Anne sat in front of her mirror combing her golden hair delicately. She loved her locks, she loved the shade they gave off, she loved it the way it brought out the blue color in her eyes.
She stared at herself in the mirror, a smile playing on her lips
“You know you are beautiful. Your beauty will lead you to horizons that others will not be able to reach”
Her smile broadened
“What a self obsessed bitch” Laura thought as she observed Anne staring at herself in the mirror “she thinks she own the world just because she is beautiful?”
Laura rolled her eyes
“She is just a nymph who can’t even stand for herself!”
Anne placed her hair brush down on the table and ran her hand through her straight long hair one more time before getting up, girls in her dorm were all busy in preparing to go home for their winter vacations, but Anne was to stay, her parents had filed for a divorce and the fight was still going on. She hated the family mess and she wished to stay as far away as possible from it. Her mother had called her few days back inviting her to stay with her, but she refused out right.
The tantrums that broke out between her parents were just unbearable, at times Anne wanted to just storm out of the house never to return. That was when she had finally decided to stay at the dorm. The girls here at least were far way better than the couple back at home.
Anne shared the dorm room with two other girls, Laura and Susanne. Laura was a tough one with a rude attitude, but she was fine with it as long as she kept to herself. Susanne was a timid girl, the only worry in her life was her grades.
Anne pulled a light pink colored cardigan and walked out of the room. She had no idea how she would be spending her day today, studies were off, assignments assigned to everyone, projects handed to be completed during the vacations. But she was not in the mood to indulge herself in the books right now. She sighed heavily and started walking towards the gym which was situated at the back of the building. It was a moderate gym with good appliances, the trainer was off for the vacations but the gym was to stay available for the kids staying in the dorm.
Anne stepped into the gym and looked around, it was almost empty except for a kid or two on some machines. She strolled in and walked around unable to make up her mind.
Anne finally came to a stop in front of the cycling machine, she loved to cycle. But cycling on a machine that goes nowhere appeared absurd to her. “That’s it” she whispered to herself as she turned to leave.
“Hey! Anne!” Somebody called her from behind as she was about to leave through the door. She turned around and saw Ronnie walking towards her. “Hey” she replied
“ So you are staying with us as well?” Ronnie asked wiping her hands on the towel
“Yeah seems like it” Anne smiled
“Thats great! Then join us on our adventure escapades” Ronnie offered
“Escapades?” Anne raised her eyebrow
“Yeah” Ronnie replied then leaning closer in to her she whispered “its a freedom escapade mixed with violation”
“Wha..?” There was a huge question mark on her face
“Dont worry i know you will love it” Ronnie gave a lopsided smile “meet me tomorrow in the cafeteria will tell you all about it. Right now I am kinda in a hurry, need to go shop for a few things”
Anne shrugged as she watched Ronnie sprinter away.
“What the hell was she talking about?” She whispered to herself. She was an easy going girl, always took care never to break rules, always an excellent mannered student in her class.
So what was this about? Violating rules?
Anne headed towards the cafeteria for a quick munch, she took a seat beside the huge window overlooking the large football ground. The trees swayed gently in the breeze and she could see some couples sitting under them enjoying the moment to themselves.
“Love. A nuisance!” Her brain screamed out, she could never understand all that lovey dovey talk that went between the couples, felt so childish! And then not to forget the stinging jealousy, and stormy fights, unfaithful relationships breaking the others heart. Why fall in love anyway!
She shook her head and took a bite of her cold turkey sandwich.
Susanne slid right in front of her “Hey. May I join you?”
“Yeah sure! I thought you were in the library”
“Yeah! Was a little while ago, but then just got bored, thought why not grab something to eat maybe it will brighten the mood” Susanne said in one go
“ Hmm” Anne responded absently
“Look at them. I mean how do you get someone to fall in love with you?” Susanne asked
“I don’t know, i am happy not to fall in love with anyone”
“You waste your beauty, seriously” Susanne commented “i overheard a bunch of boys talking about you in the library, maybe one of them was interested in you. They were kind of nagging him. I couldn’t see him or else i would have pointed him out to you”
“Let them be. I am off limits for love dove susie, why don’t you get someone for yourself?” She asked back
“I will, surely I will. But when I do I will give him my whole attention! Just let me get over this study stuff” she replied wiping her mouth clean
“ So you are not going home?” She asked Anne
“No, not in a mood. I want to stay here and see how it feels like to be far away from all those dreadful ...” She left her answer incomplete as she toyed with her sandwich.
“Well it’s quite boring here to tell you the truth, mostly the whole dorm is empty. Very few kids linger with not much to do”
“Ronnie met me today at the gym she asked whether i would like to join her in an escapade mixed with violations. Does it ring bells with you?” Anne asked
“I...I don’t know, nobody offered me any such thing here last year” she smirked “maybe I am just too geek for them”
“I don’t know, but she said she will tell me all about it tomorrow. Lets see what she has got” Anne suggested and Susanne agreed.
Next day Anne was enthusiast to know what was the escapade all about. She went to the cafeteria at the time they had decided to meet. She stepped in and looked around but couldn’t spot Ronnie anywhere. She waited for a while at the cafeteria nibbling snacks absently but Ronnie did not appear.
She finally decided to leave the cafeteria and look for her elsewhere. Adrenaline was pumping her she was curious to know what was it. Although she wasn’t sure if she would be joining them.
As she strolled through the campus she spotted Ronnie sitting on a bench with her friends, she was laughing at some joke that was passed around the group. Timidly Anne approached the bench and cleared her throat to gain attention.
“OH Hey! Whats up?” Ronnie eyed Anne
“You said you will tell me something”
“Tell you something?” Ronnie was confused
“You... I mean, I had met you at the gym yesterday. You were talking about some escapade” Anne could feel her cheeks flush
“Escapade? What escapade? Hey Ron are you hiding something from us?” A girl sitting right in front of Ronnie asked in surprise
“I don’t know what she is talking about” Ronnie replied “ i never met you at the gym. Anne are you feeling alright?”
Anne felt the world spinning in front of her eyes. It was so embarrassing, she looked like a fool in front of the whole group
“I... I think ... I have to go” Anne turned around on her heels quickly and took big strides to distance herself from the group as far as possible. She could hear them snickering behind her back. What was that all about? Why did Ronnie lie? She hated it when people lied to her. Anne could feel her ears burn red hot, she pulled her hair open so that she can hide her ears, she definitely was not in a mood to be ridiculed again.
Taking big strides she crossed the campus towards her dorm, as she climbed the stairs someone pulled her hard from behind. A gasp escaped her lips as she stumbled back and fell against the puller.
Anne looked up to find Ronnie grinning down at her, her tanned faced was shinning with mischief, and she was smiling so big she could almost see all her teeth “Where do you think you are running off? Dont you want to know about the escapade?”
Anne was very very confused, why was Ronnie acting like this? She knew her from few classes they had together but they were just class fellows, Anne was timid and shy, a girl who avoided crowds, preferred to stick to her own self. While Ronnie was known as a butterfly, she barely stayed on her feet. She was very popular on the campus, she was rich, had many rumours revolving around her and she was absolutely not ashamed of what she did.
Ronnie pulled Anne straight up on her feet “Come with me I will tell you about it. You look so sweet when you are confused.” She said pulling Anne behind her.
Laura stood staring at both the girls, she could feel rage boiling inside her. She was helpless in feeling anger against Anne, she hated it when Anne allowed people to step on her as if she was some cockroach. “What can you do with your beauty if you don't have guts” she murmured. Sometimes Laura felt she was like a baby sitter for Anne, and she felt an obligation to protect her. But she also loathed Anne’s timid nature. Susanne joined Laura “ Where is Ronnie taking her?” She asked as she stared at both the girls walking away. “Where ever Ronnie wants her slave to go” Laura said with clenched teeth “ Should we interfere? Maybe she needs help. Ronnie is prying on her new victim” Susanne suggested “No, let Anne handle it herself, she needs to grow up. Let’s see what happens”