Sora of the Moon

CLAIRE~6

“No, I’m fine thank you!” I shouted back and continued walking towards the same path I got in.

“Oh but are you sure?” the guy’s voice echoed again.

My anxiety had reached its limits. Who of the two was talking? Aaron or Ilay? Seriously that was the last thing that I should be concerned about right now.

“Yes thank you!” I replied quickly and started running. I just wanted to get away from him. I had a serious feeling that if he saw me he would recognize me. As I was running, I wasn’t really looking where I was going and of course I bumped into a couple that was walking nearby. I fell on my butt cheeks and so did them. God that hurt a lot. And my glasses? Where were my glasses?

“I can’t believe that nerve of yours!” a familiar voice echoed.

I tried to focus on the faces before me. Yes, it was that girl who accused Hayley of stealing her watch. The boy next to her that scratched his head I didn’t recognize.

“I’m so sorry…” I apologized looking for my glasses.

“Oh are you searching for those?” her gaze moved to her side and there were indeed my glasses.

“Yeah, thank-” I was about to thank her but then her short hill crashed into them.

“Maddie!” the boy scolded her.

“What? I’m sure she has the money to buy new ones. Those were so old fashioned anyway”.

“Yeah! I could if I had the money you own! Do you know how important were those glasses for me?” I shouted furious.

Those were a gift from Phillip when we realized that I couldn’t see well. I held onto them for years, cherishing them. I couldn’t believe that she broke them.

“Relax girl. It’s just a pair of glasses. I’m sure you can see well enough and without them. Besides you can always ask Hayley to steal a pair for you!”

The boy sighed and took them from the ground placing them as careful as he could in my nose bone.

“Here, I’m sorry for my sister”.

The glass was scratched and cracked. Also they were a bit loose but despite all that I could still see. The boy in front of me was also shining in the sun. Orange hair sparkling along with his skin and he had honey eyes. He was so handsome but still, was I delusional about him glimmering? Because Maddie didn’t seem to be bothered by it. 

“Are you f*****g serious Brandon?”

“Stop being such a b***h to everyone Maddie. The poor girl didn’t do anything bad”.

“Oh you should have listened to her tongue when I first met her. So don’t speak if you don’t know”.

“You’re being as dramatic as ever. I’m sure you insulted her first”, he said lending me a hand.

“Here”.

I hesitantly accepted it and shook the dust out of my clothes.

“Thanks…”

He smiled at me.

“Anyway, where are those guys you were talking about Brandon? And why do they want to meet me of all people?”

“Friends of mine. Don’t worry, they don’t bite. They’ll be meeting us on the centre of the labyrinth”.

“If they’re as hot as you, you know I don’t mind meeting them”, she giggled ignoring me entirely.

She could at least apologize. I walked by them returning Brandon’s wave.  The moment I escaped the labyrinth and the memories this had offered me, I found Hayley holding two bags looking troubled but then she spotted me and her face flashed.

“There you are!” she ran up to me.

“Hey”, I said smiling.

“God you should have come with me but then I couldn’t surprise you with the dress I picked for you. So, look. We seriously need to take a bath. Don’t worry I got us covered. I went by our room earlier, left your present on your bed, took some towels for us and guess what?” she reached her hand in one of the bags. “I found a perfect bath set in a discount so I bought it, it was for two people and I was like: Hell yeah I’ll share this with Claire. Also… oh dear what happened to your glasses? Did you fall somewhere?”

It was then I realized that she was so excited that she hadn’t seen my glasses. I smiled softly.

“Yeah I tripped” I lied. I couldn’t possibly tell her that Maddie had broken my glasses with her shoe hill.

“We should absolutely replace them! Good thing I-”

A voice cut her off.

“God Claire!” Phillip ran up to me concerned.

I waved and he stood besides Hayley.

“What the hell happened? I swear I left you for some hours”.

I was terrified at how similar were their outfits. They exchanged looks. They were startled themselves. Hayley wore a yellow overall while Phillip wore a pair of yellow ripped jeans. Phillip’s red suspenders matched Hayley’s belt. His shirt was also pink and the lime napkin that Hayley wore on her hair, Phillip wore it on his wrist as a bracelet.

“Holy s**t!” they said in one voice terrified.

Phillip fixed his glasses.

“That, I didn’t expect”.

“Are you f*****g copying me?” Hayley shouted.

“I swear I’m not!”

“Yeah … that’s my best friend, Phillip. Phillip, this is Hayley, my roommate”.

“It’s so terrifying to meet you, seriously”, Hayley said instead of the usual “It’s nice to meet you”. 

“Yeah, same”.

They shook hands.

“Now, care explaining your glasses’ condition Claire?”

“I tripped… Never mind that, how is Ian? Did you two meet your roommates already?”

“Yeah, Brandon seems a pretty nice guy. As for Ian, he stuck with Nathan. They seemed to get along well to be honest. Good thing is our rooms are next to each other. They both are seniors but their previous roommates graduated last year. Not that I mind it, neither do they”.

Brandon? Maddie’s brother was Phillip’s roommate?  That’s a surprise and then Nathan… was Nathan really my brother’s roommate? He seemed nice to me, pretty handsome too, so I’m hoping for them to get along well. 

“So, as I was saying, Claire you’re so lucky I noticed the brand of your glasses and also your lens! I actually couldn’t help but take a matching pair for your dress. Forgive me, will ya? It’s just that when it comes to shopping I can’t really control myself. Good thing I bought them though! I left them upstairs with your dress”.

I couldn’t believe her. Seriously. I felt so bad… Those are expensive. I actually let her spend so much money for my sake…

“God Hayley! You didn’t need too. I’ll repay you for sure…”

“Don’t mess with me Claire. You ain’t paying a damn thing. Just accept them as gifts, will you? I have so much money that I don’t even care. They make me sick to be honest”.

“Excuse me, did you buy Claire a dress for tonight’s ceremony?” Phillip asked surprised.

“Of course I did! She would have come with jeans if I didn’t. Hope you have a white tuxedo though. We’ll be in charge of the after party’s music, I believe you already know that, don’t you?”

“Yeah I actually do. And wait, you’re a DJ too?”

“The best!” Hayley praised herself with a giant grin.

“Oh we will see that!” Phillip responded already fired up about tonight.

“Perfect! See you tonight then Phillip. Now, if you’ll excuse us we’re going to take a shower! You’re sweaty, aren’t you love? You fell too”.

I nodded and she took me by arm.

“We’re going then. Ah… I hope we don’t walk into a crowd in the bathrooms. Bye Phillip!”

“Bye then! And Claire, please watch your step next time. We don’t want you getting injured before the entrance ceremony”.

“I will. Kiss Ian for me…” I said following Hayley.

It didn’t take long for us to reach the dorms. We started going up the stairs.

“Say Hayley, do you know a girl named Maddie?”

I asked.

“Oh are you talking about that b***h of an aristocrat? I despise her. Did she bother you?”

“No, not really. More like she accused you of stealing her watch”.

She laughed.

“Oh she really had the nerve to come into our room for that. I indeed took her watch to teach her a lesson. She was being so mean to some freshmen, showing off her watch and her daddy’s money. It really pissed me off . I took it when she wasn’t looking and hid it. It wasn’t in our room so don’t worry, if she goes to the bathroom she will find it!”

“Hayley!” I scolded her softly thinking that she had been kind of too much.

“What? Serves her right. Besides I wouldn’t really call it theft, more like a little treasure game. A gift from the almighty Hayley!”

I permitted myself to laugh along with her. To be truthful, Maddie breaking my glasses really got me mad. And her attitude wasn’t nice too.

“Speaking of rooms… Did that boy come to our room?”

“You mean Nathan?”

“Oh, so that’s his name. Claire you should have seen his painting. It was orgasmic! I HAD to give him my song lyrics. He said he’d be calligraphically writing them to the bottom along with his signature. I’m so happy”.

“I handed them to him. Don’t worry about that”.

“Thanks Claire, I literally had forgotten that I told him to come by!”

I looked around not recognizing the place. The bathrooms were in the top floor according to the map but I had a strange feeling about this. We stood outside of the changing room.

“Hayley, are you sure we followed the right stairs?”

She opened the door and left our things on the sits.

“Of course I am. It was right girls, left boys don’t you remember?” In fact, I didn’t. “Now wrap this around your body”, she said handing me a light purple towel. So did I. I let my hair down and let my clothes on the bag.

Steam was coming out of the blurred glass door next to the changing room, proof that the water was boiling hot. She took the bath case and walked in front of me. The towel she was wrapping around her body was a neon green. She opened the door and the warm steam caressed our faces but then she froze.

“Oh f**k me…”

I waved my hand to dissolve the steam cloud so that I could see more clearly and then I froze as well. Male muscular naked bodies. All the boys turned simultaneously to us looking kind of entertained.

“I thought you told me you knew!” I whispered.

“Well, change of plans. I didn’t remember well enough. I feel like I’m in paradise though…”

“Hayley!” I shouted annoyed.

“Don’t we have two adorable girls leering at us guys?” a guy said looking amused.

“f**k you all! Except you Nathan, you’re awesome!” Hayley said before running away dragging me with her.

We took our things quickly and ran down the stairs. I couldn’t believe what I just had witnessed but one thing was for sure. Of all the guys in there, my eyes were stuck on Nathan.