Page 21 of Racing Hearts

The RA stepped into the room and looked between the two of them before pointing her attention at Teresa. “I hear from Sierra that the two of you are having some issues.”

“What did she tell you?” Teresa asked as she threw a heated glare in Sierra’s direction.

The RA sat in a desk chair and motioned for the two of them to sit as well. “I know it can be hard coming to school and realizing that you and your friend might not have as much in common as you think. Have you two been friends for a long time?”

“Since middle school,” Sierra answered softly. She stared down at the comforter of her bed to avoid looking at Teresa.

“That’s a long time. It definitely makes things harder when you’re not getting along.”

“We get along fine,” Teresa said defensively. “Sierra just doesn’t like that I have other friends.”

Sierra brought her eyes up from the comforter and found the RA looking from Teresa to her. “Jealousy is a very normal feeling in friendship, especially when you’ve known each other for so long and your relationship is experiencing changes.”

“I’m not…” Sierra stopped because she couldn’t honestly finish that sentence. Shewasjealous. She was jealous of every guy Teresa hung out with. She was jealous of everyone Teresa kissed. She closed her eyes to try to keep her tears inside.No more crying. For the love of god, please no more crying.

She opened her eyes when she heard a loud thud. It turned out the sound was Teresa getting back off of her bed.

Teresa smiled a malicious smile and put both hands in the air. “Listen, this is clearly Sierra’s issue. I have plans with aguytonight, so I don’t have time to sit around and listen to this.” She looked Sierra dead in the eyes for the first time in who knew how long. “If you want to switch rooms for some reason, go ahead and do it, but don’t waste my time by dragging me into it.”

Before anyone could respond, Teresa walked out of the room. A silence spread through the room that Sierra couldn’t take. She had to say something.

“Nowcan I file the request for a new roommate?” she asked.

Her RA studied her face for a moment before nodding. “If you’re sure. I don’t want you to make any rash decisions because you’re…upset…about your friend meeting new people.”

Great. Not only was Teresa pissed at her, but their RA clearly thought Sierra was the problem.Fucking great.“I’m sure,” she said as confidently as possible. She was happy when her voice didn’t crack from trying so hard to hold back tears.

“Okay. It’s too late to do it tonight, but we can do it first thing tomorrow morning if that works for you.”

“That works.” Honestly, Sierra would makeanythingwork at this point. Now that Teresa knew what her plan was, it was even more important that this switch happened, or next semester would be even more awkward.

*

The next morning, Sierra and her RA went to the Office of Residence Life together, as promised. It was in the school’s main building which also held the admissions office, the dean’s office, and the offices of a bunch of other school advisors and personnel.

“How can I help you?” a woman asked as soon as they walked into the correct office. She was typing furiously on her computer and didn’t even look up at them. She sounded annoyed that they were even there.

“I have a room change request for next semester,” her RA stated, seemingly not the slightest bit swayed by this woman’s attitude. It made Sierra wonder how often she did this.

The woman sighed, licked her fingers, and handed Sierra a piece of paper. “Fill that out, and I’ll see what I can do.”

Sierra grabbed the paper and a pen and took a seat. The form had a ton of questions asking for her information as well as information about her current rooming situation. Sierra wasn’t sure how to answer most questions since she couldn’t be completely honest about what was going on between them.

After twenty minutes, she finally finished the form. She handed it to the woman who stared at it for only a few seconds before typing into her computer once again. “Is this an emergency? Are you in danger? Worried about your life?”

“What? No.”

The woman smiled for the first time as she held the form out toward Sierra. “Sorry. Nothing I can do.”

Sierra’s body heated up and her blood boiled. Had this woman even checked anything? “What do you mean? I… I need this. I can’t live with her anymore.”

“If you’re not in immediate danger, there’s nothing I can do. There’s no housing available.”

“But there suddenly would be if I was in danger?” Sierra asked, aghast. She couldn’t believe this was actually happening.

The woman took off her glasses with one hand and rubbed her forehead with the other. “Listen. If you wanted to switch rooms, you should’ve put the request through weeks ago. My hands are tied. There’s nothing I can do for you this late in the semester.”

Sierra bit down on her bottom lip as she tried to hold back her tears. She had made things even more awkward with Teresa, and it was all for nothing. Sierra had to get out of this office. The walls were closing in on her and she thought she might throw up. Without saying anything, she ran from the room and straight out of the building. She had no idea where she was going, but before she could figure it out, she ran right into someone. She brought her eyes up and found dark ones looking right back into hers. The gurgling in her stomach became even more intense. There was only one person in the whole world who had eyes like that—Ellie Fucking Finch.

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