Oh the bliss of not having class tomorrow! Secret thought aloud. Though the day would be far from responsibility free seeing as she had to make yet another trip back to the Heights to drop of her malfunctioning car�again. She knew that it was too good to be true�having a working car. As soon as that speed sensor was replaced and the transmission suddenly worked, she had breathed a sigh of relief. She even remembered saying the cursed words, �Nothing is actually wrong with my car!�
Then the heater had stopped working, conveniently when there had been the first major snowstorm of the year. Thus, she had to drive her car back to the Heights and back to the guys who had supposedly fixed the heater that she distinctly remembered paying for.
At least today had not been a total loss. While she had not contributed to her ever growing mass of homework, she had gone to the IM for an hour and worked out. Surprising herself on the ellipitical machine for a half hour and burning 400 calories, Secret, or rather Prominence in this case, left the IM feeling very refreshed and happy. She had found herself excited that she had been continuing her plan to get back into shape.
It was then that things had started to get�.sticky. She and RP, the Roommate had gone to a coffeehouse when she saw the headlines of the Detroit News and Free Press, �State�s deficit squeezes students, poor, elderly.� Intrigued, she picked up the newspaper and read a couple lines about how Michigan universities should be expecting a hefty tuition raise, after at MSU she had already faced something like a 10% raise this year. She still remembered the letter she had gotten about the slowing Michigan economy and how the costs of education were going up.
Yes, the economy is suffering, everyone is suffering, let�s take more money from your economically suffering family.
It made perfect sense, didn�t it?
Everything had increased in price on campus. Parking tickets went up by 33% or 25%. Laundry was up to $1.50 a load. Soda in a can cost $1. Housing had increased, but the quality of food had decreased.
Secret felt more dignified in her decision to move to an apartment the next year. Living on campus was ridiculously expensive and offered no real compensation with the exception of closeness to classes.
Plus there was always the opportunity for kittens in an apartment.
They returned and Secret noticed that �Keeping the Faith� was on HBO. As she had turned to the channel, a fellow floormate popped his head in the door without knocking and asked how their weekends had gone.
Secret already knew the habits of the guy. He came off nice but then he would hang around incessantly in the room when he was very obviously not wanted there. Secret realized that he was probably just trying to be friendly but at the same time, he should have realized how rude he was being.
It got worse when he asked what they were watching and then suddenly just walked in the room and sat down on their couch.
He didn�t leave for two hours.
Secret tried every non-confrontational tactic she could think of. She and RP ignored him, she tried studying, they even ordered food but he did not budge. Finally, just as Secret could no longer take it, the movie ended and he left.
She breathed a sigh of relief.
Secret didn�t know if she was being a snob or if it was just because she felt like this guy was infringing upon her space without being invited, but she had a very unpleasant image of the guy. It wasn�t as if he was misreading signals, Secret never encouraged him to barge into her room. It had been an unspoken rule that the floormates each knocked on everyone�s doors�even if the door was open.
Why couldn�t he understand that she didn�t want people around constantly even if her door was open?
Ugh�she didn�t know what to feel�should she blow off her annoyance and realize he was just trying to be friendly? Or should see be firmer in her feelings when he randomly walked into her room?
