Chapter 1.2 ~ School Daze

It was still dark when Quinn got in to the rented van and set off for Hearst. It would be a long ride but she relished the chance to have some time on the road to try and let go of the past so she could be ready for whatever lay ahead. 

She didn't have much left after selling the dresser - just her outdated clothing, three boxes of books and a few personal items including her laptop and camera. And of course the money that was left over after the sale of the house minus the cost of the funeral and her college tuition. It was only about $20,000 but to Quinn who had worked for minimum wage in a quiet coffee shop in a sleepy town, it seemed like a small fortune.

She didn't plan on ever stepping foot in Sunset Valley again. The few friends she'd had while growing up had left town as soon as they had all graduated high school while Quinn had stayed to take care of her mother and to help out with the bills. Luckily, her mother's pension had covered most of the monthly cost of the hospice care workers but they still needed to eat and pay the insurance company. Quinn's coffee shop job had been just enough to keep their heads above water until the bitter end.

It was just after 10:AM when she arrived on campus. She had driven all night, stopping only a few times to use a truck stop restroom and her stomach was growling. As she walked slowly toward the entrance to her dorm, she suddenly felt self conscious about her battered suitcase full of overly worn clothes. Why didn't I use some of the money for some new luggage? she wondered as she surveyed the enormous building which was now her new home.

Quinn paused for a moment and took a deep breath. After a year and a half of taking care of her dying mother, the subsequent funeral and then the estate sale, it dawned on her that she had not felt anything except for a constant numbness that seemed to pervade her every waking moment. Despite her sessions with Madeline every few weeks, she hadn't really allowed her impending freedom to excite her or given herself license to see the new life that was beckoning to her.

She suddenly became aware of the sun warming her arms, the sound of voices in the street behind her and noticed the feel of the asphalt under her sneakers. It felt as if a shroud was slowly being lifted from her body and her senses were being turned back on, one by one. Quinn studied the building in front of her, willing herself to take a step forward. 

She took one step, then another until she had walked in through the large double doors of the dorm and paused to glance around. The building, old as it was, looked clean if a bit sparse in a modern sort of way. She could see some students through the back doors milling about.

As she glanced up the staircase, she heard a voice behind her but was so lost in thought it took a moment to realize that the voice was speaking to her.

"Excuse me?" Quinn asked, dropping her suitcase behind her as she simultaneously spun around.

A smiling girl with dark hair wearing a Hearst College T-shirt was looking at her expectantly. "I asked for your name so I can give you your room assignment."

"Oh!" she said a bit flustered. "My name is Quinn Hudson." She could feel the last bit of tension in her shoulders relax as the girl directed her to leave any belongings in the front hallway.  They would be delivered to her room shortly.

The girl, whose named was Anna, directed Quinn to the second floor double-double. What the hell is a double-double? thought Quinn as she made her way upstairs, deciding not to showcase her ignorance.

She wandered around the wooden hallways until she got to a room with two matching double beds. This has to be it, she thought as she anxiously rubbed her shoulder. There were also matching desks so she decided to sit down and read her newest cookbook until her dormmate arrived.

An hour later Quinn had lost interest in her cookbook and was checking out the campus directory online when a voice that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time startled her.

"Wouldn't it be more fun to just walk around the campus instead of looking at it online?" The voice was amused but not unkind. She whipped around in her seat and bounced out of her chair in one move.

The blue-haired girl staring back at her looked a bit like a sprightly, if fashionably dressed, nymph. And yet as Kazumi Jones introduced herself, Quinn could see that there was both a sharp glint of intelligence in her eyes and a deep curve of knowingness in her lips.

For a moment she just stood there, staring at Kazumi the way she had stared the first time she had gazed upon a photograph taken by her idol, the famed Lana St. Claire.

"My name is Quinn," she said, realizing that she couldn't keep the smile from her lips. 

"Quinn? Cool name!"

"Um..." Quinn didn't know what to say to that. "I sort of think Kazumi is a way better name than Quinn," she said lamely. 

Kazumi laughed. It was a big, hearty, real laugh. "Well most of my friends call me Kaz. I also had an ex boyfriend who only ever called me Jones which which didn't bother me so much as make me feel like I should slap him on the back instead of..."

Quinn half listened to Kazumi while simultaneously berating herself for coming off as such a lame duck the first time they met. Quinn didn't have the first clue how to be cool and here she was, sharing a dorm room with a beautiful girl who simply reeked of coolness.

Kazumi made her way over to the little two-seated couch, still talking, and Quinn plopped herself back down on the computer chair.

Quinn was brought out of her trance when she suddenly keyed in to what Kazumi was saying.

 "...so yeah being half Japanese and half Scottish is pretty uncommon but when you live in a city like St. Claire, you're just one of the masses. It's soooooo not a big deal. It's actually one of the things I love about living there..."

Quinn blanched at the mention of St. Claire. No one can ever know, she thought.