13

Nia pulled up to what she thought was her dorm, according to the map and the GPS. “We’re here, Auntie.”

Auntie unclutched her hands from the door handle. “So I see.”

“I don’t know why my driving scares you so much. I’m always very careful.”

“So you say.” She opened her door. “At least I can breathe again.”

When they found her room, it was empty. She’d been assigned a new roommate since Keisha wouldn’t be sharing it with her. “I guess my roommate hasn’t shown up yet.” She looked at her aunt. “I can’t believe Keisha won’t be here. I just…” She broke off as tears threatened.

“I know it’s very sad. Hopefully, she’ll get herself together and can be here next year. It would be a shame for her to not go to college. She’s so bright.”

“She really is smart. Smarter than me. I have to study hard to get my good grades but she barely even reads the assignments, let alone studies.”

“You need to stay in contact. Keep encouraging her. She’ll have a lot of tough choices to make. She’ll need your support.”

“I wanted to talk to her about giving up the baby for adoption the baby but couldn’t find the courage to bring it up.”

“That’s OK. It probably wasn’t the right time anyway. She needs time to process the whole thing. Hopefully, she’ll find peace and do what is right for her and what is right for the baby when the time comes.”

“I hope so.”

“Hi.” A blonde bounced into the room. Definitely a cheerleader type. She held a paper in her hand. Her mouth fell open when she saw Nia. “I...uh…I didn’t know you were…Never mind.”

Nia resisted a sigh. “Let’s not never mind. You didn’t know what? That I was African-American?”

“I didn’t say that.” Her gaze went around the room. “Don’t go getting defensive on me.”

Auntie pressed her hand against Nia’s back as if sending a silent message. But she wasn’t spending a year living with someone who didn’t want to live with her. “If you want a new roommate, let’s take care of the problem now.”

“It doesn’t matter to me. I was just a little surprised. Honestly. No big deal. Really. I’m Tanya Reynolds. Your roommate. I guess.” She put a hand on her hip as her blonde ponytail swayed from side to side. “Unless you don’t want to room with me?”

Nia stared at her. Should she let it go? Auntie had taught her over the years to not be so sensitive. Time to start putting that into action. “I don’t have a problem as long as you don’t have one. I’m Nia Johnson. I was trying to decide what bed to take when you came in. Which one would you like?”

Tanya gave a nervous smile as she pointed. “The one closest to the door if that’s OK with you. I’m a bit of a night owl. If I have that one, I might not wake you up when I come in.”

“Fine with me.”

Auntie smiled. “I’m Margaretta Johnson. Nia’s aunt.”

“Where’s her mom and dad?” She put a hand to her mouth as her face turned red. “Oops. Maybe I shouldn’t have asked that. Forget I asked. I say the dumbest things sometimes.”

Nia was starting to worry. Did she have an airhead for a roommate? Keisha, it was supposed to be you and me. Not this girl. She counted to ten then asked, “Do you have things in the lobby to bring up? I can help with that.”

“Nah. All I brought was this.” She tossed a large knapsack on the bed. “It was sort of last minute. They only called me today to tell me they had an open spot.”

Keisha’s spot. Nia forced a smile. “What about books and things?”

“My mom said she’d bring them up tomorrow. Since I can’t live without my car, I drove myself up today. Did you bring one—a car?”

“Freshmen aren’t allowed to have a car. Does that mean you’re not a freshman?”

“I have credits that make me a sophomore so that’s why I was allowed.”

“Well, I’ll leave you two to get acquainted.” Auntie headed to the door.

Suddenly Nia didn’t want her to go—didn’t want to be alone. For as long as she could remember, she’d always been with Auntie except for her trips to Puzzle House. “You’re leaving so soon?”

Auntie nodded. “Time for me to go.”

Nia hugged her aunt.

“It’s not her fault that Keisha’s not here. So be nice,” Auntie whispered.

Nia stepped back. “I’ll try my best.”

“That’s all God ever wants, sweetie. Speaking of God, I’d like to pray with you before I leave.” Margaretta looked over at Tanya. “With both of you.”

Tanya took a step back. “Oh. No, that’s OK. You don’t have to do that. I’ll leave the two of you alone so you can pray.”

Margaretta smiled. “Of course, I don’t have to do that. It’s what I want to do.” She motioned for Tanya.

****

With nowhere to run, Tanya slipped her hand into their waiting palms and listened to Nia’s aunt pray protection and blessings over both of them. Nobody’d ever prayed for her before. It probably wouldn’t do anything but it couldn’t hurt.

After the prayer, Nia and Margaretta hugged each other again.

Margaretta wiped tears from her face. “I better go before I make a complete fool of myself.”

How sweet. It was obvious that Nia and her aunt loved each other. But still, enough was enough.

Her mom had kissed her on the cheek before she left and said, “See you tomorrow and be good.” That was Mom-speak for ‘don’t do anything to get yourself kicked out of another school.’

Tanya waited until they left and then flopped on her bed. How stupid could she get? She’d been surprised to see that her roommate was African-American. Still she could have kept that thought to herself. No—not her? She had to make a scene about it. Well, not that big of a scene, but the girl had been smart enough to pick up on it anyway. How embarrassing. Nia probably thought she was prejudiced or something.

She wasn’t. At least she didn’t think she was, but just like everything else she did—she’d messed up. Again. And now her new roommate would probably hate her. And as if that wasn’t enough, she’d had to ask where Nia’s parents were. What did that matter? It wasn’t like her parents were here either. It was none of her business. Why couldn’t she learn to think before she talked?

She jumped up and grabbed a pack of cigarettes from her bag. Her gaze moved around the room. No smoke detectors that she could see. Smoking anywhere on campus was against the rules…she shrugged…but what they didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them.

***

Nia opened the door and walked back in with a bag. She grinned at Tanya but it quickly turned to a frown. Wonderful—just wonderful. “Were you smoking in here?”

Tanya shook her head. “Why would you think that?”

“Because I can smell it.”

“Must be someone in one of the other rooms.”

Have an argument with her roommate within the first hour of meeting her? That wouldn’t be a good thing. “Well, I hope they don’t get in too much trouble. Smoking’s not allowed on campus, and I’m glad. Can’t stand the smell of it.”

Tanya shrugged.

Nia held up the bag. “Auntie thought I might get hungry. There’s subs and homemade chocolate chip cookies. Are you hungry?”

“I’m fine.”

“Yeah, me too. I’ll save them for later. But if you get hungry help yourself.”

“I never had anyone pray for me before.” Tanya looked at her. “I hope you’re not a Jesus freak or anything.”

“I’m a Christian, if that’s what you mean.”

“That’s fine. Just so you’re not too religious or anything.”

“Why did you come to a Christian college if you didn’t want to be around Jesus freaks?”

“This is the only place my parents would let me come after getting kicked out of two other colleges. But that wasn’t my fault. Like being here at a Bible college will stop me from having fun.” She grinned. “We’ll have a great year together.”

“Why wasn’t it your fault you got kicked out of the other colleges?”

“Oh, that.” She shrugged. “No big deal. The first school I got sick and couldn’t complete the requirements for my classes that semester. Then I thought I was stronger, so I took some classes at my local community college, but I was wrong and didn’t finish all of them either.”

“What was wrong with you?”

Tanya gave her a blank stare.

“When you were sick?”

“Oh. I don’t know. They never did figure it out. Probably some type of mono or something.”

“Are you feeling better now?”

“Much better!” She jumped off the bed and grinned. “In fact, I’m feeling so good I think we should go take a drive. Check out the area. Maybe find a place where we can dance or something. What do you say?”

“Thanks, but I don’t think so.”

“Well, let’s at least go see what’s going on around here. There must be something fun to do even if it is a Bible college.”

“Can’t. Gotta unpack.”

“Suit yourself, but I’m not going to be stuck in this room all night. See you later.”