Chapter 7: Don’t Look At Me That Way

Back from the Banquet

As Scarlett arrived at her dorm room, she jumped right into her bed. Five hours standing in high heels numbed her legs and exhausted her body all over.

“You’ve finally come back. Hey, don’t go to sleep just yet. I’ve got something to ask you.” Bell, Scarlett’s roommate and best friend at school, came to her and patted her face softly. Bell Harper had been by her side through the years.

“Shoot!” Scarlett felt like she had no strength left, not even to talk.

“Did Mr. Howard talk to you?”

“The thing about the letter of recommendation?”

Bell nodded and then lowered her voice. “He said that I should seriously consider staying at the school to pursue my master’s as well. I haven’t made up my mind yet, though. So… what do you think?”

Bell poked Scarlett’s face with her finger and continued, “You know, Fannie has been getting really worked up about this.” Scarlett covered her eyes with the back of her hand to protect her eyes against the glaring light coming from the lamp. “Do you think I have time to care about her?”

Fannie Miller walked into the dorm right as Scarlett had finished her sentence. “Oh, look who’s finally back. If it isn’t our local pageant princess, Scarlett.” Fannie said, sarcastically, as her eyes detected Scarlett lying in bed.

Usually, Fannie would only be seen with heavy make-up on– foundation, eyeliner, eyeshadow, highlighter, and most certainly, some lipstick. But it looked like she had just finished washing her face. It was only then that Scarlett and Bell could see her real face– underneath all the make-up she usually wore.

Fannie Miller was quite the beauty herself. She had a delicate face with bright, almond-shaped eyes and full lips. She had a great figure, too, lean but still curvy. In brief, Fannie and Scarlett have a similar look to them: they both appear sweet and sexy. This, as expected, got in the way of their friendship. Instead of being close friends, they regarded each other more as rivals. They were competing against one another.

It’s rarely good news when two ravishing women study at the same university and even live together. There can only be one queen to the king, of course. So, they had never been on good terms. More specifically, Fannie had never reached out to her and tried to be friends.

Scarlett ignored her. She sat up and walked to the washroom with all of her toiletries. “Who do you think you are anyway?” Fannie felt furious at the mere sight of her rival, Scarlett.

Niki, their other roommate who sat at the island in the kitchen, was reading a Russian novel and was disturbed by Fannie’s yelling. Niki Smith was also a student in the Russian department; the four of them had been in many classes together over the last three years.

Niki put down her book and turned to Fannie, “Listen, Fannie, I’d really appreciate it if you could just quiet down a little bit. Scarlett’s been out all day, and she’s just gotten back. She’s tired, and so am I. I just want to be able to read in peace. Leave us alone just for a while, would you? Thanks.”

Fannie didn’t like how Niki had snapped at her. “Girl, I’m going to do whatever the fuck I want. Don’t try to tell me what to do. Who knows what Scarlett was doing all day anyway? Probably macking on her sugar daddy…” Fannie scoffed.

“Watch your tongue, Fannie!” Bell stopped Fannie before Scarlett could get a word in edgeways. “Oh, Bell, hush. You know it’s true. You can stop me from talking about it, but you can’t stop everyone else out there.” Fannie raised her voice.

Scarlett finally came out of the bathroom. She was brushing her teeth, her mouth filled with foam. She walked over to Fannie and stood in front of her, staring at her face.

“Don’t look at me that way. You know I’m… I’m telling the truth.” Fannie was, actually, not so sure that she knew the truth about Scarlett’s dealings. But she didn't want to lose this battle.

As they stood next to one another, it was pretty obvious that Scarlett is at least two inches taller than Fannie. Scarlett dominated the space. She was an imposing presence over Fannie without even trying.

Fannie couldn’t avoid the sight of Scarlett’s figure; she was intimidated. Scarlett was incredibly fit from all the exercising she regularly did. She generally believed that Scarlett was her rival, someone she could compete with and maybe even win against, on some occasions. But at this moment, she felt certain that Scarlett was more attractive than she, and she shrank back, cowering.

Fannie was annoyed with Scarlett’s staring. “What do you want anyway, bitch? A fight?” She said and raised her hand, indicating that she was ready to fight if that’s what Scarlett wanted. Fannie was ready to battle.

Scarlett swiped her finger along Fannie’s cheek and said, “You’ve got some facial cleanser left on your face.” After saying this, Scarlett returned to the bathroom quietly.

Niki giggled at the scene, but Bell, wanting to keep the peace, pretended that she had not heard anything of the altercation. Fannie gave Scarlett the dirtiest look she could muster but chose not to say anything. She stayed quiet. The curtain finally fell.

***

On Saturday mornings, the dorm room always felt peaceful. Scarlett rarely needed not to go out during the day, so she decided to sleep in till noon– the best way to kill time on the weekend, she thought to herself, filled with glee.

“Scarlett…Get up already!” Bell climbed onto Scarlett’s bed and snuggled under the covers. She emerged all of a sudden, scaring Scarlett.

“Why… It's Saturday!” Scarlett covered her head with the quilt and whined. “Bell, come on… it’s Saturday. I’m tired, just let me sleep in, please. Just for once.”

Bell whispered into Scarlett’s ear, “There’s this dude I met online. We added each other on Facebook, and he messaged me asking me out. We agreed to meet today, but I’m a little scared… I want you to come along with me. Please?”