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It
was at the beginning of her second year at Trinity (after the
first Mexico trip) that Angela moved in with Stephanie Bowers.
Upon first sight of the neatly dressed blonde woman, Angela was
drastically relieved; Stephanie exhibited all the signs of someone
who knew how to clean up after herself without utilizing such
shortcuts as "throw it under the bed" or "stuff
it in a drawer". In fact, Angela's new roommate seemed a
little too neat and clean...even suspiciously so. When they first
met Angela entered the dorm room to find Stephanie picking pieces
of lint out of the thick beige carpeting at her feet.
"Oh, hello. You must be my new roommate." Stephanie
slipped the lint into her pants pocket and extended her hand.
Angela walked past her with a quick "yes, hi" and sat
on the bed that was not covered in matching paisley luggage.
"I'm sorry, I'm just not very good at being around people.
I hope you have some other friends that can keep you company.
I'd really just rather think about school, so I hope you don't
mind if I'm not very social." She glanced over at Stephanie
to see how she was handling this information. Stephanie actually
looked a bit stunned at this piece of news, and for a second
Angela felt a twinge of pity.
Stephanie paused and started slowly, as if she felt that each
of her words would determine the course of the next year. "Well,
I understand completely, and I hope we can be friends despite
your busy schedule. I'll try to stay out of your way, but feel
free to let me know if you feel like doing something. It's, um,
it's actually quite refreshing to meet someone who seems so serious
about their studies. I wish you the best of luck." With
that, Stephanie turned away from Angela and started pulling clothes
out of one of her suitcases.
It was Angela's turn to be stunned. She had imagined this woman
immediately throwing some kind of fit, demanding a new roommate
and going on a rampage against anti-social behavior. Instead
she had said about the most considerate and starkly eloquent
thing Angela had heard in a long time. Lord knows if her last
roommate had even uttered one polysyllabic word in between bites
of her pepperoni lovers pizza. This year might actually even
be bearable, Angela thought to herself. She took off her backpack
and went out to her car to get the rest of her crap.
By the time she got back, Stephanie had already unpacked all
of her luggage and was arranging her half of the closet. When
Angela's carload fell to the floor with a clatter, Stephanie
poked her head out of the closet and smiled. "Are you hungry?
I thought maybe we could go get something to eat at Howsen Hall."
Already! Angela scrunched up her face in exaggerated pain. "I
thought I just told you. I don't like people. What part of that
did you not understand? I don't want to go anywhere with you
or anyone else. I'll eat when I feel like it, not before. Certainly
not just as an excuse to 'chat' about 'stuff'. Thanks but no
thanks. I've got better things to do. No offense." She realized
she was being a bit harsh, but she felt it was a good idea to
get the ground rules out as early as possible, so that the situation
was clear from the start.
Stephanie's face dropped. "Listen to me. Somehow we are
going to have to find a way to live together. You have done everything
to try to make that an impossibility. A simple 'no, I'm not hungry'
would have sufficed." It was clear she was starting to lose
her temper. "And don't flatter yourself. Not everyone wants
to be your friend. Consider me the newest member of the group
that really doesn't mind if you crawl off to live in some dark
introverted hell. I hope you enjoy it there." With that
she grabbed her bag and left the room with a slam.
"Well. Not everyone wants to be your friend either."
Angela stretched out on the bed for a few moments before realizing:
she was hungry. She waited a couple of minutes to let Stephanie
have a good-sized lead on her, and then she grabbed her own bag
and headed for "The Lion's Den", the student snack
bar. Hopefully it wouldn't be too crowded...
Chapter
3
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CHAPTER 2
