Now It's My Time to Strike Back

I sat in my dorm wondering why in the world Nick nor Rose hadn’t called or texted me all day. I know what I said to Nick was wrong, but he understood. He knew that’s how I was before he and I got together, but a part of me still felt uneasy after he just…moved on with his day as though nothing was wrong.

Maybe he didn’t think anything was wrong. Maybe he accepted what had happened and was just planning some sort of surprise for me later. Who was I kidding?

I paced my dorm room for the umpteenth time not knowing what to think.

What was Nick thinking? What was he doing? Was he with Rose? Were they talking?

My phone rung and I answered it, almost running into my desk.

“Oh, Nick. I’ve been waiting for hours. I’m so happy you called!-” I began, but another voice cut across me.

“Um, I’m not Nick. I just wanted to let you know that we recruited two girls from the group that girl and that other guy had in their touring group, so we have to start their practice this weekend”, one of the other cheerleaders I’d “befriended” earlier said, catching me off guard.

What was her name again? Who cares? I sure don’t.

“Vicky? Vic, are you there?” she asked.

“Ugh, fine, then. Whatever”, I replied, hanging up on her, not wanting to deal with her any longer.

“Annoying bitch”, I mumbled, tossing my phone onto my bed, ignoring the headache that soon grew in my head.

I was stressing out too much over Nick. He was being a problem right now, not me. How was it that Nick hadn’t been all over me like he was back in April? What changed? And what’s worse is that it seems as though he’s changed even more since he’s been around Rose lately.

What was going on with that?

I didn’t have time to think any more about the matter as my phone rung again. I answered it, assuming it to be that girl again, not bothering to even glance at my caller ID.

“Ugh, what is it? I told you I’ll do the try-outs with the Freshmen. What more do you want?” I asked.

“Uh, it’s Nick, Vic”, Nick answered, making my heart skip a beat.

“Oh, hey, baby! I missed you so much! I’m sorry for mistaking you as someone else. I-", I began, but he cut across me.

“Vic, we need to talk”, he said in a monotone scaring me more than necessary.

“Talk? About what? I missed you and I’m sure you missed me, too, right?” I asked, the worriedness evident in my tone.

“I’m not talking about that right now, Vic. I wanted to tell you the truth”, he said, ignoring my previous statements.

“The truth? The truth about what?” I asked in confusion as I began to pace the room.

“I got stuck with one of the co-ed dorms and my roommate is Rosalina”, he said blatantly.

Silence fell over us as I allowed his words to sink in. Rose was his roommate this year? How did this happen? What was going to happen now?

A glimmer of hope filled me as the questions filled my mind, then shortly fell out of my mouth.

“OK. No biggie. You’re just going to switch to another dorm with me or someone else and that’s it, right?” I asked with a smile.

“No. I have no reason to switch to another dorm. Rose and I are just friends, Vic. I’ll make sure nothing happens, OK?” he asked, a slight begging in his tone.

“Make sure nothing happens?! What happened to you not wanting to be around her months ago? Why the hell are you changing your mind now?! What the hell, Nick?!” I exclaimed heatedly, but I was actually hurting emotionally.

Nick was begging to not switch from the co-ed room with Rose. My heart ached a little, but I quickly recovered.

“I don’t want you around her outside of your dorm. You are to stay away from her at all times. I don’t want her trying anything with you-”, I began, but he cut across me.

“Rose isn’t like that! First of all, I can’t switch, anyway, even Ms. Thorne said we couldn’t. Second of all, why is it such a big deal? It’s just a dorm! It’s not like I’m dating her!” he said just as heatedly.

I had a sense of déjà vu for a moment quickly realizing this was what Rose had to go through when she and Nick would argue over him hanging out with me. Guilt crossed my mind for a moment before I recomposed myself as he spoke.

“Just please don’t do this, Vic. I really don’t want any trouble or drama this year”, he said in a slightly exasperated tone.

“Are you saying I’m going to cause trouble or start drama?” I asked incredulously, my voice raising.

He sighed before responding.

“No, but I just really hate drama, Vic and you know how to start it”, he replied coldly, causing me to bite my lip.

“Whatever”, I said, hanging up on him altogether. I was pissed. I didn’t even want to begin to try to talk him out of his decision.

There was something I could do-something that would do something so terrible to Rose… but what exactly? I paced my room trying to formulate a plan, failing miserably.

What could happen between Nick and Rose that would make them not even want to be friends with one another without me getting caught or blamed for anything? I paced some more, stopping once I got to my desk, a thought coming to me.

A smile formed on my lips as the plan came to me. It was time for me to play innocent Vic again and boy was it going to be fun this time.