02. College is wild

'Fourth? There are only three of us.'

Apparently, I'm the only one who cares about that.

Mr. Winston takes a deep, deep breath, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"This isn't how this works," he says, a hint of scolding in his tone

"Hold on," The guy who dragged me into this puts up a hand "Nico, would you mind?"

The second guy, without a hint of his thoughts on his face, pulls a phone from his hoodie and a moment later; I hear Mr. Winston's recorded voice;

"Fine! Get a fourth roommate, and the keys are yours."

Nico puts his phone back and extends a hand towards Mr. Winston "You heard yourself. The keys, if you will."

Mr. Winston's presses his lips together, and turns to me.

"Listen," he begins "You don't want the place these guys are after. That dorm is a mess—

"Does it leak?" I ask

"Pardon?" Mr. Winston blinks

"The roof." I clarify "Does it leak?"

The clerk looks at me for a moment "No."

"Are there beds?"

"Of course, but—

"Cupboards?"

"Yeah, but—

"I'll take it." I say with a nod

"See, Gerald?" The likely progenitor of this situation says "It's over. You have to hand over those keys now."

Mr. Winston looks like he's about to say something, but then purses his lips.

"Fine!" he says, shuffling through a drawer "But don't come back complaining!"

He puts a key on the table, but doesn't pull his hand away "You'll regret this, Reece."

"I'll try my best, Gerald." Reece pries key from under his hand, twirling the key ring around his finger "But I'm afraid you'd be disappointed."

Reece turns to look at us, beaming yet again "Gentlemen, we have it!"

And then the two of them— and I suppose me too— have a moment. Reece kisses the key. Nico pats my head, with a 'You did well', and I'm wondering if I got myself in a messy situation.

I was supposed to have a single room.

"Hold on," Reece says, and then races out of the open glass doors of the administration wing

"Should I be concerned?" I ask Nico

He looks down at me with eyes such a dark shade of blue, they almost looks black.

"Pretty much," He says, and pulls a pair of sunglasses from his hoodie. He puts one on and holds the other one out for me "You might want to put this on."

I've barely grabbed them when a car screeches to a halt, with 'Levitating' busting out in full volume.

The window rolls down and I see Reece, a similar pair of sunglasses on his face and a demonic smirk on his face.

"For you, Gerald." He pulls out a sign and holds it up "You've earned it."

It's big enough that I can clearly see what's printed on it in neat cursive.

'Told you we'd get that key.'

Mr. Winston's face is beet red as he bolts up from his chair, and he opens his mouth to say something and I'm watching this madness unfold when a snap! captures my attention.

I look to the side to find Nico still there.

Taking a picture of Mr. Winston's red face and the offending sign.

The sound also catches Mr. Winston's attention, who's gone still with surprise.

"Apologies, Winston," He gives the clerk a two finger salute "You fought hard."

And then he dashes for the exit. Taking my bag with him.

"You two are going to regret this!" Mr. Winston calls after them

"Oy, pretty boy!" A newly familiar voice diverts my attention

I see Reece waving the sign, grinning the same obnoxious grin.

"You might wanna get in!"

It occurs to my bewildered self that they took my bag.

And I'm supposedly their roommate.

"I don't know what happened," I tell Mr. Winston, backing away "But I'm really sorry for the trouble."

With that I rush out of the administration wing, and throw myself into the back seat of the car.

"Is it even legal to drive in campus?" I ask

"Probably not." Reece grins

And with the song still blaring, we take off to the dorm.

For a moment, I think I should grab my bag and get out while I can.

Then I sigh, scramble to put my seat beat on and gather whatever of my brain is left with just one thought in my head.

College is wild.

…

"You can't be serious."

The dorm building is lively, with students hanging around the premises, already having started their college life one week ago— or more than that, if they aren't new freshmen.

But that's not where Reece and Nico guided me.

I'm staring at the building behind it.

This building is smaller, with maybe four floors and the paint flaking off, and an air of abandonment.

"You were fighting to get," I gesture at the place "This?"

"Beats paying for a room somewhere else," Nico says "Besides, its so old they're charging us half price for it."

"If we live to pay for it." I murmur

"We all get a room." Reece says, in a tone that devils probably use to tempt humans to sell their souls

And it works.

The first floor has been turned into a chemistry lab, and the next two are being used as storage places.

We start for the fourth floor with stairs creaking under our feet, sunlight filtering dust through windows and luggage hitting each other as we take turns.

Well, Reece's luggage.

"Watch it," I swat his bag away with a frown

"My bad," he steps back, and then gestures grandly to give me way "You're welcomed to go first."

I have a feeling if I deny, this is quickly going to become a teasing matter. The shit eating grin on Reece's face is a testament of my suspicions.

Besides, I'm not afraid of old, nearly abandoned buildings.

So I simply turn my chin up and walk ahead.

There are two doors at the fourth floor. 4A and 4B.

"Which one is ours?" I turn to my roommates

"This one is yet another store room." Reece points at 4A "So we have that one."

"Why is this one still a dorm?" I ask

"Who knows?" Reece shrugs, working the key in the heavy lock "Maybe there wasn't anything left to put in storage."

I have a hard time believing that.

The lock clicks, and the door opens with a moaning creak. We walk in, and Nico finds the light switch.

"I think I know why they left it," Nico looks disapprovingly at the interior

Which is covered in layers and layers of dust. The few pieces of furniture in sight are covered with sheets, which are brown with dirt.

"Tell me someone's going to help us clean this," I look at the other two hopefully

"Nope." Reece says brightly "The management is against us being here in the first place."

He puts his luggage back in the hallway, drops his windbreaker there as well and rolls up his sleeves.

"Get your dresses, princess," He says "We're going to clean this place up."

…

Three hours later, we've managed to get brooms from the actual dorm's cleaning crew— who have been denied the right to help us due to Reece and Nico's feud with Gerald— and cleaned the floors, dusted most of the furniture, begged the cleaning crew to get us clean mattresses, acquired said mattresses and now there's just one thing left.

"Latex gloves?"

"Check."

"Surgical masks?"

"Here."

"The cleaning supplies?"

"Everything we have."

Nico and I walk in the bathroom like soldiers willing to put their lives on the line.

The moment the door opens, I shudder. It's worse than I thought it'd be.

"Jesus," Nico steps back "I don't think I can do this."

"Man up," I grab his sleeve lest he runs away "There's no way around it."

"Maybe we can pay someone to do it instead."

"Some things even money can't buy," I shake my head "Why did you and Reece have to piss Gerald off so badly?"

"Its been going on for years," Nico says as we walk in "I honestly don't even remember how it started."

"So you've been a student here before?"

St. Peterson's was approved to start college classes only three years ago. Before that, it was a private high school for prestigious students. Or rich kids. Even now, there aren't much college students here and the only way to differentiate is the uniform high schoolers have to wear.

"Unfortunately," He says, cautiously lifting the lid of the toilet. I turn to the sink and start the tap

"If it was bad, why'd you choose to study here again?" I ask

He shrugs "I can't believe it myself but Reece and—

Nico stops, stills.

"Jay, where's Reece?" He turns around to look at me

"He said he'll clean the fourth room before helping us," I shrug "Why?"

"God damnit," Nico walks out of the bathroom, and in my confusion, I follow after him

The fourth room's door is still shut tight. The front door, however, isn't.

There's a little sticky note on it.

'Couldn't rob Collin of this one in a life time cleaning experience. I'll be back by dinner time!'

That bastard— He left the bathrooms for us to clean!

"How did I not see this coming?" Nico takes a deep, pacing breath. Then in a dead serious tone, adds "Let's kill him when he comes back."

I cross my arms and glare at the note.

"Oh no, I have a better idea."

…

Nico and I silently drink instant coffee in the open kitchenette after a long and grueling battle with the bathrooms.

In an odd way, I don't feel the awkwardness of a stranger around him anymore. Guess when you've been through things together, it brings you closer.

After cleaning, the apartment turned out to be rather pleasant. All the furniture seems to be old, but still in surprisingly good condition. Apparently, these used to be student dorms for foreign high school students years ago.

"I'll go return all the supplies to the cleaning crew," Nico gets up, setting his cup by the sink

"Sure," I get up as well, though I still haven't finished my cup "Let's go."

"Its fine," he waves a dismissive hand "You did more cleaning then me anyways."

My first instinct is to insist I help, but with my sleep deprivation and the grueling cleaning session, the tiredness is catching up to me.

"Your call," I sit back down "thanks though."

Nico gathers all the cleaning supplies and heads out. I finish my coffee in peace and then quickly rinse the cups.

God, I didn't even bring anything except for my clothes, some money, my laptop and phone—

My hands still. Oh shit.

I hurry to the room I've claimed for myself and dig my phone and charger from my bag. I put it on charge, and the screen lights up.

God, Jay must be flipping out.

I'd only given him a thousand calls before leaving.

And then my phone died on the way here.

The moment my phone turns on, I see 59 messages and 36 missed calls from Jay. I wince as I read the top one.

'Uncle Grey said you're not home. Where are you, Jade?'