Page 1 of Shrouded in the Dark
Chapter 1
Becca
“…finish reading chapter fifteen of the textbook. I would like a minimum of a five page essay of your response to it.” The lecture ended and the class groaned loudly. The professor chuckled. “The essay will be due at the end of next week. Be happy it’s your final and not an actual test.” The clock chimed to announce that it was four in the afternoon, signaling the end of the day. “That’s all for today. See you next week and enjoy your weekend.”
As the students began to file out through the doorway, I turned to Felicity. She was packing up her shoulder bag.
“Hey, since it’s Friday, do you want to go to one of the frat parties tonight to celebrate? One last party before the end of the school year?”
I wouldn’t normally suggest going to one of those parties, but Felicity’s twenty-first birthday was last Friday and she’d not done anything to celebrate it. Her family had insisted she come home and spend the weekend with them. She’d been in a foul mood since she returned.
She looked up at me from where she was digging inside of her bag. “Really? But you hate the frat parties.” Her eyes, which were such a deep brown they were almost black in some lights, filled with hope.
I shrugged as I stood, pulling my own shoulder bag on. “We’re making it your redo birthday weekend! It’s not about what I like.” I grinned at her. “Just promise we go to karaoke next time.”
Felicity dove on top of me, wrapping her arms around my neck. She squeezed so hard, I was pretty sure I turned blue. Even though she was petite, she was damn strong. If it had been anyone else trying to hug me, I’d have curled up in a ball.
“Thank you, Becca! Yes! Yes! Let’s go!” She pulled back excitedly. “We have to get ready. Let’s go.” She grabbed my hand as she basically ran out the classroom door.
“Felicity!” I laughed as she dodged around other students. “We still have a few hours before any of the parties start.”
“Yes, yes, but we have to find the perfect outfits!” She grinned over her shoulder at me. “We’re both going to be gorgeous!”
I rolled my eyes, but couldn’t stop the smile that spread across my face. Felicity and I met at the start of freshman year when we’d become dorm mates. I thought, at first, we’d never get along.
She was as perky, pink, and happy-go-lucky, most of the time, that you could get. I was the exact opposite. Total introvert, awkward, chubby, but I did like pink now after seeing it all the time when we were together.
Felicity didn’t seem to care about our differences. She immediately latched onto me, demanding friendship. She hadn’t even cared that I was an anxious mess.
At first, I thought she was weird. But as the days merged from weeks to months, she broke down my walls and we’d become best friends. She insisted we do everything together and I had finally given up protesting after the first month. She was still weird, but so was I. Now, I couldn’t imagine not having her in my life.
“You know, all you have to do is smile and the guys all roll over on their backs for you, right?”
“Pish posh. I’m not that great,” Felicity snorted as we finally made it to the dormitory that we’d currently lived in for the last year. “Besides, if you actually talked to a few, they’d be tripping over themselves to get to know you.”
“Right.” I gave my own snort, but I wouldn’t have this conversation with her again, since we’d had this discussion multiple times already. “I’m going to miss this dorm.” We went up the stairs instead of waiting for the slow elevator. Our room was on the second floor at the end of the hall.
“I won’t!” Felicity chuckled. “We’re going to be in the sophomore dorm. It has its own cafeteria and we’ll have a private bathroom. No more communal bathroom for us! Just wait until after summer break! It can’t go by fast enough.”
Unlike Felicity, I couldn’t wait for the summer break. I was getting away from everything in the city and spending it up in my family’s cabin in the mountains, sans the family. I’d invited Felicity, but she was going off to some kind of family reunion she couldn’t get out of.
So, it was going to be the first time I’d gotten to go on my own since the rest of my family was in California for the summer visiting my stepgrandparents.
I was looking forward to reading, working on my art portfolio, and enjoying the outside with no one around besides me. The cabin was located off main roads and several miles away from any kind of human contact.
The short trip up the stairs ended. As we stepped inside our room, I glanced around. Her side of the room was decorated up the wazoo with everything under the rainbow. Random posters hung up on the walls everywhere, a few of them looked to be about to drop. My side of the room had a few decorations, but most of the available surfaces were covered in books and my art supplies.
“Ok, let’s figure out what we’re going to wear.” Felicity threw open her wardrobe closet. “How about we match? That cute purple dress-shirt you have with black leggings? I’ll wear my hot pink dress with black leggings.”
I shook my head smiling, but pulled out said clothes. “Alright.”
Over the next two hours, we took showers, dressed, and for the last thirty minutes, Felicity had been putting makeup on both of us. If it was up to me, I’d go without it, but this night was about Felicity, not me.
“Annndd there!” Felicity finished putting some stain on my lips. “Perfect.” She stood back with her hands on her hips. “I think it’s my best yet. You can even hide your flashlight keychain in the dress' pockets.”
I looked in the mirror and blinked. She’d contoured my face to make it look slimmer. It wasn’t bad. I smiled at her.
“Thanks.”
