The windows were opened so that the warm afternoon breeze filled up the room. Everything seemed to stand still to wait for a word. A long moment passed by as Jade waited patiently. After another moment of waiting, her companion spoke.
"Well, um..." she hesitated. "Well, I'm Diana March and I hail Camberwood Island." There was another long pause.
"Oh, please don't keep me in such suspense!" Jade exclaimed. "Do tell me more about your past life, your family, your home, the-Camberwood Island! I should at least know that if we're going to be roommates, after all."
Diana thought about it before she began. "People said that Camberwood is a beautiful island far up north of Somerset and I agree with them. The island is covered in hills; most of them are filled with soft and green grass, but not too little of meadows full of seasonal flowers. Once you get to the highest point of the island, everywhere else you see is the sea. The sunsets there are beautiful and it's glorious every single time. About my family, I lived with my mom, dad, and my happy-go-lucky retriever in our small house. There's nothing interesting of my past if you really want to know about it."
Diana lowered her head and frowned a little. "Can you tell me just a little of it for the least then?" she then buried herself in the blankets and held on to one of the pillows, ready to listen.
"I suppose so, since you made up your mind so firmly," she chuckled. "There's not much to expect from an island girl though. Duncaster was the small town on the southern coast where I grew up. There's really nothing much special there; you can't find anything like shopping centers or big roads except fields and parks, so I spent most of my time running around the fields with my dear friends, have picnics during summer, or visiting each other's homes. Otherwise, I would ride around the town in the afternoon and enjoy every minute of it. Oh, how lovely it was! Our lives aren't as expensive and lavish as the ones in Somerset, but we were able to live it the best way we could."
"How about your... parents?" Jade was enthralled as well as curious. She saw a quick change of expression in Diana's face. "Oh, I'm sorry, if something's bothering you I won't ask of it."
"It's alright, Jade. I am lucky to have such a happy family. They may not look of it, but they are lovely in person." Her answer was vague enough to tell Jade not to continue. Jade really wanted to know more about it but Diana's facial expression told her she might as well tear up. Diana was glad Jade didn't continue.
"All right then, I think the essentials are done, we can get dinner, can we?" Jade was already on her feet. When she noticed that Diana was nodding her head while looking down, she smiled and grabbed her hand. "We'll get whatever we want. Celebrate the beginning of the year, you know. Come one, Diana, don't be such a nerd. We need to celebrate something? Everybody's doing it."
Diana frowned for a moment while she grabbed her cardigan. "Are you just going to do whatever society's doing?"
Jade broke into a good-nature laugh. "No, no, of course not! No, don't look at me like that. No, we just need something to mark our day with. This is an important day, Jade. First day in college! When you're old, you really need to look back to this splendid years we are gonna go through." She nudged Diana's arm playfully and annoyed her for the next couple minutes.
"Fine, fine. But this is only because you called me 'nerd'. Oh, can we also not socialize too much? And not spending too much time there?" she inquired.
"Why not?"
"I'm not good with socializing."
"Well, it's time to change that."
Diana didn't move.
Jade sighed. "All right then. I can only say that I'll try," she then changed into her easy dress and grabbed her jacket. She stopped for a moment to examine Diana's attire. "Whoa, are you really going to wear THAT?"
Diana must've felt insulted because she said, "what's wrong with these? They're sensible enough for a celebratory dinner."
"Oh, no dear. That's not what I meant. I was trying to say that, maybe you can dress up a little, wear something different from what you wore this morning. You are not going to celebrate an important event in sweatpants and baggy shirts, aren't you?" Jade rummaged through Diana's luggage. "Let's see what you have here - blouse, sweater, oh! You are wearing this." She then handed her white oversize turtleneck and a pair of loose jeans. "Yes, that's real pretty. I suppose it's your tall figure. I never look good on oversized; they made me look microscopic. But then, we're almost the same height. Well, some things aren't meant to be obvious. I guess I'll learn that when I need to."
While Jade helped Diana dressed herself, she noticed how quickly the sun is setting. She smiled to herself while appreciating the whole event. "You are indeed very poetical, aren't you?" she then looked down at her locket necklace and held it tight in the hands.
Jade laughed. She always laughed a great deal. "Thank you, I suppose," she then had a notion. "We need to take pictures."
"Of the sunset?"
"No, us! And yes, and the sunset, too," she grabbed her camera and they both smiled at the lens. "There, I'll print two copies so you'll have one and I'll also have one. This is going to be the start of our friendship. Diana, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm okay. I'm just hungry, that's all."
"Oh right, dinner! We can talk more at dinner. And, we should get going if you don't want to too much meet people. Especially during Fridays. Way too much people."
♠
They finally finished their dinner at a restaurant nearby. The restaurant was more of a bar since they were eating on high chairs, and the racks behind the countertop were filled with bottles. Still, the atmosphere weren't very intoxicated to be called a bar. The foods were "scrumptious" and weren't too costly, either. Diana tried to finish the food quickly so they both can head back to the dorm, but Jade made her stay to get acquainted. Diana and Jade were getting to know each other more as more and more college students appeared in the restaurant. There were some of the college students eating, some also just hanged around and getting acquainted. The place was getting louder and rowdier. Diana stood up and was ready to head out from the restaurant. Jade was definitely sparked up a notion to socialize with them. Diana saw this and made a face at Jade.
"No, we are not," Diana muttered. "Remember what was said at the dorm? Not socializing and staying too much?"
"Remember when I said I'll try?" Jade grinned and pulled Diana's arm toward the crowd. "Come on, these are the people we get to be with for the next what, 4 years."
Unless someone moved out, Diana thought.
"Please, can we try to at least get to know their names? They seemed to be really nice and outgoing. Come on, it's easy. You just be you and I just be me," Jade was already a meter away from a group of guys and girls when Diana made a face at Jade. "No, you are not getting away. We are going to socialize. Or, I'll probably do all the talking anyway. You don't have to do all the talking if you don't want to."
There was no point to argue since Jade was already starting a conversation between the new friend groups. So, Diana stood beside Jade and listened to the talk. The topics were very blunt, so she wasn't paying too much attention. She answered and gave polite nods and smiles when they were asking about her, but really, it wasn't anything interesting in particular. As Jade and the group were bonding together, Diana looked around the restaurant to find more and more people occupied the room. Some girls asked some general things about Diana and she answered them politely. They didn't have a long conversation since the girls then left her to talk to other new scholars, so Diana lingered and waited for Jade to finish talking. Some guys sitting across the restaurant were checking her out and they made sure she saw it. Diana bestowed one of her scornful glances at them, and they made note of it. Jade was flirting lightly with one of the seniors among the group, so she was definitely having a time of her life. Diana tried not to barf.
Finally after about half an hour, the ice breaker came to an end. The group asked if they both wanted to take a picture with them, so they did. Way too overly romantic, Diana thought. Diana gave an unsentimental goodbye to the group while Jade parted as if she already knew them for years, especially to the seniors. Then, they both headed out from the restaurant. "Well, first day's done. Why don't you talk much to them? They are really nice and know a lot of things around Somerset."
"Well, I'm just being me, I guess. Look, I'm not good with this whole socializing thing so don't judge me for it. You seemed to enjoy it, I know that for sure. Weren't you, uh, flirting?"
"Come on, how can I not? Some of them are also really good looking. Don't you think Morris is attractive? I'm not sure if I can keep a straight face when someone mentioned about him after this. A funny name for a Greek god, that's for sure. I wished his name was Roy or Connor, that's prettier. But then, Morris is an interesting name. Come on, you know it is, right? Oh, I see you nodding. He's quite the popular one among the group, you can tell from how everyone seemed to be attached to him."
"You already took a liking at him?"
"I might get over it in a month; I only like him for his looks though. Oh don't get me wrong, it's not that I'm materialistic, it's just I'm trying to find a value in people that I can appreciate. Geez, I sounded so stupid when I said that," Jade then grinned while looking straight ahead. "You know, one of the guys was asking 'who is that handsome girl?' and he was pointing at you. Think about paying a compliment! Seems like Ryan had 'took a liking' at you. He seemed to be the beta there. He asked a lot about you to the point where I'm annoyed enough and hoping he would just ask you in person." Jade nudged Diana's arm teasingly.
"Oh please, no one would do such thing. You notice a lot of things, don't you? I hope he gets over it soon," Diana kept a sober face while walking towards a thrift shop around the corner. "Let's get some new clothes; we need something, uh, Somerset-y."
"OOOH, I like that! We definitely need something. I never thought you also like shopping."
"No, I don't like shopping. In fact, you might as well see me walking out buying nothing. But it's great to take a mind off things."
Jade nodded. "That's a good point. You know, you might consider me a shopaholic once you see me with my cart. But please, stop me; I need to control that dreadful habit and I think you ought to do it. My parents have tried, but goodness knows how much I bought. Don't look at me like that; I bought them all with my money. I used to work part-time during school, so I earned enough to buy all that. You've seen my luggage; it's painful to carry them around. Sometimes I need a touch of reality to realize where I'm putting my hands on."