Confession Hours

PART 0

"Good morning Doe" someone called out from the second floor, it took Dorothy a while to realize that they were actually talking to her she immediately looked up, put on a polite smile and shouted back a drawn out "hey".
"Took you a minute to answer that…" her friend Pam said. With an awkward laugh Dorothy replied
"Sorry, I'm not used to nicknames yet. You know back home everybody just calls me Dorothy". Seeing Dorothy twirl her fingers and look around nervously at the students passing in front of the dorm, Pam patted her on the back and said
"You're fidgeting Dorothy, calm down. It's just uni and you're just 139 miles away from home love" Walking away Pam gestured for Dorathy to follow her.
"139 miles is pretty far you know…"
"It's a 2 hour, 13 minutes drive Dorothy, people have moved to farther places and they're doing just fine"
"But…" "..no buts!!" Pam interrupted Dorothy firmly, leading Dorothy to a bench by the side of the road, she sat her down, held the side of her face and continued "...you're an adult, you're smart and you're pretty resilient you will be fine. I know you're concerned about how Pa is doing but he will be okay, it's not the first time he's lost a loved one and yet he's still living."
"That's the problem, he needs someone by his side else he'll lose his will to live…" Dorothy retorted.
"That man went to war, lost an arm, lost his wife in the same year, had his son die while in service, he lost his will a long ago yet look at him…"
"He adopted me though, clearly he wanted someone by his side"
"And you have stayed long enough Dorothy, now it's time to make something of yourself…" sensing that Dorothy would just keep on arguing, Pam raised one of her hands gesturing that she wanted the conversation to end. Dorothy, not being one to pester, quietly backed down and spent the next 15 minutes looking at their surroundings. She observed the students, parents and lecturers walking around the school premises and noticed how they all seemed to fit in. Some people noticed her staring, and while some politely smiled back sensing that she was just a freshman getting used to the difference in scenery, others either ignored her or stared back rudely.
"You know it's rude to stare right? You might be new here but nobody would know that" Pam finally spoke up from beside Dorothy, shocked that someone was beside her Dorothy immediately jolted from her seat. She had been too mersed in her surroundings and had completely forgotten about Pam. Pam raising an eyebrow at her just tapped the bench asking Dorothy to sit back down.
"No more random zoning out while staring at people, it creeps them out. Anyway…we should be talking about you getting a part-time job"
"Why?" Dorothy asked
"Uhm…so you can get an apartment close to school?" Pam replied with an eye roll
"But I'm already staying in the dorm though, I even have a roommate". Dorothy replied confused, why would she need an apartment when the school dorms are okay?. The dorms might be a little small but it could fit two young adults perfectly, the AC was working just fine, she could use the form kitchen if she wanted to cook or just pay for whatever she wanted at the school cafeteria.
"Do you plan on staying in the dorm for more than a year? Because…don't, you'll hate it there." Pam said as she went on and on about how the school dorm was subpar and how getting an apartment was the best thing Dorothy could do for herself.
"...okay, I'll look for the job, but I'm not saying it's for the apartment though…" Dorothy said, cutting Pam off mid sentence.
"Oh my god, yes…yes" Pam squealed excitedly as she hugged Dorothy "...I know a few places we could check out, they have student friendlier hours and all…" excitedly she stood up from the bench, Dorothy's hand in hers as she led her somewhere. Dorothy, confused about what was going on, quickly tried picking up her textbooks that she had left on the bench during their conversation. She had to do this with one hand as Pam was still holding the other and was oblivious to Dorothy's struggle. Pam, her usual cheery self was still rambling on.
"...and when you have enough money saved, if you feel like changing your mind you could get an apartment close to my pla…" Pam stopped, noticing Dorothy's hard stare she quickly added "...I said IF you change your mind". Their stroll continued with Pam rambling on and Dorothy only taking in a quarter of what was being said. That evening Pam took Dorothy to two different stores, a cafe and a bodega. The owners of both businesses fixed a different day for Dorothy's interview so the duo were free to both go to their homes. They bid themselves goodbye, and Dorothy started her long work back to school, on getting to her dorm room, Dorothy sat at her vanity, taking her makeup wipes she cleaned off her makeup. Today had been a long day and her fatigue had just started taking effect. It wasn't long before she had fallen asleep on her vanity.
The next morning came with Dorothy woking up to find herself on her bed with her comforter over her. Her eyes still filled with sleep and her movements uncoordinated, Dorothy tried to slowly come down from her bed but misstepped
"Careful Doe, you didn't finish cleaning up your side of the room remember?, you still have some unopened cartons on the floor" a voice said from the other side of the room. Dorothy, now on the floor, could only turn her head around slowly trying to catch a glimpse at the other side of the room, her vision still blurry all she could see was a short stature with really long hair that was currently being combed. Dorothy, forcing herself to sit upright, used the back of her hand to clean her eyes and then stared at the figure standing a few feet away from her.
"Hungover?...you didn't come off as a drinker to me though" said the voice. What was her name again? Dorothy couldn't remember, was it Rayleyn, Amanda? Her brain must have not registered the girl's name but she was sure this girl had told her what her name was. Dorothy who was using her bed frame as support replied
"No, I'm not drunk…my friend had me out throughout yesterday and I was just really tired"
"Oh…that would explain why you fell asleep on the vanity. I tried putting you on the bed last night but I'm not really strong as you can see…" the girl said laughing"...sorry I could only put you on the edge of the bed, hope you don't mind?" The unnamed girl asked, which Dorothy nodded in response to. The rest of their morning was spent in silence as the girls were busy in their respective corner of the room. Around 11:45, Dorothy started getting dressed, her roommate noticing this asked
"Going somewhere?" to which Dorothy replied "Yea, Job interview". Dorothy walked off to the put on her jacket, and went out of the door
"Goodluck roomie" her roommate yelled right before the door closed. Dorothy smile as she went down the stairs walking towards the exit of their dorm. As she walked towards the school gate, she suddenly realized "Damn, still don't know her name".