Chapter 122

Emma's POV 

 "Hey Freshie." A guy with an already receding hairline called out to me. 

I was still recovering from the seven hours flight I took a day before. 

The excitement of a new environment was what kept me going through the stress of it. 

I'd been to multiple offices, and I had a couple of classes. 

Majoring in Women's and Gender studies meant I had classes four times a week. I didn't consider it such a bad deal, 

I walked away as fast as I could, I'd heard so many stories about college, and I was on a video call with Lily. 

She and Gray have been in Berlin for about three weeks, all of which she kept in touch with me. 

 "Just a few hours in and you're already making your mark." She squeaked over the phone. 

It was weird enough that I was walking around on a video call, everyone around me was ducking, and I understood they prolly didn't want their faces on camera. 

 "Trust you to notice those kinds of things." I replied to her 

 "I'm sorry it caught my attention." She said, unapologetically. 

 "That's fine." I played along. 

 "Baby girl, I've gotta run now. They're done with my make up and I can't hold the phone while I'm getting the dress worn." She rapped over the phone. 

 "Alright." I gave up. "Send pictures though." With that, we ended the call, and it made me realize how tough it was gonna be for me. 

I sucked at making new friends, I always had. 

I didn't need to check my ToDo for the day to know that I had about six classes. 

I love through the day taking pictures and videos when I could cause Lily said she was gonna skin me alive if I forgot to. 

 "Is anyone next to you?" A ginger haired young lady with multiple tats asked 

I found myself staring at her instead of answering her question. 

 "That's rude." She brought me back to my senses.

 "Oh, I'm so sorry." I apologized, tearing my eyes away from her, "yeah, there's no one there." I answered, half expecting her to turn away out of anger. 

 "I've endured looks like that all day, and I'm starting to wonder if it's high school again, or college for real." She broke the silence. 

 "I'm really sorry, I just haven't…" I started, struggling to get hold of my thoughts. 

 "There's nothing to apologize for, hun." She said laughing. Her wide smile revealed a gum piercing. 

 "That's pretty." I said, it was baby steps in the direction of acknowledging things I actually liked, but was forced to do the opposite by my mom. "I've always loved piercings." I added. 

 "Really?" She asked, "you should try getting some. They're fun." She blinked rapidly, about four times, batting her naturally thick lashes. 

 "Welcome, everyone." And that was the end of our conversation. The prof in charge of the course was around, and everywhere fell into pin-drop silence. 

Ginger-haired, as I didnt know her name yet, slipped her card to me, minutes before the lecture was over. 

She blew air kisses and left. 

I loved her energy. It reminded me of Lily. She was carefree, and only too ready to make new friends. 

I checked out the card and apparently, like I suspected, she ran a tattoo and piercing parlor in her apartment, somewhere not too far from school. 

 "Oh well." I commended myself for profiling her correctly at least and slipped her card into my purse. I was gonna lose it, but I also didn't want to call attention to myself as I was sitting right opposite the professor. 

The class was soon over. I enjoyed it, even though it seemed like there was so much to be done, but that's what I was there for anyway. 

Classes came and went, and soon, the day was spent. 

Mark and my mom, had not been on such good terms lately, but the one thing they agreed on was getting me an apartment. 

It was a pretty studio apartment that had the window in the kitchenette looking directly into the walls of MIT. 

I had just one class the next day, and because I wanted her to sit next to me again, I saved a seat for her.

 "Thank you." She smiled as she crashed beside me. I recognized the perfume she wore, and while I couldn't really point out where I'd smelled it, it almost made me really tense, trying to remember. 

 "It's nothing." I replied to her. 

 "Sure you wanna be next to me?" She asked, smiling. 

 "Positive." I confirmed. 

 "I'm Casey." She said, extending her hand. Her fingers had ink stains. 

 "I'm Emma." I reciprocated. I hoped that would be the beginning of some pretty ass friendship and life of fun in college. 

 "Let's do this." She said, more to herself. 

I felt so jittery sitting next to her. 

Casey wore large pants and a big top, with waist chains, her hair fell all over, and she never hid a smile. 

Once again, class came and went, and it was soon time to return to my hole. 

 "So," she said, stuffing notebooks that were as empty as she brought them into her bag, "what other plans do you have?" 

 "Nothing really, I'm not much fun." I admitted, sadly.

 "Come with me." She sounded risky and I liked it.

I was fighting my common sense whether to ask or not. I'd been in Massachusetts for only two days, and I didn't want to be in trouble, so I asked, "Where are we going?" Even though I was already following her side by side. 

 "Nowhere fun. My apartment." She said, 

 "Doesn't that need a formal invitation, something like 'I'd love to have you at my humble abode?', doesn't it?" I asked, laughing. 

 "Who said it was humble?" She asked. 

Oops. "It's fucking boastful." She laughed. "Sometimes I think it's too many colors, then I remind myself that it's on those days I be hating myself." 

 "That's great, I guess." I didn't have anything else to say. 

 "I have a client though, love to see me work?" She asked, reaching for her phone in her pants, with her big ass top in the way. 

 "We're, I'm on my way." I found that just a bit strange. Why "We"?

Against my better reasoning, I didn't ask.