happy campers in dorm 3e •••LUCY

[jill]

The door slammed behind Delia loudly as she trudged into the room, throwing her surprisingly light school bag on the wooden floor. Heaving a great sigh of relief, she flopped onto the bed closest to the window, her face smothered by the ratty quilt.

It had been a long day. A really long day.

She should have seen it coming, too. She was usually good about those things, taking extra precautions to avoid whatever had decided to mess up her life, but that day had been an exception. That day had been some serious suckage. First, she had been caught trying to skip first period, which resulted in an extra hour of suppervised study time. Next, her math teacher had actually expected her to have studied for that day's test, and threatened to flunk her out if things continued as they were. And the worst part wasn't even the extra homework. The worst part was that he "wanted to help her succeed". Um, gross and invasive much? She didn't even know the guy and he wanted to somehow magically improve her life. Psh. What an asshole.

Rolling over onto her back, Delia fished around in one of the drawers in her nightstand, searching for a cigarette. She needed something to get her through the rest of the day. And besides, she had only had time to smoke two others earlier. Cracking the window, she pulled out her lighter and puffed the cigarette to life. Sighing again, she broke into a relaxed smile, taking a long drag. Kicking off her shoes, she settled into more comfortable position against the wall. Thank god her sick little roommate wasn't there to piss her off.

God, she hated that Lucy chick. Who did she think she was, trying to boss Delia around the way she did? And oh! The voice! It was so chirpy and perky and... ick. Delia had a hard time refraining from poisoning the girl in her sleep. That is, if you could even call Lucy a girl. She was so close to that Cory guy they might as well have been one person. She looked like a little lost puppy around Cory, and the effect was nauseating. That Lucy thing needed some serious help.

Oh! That reminded her; she had writers waiting for the perfect answer to their question, which she was only too happy to give. She was good at that whole question column, and she knew it. Why should she keep her genius to herself? That would be selfish.

Jumping down from the bed, Delia placed the cigarette tightly between her lips as she ripped open her school bag and extracted her white laptop from the rest of worthless crap littering the bottom of the bag. Taking care to keep the smoke as undetectable ad possible, she hurried back to the open window, where she took a seat. With one last lungful of sweet, sweet smoke, she opened the computer with a crisp click.

[tinkerbell]

Lucy felt empty.

And she was ready to cry.

But she was nibbling on a sugar filled pixie stick, settling her blue eyes on the door with caution, wondering how in the world she was going to walk through that door and not get beat up.

If only her mother had signed that permission form for her to be in a co-ed dorm. But no. She had to be a bitch about it and tell her to make new “friends.” Yeah right. Like DELIA MARLONE, the local drug dealer was ever going to be her friend! And what a horrible parent, sticking her in the room with the buddy of freaking Veronica Scott! It was simply atrocious.

She took a deep breath, her hand lingering on the doorknob. God, that weirdo could be doing anything in there. She could be DEALING! Right at this moment! There could be some horrible druggies in there right now buying…what do they call them now? Goods? Grrrr. She was gonna be dealing with this every single day now! The thought made her want to puke. And no Cory! Honestly, she was going to fall apart! What was the big deal about co-ed dorms anyway? Cory and Lucy slept over each other’s houses. It had never really even been an issue. They were practically…siblings. Her heart fell. Hmmm. Siblings. That’s all she was ever going to be…

OKAY… she thought. CHANGE OF THOUGHT TOPIC.

She needed to open this door. Or she would just be standing here for hours. She braced herself for the worst, yanking open the door…

And immediately started coughing.

There was SMOKE in the room. EWWWWW.

“Can we, um, please keep those to a minimum?” she whined, quickly swiping the cigarette out of Delia’s mouth and tossing it into the trash. “It’s kind of disgusting. No offense.”

With that, she tiptoed as silently as possible to her side of the room, opening her bag and beginning to cover the walls in Twilight and Jonas Brother’s posters.

“I hope you don’t mind,” she mumbled. “But Nick is a cutie, isn’t he?”

She laughed nervously, glancing back at Delia, trying to seem friendly. It did not seem to be working.

How was she gonna surivive?

[jill]

“Dear Fairy Godmother,

OMG, there’s this guy in my chemistry class and he’s the hottest thing on the face of this earth!
We have (teehee) chemistry!
Or at least we would have if he even knew that I existed.
How can I get him to fall in love with me?
Thank yooooou!

- Loveless”

Delia smiled as she reread the message, rolling the cigarette across her teeth. Yeah, this was what she lived for. A nice smoke, a quiet dorm, and a wonderful letter from a hormonal teenage girl in need. There really was no higher form of perfection.

Biting at her lower lip in concentration, she began popping her fingers one by one. After a quick wave of both hands, she laid them gently back on the keyboard and began typing.

“Loveless,

Classroom crushes are usually the best way to get to know someone, but are sometimes tricky to get rolling. You say he doesn’t even know you’re there? Well, get out there and prove your existence! Just remember, starting slow is the best way to go. Nothing scares away the guy faster than complete and total attention from a girl. Start with a simple “hello” and work your way up from there. Who knows? Maybe he wants to get to know you just as much as you want to know him.

Best of luck!

Fairy Godmother”

Delia leaned back against the wall, finding she had been slumping closer and closer into the computer screen during the duration of her letter-writing. Stretching her arms out in front of her, she pulled the cigarette out from between her lips, letting a yawn pass through before replacing the stick of paper. Scratching her head thoughtfully, she dragged her right pointer finger across the mouse pad, bringing the cursor to sit over the “send” button.

Just as she was about to click, the door flew open.

Jumping a good foot in the air, she slammed the laptop shut. Throwing it under her pillow, she snapped her head back up to stare wildly into the intruder’s eyes.

Ugh. Lucy.

Her expression shifted into a disgusted leer as she looked up at the blond girl that had just entered the room. God, the thing could have been four years old, the way it dressed. Smirking, Delia crossed her legs on the bed criss cross apple sauce style, waiting for Lucy to break the silence.

“Can we, um, please keep those to a minimum? It’s kind of disgusting. No offense.”

Delia watched in horror as Lucy flicked the cigarette into the trash, acting as though the thing carried multiple infectious diseases. As soon as the cigarette hit the wastebasket’s bottom, she climbed out of the bed to retrieve it, muttering, “Oh, yeah. Fire hazards are fun, aren’t they?”

It was pretty clear her roommate wasn’t a smoker.

Shuffling into the little bathroom, she ran the cigarette under the water for a second before replacing it in the trash. Rubbing her hands together slowly, she turned back towards the beds, and nearly died.

“I hope you don’t mind. But Nick is a cutie, isn’t he?”

“You’re not serious, right?” she asked, the pitch close to that of hysterical laughter. “This is just a joke?” She leaned back slightly, her hands up and her brow furrowed. This had to be a trick. No one seriously liked those guys anymore, right? And Twilight? What the fuck? How old was she?

[tinkerbell]

Lucy gasped. How rude! Who the hell did this chick think she was? Laughing and making fun of her interests? She instantly felt a mood swing coming on.

“Actually,” she said, her voice escalating a pitch. “It’s not a joke. It’s not a joke at all! At least reading Twilight is a much better hobby than destroying every organ in my body with that disgusting…stuff!”

As she uttered the last word, she jabbed the last thumb tack into the poster, standing back to observe its glory.

“You need some help!” she muttered, biting down hard onto the pixie stick in her hand. “You’re pathetic, really. It’s bad enough I have to room with you. I’m going to decorate however I feel like.”

Lucy was suddenly filled with regret. It had seemed like a good idea to stand up for herself…at least it had a few minutes ago. But…suddenly…she realized that despite her snappy and well timed remarks, she still had the same thin, fragile frame and the same very vertically challenged height.

Delia could be just some lousy drug dealer. Or…she could be dangerous…and even if she wasn’t, she could send one of her totally scary pals over. Like Veronica. Lucy cringed, imagining her bones being ripped in half.

This was going to be one interesting year.