Now It's My Time to Strike Back

I sighed with content as I reread the newly-written song I’d wrote regardless of the scratch outs and messy writing I had on the page. I was wallowing in my happiness when Nick’s voice interrupted it, but it wasn’t a bad thing.

“Hey. Mrs. T wants to see you now”, he said, smiling at me, his eyes scanning the room.

“Vic left?” he asked.

My happiness washed away as I saw the blank look beginning to occupy Nick’s happy one.

“Uh, yeah. We got into it and-”, I began, but he cut across me, staring at my arm.

“What the hell is that?!” he asked, rushing to my side in an instant, inspecting the light bruise that’d formed from Vic’s grip earlier.

I bit my lip, deciding it was best to stare at my shoes instead of answering him. As much as I hated Vic right now, I knew better than to tell Nick that she did this to me. The last thing I wanted to do was cause another argument between them as well as Vic retaliating by telling the entire school that I wasn’t a virgin or some other secret I had that she knew.

“Rosie,” he tried, catching me off guard, my heart skipping a beat at him calling me by my nickname. His voice was so soft and gentle as were his eyes. I stared into them, closing my own after a moment.

He wanted to know, more than anything, he did, but I didn’t want to do it. I couldn’t do it.

“Nick”, I began, “I’m sorry. I can’t tell you.”

“Someone did this to you and I want to know who!” he exclaimed in a concerned tone.

He lifted his arms slowly as he hesitated before touching my arm, lightly rubbing his fingers over the bruise feeling tingles at first before a little bit of pain. I winced slightly, getting his attention even more.

“Who did it, Rosie? Please tell me”, he said in a soft tone, his eyes searching my own.

His fingers stopped their actions as he waited patiently for me to answer.

“If I answer you truthfully, it’ll cause problems”, I said, trying to be vague, but Nick wasn’t dumb.

“It was Vic wasn’t it?” he asked in a low tone. I nodded slowly, sighing quietly afterwards.

“Why did she do this to you?” he asked, his hands gently letting go of my arm as he ran a hand though his short curls.

“Did you want me to be honest with you?” I asked, my voice shaking a little.

He nodded, sighing as well. I opened my mouth to speak, but Mrs. Thorne cut across me.

“Rosalina”, she said in a stern tone.

Nick’s face didn’t soften by her tone or her presence.

I looked from Nick to Mrs. T and back again, torn between the two.

“I’ll tell you when I get out, OK?” I asked, absentmindedly placing my hand on his, a spark igniting there, surprised by how strong it was.

He nodded once more, getting a small smile out of me. I blushed as I moved my hand away from his, smiling at Mrs. Thorne, apologizing repeatedly to her as I followed her to her office, glancing back at Nick as I watched his figure walk back to our things, pulling out his phone.

I didn’t get a chance to find out who he called because he was quickly out of my view by the time we reached her office.

It was the same with its white walls, but brown cabinets covered most of the walls. Her chestnut brown desk was just as it was last year with my file laying on top if it as well as some other small groups of neatly stacked papers and folders as well as organizers and pen and pencil holders. Two chairs sat in front of her desk while her usual black one rested behind it.

She took a seat first, then beckoned for me to sit as well.

I watched her as she opened my folder, a slight wrinkle forming on her forehead before she gave me a small smile, folding her hands together as she rested her arms and hands on her desk before speaking.

“First, I’d like to say thank you so much for deciding to come back early to tour the Freshman. Not many students volunteer to do such a thing, so again, thank you, Rose”, she began.

I smiled before responding quickly with an “it’s no problem” before I fell silent as I watched the smile begin to disappear from her face.

“Uh, it seems that we have a problem with your dorm arrangements”, she said after a moment.

I felt my heartbeat begin to increase slightly rapidly.

“What kind of problem?” I asked, trying to prepare myself for the worst.

“It seems that Melanie’s dorm was already chosen to be with someone else, so, by the time we got to your name, all of the normal dorms were already full. The only dorms that were left were the co-ed ones”, she explained.

“B-but I didn’t-Is there a way to fix this?” I asked, containing my anger.

The co-ed dorms are the dorms that were on a completely different floor as well as a different building altogether than with the other dorms except the Senior dorms. Normally, in co-ed dorms, one male and one female would share a dorm room together, but there had been some incidents in which there weren’t any other dorms available for students to room with the same sex, so, the “leftovers” were put with others who either chose co-ed or didn’t have anywhere else to go, either.

“Unfortunately, no, Rose. I’m sorry”, she said solemnly.

I allowed her words to sink in as I thought about my current predicament. I was going to room with a guy. How awkward was this going to be?

“OK, so, who’s going to be my new roommate? Is it someone I know?” I asked, praying mentally that it was.

Mrs. Thorne pulled out the first sheet that laid on the inside of my folder, handing it to me hesitantly.

“I think you know him quite well, or at least, you should know him”, she answered.

I frowned in confusion, accepting the paper from her. The document was similar to the one I got last year when I found out who my roommate was, but the name surprised me more than anything.

“A-are you sure this isn’t some mistake?” I asked, rereading the name over and over again as though it would change.

“I’m afraid not”, she repeated.

My eyes fell to the paper as my hands shook slightly as I read his name on the paper. Nicholas Jonas

I’d wondered why Nick hadn’t told me when he saw me, then again, how do you tell your ex that you’re going to be their roommate for Senior year of high school when they’re dating your sister? This was so messed up.

I sighed loudly, looking away from her before I just accepted the matter for now.

“I know him. I-I think things will be OK”, I lied.

“Good. Well, you know you won’t get your schedule until about three weeks from now, right?” she asked.

I nodded in comprehension, already knowing the matter in advance.

“OK, Rose”, she said, writing a dorm number before walking to the key rack to the left of her desk, grabbing a key from 301D, handing it to me.

“Good luck this year, Rose”, she said kindly.

I smiled, nodding to her before she stopped me abruptly.

“Oh! One more thing!” she said, picking up a sheet from a small pile to the right of my folder before handing it to me. She grabbed another sheet from a small stack under my folder, handing that to me as well.

I looked at the first one, it reading Times and Days of Tours while the other read, Senior Activities for 2010-2011. I smiled, laughing a little as I read the list of things the school had planned for us for senior year.

“Again, Rose. Good luck”, she said, ushering me out of her office without a backwards glance.

My eyes scanned the Senior Activities once more as I walked towards the entrance of the D.A.B, seeing Nick sitting patiently. Once I entered the room, he timidly walked to me, sighing quietly before speaking.

“So, how’d it go?” he asked in a slightly timid tone.

“It went fine, but I know, Nick”, I answered in a calm tone.

Silence reigned over us for a moment before either of us spoke.

“You’re not mad, are you?” he asked.

I didn’t answer him at first. To be honest, I didn’t know what to think. Maybe this was karma’s way of getting back at me for pushing Vic. Hell, I don’t know.

“I’m not mad. Just surprised is all”, I admitted.

“Is that really all?” he asked in a knowing tone. I guess he was more confident now that I knew we were going to be roommates.

I blocked out my emotions from my eyes as I raised a brow at him.

“Of course that’s all. There wouldn’t be anything else, would there?” I asked, walking to our things.

I saw Vic’s things still there, realizing that she was going to force Nick to bring them for her.

I watched him as the anger appeared on his face, but it soon dissipated as I spoke.

“Hey, why don’t you let me carry that?” I offered sweetly, flashing my best smile without showing my teeth.

His expression changed from blank to slight shock and then slight happiness.

“Really? You want to carry Vic’s stuff?” he asked skeptically.

“Well, somebody’s gotta do it, right?” I asked, smiling again.

He stared at me for a few moments before speaking.

“Only if you talk to me the entire way to our dorm”, he bargained. I smiled brighter.

“It’s a deal”, I said, laughing a little as I allowed one hand to grab Vic’s cart while the other grasped one of my suitcases.

We loaded up, then headed out of the D.A.B once more.