Sk8er Boi (Logan Reese)

two: sushi rox? more like sushi sucks

My original thoughts about Zoey were good ones. She seemed like a nice girl, one that I could see myself being friends with. We really clicked, too, and it was refreshing to find someone that I could just talk to without feeling like I had to hide who I was. That was, until her annoying friends came around. 

Let's back up a little. Zoey and I were walking through PCA, heading toward my new dorm room. I thought that PCA was very confusing, but listening to Zoey explain how to get around showed me that I didn't have to worry. It was basically a square, with the dorms on one side of the square and the classes on the other side. 

Finally, we made it back to my dorm. When I first got here, the Dean had someone take my suitcases to my room for me so that I could walk around the campus, finding my way around. There must have been something wrong with that guy because making a new kid walk around a huge campus by herself was a terrible idea. I was glad that Zoey found me, or else I wouldn't have made it to my dorm room.

Zoey swept her arms to the side, stopping in front of a door near a corner of the building. It was near Room 101, which was cool because that meant we were near the common area. She gave me a huge grin, saying, "Welcome to your dorm room!"

Digging through my satchel, I located the keys to my room. A slight tremor of excitement ran through me, which was weird. Usually, I was never excited to be somewhere new, especially at a place like this. But there was the tiny sliver of excitement in the deepest pits of my soul, working its way through my body. I stomped it away, leaving me with a numb feeling. Much better. 

I unlocked the door, swinging it open to reveal . . . electronic devices? The Dean did tell me that I would have a roommate, but I wasn't expecting this. Slowly setting my satchel on the bed closest to the door, I spun around in a circle. Nearly every inch of the room was covered in lit up electronics, and there was a beeping coming from one of the electronics attached to the wall. A girl was sitting in the center of the room, her head bowed. 

"Quinn!" Zoey exclaimed, pushing me to the side. The girl on the ground glanced up, a grin appearing on her face. She jumped up and wrapped her arms around Zoey. "I didn't know we were neighbors."

Zoey must live in Room 101. I didn't know how to feel about that. Sure, she was nice to me, but there was a little part of me that didn't want to befriend anyone here. 

"Of course we're neighbors!" Quinn said, backing away from Zoey. Her dark hair was pulled back in so many braids, some with different colored strands in it. Her glasses were perched on the middle of her nose, making her eyes look much bigger than they were. "I asked to be in the room next door so we can chat all the time!"

Zoey's whole exterior changed. Her shoulders grew taut, her back straightened, she backed up a few steps. I noticed a screen on the wall, which was where the beeping came from. That was weird. 

"Quinn," Zoey said, her voice sounding a little bit strangled, "this is your new roommate, Kelsey Rivera."

Quinn's eyes zeroed in on me, taking in my gruff appearance. Under her scrutinizing eyes, I tugged my tan jacket tighter around my body, shifting my weight from both feet. She didn't look like she wanted to be roommates with me, and I reciprocated the feeling. "Hello," I said, waving slightly. "I'm Kelsey."

"Quinn." She hesitantly stuck out her hand, and I took it. Her hand was kind of sweaty, so when I brought my hand back, I wiped it on the side of my jeans. "I thought I'd be rooming with Stacey Dillsen, but I guess you're alright."

"Hey, Nicole and I got a new roommate," Zoey said before I could even open my mouth. She glanced over at me, subtly shaking her head. I did get angry at Quinn, but she was my roommate, and I did not want to fight with her on the first day I met her. "Her name is Lola, and she's a freak."

"Who's a freak?" a voice said behind us. I spun around to see a girl wearing a white wig on her head. She was wearing goth-like clothes, but I knew she wasn't a true goth. She was acting, and she wasn't doing a very good job of it. "Because, if I'm the freak, then that's a compliment."

"Right," Zoey said, drawing out the word. 

I flashed the girl -- Lola -- a grin, saying, "Hi, I'm Kelsey. I'm new here."

Her eyes looked me up and down, a grimace appearing on her face. My grin dropped from my own face when I saw how disgusted she looked when she saw me. However, she forced a smile onto her face. "I'm new, too," she said happily, her voice sounding very fake. "I didn't think that PCA would let a girl like you in, but I'm glad they did!"

Okay, what was wrong with these people? I may not be the nicest person ever, but I was not that standoffish. Gritting my teeth, I said, "Oh, I'm not surprised that they let me in, but how could they let in a liar like you?" Reaching forward, I yanked the wig off her head, allowing her dark hair to spill over her shoulders. Her eyes flashed open as she glanced around the small group. "You didn't hide your real hair very well, Lola."

"Woah, Lola, where'd your hair go?" another girl said from behind us. I glanced over my shoulder and saw another brown-haired girl standing there, a frown on her pretty face. "Didn't you just have white, spiky hair?"

"Yeah," she said, standing up straighter. "I'm an actress, so I wanted to do the ultimate acting challenge: trick my roommates into thinking I was someone else." She sent a glare to me. "But then this girl had to reveal my secret, but I'm not bitter."

"Yeah." Zoey turned toward me, her eyes wide. She pointed at the other girl behind us, saying, "That's Nicole, my other roommate." Then, her brown eyes lit up, and she looked around the room, at the other girls. "Hey, there's this cool sushi restaurant on campus. Would you all like to go?"

All the other girls chimed in with yes's, but I had a no on the tip of my tongue. I was surprised to hear that Lola would say yes since she just lied to her new roommates. Zoey glanced over at me, a hopeful grin on her face. For some reason, a no didn't come out of my mouth. A yes did. 

And that was how we ended up going to Sushi Rox, the sushi restaurant located near the exit of the PCA campus. Lola was actually pretty funny, but I didn't laugh at her jokes. I was too mad at her for judging me based on my looks. Nicole was too peppy for me, only talking about boys and clothes. Quinn talked about his her Quinnventions, whatever those were. Zoey talked a little bit on the way, but she mostly just listened, like me. 

As we made it to the restaurant, a curly haired kid that looked like Logan ran out of the building, nearly running into the group of us. He tripped over his own feet, rolling down the stairs that led up to the building. I realized it wasn't Logan, the egotistical maniac from earlier, from his girly scream. 

"Chase!" 

Zoey, Nicole, and Quinn ran down the stairs, kneeling next to the boy groaning on the ground. Lola and I just stood there in an awkward silence. I wasn't even sure why I was there, to be honest. My mom made me try sushi back home, and it was the worst decision of my life. I had gotten violently ill from the sushi, so any thought of raw fish made me feel sick. 

Turning toward Lola, I said, "If they asked where I went, tell them that I'm back at the dorms."

"No thanks."

Rolling my eyes, I spun on my heel, walking away from the weird people. There was something stabbing me in the thigh, so I stuffed my hand into my pocket. I grinned when I pulled my MP3 player out of my pocket, sticking the headphones into my ears. Turning my music on, I finally felt happy. There was no way I was going to befriend anyone here, based off of the people I just met. If the other people were anything like that, then I would have no problem being by myself.