Sophia

“Why are you out here this late?”

I hummed and looked up distractedly. Jennifer, who was in the same class as I, had walked up to me without me noticing, but I was a bit preoccupied at the moment. I smiled at Jennifer, pretending like nothing was wrong.

“Oh, I just felt like stepping out of the room to catch some fresh air, you know? It’s not good to stay cooped up all the time. Besides, we just finished exams, so there’s no need for me to be studying right now.”

I would rather be in my room by myself than be out in a crowd. Even if it wasn’t studying—which I did plenty of, to begin with—I wanted to be in my room. But I just had to have a roommate, and it just had to be Dana.

Dana and I were best friends. We met in our first year at college, and we got along. First, we lived in separate dorms, but we shared the same major, and during one group assignment, we got to know each other. For the assignment, we depended mostly on each other, and that’s how we became close. She was smart and