Her forehead creased, and then she snorted before breaking out in loud laughter. "You really are strange."
"Uh... thanks, I think." That was a point Max liked to remind me of over and over again.
"No, it's good." She took a step toward me and touched my arm. "It's refreshing. Do you know you're the first person I've ever met that treated me like a normal person? And the fact that you stood up for me with my brother was the icing on the cake."
"But what about Nate? He seems to really like you." It was obvious, considering the way he'd watched her almost the entire time at the party when she wasn't paying attention. He was completely and utterly smitten with her.
"Oh, he does." She waved me off. "But he also enjoys the fact that my dad's a council member and that my brother is the next in line."
"Well, it's kind of cool." Actually, I didn't think that any longer. "Or at least it was."
"See, you haven't even been here an hour, and you're already seeing things differently." She reached down and tore open the box and pulled out my navy blue sheets. She held them out and pursed her lips. "What size sheets are these?"
"Full-size." I never imagined I'd have a king-size bed. My brother's dorm was tight with the two full mattresses in it. "I didn't realize..."
"Actually, we have sheets provided for us here." She headed over to the walk-in closet and came back out with satin blood-red sheets. "So this will do fine." She moved to the bed and started making it for me.
"You really don't have to do that." She had already done so much for me. "I can do it."
"No, it's fine." She waved me off as she began tucking the sheets into the corners. "And now that the staff knows you're here, they'll be washing your bedding and making your bed from here on out, so it's no biggie."
"What?" That couldn't be covered by my financial aid. "I can do it. I mean I can't afford to pay someone..."
She waved me off. "No, it's part of the tuition and rooming with me. It's no biggie at all." She finished putting the sheets on and grinned. "Are you going to help me, or am I doing it all by myself?"
"Shit, sorry." I reached down and tore the box open. I pulled out my jewelry box and headed over to the dresser, placed it on the side, next to the mirror, and opened it up. As much as it didn’t make sense, I always checked to be sure the necklace my mother gave me on my sixteenth birthday was still intact. After my first shift, she took me running through the woods. When we got to a small clearing, she shifted back to her human form to grab the clothes that she had left for both of us next to one of the trees. It was strange that Dad and Max weren't there, but I wouldn't have traded the time with her for the world. At first, she'd acted like she was nervous, but after we dressed, she leaned behind the tree and pulled out a small, wrapped box. She'd handed it to me and told me that this was a special present from her to me. That it was a family heirloom and important for me to have. I opened the box with shaky hands, and when I had the cover off, the pendant lying within took my breath away. She explained that it had been a cufflink before and that she had it made into a pendant for me. As she talked, I couldn't take my eyes off it. It had five raised paw prints: four silver paw prints and then a slightly larger red paw print that sat on top of them. I'd wanted to put it on that day, but she told me it was too important to wear and that she only gave it to me to remind me that I wasn't alone. I'd always found it odd that she gave me a necklace she didn't want me to wear. However, when tears trailed down her cheeks as she made me promise, I knew right then and there it was very important to her. We never brought it up again, and when I told Dad thanks later that night, he'd looked at me strangely.
"What are you looking at?" Bree closed the distance between us.
Before she could see, I snapped the box shut. For whatever reason, it seemed too personal to share. "Oh, nothing. Sorry, I'm out of it. Honestly, I never thought I'd be here." That wasn't a lie.
"Well, what else do you have left to unpack?" Her eyes landed on my two suitcases. "Where are all your other bags?"
"That's all of them." I had always known this was a prestigious school, but it wasn't until now that I was beginning to understand the magnitude.
"It's not a big deal." She picked up both bags and headed to the closet. "We'll be wearing school uniforms anyway."
"Say what?" I didn't know anything about school uniforms. Even though our family never went without, we weren't rolling in money either. "Where do I go get them?"
"Chill." She opened the doors to my large walk-in closet and pointed to an already halfway filled closet of clothes. "They're all here."
I rushed over and couldn't believe my eyes. There were red and silver skirts, dresses, sweaters, and pants galore. It didn't make any sense. I pulled a skirt off the hanger and glanced at the tag. It was a size six. "How the hell did they know my size?"
"You're only a couple of inches taller than me, and you have a more slender waist." She shrugged her shoulders as she opened my bag and began hanging my personal clothes. "I knew we had to be the same size."
"Well, you were right." After one night, she had already noticed all that stuff about me. I wasn't sure how comfortable I was about that though.
"It's all in the training." She rolled her eyes as she pulled out one of my favorite tops. It was a simple black shirt that clung to my body in the most flattering ways. It had bunched sleeves and a V-neck. "This is freaking adorable."
"You can always borrow it." Maybe this would be similar to having a sister if we roomed together and shared clothes. "And what kind of training are you talking about?"
"Don't worry. You'll find all that out soon enough." She huffed and finished putting up the last of the first suitcase. "Should I do your other one?" She arched an eyebrow.
"Shit, sorry." Here I was standing and looking like a dummy as she unpacked for me. "I can do it."
"No, it's no big deal." She grabbed a dress from my last bag. "It's kind of nice, helping for a change. Usually, people are stepping all over themselves to help me. It's a little refreshing."
"Didn't you have to unpack your room?"
"Nope, Dad had people set up both Liam's and my room." She shrugged. "So it's nice to help you. And let's be real. This didn't take long at all since you didn't bring a lot with you."
"I'm kind of simple." Mom and Dad had taught Max and me that it wasn't the stuff we surrounded ourselves with but the people we do that mattered the most. "And I didn't want to drag a ton of stuff back and forth."
"Now that I get."
Within minutes, we were done hanging everything up, and I spotted a large silver comforter in the corner. I picked it up and headed back out to the bedroom.
"Want to go grab something to eat?" She glanced at my clock and smiled. "I'm starving."
"That actually sounds like an excellent idea." I quickly put the comforter on my bed and sighed. I was all unpacked now. "I don't have a car, so is there something nearby?"