Chapter 4: Chapter 4

It was almost dark when we returned to our dorm. The lights in the windows twinkled like a merry Christmas tree.

"I'm going down to the cafeteria to grab some dinner." I told Dani, as I threw all my shopping bags on my bed.

"You're hungry again?" She teased me. "You've heard of the freshman fifteen, right? They say every freshman gains at least fifteen pounds their first year of college."

I scowled at her. "I have good metabolism."

"Did you have a boyfriend back home?" She pulled her new dress out of the bag and hung it up in the closet.

I shook my head. "Nope. Never had one. I mean, I've gone on a few dates, but never had anything serious."

She stopped and stared at me. "Shut up! How is that possible? You're so pretty."

I rolled my eyes as I grabbed my purse. This coming from Exotic Barbie. "Not nearly as pretty as you and your friends. Seriously, what's in the water here? Everyone I met today looks like they just did a photo shoot for Vogue."

"Oh, shut up!" Dani crossed her eyes and stuck her tongue out at me. She couldn't look ugly even when she tried.

I headed out the door, towards the cafeteria. It was dinner time and the student union was packed. I got in the long winding line for a Subway sandwich and pulled out my phone. I was in the middle of a massive game of Candy Crush. Half way through my next level, I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I looked around, searching for the source of the mental disturbance.

I scanned the groups of people. I recognized a few of the guys from the diner and some girls from my dorm, but none of them were looking at me. "You're holding up the line," an annoyed voice sounded behind me. I whirled around and came face to face with Dustin.

I cringed. "Sorry," I mumbled and moved forward.

"If you're smart, you'll remember that not paying attention can get you into trouble here."

I whirled on him, my eyes flashing with anger. "What's your problem? Ever since you met me you've been nothing but rude. I didn't do anything to you."

He raised his eyebrows. "You're young and foolish. You proved it last night. Having you around is a liability, and I don't want my sister getting hurt because you don't know how to stay out of trouble."

"You don't know me," I fired back. "I can take care of myself." I felt the itching in my palms that I got whenever one of my brothers pissed me off. Usually I followed it up with a smack upside their head, but something told me Dustin wouldn't take that very well.

"Yah, you sure took care of yourself last night. You were ready to go off with Daemon and you don't even know him. He could've hurt you. He would have hurt you." Dustin was close to my face. "If you're going to make it around here, you need to stop trusting people. You're not in Kansas anymore, Dorothy. Wake up!" With that, he spun on his heel and stalked away, not bothering to order a sandwich.

I glared after him, thinking maybe I really should have hit him. Then he would have seen that I could take care of myself.

"Ma'am?" I turned back to the boy at the Subway counter. "Can I help you?" I ordered a sandwich and stalked back to my dorm.

The door to my room was ajar when I got back to the dorms and I could hear shouting from inside. "I've told you before. This is not a good idea." I recognized Dustin's voice. "You never listen to me. Remember what happened with Alicia! This is exactly how it started with her and look what happened. It's too dangerous."

"That wasn't my fault!" Dani argued. "You know that. Katie is different. She's not one of them. Plus, she's my roommate. Do you want me to just kick her out? Come on, Dustin. Please. I need a friend."

"You have plenty of friends." He spat at her. "Cut it off, Dani. She can be your roommate, but not your friend. That's not a request, it's an order."

Dani began to cry. "You can't always tell me what to do. Katie is my friend and she's going to stay my friend."

"I'm not going to be responsible for what happens. You're just starting to feel safe again, and I won't let anyone mess that up. Don't make me tell Brian." I heard Dustin heading towards the door, and I ducked behind the stair well. He slammed the door behind him and strode down the hallway, his figure diminishing as he got further away.

I couldn't believe it. What was with this guy? I waited a few more minutes to make sure he wasn't coming back before I entered my room.

Dani was staring out the window when I pushed open the door. I didn't know what to say, so I pretended I hadn't heard any of the exchange between her and her brother. She wiped her tears and turned to me. "Hey."

"Are you okay?" I crossed the room to stand beside her.

She nodded, still staring out the window. "I just miss my parents."

"Can you call them? Or go visit?"

She sighed, her eyes still on the rapidly waning horizon. "They're dead."

I felt like a jerk. I automatically assumed she had parents at home, like I did. I wrapped my arm around her waist and put my head on her shoulder. "I'm so sorry."

We stood there for a while, watching as the sun completely faded from view. Finally, Dani pulled away and faced me. "Please don't let Dustin chase you away. His bark is worse than his bite. He'll come around." She seemed to be trying to convince herself as well as me.

I met her beautiful green eyes. "I am your friend. And that's not going to change." She stared at me for a moment, then turned towards the door.

"I have to go out for a while. Don't wait up." She blew me a sad kiss and disappeared out the door.

I watched her go, my head full of questions and my heart full of confusion. The moment I met Dani I felt a connection with her. I had no idea why Dustin wanted her to stay away from me.

I grabbed my phone and dialed my parents. After learning about Dani's parents, I needed to hear my mom's voice.

Unfortunately, I got the answering machine. "Hey, it's me. I just wanted to say hi and tell you I love you. I'll call again soon."

I flopped onto my bed and curled up with my favorite blanket. Dani still wasn't back by the time I fell asleep.

#                                                                                                #                                                                                           #

Dani was asleep in her bed when my alarm rang out the next morning. I rolled over and hit the off button, knocking the clock to the floor.

"Katie!" Dani moaned. "It's the middle of the night!"

I laughed as I got up and started the little coffee maker on the corner table. "It's seven in the morning. Don't you have class today?"

She pulled her pillow over her head. "Not until later! Shawn and I take afternoon classes!"

"Really?" I grabbed my shower bag and headed towards the door. "What time is your first class?"

"Noon. Now shut the door and let me go back to sleep!"

I laughed as I closed the door behind me. The bathrooms were deserted, and I showered and got ready in record time. Score one for bathroom privacy! My first class was in Thompson Hall at 8:30, and I made it there with time to spare.

I had four classes on my schedule. Thanks to my Advanced Placement scores, I was taking art classes that were for upper classmen. I expected to be one of the only freshmen in my art history class, which was nerve wracking in an exciting way. What I didn't expect was to see Dustin when I walked in the door.

"Seriously?" I couldn't help but exclaim as our eyes met. He was sitting next to the window on the right side of the room. His black hair shimmered in the morning light, making it look like a dark diamond. I made my way to the opposite side of the room, as far away from him as I could get. He watched me the whole time.

"Welcome to Art History 405. This is an upper level class and I expect that those of you in here have taken the prerequisites or have tested out of them. We will be moving quickly through a lot of information and you are expected to keep up. Now, let's get right into it. Please turn to page 15 in your textbook. Who would like to read?"

I dared to look over at Dustin. He was watching me, probably hoping I was in the wrong class. His deep green eyes were piercing, and I felt them shooting me with invisible daggers. When he realized I wasn't going anywhere, he slouched down in his seat and glared out the window. I made myself ignore him and pay attention to the professor. It was the longest hour of my life.

"Refer to your syllabus for next week's assignment. Class dismissed." The teacher closed his book and began gathering up his materials.

I busied myself with loading my bag, hoping that Dustin would rush out of the room to avoid me. Unfortunately, he was still lingering at his desk when I headed toward the door. "Katie!" He called after me.

I took a deep breath and turned towards him. "What?"

"Can I talk to you?"

"Can you do it without being mean or insulting?" I questioned, hands on my hips.

"Look, I think we got off on the wrong foot."

"Really." I somehow doubted that. There was no mistaking the impression he was trying to get across.

"I'm very protective of my sister. I don't want to see her get hurt."

"What makes you think I would hurt her? You've been a total jerk to me without even getting to know me."

He shifted from one foot to the other. "There's things you don't know about us. Dani has been through a lot. Just trust me. She gets attached very easily and I don't know anything about you. I won't let her get hurt."

"Yah, you keep saying that. But who's making her unhappy, Dustin? You or me? I care about Dani. So how about backing off until you have a real reason to worry?"

His emerald eyes darkened a shade. "I'm going to be watching you."

"Watch all you want!" I spat. "But stay the hell out of my way." I spun on my heel and stalked out the door, leaving him glaring after me.

I had half an hour between classes. Just long enough to grab a coffee from the student union. I saw Shawn standing in line, waiting to place his order. "Hey Katie." He waved. "How's your first day going?"

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "My class was good. Unfortunately, no one told me that the king of jerks was also going to be there."

"Ahhh, class with Dustin, huh?" He gave me a sympathetic look. "It will get better once he gets to know you. When he trusts someone, he's a good friend to have. He's just very protective of Dani."

"Yah, I get that." I searched my purse for some money to pay the barista. "But what makes him think I'm going to get her in trouble? I'm not some criminal. I'm just an art major from upstate. He won't even give me a chance." The barista handed me my mocha.

"You're an art major?" Shawn looked pained. "So is Dustin."

"Oh, my god, can this day get any worse?"

He grabbed his coffee and turned to me. "When's your next class? Do you have a few moments to talk?"

I looked at my watch. "I have about twenty minutes." I followed him to a table.

Shawn sat down and leaned forward in his chair. "I'm sure you've noticed that Dani is a little reserved, and she feels safest with me or Dustin nearby. But she wasn't always like that. She used to be the most independent woman I knew, but something bad happened, and she hasn't been the same since. I know Dani told you that she didn't have a roommate last year, and by the end of the year she didn't. But at the beginning, there was Alicia."

I squirmed in my chair. This must have been who Dustin was talking about last night.

"I'm not sure how much Dani has told you about her family, but they are well off. There are four kids, Dani and Dustin, and their older brother and sister. Their family is from old southern money. Alicia became part of our group and we totally welcomed her, even Dustin. Unfortunately, after a while, it became clear that she wasn't who we thought she was. About three months into the semester, Alicia and her friends kidnapped Dani."

I looked up sharply. "Dani was kidnapped?"

Shawn nodded, his face solemn. "They held her captive and demanded ransom from her family."

I sucked in my breath. "Oh, my god. What happened? Did you guys go to the police?"

"We couldn't involve the police," his eyes darkened. "But we searched on our own for two days. We questioned everyone who knew Alicia and finally found out where they were keeping Dani. Unfortunately, by then Dani's parents had gone to drop the ransom. What happened next is still kind of sketchy. We know that something went wrong during the ransom drop, and Dani's parents disappeared. By the time we got to Dani, there was no sign of them. It's been almost a year, and everyone believes they're dead."

I felt anger twisting my stomach. Just imagining Dani in that situation made me sick inside. "What happened to Alicia?"

Shawn looked directly into my eyes. "We took care of Alicia and her friends."

"We?" I asked.

"Dustin, Brian and I." By the look on his face I knew not to push the question any further.

I sat back, stunned. "I had no idea. No wonder Dustin doesn't want me around."

Shawn nodded. "I'm not sure if either of them would be okay with me telling you all of this, so I'm going to ask you to keep it to yourself for now. But I thought you needed to know so you wouldn't think Dustin was a total ass for no reason. I know it feels like he's being mean to you without taking the time to get to know you, but he's only trying to make sure something like that never happens again. He's already lost his parents, and he can't risk losing his sister too."

Shawn looked down at his watch and stood up. "I think you're probably a good person, Katie. But I feel the same way Dustin does. I'll never let anyone hurt Dani again. If you're a good person, Dustin will eventually come around. And if you aren't, we'll deal with you just like we dealt with Alicia."

Author's Note: Well, it looks like we've figured out why Dustin is so icy! Will Katie be able to prove she's not another Alicia? Comment and vote for your favorite chapters! Luvs as Always! AM