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Chapter 1—Cree

“Do not go out in this, Cree!” Quinn rushes up the porch steps and shakes his u massive amounts of droplets of rain all over the porch

All around us, rainwater cascades off the roof in sheets, re, and we found a waterfall with a small cave behind it

“I won’t drown” I lean against the rental house just beside the door and light a cigarette “Ivan is picking me up”

“You guys bar hopping again? In this weather?”

“Nah” I take a drag on the cigarette Ivan and I rarely go bar hopping, but drinking is easier to explain to your average college undergrad than our actual nocturnal activities “I’ve got a paper to finish”

“No fun, man”

The rain pours down harder, and the sound echoes around the porch like a herd of elephants having an orgy right above ery is filling his head or if I’

Though he’s pretty straight-edge, Quinn is the best rooe We keep similar schedules and have about the sah he doesn’t actually drink He does like dancing at clubs and nated driver He pays rent on time and keeps up with the other household bills, unlike other roommates I’ve encountered The main issue I have with him is the dishes

Nothem into the kitchen, place the on the water to rinse them off By the time I start to load the dishwasher, the plates are covered in dried-up spaghetti sauce, and the cups are filled with blackberry seeds left over from his smoothies

The last ti the dishwasher himself The next time I went to unload it, all the dishes were still dirty and had to be soaked and washed again At that point, I gave up

My roo it into the taller of two flowerpots near the door, neither of which have ever held any flowers He looks back at me and narrows his eyes

“I thought you quit” He nods and points

“I did,” I reply, looking down at the cigarette between ers “Then midterms happened”

“I hear ya” Quinn glances out at the pouring rain onceinside

Two bright lights surrounded by glowing halos shine through the rain I quickly ditch the end of the cigarette into the srab ht yellow Jeep just as it pulls up to the curb

I pull on the door handle, which is locked, and I glare through theuntil I hear a click Yanking the door open, I grab the handle at the top of the door, haul er seat I slam the door shut before the rain floods the floor