"BRO, HOW SICK is it having a girl in the dorm?" Brad Hastings questions as he sits on the floor, his elbows rested on the top of the stained wooden coffee table and his textbook open out in front of him. His roommate, Henry nodded as he glanced up from furiously writing down a few equations. 

"Hell yeah." He agrees, "Plus she's the only one who knows how to work the washing machine." 

Everyone in the room laughs and nods in agreement. What started as Noah and I studying in the common room had turned into a full blown lecture by myself; Professor Hayden. Some boys had changed the pool table into an makeshift studying table and others were scattered around the room either on the floor of the mismatched chairs. 

I barely had time to study because I was too busy helping other people with their work. I didn't mind though because it was kind of like a mini test for myself. Also a damn test of my patience with some of the questions they were asking, half of them were not even remotely related to their study topic. 

I move my book from my lap and stand up from my position squished between Noah and Levi. I fix the waist of my jeans before turning back to the two guys, "I'm going to get a drink, make sure no one takes my spot." 

"But what if I don't know how to multiply two numbers together!" Noah whines with an adorable pout. Even though Noah was older than me, he constantly reminded me of a cute little eight year old boy. 

"Just ask Levi." I gesture lazily to Levi. Noah rotates his gaze slowly from me to Levi and then back to me. 

"But you're so much better at it!" He argues as Levi grunts, offended. 

"Yeah, keep that up and you'll just be a strange smell in the janitor's closet." Levi smirks evilly at Noah as he flinches back, slightly startled. I laugh at the two best friends before quickly making my escape. I walk through the double doors and down the long corridor to the stairs, almost running into someone who was coming down. 

"Oh, Hayden!" Luke greets, kind of chock that I almost bulldozed him over. 

"Hey Luke." I smile as I nervously play with the sleeves of my black sweater. I step up onto the step and press my back against the wall, facing Luke who was leaning back against the wooden bannister, looking handsome as ever. 

"We're still on for Saturday right? You're not planning to be hungover or anything." Luke chuckles as my eyes widen with realisation. 

"Oh shit." I slap myself on the forehead, "I totally forgot." 

Luke's smile falters, "Wait, you are?" 

"No. Oh god, no." I laugh lightly as I brush my hand through the air, "My mom is actually coming up for the weekend and she's bringing my cousin with her. I was going to tell you but then...." 

"But then you forgot." Luke finishes my sentence as I nod, solemnly. Luke then laughs and runs his hand through his sandy blond hair, "Wow, the universe just doesn't want us to be together, does it?" 

"Ha ha, yeah..." I laugh at his statement, glancing around in case Chase spawns from the deepest depths of hell again and I'll have to break up yet another fight. 

"Well, maybe we can have dinner some time this week because a little birdy told me it's your birthday on Thursday?" Luke questions with a small smirk as I nod and huff. 

"Unfortunately." I smile up at him as we laugh together. November 5th, the day I came into this shit hole of a world and made it a little less shitty. It would be my first birthday spent without my mother but at least she's coming on the Saturday, so it's kind of like a belated birthday present. 

"I'll text you later?" Luke questions as I nod and push off the wall. He continues down the stairs and glances back up at me with a small wave, "Bye." 

"See ya." 

When he disappears into the floor below and continue my way up at the stairs and into my dorm room. It was empty when I unlocked the door and I don't know why, but I was slightly disappointed that Chase wasn't there. I hadn't seen him since we kissed last night. 

I heard him come in when I was half asleep and drooling all over my pillow but when I woke up for training this morning , he was gone. Was he ashamed of kissing me? I mean, I was a little embarrassed but at least I wanted to talk about it, to clear the air. 

Oh shit. What if I'm a terrible kisser? Well, I haven't had any complaints before but I was so nervous around Chase. 

I shake the thought off and march across my room, opening the door to the shared mini fridge and retrieving a bottle of cooled water. At the same time as I unscrew the lid, my phone buzzes in the back pocket of my jeans and I pull it out, glancing quickly at the screen as I take a large gulp of the water. 

It was from Vera, asking if I wanted to do a movie night at her's. Penn was bringing the popcorn which meant I was on chocolate, usually bought from the vending machine near the library; the only one with reasonable snacks. I cheerily reply back that I was definetly in and make my way back down to the common room. 

  ♤♤♤♤  

After helping everyone out with their homework, I realised I had my own homework to do. So I excused myself, much to Noah's dismay, and headed over to the library for some peace and quiet. As much as I loved helping the guys out, I really needed to get my own studying done. 

I was listening to a classical music playlist while burying myself in the pages of my physics textbook when someone heavily dropped into the chair in front of me. I glance up through the curtain of hair that had fallen over my eyes and begin to move my things that I had lazily spread out over the expanse of the wooden table. 

My hands scramble as I move everything to the side, "Sorry—" 

"You're the girl rooming with Chase right?" The girl questions and my hands freeze. I glance up at her again, frowning confused as my hands freeze. 

"Uh, yeah?" I state but it came out more like a question than anything else. 

"So, how much was it?" She asks with a small smirk on her dark, plum lips. Her make up was scarily perfect from her killer contour to the razor sharp pointed wing liner around her dark brown eyes. 

I splutter, still immensely confused on who this chick was, "How much was what?" 

"How much did you bribe Sully to put you in the room? Huh?" She intertwines her hands, resting them on the table as if she interviewing me for some super exclusive job. Did she seriously think I willingly paid to be put through hell? To sleep seven feet away from the literal fucking devil's spawn. 

"Okay," I purse my lips, dropping my pencil and folding my arms across my chest, "Who the hell are you?" 

"My name's Lea, with out an h." The girl stands, pulling her leather handbag onto her shoulder and smiling down at me, "And just a word of advice, stay the fuck away from Chase." 

She then turns around, her long brown hair making a dramatic flip. She walks away as I sit there, stunned just watching her. 

"How am I suppose to do that when we dorm together?" I ask loudly, my arms open wide in question as she struts her way out of the library, curious students glancing between the two of us. "Hello—yup, and she's gone." 

I drop my arms, sighing heavily as I tilt my head back, staring up at the white ceiling. Was she Chase's girlfriend? 

Ha, no way, fuck that. Chase doesn't do commitment, relationships or any romantic feelings for that matter. Chase is the wham-bam-thank-you-mam kind of guy and there's no way in hell he'd have a girlfriend when he brings girls around to our dorm almost every night. 

Slowly, I glance back down at my open textbook and shut it with a very depressing slap. I was too distracted to study now, thanks a lot Lea without a fucking h. 

I get she's being protective of her silly school girl crush but she didn't need to be such a bitch about it. That's with a fucking h. 

Shovelling my book back into my bag, I pull my denim jacket back onto my body and wrap my grey scarf around my neck before quickly high tailing it out of the library and away from the never ending whispers. I'm like a damn drama magnet. 

I make it back to Elwood without another run in with Lea and instead of going to my dorm, I head in the direction of Noah's in fear of Chase being in there. So much for wanting to talk about the kiss. 

When I stumble through Noah's door, I notice Levi and Noah's roommate, Ryan were also in there. 

I drop my bag to the ground and collapse on to Noah's bed, "Okay, quick question, who the hell is Lea?" 

There was a slight pause before Noah perks up, "You're going to have to be more specific, Hay. Is it Leah Roberts or Leah McKinley, you know the one who smokes like a fuck ton of weed, is it Leah Fawn, the girl who likes to smell Levi's hair in Geography, Lea Stone without the h, Leah Johnson—" 

"The one without the h." I interrupt him as I answer abruptly, "The one who looks like she'd kill me and wear my insides as a fucking scarf." 

"Oh, Lea." Noah smiles, "She's one of Chase's exes." 

"Of course she is." I roll my eyes as I throw myself onto my back with a loud, hefty sigh. 

"Why? What happened?" Levi questions from where he was perched on Noah's bright cherry red bean bag in the middle of the dorm. I push up onto my elbows and glance down at him. 

"Well, first of all, the bitch had the audacity to assume I bribed the school to put myself in a dorm with Chase and the second, she told me to stay away from him which really confused me because I don't see how that's possible since I sleep five feet away from from him." I relay the whole conversation to the three boys. 

Ryan sat criss cross apple sauce on his bed, eating a whole damn packet of salted potato chips, thoroughly invested in my seemingly never ending drama. There's really no wonder as to why this dorm always smells like food, everytime I come here one of them, if not both, are eating. 

"Chase and Lea were together for most of sophomore year until half way through last year. It was a very toxic relationship since both of them weren't the most loyal of people. Well, Chase just slept with other girls after he learnt Lea was sleeping around behind his back. She had started doing it way before." Noah explains, dramatically waving his hand through the air, "She isn't that scary." 

"Did you miss the part where I said she would wear my insides as a scarf if she wanted to?" I lean forward, pointing at my chest as the other three guys wear, "Her eyeliner is sharp enough to cut a bitch." 

"Well, if you think about it, Lea only said those things because she's the one who feels threatened by you. You're badass, Hay, you literally throw sass around like it's confetti." Noah laughs to himself as I stare at him in shock. 

I then slowly applaud him, "Get this man a damn TED Talk." 

wow, twenty chapters!!!

i'm actually so damn proud of myself that i've written this much. but don't worry, still many more chapters to go. 

what do you guys think of luke? is he a good match for hayden?