Chapter One

"So, honey, are you excited?" My grandma asks.

"Yeah, kinda."

"College is a big change." My grandpa says. "You're gonna learn how to be responsible and work hard."

"I already am responsible, Pap. And I do work hard." I say.

"Well, we're here." He says. I take a deep breath. "We'll miss you, baby."

"Miss you, too." I say to him.

"Promise you'll call, okay?" My grandma asks.

"I promise, Memaw." I say and they both hug me and let me get out and get my stuff. I start to walk away while waving. "See you guys, love you!" And with that, I'm gone.

***

I wait in the room. I was the first one to get here, so I'm waiting for my other roommates, whoever they are. I hear a key on the door and sit up. In walks a familiar face. I gasp when seeing her.

"Zoey!" I run up and hug her.

"What's up, Addie!" She hugs back. "Haven't seen you in forever!"

"I know, right?" I say in response and break the hug. "Do you know who our other roommate is?"

"There's two actually." She says. "And why?" She gets closer. "You want a guy roomie?"

I laugh at her. "Eh, maybe." I shrug.

"Well, there's our old friend Cody and his friend Mark." She smiles.

"Cody?" I ask, not knowing who she's talking about.

"You know, from elementary school? He was the one who we made fun of. The whole dog thing." She giggles.

"Oh yeah!" I remember how we used to act like Cody was a dog and call him Twinkle Biscuit in third grade, even though he absolutely hated it. "Those were fun times." I say.

"Yeah..." She starts to unpack her stuff. When she's finished, we start watching some random videos of us, sharing a few laughs, making up for the lost time.

"Have you heard anything about your mom?" She asks.

"Kind of." I say. "I found out she's living at the end of the street in some shed. And she drew on the road in chalk one day saying stuff like 'Pray for those who mistreat you' and 'God loves you' and even 'Love, Mom and Dad'.

"Jeez."

"As far as I'm concerned, she doesn't even exist." I admit. "Neither does Dad."

"Hmm." She hums. A few seconds later we hear keys and the doorknob turns. Two guys walk in. One I can immediately tell is Cody. His dirty blond hair and blue eyes tell me. He's wearing a dark blue hoodie and black jeans. "Damn, took you guys long enough." Zoey laughs a little.

"Yeah, sorry." Cody says without even turning to face us. "Mark kept wanting to stop."

"Hey, I needed coffee." Mark says, smiling, and looks at us. He first looks at Zoey, who's gone on to reading a book, then looks straight at me, eyeing me up and down and I can't tell why. So I just wave a bit. Then he just goes back to getting his stuff in the room. He has black hair, a bit of stubble, hazel eyes, and is wearing a burgundy shirt with gray jeans.

Once everyone's situated, we're all sitting in the room. Zoey and Cody are side by side on the edge of the bed, I'm beside Zoey on the floor, and Mark's leaning against the wall. "Soo..." I say, breaking the silence. "What are we all doing?"

"I dunno." Cody says.

"Ooh! What if we played truth or dare!" Zoey says excitedly.

"Yeah!" I agree. "But I'm not good at coming up with the dares ... or questions."

"That's fine." Cody says. "What if we did it like we used to?" Zoey and I look at him, basically telling him to explain. "You know, if someone says a dare or asks a question, you can pass or forfeit, but they get to choose another one and that one we have to do, no passes or takebacks."

"Oh yeah, okay." I say. "Mark, you playing?" I ask, noticing that he's being kind of quiet.

"Sure, why not." He says.

"Okay, I'll start." Zoey says. "Addie, truth or dare?"

"Truth." I say.

"Hmm," She thinks. "What's your biggest fear?"

"Mannequins, easily." I say. "But really only the ones with the expressions ... or just faces."

We all play for a while, doing and asking stupid stuff until it's Mark's turn. "Addison. Truth or dare?" He asks, sitting down on the floor.

"Uh, dare."

He puts his elbow on his knee and rests his head in his hand. "I dare you to sleep with me tomorrow night." He smirks a bit.

"Oh..." I awkwardly smile. "Heh, uh, I- maybe nooo..." I stretched the last word out for no real reason. Then he just smiles more.

"Okay then." He says. "I dare you to sleep with me tonight." I mentally slap myself.

"Uh, hey," Zoey chimes in. "What if she doesn't, though." She says, trying to stick up for me a little. He just shrugs, still smiling. "Okay..."

Great, it's only been a few hours and I'm already getting uncomfortable in this place.

***

A while passes and we all watch a few movies, play a few games, and now all of us are bored. "Jesus Christ, I'm bored."

"Sucks to be you then." Zoey jokes. "But seriously, I am too." She looks around the room for a minute. "Hmm."

"It's kinda late." Cody says. I've been putting off going to sleep, though.

"Yeah, it is, isn't it." Mark smiles, looking at the clock which says 11:03 pm.

"Well, I'm going to bed." Zoey says. Cody says 'Me too' and they both walk in the rooms they're sleeping in.

"That leaves us then." Mark looks towards me.

"You know," I start. "I think I'm gonna just ... not sleep tonight." I think what I say is kind of smart, but nope.

"Come on, don't tell me you forgot." I look at him to see what he's talking about, even though I already know. "The dare."

'Damnit.' I think. "Yeah, okay, whatever. I'll be there in a minute, you go." And he does. I think of what to do for a minute. I decide to take my Zolpidem so I'll fall asleep faster and go to the bed in the main room of the dorm. I lay down and pretend to fall asleep there, so that if he asks I can say 'I accidentally fell asleep there, sorry' or something.