pairs of eyes turn to look at Rayden and his comment, but he just shrugs. "What? I'm just saying the truth here."

"Well, I have to agree with him. You're way too perky for a normal person. I have to get used to all the excitement," Nash agrees with Rayden.

"Don't mind them, Theresa. They're just being boys. You're exactly what our group needs - sunshine," Rissa says, picking at the bread on her plate.

"And what are you, might I ask?" I look at her, waiting for her answer, although I knew what it was.

"I'm the rain," she answers, her eyes twinkling. I know she's thinking about the moment when Brian compared her to the rain - cool and beautiful. 

"Yes, I love the rain!" Theresa exclaims. "It's so beautiful when it rains. Oh, and rainbows... I can't wait to experience it all with you. Here's to a beautiful day!" She lifts her hand as if she's toasting. We all laugh, but go along with her act. Here's to a beautiful day indeed. I can only hope it stays beautiful.

...

Author's Note:

Finally! A chapter after two loooooong weeks! Please tell me it makes sense, because when you run out of ideas, you literally type out whatever comes to your mind. 

Also, I tried out a pov change. How's things from Nathan's point of view??

I hope you liked the chapter. Do lemme know what you think!

Stay safe. Stay blessed,

Grace.