“Oof.” I set the heavy
tote on the floor of my room, thanking providence that I’d decided to come
back to school early. My winter
break had not gone very well – I spent an inordinate amount of time sleeping,
which meant I’d dreamed more and more, which was rather unnerving.
And I never did get to go see a psychologist about it, although I was now
seriously considering heading over to the psychology office in Au Sable to talk
to someone.
There had been a lot of fighting in the dreams I’d had, which meant I
was waking up with all kinds of bruises and once a shallow slash across my
shoulder blade that it was a pain trying to hide from my parents. Since when could dreams mean you wake up hurt?
There was a soft rap on my doorjamb and I turned to see Craig standing
there, smiling. “Welcome back.”
I smiled back and walked over to him, gave him a hug, and asked,
“Thanks. It’s good to see you,
too. How’d you get in here?
I thought the building was locked.”
“Your RA let me in. He was
on his way out – to the bookstore, I think.”
Ugh. Another thing
that’s going to make my life difficult.
I hated buying textbooks.
Craig laughed. He must have
seen the look on my face. “I’d
be happy to go to UBS with you later, or Brian’s, if you want.
It’s not that far.”
“I might take you up on that.” I
started to unpack the things out of the tote.
“Hey, you got new garb. That’s
pretty cool. Planning on joining
one of the knightly orders or something?”
He meant for GVRen. I’d
made myself new garb and ordered some bracers online.
The garb was very reminiscent of Shai of Clellan’s normal attire, and
somehow felt more right than the merchant’s daughter garb I’d usually worn.
I shrugged. “I don’t
know. How’s …I can’t remember
what it’s called…that con you’re helping ONA plan.”
“JAFAX. It’s going
pretty good, but I’m going to need more people on the roleplaying end than I
have right now. Speaking of that,
are you going to keep your promise to me about coming to at least one AR meeting
this semester?”
I had to smile. Craig had
been trying to get me to come to the meetings for the gaming club on campus
forever – probably because he did a lot with it.
That club was the reason I always knew where he was on Wednesday nights.
“We’ll see what happens. Are
you going to work their table or GVRen’s at Campus Life Nite II?”
“Probably theirs. They
need people to do it. Will you come
to the meeting on Wednesday? You
know where it is.”
“Yeah, Kleiner, 8 PM, the coffee shop.
Yes, I know. I’ll have to
see, OK? Something may come up.”
He nodded. “Thanks.”
I stopped for a moment and gave him a hug.
“It’s no problem, Craig, really.”
If it’ll keep my mind off my dreams, well, then, I’ll do whatever
it takes.