I'm bored to fucking death.

Leaning on the doorway of my dorm room, I watched the other students rush down the corridor as they moved in to their respective rooms. Some were struggling with their luggages, a few seemed to be with their folks, and the rest were already making friends.

Our dorm building, called Mettler Hall, was co-ed so there were a fair share of some guys on my floor. The boys who were already here sure looked like they didn't have any problem with that fact, with the way they were obviously drooling over the girls. Pathetic losers.

Well, at least they were doing something.

I hung my head back and let out a deep sigh.

"Cool hair. Silver suits you."

My eyes flew to the room across from mine. A girl with green eyes stared back at me. Her eyes reminded me of Spring. They were so green, so unlike my pale blue ones. Her curly dark brown (almost black) hair was just below her ears. She was wearing a pastel pink bomber jacket over a white turtle neck shirt tucked in a high-waist skinny jeans.

She looked way too dressy for move-in day – for a freshman. I mean, those kind of 'casual' clothes were only worn by stuck-ups who didn't really know what casual was. She didn't give off the snobby vibe, though.

Looks like we got a low-key rich girl here.

My fingers brushed through my smooth shoulder-length hair. I had it dyed silver last year, and kept it ever since. It suited me more than being a plain brunette.

"Your roommate's a weirdo, too?"

I glanced back in my room and saw my roommate whose nose was practically glued to her textbook. I fought the urge to roll my eyes as I turned back to face the girl across the hall.

"Not a weirdo," I replied indifferently. "Just plain boring."

Mean? Kinda. If someone had a problem with it, well, tough luck. I seriously couldn't give less shits.

Rich Girl nodded to me. "What's your name?"

I crossed my arms and tilted my head. "Connie Anderson."

"Madeline Sullivan."

"Nice to meet you, Mads."

The corner of her lips quirked at the nickname. "Where are you from, Cons?"

I snorted. Saw that one coming.

"Mount Valley, New Jersey."

She nodded. "I'm from upstate New York, Pittsford."

Knew it. Rich girl.

"Any idea how to kill boredom in this place?" I asked, looking around while everyone was still rushing like kids who just got their first taste of freedom.

Huh. Maybe for some of them, it is.

"Hey, I'm as new as you," said Madeline, with a smile.

I let out a little laugh.

"But actually, I do have an idea."

I saw an all too familiar look in her eyes. I've practically seen it every single day of my high school life. They twinkled in mischief. I couldn't deny the fact that I've missed the fuck out of that.

Madeline took a step closer to me, completely ignoring the people trying to pass around her because she was now in the middle of the hallway like a boss ass bitch. I liked how there were zero fucks given.

"Show me your hottest dress," she told me.

"Why?"

"We're going out," she answered, rolling her eyes. "Duh."

* * * * *

By 'going out,' Madeline meant crashing a frat party.

I think I just found my newest friend.

"I hope you're not a lightweight."

I just smirked at that. "You know anybody in this place?"

We walked down a path way in an avenue they called 'frat row' in campus. I didn't know much about the greek life, but they weren't exaggerating when they called it that. Every single one of the houses we passed had greek letters on them. Be it a small cabin or a gigantic mansion-like place that didn't look as if they belonged in a college campus.

"God no," laughed Madeline. "I just overheard some people talking about it."

"Awesome," I muttered.

It couldn't be that hard to crash a frat party, could it?

"I think this is it," said Madeline, stopping by a house (or a big ass Greek temple) with its party in full swing. The pillars out front were what made the house look like a temple dedicated to worship a mythological creature. They were huge as fuck, as if they were screaming, 'We fucking rule this shit.'

"Preeetty sure it's the one."

I looked up and down the street, then faced the well-lit place in front of us.

"No shit," I told my new friend. "This is the only house playing loud music in this street."

She stared at me for a second, then nodded in approval.

"Smartass," she remarked. "Yup, we'll definitely get along."

"You only figured that out now?" I snorted. "Noob."

She just laughed. "C'mon, Cons. Time to start living the promised college life." She linked her arm through mine and walked us toward the frat house.

Well, it wasn't like there was anything else better to do before classes start so I let her drag me away. My eyes caught the greek letters plastered on the tiny roof above the entrance way before the steps.

AA

Alpha Alpha? Wow, could they be anymore of a fucking cliché?

"Pretty up," whispered Madeline as we neared a buff blonde dude blocking the door. He was wearing a fitted grey shirt with red AA letters on them across the chest. He looked exactly like that obnoxious YouTuber who did crazy shit just for views. What was his name again?

"What do we have here?" he greeted us, eyeing us from head to toe.

A girl with cut-off shorts and tank top caught my eye. She had a red solo cup in one hand while the other was stroking the bicep of the guy she was talking to. Was that how college girls dressed up?

I looked down on my clothes.

I was wearing an off shoulder black top with black skinny jeans and black boots. I learned from an early age to always wear jeans when attending a party. You never know what might happen.

I mean, once I had to crawl and hide in the bushes when the police arrived. I don't think wearing a tank top and cut-off shorts will save me from having scratches all over my body.

"Freshmen?" asked the blonde frat bro.

I tilted my head, not yet sure how we were going to play this.

"Depends," said Madeline, sidling up to him. "What do you want us to be?"

I would've cringed if it wasn't for the fact that I would've practically done the exact same thing. In fact, I had. I flirted with a creepy bald perv while some of my friends stole beer in the said creepy bald perv's store. That fucker gave me the total chills that I basically ran out of the store before my friends could escape.

"Sorry, ladies. Can't let you in. You aren't allowed, especially with the upcoming rush week."

Madeline pouted.

With this guy's looks, he can get any girl to have sex with him so offering to flash him wasn't gonna work.

"Pleeease?" begged Madeline, batting her long eyelashes.

"Real sorry." He shrugged. "Rules are rules."

My eyes traveled down his body, giving me the hunch that he was privileged from the preppy way he dressed. Offering to give him some cash was out, too. Then again, anybody who was in the greek life could very well afford it.

"Can't you make an exception, just this once?" pleaded Madeline, giving the best Bambi look I've ever seen. Man, this girl really pulled it off.

"My brothers are gonna have my ass if I let a couple of freshmen inside the house tonight."

They most probably had the campus patrol on their payroll if they could keep up being this noisy at this hour. Blackmail was obviously also out.

Madeline winked. "A couple of hot freshmen."

"I know." His eyed eyes again, biting his bottom lip. But then, he shook his head. "But I still can't. Sorry, babe."

"Tell you what," I started, stepping up, "we'll let this go and leave you alone if you beat me at beer pong."

He raised an eyebrow at me. Well, that seemed to get his attention.

"But if I win, we get to stay," I finished.

He was clearly thinking about it. I hoped to all fucking hopes that he would take the bait. But dammit, he shook his head again and said, "Beating an unknown freshman at beer pong is hardly something to brag about. Pass."

Shit, he's not as stupid as I thought. Time to go old school.

"What, too chicken shit?"

"Too smart, babe. There's a difference."

Yeah, you might be. But not the rest of these drunk college students around us.

"Hey, guys!" I yelled as loud as I could across the lawn, making the people look over at us. "This dude is too much of a pussy to take on a girl at beer pong! Boo!" Just as I expected, different kinds of boos chanted all around us. "What a shitty way to represent your house! That's not cool at all, man!"

Madeline pressed her lips to stop herself from laughing. Some drunk dude who looked like a young Al Pacino came up and slapped the guy who wouldn't let us in.

"What the hell, Pike? Brin' honor to our goddamn name! Don't fuckin' ruin us!"

Pike, the stubborn ass blonde frat bro who resembled a YouTuber who I still couldn't name, looked at me and shook his head in amusement like he couldn't believe he was about to give in, like he couldn't believe he just lost.

"Deal's on in one condition," he said, pausing for what I guessed was a dramatic effect.

I waited.

"I get to choose who you're playing against."

I shrugged. "Fair enough."

Young Al Pacino look-alike whooped and hopped off the steps to go back to his friends, maybe to spread the word about the match. Pike, on the other hand, stared me down one last time before nodding and walking inside.

"Follow me, ladies."

"You are officially my favorite person!" hissed Madeline in my ear.

"Say that after I win."

We entered the house (temple) and it was just as big. There were people around the main hall, but the music came from the backyard. Pike led us to the glass door and let us walk out first.

And yeah, it was wild as fuck. In fact, I felt like I just warped into the fucking Project X movie. I had to keep my cool if I wanted to prove we belonged here.

The backyard was huge as hell. There was a stage at one end, where the DJ was playing. There was even a float. A fucking float. Everybody was practically topless, the girls were wearing either tank tops or bikinis.

I finally understood the logic behind the tank tops and cut-off shorts. With this huge ass party with its huge ass crowd, it was bound to get really hot and sweaty.

"Where's Red?" Pike asked around.

Someone answered him and pointed to the other end of the backyard, right by the – What the fuck? A court? Like a legit basketball court?

"Thanks, man." Pike turned to us. "Go ahead to the pong table in the garage and wait for us there."

"Whatever," I sighed, watching him as he disappeared through the crowd.

"You think you can beat this Red person?" asked Madeline, as we headed to the garage.

"Hell yeah," I replied smugly.

Six years of going to high school parties made good practice. My brother took me to my very first one when I was only twelve. It was his way of babysitting me instead of leaving me to our crazy stepmom back then. Nobody complained because he was the football team's quarterback.

I guess I got lucky because there were a couple of troublemakers my age who were also sneaking around those parties. Those boys were already going to those parties way before me. Those boys also became my best friends.

There were three tables in the garage. We stood by the unoccupied one while we waited. Madeline was in awe as she watched the other people play. They were fast and smooth every time they took a shot. They were pros at this. It made me wonder how many times they've played this game for them to be this good at it.

When Pike finally arrived, cheers surrounded the room, making me tilt my head. Huh. I didn't expect him to be popular since he was tasked to guard the door like a dog.

He pointed straight to me with a stupid smirk on his face. "You're playing against Red," he declared, sounding so sure of himself I couldn't help but roll my eyes.

'Red' emerged from the sea of people that suddenly formed a circle around us. The two other tables were now abandoned and forgotten. We were currently the main attraction.

But none of that mattered because it was all I could do not to stare and let my jaw drop on the fucking floor like I just saw my dad lying naked in all his birthday suit glory on the table striking a beauty pageant pose.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me," I grumbled.

"Who's the hottie?" asked Madeline, her curious eyes not leaving the new guy who I was still having a hard time believing that was here – in this campus – attending the same university – breathing the same air – surrounded by the same people.

Fuck. My. Life.

"He seems to know you."

"That's because he does," I said, through gritted teeth.

Madeline looked at me questioningly, while I tried not to glare across the room.

"He's the town's beloved 'Golden Boy' back home," I muttered, watching him walk over to the opposite side of the table. "Used to be captain of the basketball team and all that shit."

I studied him carefully.

He was wearing a plain black shirt with jeans and white sneakers. His ginger hair was in its old clean-cut style. He still gave off that friendly goody-two-shoes vibe. The only thing different was his physique. It looked like he grew more muscles over the summer. He was leaner now.

"Anderson," he called, nodding as if he was greeting an old friend (yeah, right). But his green eyes narrowed on me, his posture was aloof. Good.

"Crimson."

God, I hate this guy.