Concrete Angel

I stared at my reflection in the window of the office. My face was caked with makeup trying to cover up the black eye, it would go away soon. My hair was shorter, not by too much, it was a deep red. It didn't look bad, just different. I tugged on the end of my hair and walked into the office.

"May I help you?" the lady sitting by the phone asks looking up at me.

"I'm J- I'm Elizabeth Rivers." I say quickly. I had almost said my old name, the name I must forget now. That life was gone, it had to be.

"Oh yes, the Dean told me all about you. She's in there. Go ahead, she's been excepting you." the lady says pointing to a door behind her. I nod and knock lightly on the door.

"Come in." A lady's voice says. I open the door and see a tall lady with a great resemblance to my mother. I guess that's because she's my aunt, not that I know much about her. This is my first time meeting her, last time ever seeing my mother.

"I'm Elizabeth Rivers." I say quietly as she motions for me to sit.

"I know who you are. You look like you're mom, even though they changed your hair." She says and I look around the room. Her name tag is on the table, Ms. Smith. I smile slightly at the sight of my grandmother's last name, so common no one will realize this is my aunt; if you want to call her that.

"What's the story? I can't tell the boys why I'm really here, people are bound to ask." I say quietly looking up at her.

"You're a brilliant girl. We accepted you for the grades. Also, we have noticed your athletic abilities." Ms. Smith says smiling down at me.

"What's my room number then?" I ask ready to leave. This was awkward and every time she looked at me I was reminded of what I left.

"518, Elizabeth, you'll have to share with a guy." She says watching me.

"I excepted that. Does he know yet?" I say looking up at her.

"No, I figured you could handle all that." She says and I nod slowly.

"I can. Is that all?" I ask quietly not facing her.

"Yes, you can go." She says quietly. I nod and stand up to leave.

"Elizabeth, it was nice to see you again." Ms. Smith says quietly. I pull the door open and head towards room 518. It wasn't hard to find, luckily for me the hallway was empty; as was my room.

I look around and can easily see which side of the room will be mine. It wasn't big like my old room, but it'll have to do. I can handle change. I wasn't nervous about sharing with a guy. I was just scared someone would realize why I was here. I tug on my hair again and lay my suitcase on the bed. I didn't have much, I needed to go shopping. That will have to be what I do tomorrow, I came on a Friday, which is good I guess. I unpack and put my clothes in a dresser on my side of the room. I made my bed with sheets that I brought from home. I sit down on the bed and look around the room. My roomate has posters and pictures everywhere. I probably should of thought to bring some to seem more normal. I couldn't bring pictures of my family, which is what I'm assuming the pictures of these people are. I pick out a guy in the group that looks about my age. He's hot, in a totally jock kind of way. I lay back with on my bed and realize how exhausting the day was. I left one world and was brought into another one. I close my eyes and let sleep take over me.

"Hey! Wake up." A voice says loudly from across the room.

"What?" I say stretching and sitting up. I ran my hands through my hair realizing how short it was yet again.

"Who are you?" a guy says as I look up at him rubbing my eyes. He was hot. It was the same guy that was in the photo but a little older looking. He had blond hair and was very muscular, you could tell from the way his tshirt fit him.

"I'm your roommate." I say quietly looking down at my feet. I've never been the shy one but I didn't need to draw anymore attention to myself.

"You're a girl." He sputters confused.

"I've noticed. Who are you?" I say letting my annoyance get the better of me.

"I'm Joey." He says offering a hand to me.

"I'm Elizabeth Rivers." I say shaking his hand before standing up and going to my dresser.

"You're a girl." He repeated watching me as I go through my stuff.

"You're a smart one." I say rolling my eyes at him.

"You don't belong here." Joey says sitting down on his bed confused.

"I'm just as capable as you. I can handle this school." I snap turning around to face him.

"No, it's an all boys school. You're a girl." Joey says slowly almost like I was dumb, like I didn't realize what this was. As if I didn't know what I was getting into, as if I didn't realize what I had to do to be here, why I was here.

"I know what kind of school this is. I got in because of my grades and athletics." I say glaring at him.

"You're kind of defensive for a chick, especially considering you're going to need my help here." Joey says smiling up at me. He was really cute.

"Why would I need your help?" I say confused.

"The guys haven't seen a girl in months, you're going to be murdered out there by yourself." Joey says shrugging.

"I can handle myself." I say looking at him, a bit worried. I expected this, that boys would be all over me; but part of me hoped he was wrong. My stomach started growling and I realized it had been hours since I checked in. I didn't know where the cafeteria was or how I would get there with minimum boys noticing.

"Need help yet?" Joey says smirking at me. He was a bit full of himself.