No Ordinary Girl

Chapter Seven

"Where are you from?" Kendra asked.

"I'm from Illinois... suburb of Chicago."

She nodded, not too interested, and turned to Alicia. "You better put those away. Betty Boop is around and she's not happy."

"Oh crap," Alicia twirled the top of her Cheetos bag and quickly tucked it in the bottom drawer of her night table.

Kendra turned to me. "Contraband," she explained. "We're not allowed junk food. They think it will mess up our chakras or something," she said with a roll of her eyes, "mess with our abilities."

Alicia pulled a face. "Yeah... lots of rules around here."

I nodded. I'm okay with rules. I'm a good girl, but no way was I about to admit that. "Bummer."

Kendra settled her rear right on top of my suitcase. She was one of those people who is just comfortable doing anything she pleases. I envy people like that. I'm always too worried about offending people, about coming off the wrong way. She wore plaid lounge pants and the same Ramones t-shirt I have.

"So you like the Ramones?" I asked, attempting conversation.

She cocked a brow, confused and then looked down at her shirt. "Oh no... never heard them. I just like the t-shirt."

So she was one of those people who wear shirts with logos of bands they've never heard. I usually hate those people but I kind of liked her – she had a nice yellow aura.

"So who's Betty Boop?" I asked, curious.

Alicia perked up. "Miss Baker. Betty. She's the dorm master here. She keeps us all in check."

"Yeah, she makes sure we have absolutely no fun at all," Kendra scoffed. "She's really uptight and she looks like Betty Boop... short dark pixie cut, wears tall heels, frilly blouses, and tight little skirts."

Alicia laughed. "You're just jealous because you can't wear tight little skirts."

Kendra cocked her head. Her gaze darted across the room and lingered on Alicia's uniform hanging on the doorknob of the closet. "Yeah... uniforms bite."

I was hoping to dig into my suitcases and unpack, but what do you say when you're the new girl? Get the heck off my luggage? So we chatted for a bit, then she finally left and I unpacked, made my bed, threw my purple star bedcover on. I hung my uniform which was a little wrinkly, and tried to ignore my grumbling belly.

Thankfully, Alicia showed me around the dorm and made us spicy ramen noodles with eggs, which was actually quite good. She served it with quinoa, and almond milk. "The food in the common kitchen is fully stocked every week by RAMS," she told me. "This little old lady comes in every Monday, which is why the cupboards are a little bare right now. She's coming tomorrow."

I slurped my tasty noodles – I was starved. "Very cool."

"Yeah." She scowled. "It's all healthy yogi crap. RAMS believes in the whole 'your body is your temple' thing."

"I could eat anything right now," I told her between eager bites. "All I had today was cereal this morning and a small tin of Pringles."

"Trust me, this healthy stuff gets old... even the cafeteria food is the same. That's why we all sneak in junk food."

Following dinner, we stayed up late binge watching Pretty Little Liars, and I finally went to bed at around midnight. I buried myself under the covers, but was still wide awake. Within five minutes, Alicia was already snoring lightly. Still completely wired, I pulled out my journal and my night light, and settled Pompom by my side, knowing I wasn't going to get a wink of sleep.