My campus life

chapter 4 Roommates core

Olivia woke up to the sound of yelling echoing down the dorm hallway. The shrill, almost theatrical scream made her jolt upright in bed. For a moment, she thought she was dreaming, but the commotion only grew louder.

Her roommate, Tasha, was in full-blown battle mode, her voice ringing through the corridor. “Did you seriously just take my cereal?!” she shouted, throwing her hands in the air like it was a crime scene.

Olivia rubbed her eyes, trying to wake herself fully. “Why is this happening at 7 AM?” she muttered under her breath. The dorm smelled faintly of burnt toast and lingering coffee from early risers, which somehow made everything feel even more chaotic.

The intruder, a girl Olivia didn’t recognize, looked sheepish, her face turning pink. “I… I thought it was communal…” she stammered, holding a half-empty box of cereal like it were evidence in a trial.

Tasha’s glare could have melted metal. “Communal?! There is no communal cereal in my dorm!” she snapped, spinning around like a tornado.

Olivia quickly slid out of bed and grabbed her sneakers, trying not to get caught in the crossfire. “Maybe I should just pretend I’m invisible today,” she whispered to herself.

By the time breakfast rolled around, the dorm was buzzing like a livewire. Olivia navigated through a crowd of students — some eating, some arguing, some scrolling on their phones. She met two more of her roommates:

Liam, a tall, perpetually sleepy guy who somehow slept through every lecture yet still aced his exams, giving off the calm, untouchable aura of someone who didn’t even need to try.

Kai, who carried a ukulele everywhere, strumming cheerful tunes at random intervals, and occasionally breaking into improvised songs about dorm life.

Olivia couldn’t decide which was weirder: Liam’s ability to sleep through chaos or Kai’s determination to perform a concert every time someone opened a door.

Just as she was settling into a corner with her toast, Professor Harrison, their grumpy first-year advisor, barged into the dorm like a storm cloud. His tie was crooked, and he looked like he hadn’t slept in a week.

“Assignments are due Friday,” he announced, his voice booming. “Yes, even for those of you who just arrived. Yes, including you, Miss Parker!”

Olivia’s stomach dropped. She hadn’t even chosen her first lecture yet. The thought of homework, deadlines, and professors already looming over her made her head spin.

By evening, Tasha was already scheming, whispering conspiratorially. “Olivia, you’re coming with me. We’re going to prank the cereal thief.”

Olivia hesitated. “Are you sure this is a good idea?”

Tasha grinned, her eyes sparkling with mischief. “Good? Maybe not. Fun? Absolutely.”

Before she could protest further, they were outside the girl’s room. The prank involved:

A bucket of confetti precariously balanced above the doorframe,

A fake “lost pet” poster stuck to the hallway wall,

And a strategically placed banana peel on the floor.

Olivia’s stomach tightened with anticipation. The girl opened the door, stepped forward — and slipped on the banana peel. Confetti exploded everywhere, raining down like a sparkling storm. The girl shrieked, half-laughing, half-panicking, while Tasha clutched her sides laughing hysterically. Olivia barely managed to stifle her laughter, cheeks aching from grinning so hard.

By the evening, dorm life felt less like a place to live and more like a circus. Mia was live-streaming her midnight snack haul to a small online following, narrating her eating habits as if she were a celebrity chef. Olivia, carrying her suitcase down the hall, tripped over the edge of the rug for the third time that day, barely catching herself before face-planting in front of Kai, who strummed a dramatic chord on his ukulele for effect.

Sitting on her bed later that night, Olivia’s chaotic thoughts ran in a whirlwind:

Am I really cut out for this?

Do I belong here, or am I just walking disaster #472?

Why does everything feel so… alive?

She laughed quietly to herself, shaking her head. Maybe this was exactly what college was supposed to feel like — messy, unpredictable, and full of energy she hadn’t even known existed.

And maybe, just maybe, she was ready to dive in, even if it meant navigating the chaos one spilled cereal box at a time.