Her Soul Bonded Mate

Chapter 2

The moment my last class ended, I headed straight to my dorm. I had planned on getting something to eat but decided at the last minute that I wasn’t that hungry. I hadn’t really had much of an appetite since it happened, and since my aunt wasn’t there, no one was forcing food down my throat. “Neffi,” Taylor called, just as I passed the cafeteria. She, like always, was standing with a large group of people, including Liam, who was staring back at me sympathetically.

I smiled, then allowed my feet to carry me towards the group, “I was just heading back to the room,” I explained.

“I know, but girl, I wanted to introduce you to some people. This is Kurtis, LaToshia, Rebecca, Sam, Devonte and Liam,” she said, about the supermodels standing in front of me. “Guys, this is my roommate Nefertiti.”

“Nefertiti? I didn’t know we were standing in the presence of royalty,” The Kurtis guy said. He stood about 6 feet, with short blonde hair, and a smile that, if I wasn’t so depressed, would have made me start drooling.

“Stop it, you’re embarrassing yourself,” Rebecca the long-haired brunette said, with an eye roll, she then reached her hand out towards me, “Ignore him, he was dropped on his head as a baby,” she joked.

I gave a slight smile, then shook her hand. “Good to know,” I joked back.

“Are you coming to the party tonight?” LaToshia, the chocolate Barbie with legs for days asked.

I shook my head no, but before I could say anything, Liam spoke, “You should come, Neffi, it’s what you need,” he said in that voice that always made me blush, and instantly reminding me of my crush I forgot I had on him. Liam was tall and athletically built, with hypnotic brown eyes that I promise could see through to my soul. His hair was a shaggy brown and he had apparently grown a goatee over the summer, shaping it perfectly along his chiseled jawline. I had a crush on him ever since elementary school, and while I dated around, I could never bring myself to tell him how I felt.

“You two know each other?” Sam the redhead asked, with an attitude as if us knowing each other was a crime.

“Yeah, we went to school together back in Dawson City,” Liam said, nonchalantly, while still looking at me with sympathy. “Trust me, Neffi, these parties are amazing, you will love it,” he assured me.

“I’m not interested, I have a lot of work to do,” I said, ready to run.

“Come on Neffi, it will be fun,” Taylor pouted.

“If she doesn’t want to come, don’t force her,” Sam said, with that same jealous girlfriend attitude.

Every piece of me was screaming “NO DON'T GO YOU WON'T HAVE FUN!!!” However, at the same time, there was a part of me that still wanted to experience my first college party, and of course piss off Liam’s possible girlfriend, so I said, “Fine, but I still have a lot of work to do,” I said, more relieved than I thought I’d be.

“Great, we leave at 10, so you have all the time you need to do some work,” Taylor said, with this satisfying smile on her face.

I sighed then turned and walked away, silently kicking myself for agreeing.

The moment I walked into my room, I threw my knapsack on my bed, then sat at my desk and opened my laptop. My web history was full of animal attacks and fake animal attacks searches, and at first, I was planning on resuming my studies; however, I suddenly felt the impulse to actually do my homework for all of my classes.

After the outburst in my criminology teacher’s office, all my teachers found out about my parents, and had given me an extension on all the assignments I missed. As much as I hated sympathy, the last thing I wanted to do was fail out of the school I had promised my parents I’d graduate from with honors. So, for the next three hours, I went to work on my homework assignments.

I hadn’t studied anything since I started going there, and yet, every assignment seemed easier than the last. It was as if the information had appeared in my mind after touching the paper. Oddly enough, it had always been like that for me, that, on top of a great photographic memory made learning easy.

“Okay get dressed, we leave in two hours,” Taylor said, the moment she walked into the dorm room. She was carrying three shopping bags and I was almost positive, one of them was hair dye.

“Yes mother,” I said, after turning in my last assignment online, then closing the laptop. I then put the paper assignments in my knapsack, then walked to my drawer to get some underwear because I’d figured I could find an outfit to wear as soon as I was done with my shower.

“You’ll thank me for this later,” she assured me. I only smiled as I grabbed a matching pair of black underwear, my toiletries, and my towel, then headed to the shared showers in the middle of the hall.

Our dorm was coed, but our floor was girls only; however, that didn’t stop the boys from coming over, or girls from sneaking their boyfriends or daily “hookups” in. If I had the mental capacity to handle a relationship, I would have done the same thing. Why not? It was college life after all.

As I entered the shower, I got the feeling that someone was watching me. Terrified, I ran into the shower room and locked the door behind me. If anyone wanted to get in, they would have to use the other one or wait until I had finished because there was no way in hell I was allowing whoever was stalking me into that room while I was at my most vulnerable. After making sure I was the only one in the room, I took the quickest shower of my life, brushed my teeth, put on my underwear and towel, then sprinted back towards my room as if my life depended on it, not caring if anyone saw me or what they might say.

“That was quick. Did you even wash your hair?” Taylor teased. As she grabbed her own toiletries, a towel and headed towards the door.

“Taylor, I wash my hair once a week. You know that that routine alone is time-consuming and you would be complaining about me taking too long. Besides, I like my curls, and the last thing I want to deal with is a fro. This s**t is too thick,” I said, as I ran my fingers through my hair so my curls would be perfect. I've always had this long thick hair. I tried cutting it two years ago, into a bob, because I wanted to try something different. Not even a week later, my hair had grown out again and to the middle of my shoulders. After my parents’ murder, I shaved it off and told the barber to donate it, but by the end of the week, my hair had grown to the nape of my neck, now it’s length was to the middle of my back and I stopped trying to get rid of it.

“True. I’m so glad I don’t have your problems. But I would kill for those curls. How are they always so perfect?” She asked, from the door.

I shrugged, “Genetics,” I said, with a soft smile, as I walked to my closet to find an outfit for my first college party. Finally deciding on a pair of jeans and a purple tank top, I put those on, then headed to my vanity to put on some light make-up. Our room was a decent size. There were two separate beds instead of bunk beds like other rooms, and we both had our own vanity, dresser, and closet space. Taylor had said that our room was twice the size as hers back home, while I just nodded in agreement, even though it was the reverse for me.

“Ready?” I heard Taylor ask almost two hours later. She was wearing a tight backless black dress that stopped at the middle of her thighs with off the shoulder sleeves and her hair was as red as an apple.

“I guess,” I said, as I grabbed my keys, my phone, some cash and stuffed them in my pocket, because I didn’t like purses. I thought about grabbing my card but figured the cash and my phone would be enough.

“What are you wearing?” She asked, dropping her niceties, and staring at me as if I had just committed a crime.

“A tank and jeans, you don’t like?” I asked, already knowing where this conversation was going.

“Yeah, no change, don’t you have something sexy in your closet,” she asked as she rummaged through my closet, which was filled with nothing but jeans, kakis and other pants because I had donated all my clothes from back home to charity. “Perfect,” she said, about this black and red striped spaghetti string dress. The front tied into a bow around the breast, the stomach was cut out above the navel and the back was out. That was the only dress I couldn’t throw away because my mother and I had picked it out together the week before she died. I was surprised that she would pick something like that for me to wear to my first college party. Her exact words were, “you will look sexy in this, I bet that boy you like won't be able to take his eyes off you when you show up in that at a party.” I smiled in remembrance of her, then felt the tears I tried to hide sting my eyes. “What’s wrong?” Taylor asked, dropping the demanding and hostility act.

“Nothing, umm, that’s just the last dress my mom picked out for me, before she…” I said, softly and stopping myself before finishing the statement. I had told Taylor my parents died, but I never told her how. That was my business.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, I’ll put it back,” she said, hurriedly, but I stopped her.

“No, she wanted me to wear it to my first party, so I have to keep my promise,” I said, as I took the dress from Taylor then changed into it as she walked over to her vanity. After putting on the dress, I looked at myself in the mirror and smiled. It fit perfectly. It elevated my breasts, making them look plumed, while making my butt look bigger than I thought possible.

“Yes,” Taylor said, then handed me a pair of black heels while redoing my makeup to her liking. I didn’t want to wear too much make-up, but there was no stopping Taylor when she was in the zone. “There, now let’s go,” she ordered. Sighing, I grabbed my debt card, ID, some cash, my phone and dorm keys, put them in my dress pockets, which was my favorite feature about this dress, then followed Taylor out the door and to a party I wasn’t even sure I wanted to go to.