ROOM 214

New Roomies

Desire Williams ain't never been able to make a good first impression, and she knew it.

She was the type to be in her head about everything...was she doing too much??, did her voice sound crazy, were people already deciding she was weird before she even opened her mouth. Standing outside Room 214 with her suitcase in one hand and her backpack sliding off her shoulder, she took a deep breath and knocked soft on the door.

"It's open," a voice called out.

Desire pushed it open and stepped into a room way bigger than she was expecting. Two bunk beds on opposite walls, four desks lined up by the window, boxes everywhere you looked. One girl was up on a mattress pinning pictures to the wall. Another one was folding clothes real quiet, not paying nobody no mind.

The fourth girl ain't even look up at first. She was posted by the window, one AirPod in, spinning a football on her finger like it wasn't nothing. Taper fade crispy. Dark hoodie on despite the heat, gray sweats, fresh white Forces. She didn't even have to try..she just looked cool, like it came natural to her.

She caught Desire staring and stopped the ball mid-spin. "You the new roommate?"

Desire opened her mouth and her voice completely left her. All she could manage was a weak, "...Yeah."

"I'm Zena."

Desire nodded fast, too fast. "D-Desire."

Something small and real crossed Zena's face, almost a smile. "Nice to meet you."

That was it. No twenty-one questions, no putting on for nobody. Just a solid greeting. And somehow that had Desire more shook than if Zena had come at her with an attitude.

Later that night she got put on to everybody else. Nia was loud and funny as hell, talked enough for the whole room by herself. Kayla was the total opposite..quiet, the type to sit back and watch everything before she said a word. Dinner came and went and the door to their room might as well have had a revolving hinge with how many people kept popping in.

*Yo, Z! You coming through later? We got practice tomorrow, right? You seen Coach text?*

Desire ain't never in her life seen one person get bothered that much. Once the room finally cleared out, she looked over at Nia. "Is she like... really popular or something?"

Nia damn near dropped her phone laughing. "You dead serious right now?" When Desire just blinked back at her, lost, Nia kept going. "Girl. That's Zena Brooks."

"The Zena Brooks?" Desire repeated, still not letting it. "I don't even know who that is."

Nia looked at her like she'd lost her mind. "You really been living under a rock, huh."

From her desk, Kayla smiled to herself and cut in, quiet. "She's captain of the women's football team. Everybody know who she is."

By the end of her first week, Desire had to admit Nia wasn't lying. Zena's pull on campus was wild. Girls smiling extra hard at her in the caf, waving across the yard, coming up with weak excuses just to catch her in the hallway. Some of them was flirting so hard Desire wanted to disappear on their behalf. But Zena handled every bit of it the same way..polite smile, quick conversation, then she kept it moving. Never rude about it, but never feeding into it either. Like she didn't even clock how much of a big deal she was.

None of it made sense to Desire. Somebody with that much clout should've been walking around stuck on themselves. Instead Zena was out here thanking the cafeteria ladies by name, holding the door for strangers, calling the janitor Mr. Denver instead of just "hey."

That Friday night Desire was chilling on her bed when Zena took another call.

"Yeah, Jay," Zena said, voice low. "Nah, don't be skipping your recovery drills." A pause. "I'll be at your game Saturday. I'm proud of you, little man."

When she hung up, Desire wanted bad to be nosy and ask who Jay was, but she was too shy to say it. She buried her face in her book instead, acting like she was reading.

Zena peeped it anyway. "You got a question?"

Desire snapped her head up so fast she nearly dropped the book. "...No."

Zena let out a deep, easy laugh. "You sure about that?"

Desire caved. "Who's Jay?"

"My little brother."

"You really seem to care about him much"

"Yep."

"You also handle everything for him?"

"I try to," Zena said, softer now. Her whole voice changed talking about her brother, got warm in a way Desire wasn't expecting. She caught herself smiling before she even realized she was doing it. Wasn't even a three-minute conversation, their first real one, but it stayed with Desire the rest of the night.

Meanwhile, across campus outside the athletic center, Sophia Carter...Sophie to everybody~~was watching Zena from a distance. She'd been catching feelings for almost a year now, convinced one of these days Zena was finally gonna notice her. She had no clue Room 214 just got a new roommate who was about to switch the whole dynamic up.Kayla been feeling Zena too. She just ain't have the heart to say nothing

Back in the dorm, the lights clicked off one by one. Nia was already snoring. Kayla had her headphones on, flipping through tomorrow's reading. Desire pulled her blanket over herself and stared at the ceiling for a minute before turning toward the wall.

Across the room, Zena was still awake, earbuds in, scrolling through game film with the brightness on low.

Desire

smiled to herself. College didn't feel as scary as it had that morning.