Romona Brown was struggling to get all her luggage out of her mom's dumpy minivan. Her dad was standing next to Romona waiting for her mom to check her phone for updates on Romona’s brother's condition. Her brother, Jonothan, was in the hospital for treatment of the lung cancer that seemed to have taken over all their lives.. It blew, but Romona was going to a rich person school so that was something that she was trying to focus on. All she had to do was get in there, and all her parents had to do was sign her in. That seemed simple enough, though her parents were making it a lot more complicated. 

“Do you think they’ll provide bedsheets?” Romona asked jokingly. No one answered her. She had packed bed sheets. After her mom was done she grabbed two of Romona’s bags and started towards the front gate. Her dad followed his wife briskly and Romona tried to keep up. 

Going into this school was one of the most intimidating experiences Romona had ever felt. The people manning the front desk were enough to give her a heart attack. They looked so crisp and white. Like literally white. Everyone in the school so far was white, which was a bit concerning considering that their website boasted of quite a diverse environment. Clearly that was not true. 

Her dad signed off on all the paperwork and then backed away from the desk. Romona stepped forward and grabbed her schedule and the key to her dorm room. She would be living here for the rest of the semester and if it all went well, the rest of the year. She was excited. And nervous. Looking at her parents though she knew that they both were not excited. Or even happy really. 

The only reason that she was able to go to this school was because she had applied as a joke while at a friend's birthday party. She had requested a full scholarship; had actually forgotten about it until a few months ago when a thick letter had arrived at their apartment. It had stated that she’d been given a half scholarship that would cover her housing, food, and school supplies. All her family had to come up with was the tuition . They had gotten this letter right when Jonathan's cancer had gotten worse, and things had started to pile up. 

Her parents had decided that it was too much of an opportunity to waste even if her brother was dying. As the date that she would be going got closer, her parents started to question if this was really such a great opportunity after all.  They worried that getting this scholarship was taking her away from home when she was needed  there most right now. 

Nevertheless they were here now, signing the last enrollment papers and getting ready to say goodbye to each other. Romona’s mom pulled her close and cried just a little bit. “I am so proud of you my dear.” Her mom whispered in her ear. 

Her dad patted her on the back. He wasn’t much of the emotional type. Romona hugged him anyway and then gathered up the rest of her luggage. She tried not to say much as she left the front office, knowing that her voice would come out sounding like she was about to cry. Which she was. After leaving the main office and her parents behind she sat down on a bench and took some deep breaths. Classes were starting tomorrow so she had some time to kill. 

She gave herself a little internal pep talk consisting of a lot of phrases that she remembered seeing on Pinterest. After she got done with boosting herself up she started to walk toward her dorm. 

Romona actually wasn’t sure she was walking in the right direction. The school was like some rich person's mansion. She passed many groups of well dressed teenagers that all had on some of the school's apparel. The school was called Laurens Academy and they had a snazzy logo that was a snake twisting up an L. It was very original and creative. The entire thing made her think of Ouran High School Host Club, which was a bit concerning now that she’d finally made it inside the school. Crashing into a ceramic vase and being forced to work for a party club full of slightly problematic and gay coded people seemed much more preferable to this. 

She finally made it to what she hoped was her dorm room. She stood outside it and considered just walking in. She was told that she had a roommate, but apparently he barely went to classes and was never even on campus. She knocked anyway, and to her surprise she heard something crash inside the room, and then someone curse loudly. Romona waited patiently and the cursing continued and finally the door slid open. 

Standing behind it was a boy who was her height. He looked like he had just walked straight out of The Queen Is Dead by the Smiths, and somehow every Lana Del Ray song ever. She meant both of those as insults in this case. He had scruffy blond hair that fell down to his chin, and somehow curled up his face at the same time. His eyes were striking blue and he had freckles, though they were very faint, like he hadn’t been outside in years. On that note, he was so pale that she could literally see all of his veins. He looked like he was wearing pajamas, though it was two in the afternoon. 

“Yes?” he asked. 

“You alright?” Romona tried to peer into the room but he blocked her view. 

“Doing peachy. That all?” 

“I’m your new roommate, Romona Brown?” she started to reach out her hand for him to shake, but then realized that she was holding bags. 

“Why are you asking me?” 

“I’m not.” She realized that he was starting to look vaguely familiar, and it was freaking her out a bit. “ Do I know you?”

“I’m kinda a knowable person. Do you want to come in?” He stepped aside. She nodded, and entered the room. It was messy. Very messy. There were two beds. The one closest to the window had a big pile of clothes on it and lots of stuffed animals. The one Romona assumed she was going to be using was bare. She was pretty happy about that. He walked over to his side of the room and sat down on his bed. Romona noticed that around his bed there were lots of messy canvases and opened bottles of acrylic paint.