Page 7 of Sour Lollipops and Sweet Nightmares
Georgia
One of my favorite books growing up wasAlexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. It reminded me that even on the worst days, things were never as bad as they seemed. There was a bright side to everything. Yes, I may have fallen on my ass, but I found that missing sock.
This was not one of those days. Terrible, horrible, no good, and very bad didn’t even come close to explaining the hell I’d been through. It started from the minute I woke up and stubbedmy toe on the bedside table. It all went downhill after that and continued to spiral as the day carried on.
Our neighbor decided to do laundry while I was in the shower, making the water either scalding hot, or freezing cold. My hairdryer blew a breaker, causing my mother to argue with said neighbor for half an hour.
Then my suitcase refused to roll, so I had to carry it down six flights of stairs. Only to find out that I couldn’t get into my car because someone had parked too close to the doors.
After crawling in through the sunroof, I discovered that I had accidentally left it open during the rainstorm the night before. It was cold, wet, and a frog was sitting on my steering wheel.
I should’ve taken that as a sign—if I believed in those kinds of things—but I was too excited to give it much thought. I wasn’t just a college girl anymore. I was an Ivy League college girl. All my dreams were coming true. Not even a soggy car seat could ruin that.
Three hours into my eight-hour drive, a tire blew out, causing my car to almost veer into the ditch. When I found the only mechanic in a town so small that the gas station, grocery store, and diner were not only in the same building, but were the only businesses there, my flat tire turned into an engine fire. Even then, I continued to try and looked on the bright side.
While my car was toast, there was a bus station on the edge of town where I could continue my journey, so I wasn’t stranded. However, the only seat available was next to a guy who smelled like rotten fish.
He was nice, though, until he spilled his coffee all over the white silk blouse Mom saved up to buy. And because all of my stuff was in the underbelly of the bus, the only change of clothes I had was the maroon sweater the sweet old lady behind me had just finished knitting.
But that was okay, because I made it. I finally arrived at Renfrew College.
This was the moment I’d been looking forward to since I received my acceptance letter and scholarship. I didn’t matter that it was a month into the first semester, because this was everything I had worked so hard for. An Ivy League education on a campus more beautiful than I could ever imagine. It was like stepping out of a bus into a dream.
Gone were the jocks and cliques I avoided. Now I was surrounded by other students who were distinguished, classy, ready to learn, and complete assholes. Apparently, jerks were still jerks after high school.
Everyone I asked for directions ignored me, except for three people who gave me the wrong directions to the dean’s office on purpose. I knew this because I saw them all laughing when I stomped back the way I came. That was the exact reason I didn’t like talking to people.
Not only did social interactions give me mild panic attacks, but nine times out of ten, they turned out bad or weird. I once had a conversation with a woman about the mating habits of mice. I had no idea how we got there, but we did.
And now, I knew that male mice emitted an ultrasonic mating call. While that was an interesting piece of information, it was something I never needed to know.
By the time I found the dean’s office, the receptionist was leaving for the day. She told me to have a seat and walked out.
For thirty minutes, I waited patiently outside the door while sitting in the most uncomfortable chair ever created, which was when patience became a virtue I no longer gave a crap about.
I was done.
I stood up and barged into his office, prepared to give him my opinion on how his offices were run. For example, his receptionist could’ve let him know I was out here before she left.
What I didn’t expect when I opened the door was to find four assholes surrounding whom I assumed to be the dean. And I meant assholes.
I wasn’t being judgy. There was a look some guys had. An arrogance and entitlement displayed in their body language that said fuck you, I’m gonna do what I want. All four of these guys had that look.
Oh, and one of the asshole’s had nothing on below the waist. That was fantastic and not at all how I thought my first in-person look at a penis would go. But hey, why not throw some male genitalia on the clusterfuck cake that was my day. Who didn’t need a little biology in their life?
Although considering that said genitalia wasn’t flaccid, biology might not be the right word.
“Who the fuck do you think you are?” the one with sandy hair barked.
Needless to say, I’d walked in on something I wasn’t supposed to see. Threatening four guys—all of whom could easily crush me into dust—with a picture I had taken of their nefarious doings, probably wasn’t my smartest idea, but I was committed now.
“Well, right now I’m the girl who can destroy your reputation with one finger.”
He didn’t like that very much. His jaw tensed while his turquoise eyes narrowed, so he was glaring at me like he wanted to peel the flesh off my bones.
I should be intimidated and definitely scared—the numbers were not in my favor—but I wasn’t. Maybe if I weren’t so over this day, I would’ve been?
Usually, I wasn’t the type to believe in things like fate and karma, but I was seriously starting to question if I did something awful in a past life.
