I remember my parents drove me to campus to help me get settled into my dorm. I was pretty excited to be going to school for something that I really wanted to do after my first two years were over - I would be studying at art school. Once we got to campus, we walked inside the main building and were greeted by a very friendly looking girl - a redhead with a huge smile on her face.

“Welcome to Darwin’s! How may I assist you?”

“Um, I’m a transfer student and I’m going to be a resident."

“What’s your last name?”

"Black."

"Okay, and first name?"

“Marilyn."

The girl, who I now realized was the resident assistant, scanned the list in front of her, paused as if she were suddenly paralyzed and she looked up at me with an uncomfortable smile.

“Alright Marilyn, you’re in Dorm C room 225. It’s the second house to the left of the main building.”

Her voice was now shaky - very odd considering she was okay just a second ago.

“Okay, thank you.”

The resident assistant handed me my keyset and gave a friendly wave while keeping that awkward smile plastered on her face.

“No problem, enjoy your stay!”

I smiled and nodded, turned to leave the building and began pulling my luggage to the hundred-year-old looking dorm house. My parents followed closely behind, helping me take the heavier suitcases up the stairway. After entering the building, we walked down the long hall, and got to room 225. I examined the names on the door. In bold lettering, they had my name, Marilyn Black and four other names - Kara Lutz, Penny Fischer, Renée Alexander, and Diana Greene.

I took a deep breath, slowly inserted the key into the door, and opened it to a living area full of girls - well, only four of them. They were all sitting on bean bag chairs with their faces glued to their phones. I assumed they were all my suite mates. I noticed five doors toward the back of the living area, all with the number "225" on them and one of our names on each door. I guess we must’ve startled them, because the girls just stared at us for a moment and then one of them finally broke the silence.

"Hi!"

A thin girl with long, blonde hair in a high ponytail stood from her bean bag chair with her phone still in hand.

"I’m Kara, you must be Marilyn?"

"Y-yeah, I am."

"Well nice to meet ya!"

"Nice to meet you too."

The rest of the girls went around introducing themselves - Penny, a girl with blue-black hair in a long bob cut, Renee, a girl with raven-black hair cascading down her back, and Diana, a girl with wavy medium long black hair - she had a nose and lip piercing.

"Are these your siblings?"

I cracked a smile and held back laughter.

"No, they’re my parents."

All of the girls eyes widened as they stared at my mom sporting her bleached blonde hair, leather jacket, jeans, and knee high boots. Then their attention went to my dad who was wearing an outfit similar to my mom’s, but he was wearing a blue jean jacket and tennis shoes. My parents were always told that they didn’t look old enough to have a 20-year-old and said they looked like they were in their 20’s themselves.

"Wow..."

Kara gestured for us to come in.

"Well don’t just stand there, come on in and get settled in!"

Diana nodded her head.

"Yeah, we don’t bite!"

My parents and I walked into the living area, past the girls, and up to my door in the middle. After I unlocked it we walked into the room - it appeared to be pretty spacious, but then again it was empty aside from the bed, desk, and drawer. Once we got all of my things into the room, it didn’t appear to be so spacious anymore.

"Well, we should get going. Your dad has work in the morning."

I sighed and nodded my head.

"Okay..."

My mom caressed my face in her hands and smiled.

"I’m so proud of you... I’m going to miss you."

"I’m going to miss you too."

My mom embraced me tightly and then followed by kissing me. I hugged my dad and the two left the dorm, leaving me with my suite mates. As I stood in the living area awkwardly, Kara eyed me up and down with a devilish smile on her face.

"Nice outfit."

Her comment was dripping with sarcasm. I was sporting a black sweater with fishnet sleeves, black shorts with fishnet stockings and a burgundy leather belt, and black knee high boots with pyramid studs embellishing the top. At the time, my hair was black with honey blonde highlights in my bangs. Not to mention I was wearing a thick crushed velvet choker with a skull on it.

"Thanks...?"

I tried to ignore it, but yeah it did hurt a little. I knew she was trying to be catty, but I didn’t know why. Their outfits didn’t look to special - they all wore different colored plain tanktops, short skirts or booty shorts, and heeled sandals. They had their style and I had mine. Well... except for Diana - she was the only one who was wearing a leather jacket embellished with pyramid studs, black skinny jeans and combat boots.

"So, what’s your major? I’m in the creative writing program."

I looked at Diana and bit my lip out of nervousness.

"Umm, I’m an art major."

Kara rolled her eyes and scoffed.

"Well duh, she meant your emphasis in art."

I looked at Kara with a raised eyebrow and sighed.

"Well, my emphasis is in digital art."

"Oh wow, that’s cool! I can’t draw anything..."

"Thanks."

Diana was the only one that genuinely seemed interested in getting to know me. The other girls just stared at their phones, typing away as Kara made "subtle" stabs at me.

"Dinner starts in like half an hour, we should all go get food toge-"

"I don’t think that’s a good idea."

Kara butt in.

"Oh, well umm... it’s okay, I’m not really that hungry anyway."

When dinner time rolled around, Kara and the other girls went out to the cafeteria to get food while I stayed back in my room. I was close to being done with unpacking everything when I heard a knock at the door.

"Yes?"

There was no response. I stopped what I was doing, walked over to the door, and opened it to-

"Kara?"

"Hey, so about earlier... I was kind of being a b***h."

Hmm, yeah... you were. Continue!

"And to make up for it I figured you’d want to go to a party with us later tonight?"

"What time is the party?"

"It’s at midnight."

A party at midnight? I wasn’t the partying type to begin with, but I definitely wasn’t sure about going to a party past ten.

"Ohh..."

Kara shook her head.

"It’s okay if you don’t want to go."

"N-no, I’ll go."

Kara smiled and cocked her head to the side, her long locks swinging in the process.

"Kay, see ya later then!"

Kara turned around and walked back to her room. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to write her off yet since she did try to apologize, but I was definitely going to keep my eyes open and my guard up. It was about 8pm when she asked me if I wanted to go to the party, so I was planning on spending the next few hours in my room.

I heard another knock at my door around 9pm so I got up from my desk and opened the door. This time it was Diana.

"Hey, so we’re having a little girl talk, wanna join us?"

I blinked in confusion - I wasn’t sure if I felt like socializing just yet, I knew I had to have enough energy to survive at the party later on.

"Umm... okay."

I caved again. I knew I would regret it later... or at least I thought I would.

"Okay, so... let’s just get to know each other a little bit. We should start with hobbies."

Kara looked at me, causing the other girls eyes to zone in on me too.

"Marilyn, would you like to start?"

Oh God...

"Umm, yeah sure. Well I like to draw, write, sing, play piano and guitar, dance, and listen to music."

All the girls stared at me and nodded slowly - I wasn’t sure if they were half paying attention, or if they were just in shock.

"Sweet, hmm well I’ll go next..."

Every girl got the chance to state their hobbies - Kara had a lot of active hobbies like skating, running, dancing, swimming and yoga. Penny had hobbies like reading, writing, watching movies, and researching things. Renee claimed to not have many hobbies, so she just said she liked to watch movies and TV shows. Diana’s hobbies were archery, skateboarding, watching and playing sports, and playing video games.

We talked about other things like music, TV shows, video games - then the conversation derailed completely and I learned something about Dorm C.

"So did you guys hear? Apparently there’s a ghost haunting this very dorm and its the ghost of a girl who killed herself."

I rolled my eyes.

"Ghost? Who actually believes in that crap?"

Penny’s hand shot up like an eager student’s hand would when trying to answer the teacher’s question.

"I do!"

I chuckled and shook my head.

"Yeah, okay."

Kara squint her eyes at me.

"You don’t believe in ghosts Marilyn? I thought you’d be the first person to believe in them."

I crossed my arms and shook my head.

It’s because of the way I dress, isn’t it?

Kara smirked and Renee looked at her phone, checking the time.

"We should get going."

It was roughly 11:45pm when we left to go to the party. We walked down the long hallway, down the stairs, and out of the dorm house. As we walked, I wanted to try and start up some kind of conversation.

"So... is the party on campus or off campus?"

Penny looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

"Nothing fun ever happens on college campuses, this is an off campus party."

"Yeah, and all the guys are hot seniors."

Renee chimed in.

"Pfft, I’m not interested in the guys, I’m interested in the hot girls!"

"Of course you would say that, Diana."

Kara laughed and the rest of the girls did too, except Diana and I.

"Well anyway, we’re gonna have a good time tonight - lots of booze, guys, and girls for those who are interested."

Kara shot Diana a look, then she looked at me.

"Marilyn, which way do you swing? You like guys or girls?"

"Umm... well, I like guys."

"You seem a little unsure about that."

I rolled my eyes - I was pretty sure I liked guys.

"No, I’m not unsure. I just... haven’t found a guy that I really liked yet."

Kara’s mouth dropped open and she gasped.

"Ooh, sounds like we need to find you somebody!"

"Mm, I dunno..."

"Come on Marilyn, it’ll be fun! Let your hair down, live a little!"

I wanted to have the full college experience, so I thought, why not? Maybe I should try to meet a guy at the party, it wouldn’t hurt, right? As we continued to walk, we approached a frat house with people outside drinking, dancing to the music blasting from inside the house, and Kara suddenly stopped. This cause the rest of us to hault.

"This is it, you girls ready?"

"H**l yeah!"

"Definitely!"

"Let’s get our drink on!"

Kara looked at me and winked.

"Don’t worry, we’ll get you laid by the end of the night."

"Umm, well I-"

Before I could finish, all four girls dashed into the house in a fit of laughter. I ran to catch them but I looked around and didn’t see any of them.

"Dang it..."

I was debating whether I should leave or stay, but I did say that I would go so I figured I would at least try to have some fun. As I made my way through a large crowd of sweaty, drunk college kids, I saw each of the girls had found their place at the party - Kara and Renee were drinking and dancing in a group of guys, Penny was flirting with a cute guy with a drink in hand, and Diana was making out and fondling another girl.

This is when I slowly started to realize that maybe parties weren’t exactly my thing. I turned around to leave and I bumped into a guy, spilling his drink all over him and me.

"Crap, sorry!"

"Nah, it’s alright."

I stared at the guy - he was quite attractive. His hair was black and cut in a long fringe with the left side shaved off, his gray eyes flickered in the light, and he was sporting a black leather jacket with pyramid studs. Not to mention he was wearing black skinny jeans and combat boots - he was my kinda guy.

"Are you enjoying yourself?"

"Mm, not really... I was actually just about to leave."

"What?"

"I was about to leave!"

The cute guy pouted.

"Aww, stay a little bit longer, won’t you? I haven’t even gotten your number yet!"

I smiled and laughed - not only was he attractive, but he was funny, too.

"Okay, maybe just for a little bit."

The cute guy smiled and nodded.

"By the way, I’m Roy."

"Nice to meet you, I’m Marilyn."

"What?"

I huffed in frustration - the music was just too freakin’ loud.

"Nice to meet you, I’m Marilyn!"

"Nice to meet you too Marilyn. Let me grab you a drink."

I wasn’t really into drinking, but I figured one wouldn’t hurt.

"Okay."

I followed Roy to the kitchen, he poured a cup of beer for me, and he handed it to me. Then he began to refill his empty cup.

"So I’m guessing you came alone?"

"No, I came with my suite mates but they’re all kinda... busy right now."

"I see... well, at least you’ve got me!"

"Yeah..."

I laughed awkwardly and took a sip of the beer - it was so bitter I almost spit it back into the cup. I swallowed hard and looked at Roy with an uncomfortable smile on my face. The sour taste lingered on my tongue even after I had swallowed it.

"Do you want to go somewhere quieter?"

"Sure, that’s fine."

I didn’t like yelling, so getting away from the loud music was perfectly fine to me. Roy walked out of the kitchen and walked outside, so I followed him. We just started to walk down the sidewalk and the music faded into the background.

"So what’s your major?"

"I’m in the digital art program."

"For real? Sweet! Same here."

"Oh, nice."

There was an awkward moment of silence.

"What year are you in?"

"Well, technically I’m a junior, but since I transferred here I’m kind of starting over again since I changed my major."

"That kinda sucks, but hey, we’re in the same major, same year... so we’ve got a lotta time together, Marilyn."

Roy winked and I smiled, giggling a little. I was actually kind of surprised that he was already planning to spend more time with me during our time at school. We hardly knew each other, but it made me happy that somebody - a cute guy, was actually interested in me. Roy took a sip of his beer and looked at me.

"So where exactly did you transfer from?"

"It was a trade school... I graduated with an Associate’s but I couldn’t find work, so I figured I would just study something else instead."

"Ah, I see... hmm, what were you studying before?"

"Communication... it was kinda boring. I’ve always been a creative type anyway."

"Gotcha... I’ve always been the creative type, too."

So far, it seemed like Roy and I had a lot in common... it was actually a little bit odd. I guess it shouldn’t have been though, I knew there would be other people like me considering it was an art college. Roy suddenly slowed down walking and I stopped, turning around.

"Marilyn..."

I was a little worried - the tone of his voice was completely different - a lot darker.

"Yeah?"

"Not gonna lie... when I first saw you at the party I was thinking, ’man, this girl is hot as f**k!’"

I giggled and snorted, then I covered my mouth in embarrassment. For some reason I found it funny that a guy thought something like that about me.

"Well thanks, you’re not bad yourself."

Roy smiled and walked closer to me.

"You know..."

His face was inches away from mine and with his free hand, he reached around to grab my butt, squeezing it and-

"Whoa, umm..."

I pushed Roy off of me and he stepped backward, an expression of shock on his face.

"What was that for?"

Roy stared at me blankly for what seemed like an eternity, but then he finally blinked and shook his head.

"I- I dunno... I’m sorry. I’m a little tipsy... forgive me."

I ran a hand through my hair and chuckled.

"It’s fine... I should go."

"Wait, Marilyn don’t go."

"Bye, Roy."

I brushed past Roy and I heard him calling my name nonstop, but I didn’t care. I didn’t look back, slow down... nothing. It was around 2am when I got back to the dorm and my suite mates weren’t back yet. I locked myself away in my room and laid awake in my bed. I don’t know how much time had passed, but I remember being startled from a knock on my door. I groggily got out of my bed to answer the door to a very angry Kara.

"So you just agree to go to a party and then bail on us?!"

"Kara, I-"

"No, I don’t want to hear any excuses!"

"But I met a guy and he dragged me away from the party!"

Kara suddenly went from being irate to inquisitive in a matter of seconds.

"Ooh, do give me the details girl..."

I shook my head and sighed.

"There’s really nothing to tell."

Kara tilted her head as her mouth dropped open.

"You mean to tell me that you met a guy but you didn’t bang him? What the h**l Marilyn?"

"I..."

I paused - I wasn’t exactly sure if I wanted to tell her or not.

"You what?"

"I’m... a virgin."

Kara stared at me for a moment and her mouth slowly dropped open.

"Oh my God... you’re kidding me, right?"

I shook my head.

"No."

Kara face palmed and shook her head.

"Jeez... that’s embarrassing. I wouldn’t tell anyone else if I were you."

"Why?"

Kara sighed and gestured for me to go back into my room.

"Whatever, just forget about it. Go back to sleep."

Kara walked away and went into her room. I didn’t hear the other girls chatting or anything, so they must’ve already been asleep or they were still partying. Either way I didn’t care, I just wanted to go back to bed.

The next day I woke up around 11am and heard loud laughter and a few giggles coming from the living area. I was still feeling a little groggy from the previous night - I guess I was a lightweight. I slowly got out of bed, walked over to my door and opened it. I saw Kara sitting in her bean bag chair talking to Penny, who was also sitting in her bean bag chair.

I walked into the living area and before I made it in there completely, I briefly caught on to what they were talking about.

"Only people who are ugly and super religious are virgins."

Penny sounded so sure of herself - I thought that statement was false. I knew a guy at the first college I went to who wasn’t what people would consider "attractive" and he lost his virginity at 14 - he was also "religious."

"Yeah, I know right?"

As I entered the living area, Kara and Penny looked at me.

"Marilyn, are you a virgin?"

I glanced at Kara and turned my attention back to Penny.

"Umm... yeah...?"

"You’re suuper religious, aren’t you?"

"Yeah, I guess so..."

Penny turned her attention back to Kara.

"There’s this guy that I met at the party last night... so hot! I totally wanna f**k him."

I tuned out the rest of their conversation as I went back to my room to get changed and possibly go to the cafeteria and get food. I had a feeling that Kara did that just to see if I was going to tell someone else that I, Marilyn, a 20-year-old was indeed still a virgin. Of course I was going to be honest about it, but really it wasn’t anybody’s business but my own.

I ended up going to the cafeteria solo to get lunch. Once I got inside the cafeteria, I swiped my card, and got my food. I found a table where no one was sitting and set my plate on the table as I sat down. I quietly ate my food alone and I looked around the cafeteria - there were so many groups of people. I didn’t understand how so many people had found their group so quickly, but then again they could’ve been sophomores and up. I was just getting started.

I looked near the entrance door and saw Roy entering with a group of guys. We exchanged looks for a moment, but I averted my eyes and tried to finish my food as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, I almost choked myself doing that so I went into a coughing fit as Roy approached me alone.

"Hey."

I looked up at Roy over my glasses, my eyes watery from choking on food. I cleared my throat.

"Hey..."

Yep - clearing my throat totally helped... ugh, I sounded so hoarse.

"Look... about last night... I’m really sorry."

I studied Roy’s face - he actually seemed genuinely sorry. I sighed.

"It’s okay..."

Roy smiled lightly.

"Do you mind if I join you?"

"Actually, she’s eating with us."

I noticed Kara and the other girls walking up behind Roy with their plates of food - I hadn’t even noticed them walk into the cafeteria. They all sat down at the table on the opposite side of me, except for Diana - she sat next to me.

"Oh... umm, well I guess I’ll catch you later then?"

"Yeah."

Roy nodded and had a look of uncomfort on his face as he turned to walk away. Kara looked at me and raised her eyebrows.

"Was that the guy you talked to at the party last night?"

I slowly nodded my head.

"Oh, I see..."

The table fell silent.

"Marilyn, can I talk to you... in private?"

I raised an eyebrow in confusion - I wasn’t sure why Kara couldn’t just say what she wanted to say in front of the other girls too.

"Umm, sure."

Kara and I stood from the table and walked into the ladies room. She stood in front of the door so no one else would walk in.

"You do know that’s the guy that Penny was talking about earlier, right?"

"No, I had no idea."

Kara snickered.

"Well, just know that she had her eyes on him first, so she’s got dibs. I suggest you don’t talk to him ever again."

I scoffed - she made it sound like Roy was Penny’s property.

"Um, okay..."

Kara smiled and cocked her head - I was starting to realize that was one of her mannerisms.

"Good. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t like you, anyway."

Kara turned around, opened the door, and walked out of the restroom as I stood there. My eyes began to water - I liked Roy despite the fact that what he did was a little... weird. Technically I saw him first, but whatever... Penny could have him if she wanted. I exited the restroom and went back to the table with the rest of the girls and Kara was already there. Just as I approached the table, they all stood up with their plates, and left.

What the heck?

I wasn’t sure what was going on, but I didn’t like it at all.