Page 42 of And They Were Roommates

“It’s me,” I say.

“Charlie! What a surprise.” A pause. “Did something happen? You’ve caught me painting spiders and ghosties on the bookshop windows, and I can’t easily sit down at the moment.”

I try to focus on the good news. My improved grades, even with STRIP taking up half my time and Jasper breathing down my neck at every other moment. Proving to her that I can handle this place, even if I’m on the boys’ side of campus. “I’m ranked twenty-eight out of the second-year class now, and still with two months to go.”

“That’s a jump!”

“Yeah. I think I’ll only get higher from here.”

“I’m so proud of you,” Mom says. “This must’ve been a huge challenge, especially with everything else you’re adapting to there. Have you thought about taking the train down for a weekend sometime soon?”

A piece of me wants to be thankful for the recognition. Even if Mom wasn’t in my exact shoes when she was an Excellence Scholar, she understands the pressure of the ranking board. Of excelling. Buttake the train down for a weekendleaves a sour taste in my mouth, like she’s still waiting for me to give up.

And she doesn’t even know the half of it. Right now, she thinksI have a single room to myself. Instead, I have aJasperbecause the check I gave her never got delivered.

Howdid it never get delivered?

My stomach twists as I stand there, clutching the phone.

“Charlie? Charlie?”

“Do you remember what address was on the letter for my single room check?” I ask.

“Check?”

“I gave it to you on your way to the store one morning,” I say. “The office said they never got it, so now I’m in a double room. With another guy.”

There’s a long pause.

My heart drops. This has to be my fault. The academy’s. If it isn’t—“Mom.”

“Oh, Charlie, I think—let me see.” Shuffling sounds come from over the line. Probably all the paperwork swarming her cash register. “It’s right here. I’m so sorry. It slipped my mind.”

“Are you serious?”

“I can send it today. Or can you pay for it now with your card?”

A confusing mixture of betrayal and understanding swirls in my gut. Mom never takes a day off. She’s exhausted. I know this.

But this wassoimportant.

“Yeah,” I lie weakly, even though there are no more single rooms. How can I say otherwise? She’ll only worry more. “I can try with my own card.”

“Good. I’m so sorry, Charlie. Really.”

The clock on the wall between the gnomes catches my eye. Five minutes until STRIP Time. And—end me—Jasper’slove letters. “I need to go. Love you.”

“Love you, Charlie. I’ll make this up to you whenever you visit.”

Chapter 16VANITY FAIR

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25

When I unlock Room 503, it’s empty, even though it’s twelve minutes past lights-out.

Over the last few weeks, Jasper has still come home later than guidelines dictate, giving me plenty of time to shower and change withoutunwanted interruptions. But after STRIP Time, I got so caught up with distracting myself from Mom and my nineteen love letters that I didn’t register the warning bell until the other library desks were vacant. I sprinted to Philautia Residence Hall faster than gravitational waves traveling at light speed and, by some cupid’s blessing, didn’t get caught.

Yet Jasper is gone. Again.

---