Rejected, Redeemed, Royal

Meet the Roommate

Tuesday morning I wake up with an unusual calm. Melanie feels it too, her contentment echoes back to me. Today IS going to be a great day. Maybe its because I'm finally here, I'm finally proving myself, its finally REAL. Maybe its because I met my fated mate, my other half, the one who will help me be the best version of myself I can be. Maybe its because I got a full nights sleep after I passed out. Whatever it is, the anxiety of the last day, f**k, the last YEAR, is gone.

"Oh good, you're up finally." My roommate is sitting at her desk holding a piece of paper. We only met really briefly yesterday, I'm hoping we'll get along well.

"Good morning, Lilith, how was your first day?" I stretch and sit up slowly. Ah crap, I didn't change last night, sleeping in jeans really is uncomfortable.

"My first day was fine, but could have been a lot better if you'd been doing your job." She tosses her long blond curls over her shoulder and scowls at me.

"I….what?"

"Look, I get it, your new, and we haven't gone over expectations yet. So today we'll get off to a much better start. I've prepared a list of my needs for you, I'll add to it of course but these are the basics.

"Ooookaaay." This must be the roommate boundaries talk. I didn't expect it would go exactly like this, but ok, I can deal. I take her list and start reading at the top. "Keep room tidy, ok, that seems fair. Make sure all of my belongings are out of sight, uhhh, no that’s not gonna work. Make sure all of your cloths are washed and put away, what the f**k? Rearrange my class schedule so I can support your classes more, and you want to me take more lit courses so I can tutor you? Are you out of your mind?" I look up at her, the only emotion on her face is smug expectation. What the hell is this. I look back down at the list. "Lose 30 pounds and make sure I keep it off??" Realization dawns on me, and I start to chuckle. "Ok, haha, I get it. You had me for a bit there. We should really talk about the roommate boundaries though, so this is a good opening to get that talk out of the way. I'm figuring we can just do it simple, divide the room in half, share the bathroom, and not bring people back unless we've cleared it with each other first." I look up and my words die on my lips. She is positively seething mad. "Lilith, are you ok?"

"YOU DON’T GET TO TELL ME NO!" She screeches, her face turning red. She stamps her foot, like an actual child. I feel Melanie getting agitated. I've got a couple of options here, I can go nuclear, I can be reasonable and firm, or I can do what she wants. The last option is off the table. I'm done being told what to do by everyone around me. While I really DO want to just lose my s**t on her, the first option is off the table too. I take a deep breath and look her directly in the eye.

"Lilith, I can tell you're under a lot of pressure, and there may have been some wires crossed when you came here. You clearly had some expectations, and they aren't getting met." I pat myself on the back for my customer service voice. "But I am not your servant, I'm your roommate. I'm not putting my academic career on hold to help you. If you need tutoring there is a great tutoring service on campus I hear. I'm not taking care of your cloths, you can do that yourself. If you need help and I'm able to help you I'd be more than willing to, but I'm not, nor will I ever be, obligated to do so." There, that should do the trick.

"I am the daughter of an Alpha, and you HAVE to do what I say." She orders.

I stand up to my full height, I tower over her. "I'm ALSO the daughter of an Alpha, and no one, myself included, has to do what you say."

"You" she scoffs, "you're huge! There's no way YOU came from good breeding. This isn't over. I need a servant, I was told I would get one. That’s why you got admitted, to help the Alphas. If you don't I'm going to take this directly to admissions."

"Oookay, you do that. In the mean time, I have a date. You have a good day being a snob, I guess." Melanie snickers at that as I gather my things, leaving Lilith sputtering behind me while I leave to get to the showers.