Previously: Tessa got ready for the VERY IMPORTANT first day of college and it was dull.
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Samantha: Okay! Here we go! Let’s see if anything happens this chapter!
Tessa totally can’t focus on anything as they drive to campus, not even her nice-soon-to-be-dumped-probably boyfriend. (M: Or his perfectly lined lips.) They arrive within a paragraph and apparently she never visited the campus before, which struck me as odd. Two hours isn’t that bad of a drive, surely they could have done a visit? It’s all good though because Tessa is impressed. The three of them attend a 3-hour orientation and then Tessa’s mom insists that they go with her to find her dorm room. Which, yeah, that’s usually what parents do the first day of college.
They find her room, B22, and my brain wonders if this is a weird homage to Sherlock Holmes? Probably not. (M: I can’t imagine that Todd has read many other books ever, but I can imagine her being a fan of the BBC series.) Tessa’s mother is SHOCKED, SHOCKED I TELL YOU because the room is small and the roommate is covered in tattoos and has heavy eyeliner. Hold up. This book was published in 2014. Are we really going down the “person with tats and makeup is a dangerous misfit rebel who horrifies parents and badly influences the good girl” path? Shoot.
Marines: I mean, we’re probably still doing the “this boy treats me bad out of LOOOOOVE” thing so anything is possible.
Samantha: The tattoo girl is perfectly polite and introduces herself as Steph. Tessa finds herself surprisingly intrigued by Steph’s smile. Um. Okay. So you’re surprised that you aren’t repulsed by this girl because of how she looks? I don’t know how else to read that.
Mari: I’m not sure why her smile, specifically, would be intriguing. Because she smiles at all? Are her teeth really white? Does she smile differently than most people? I’m not sure what’s happening.
Samantha: Noah can’t help but stare at Steph’s cleavage because boys will be boys and Tessa chokes on her manners. Steph welcomes her new roommate to school where, “the dorms are small and the parties are huge” and cackles at the horrified expressions on these 3 weirdos faces. She hugs Tessa, who is surprised again but deigns to hug her back.
Mari: The head back cackling was a little extra, but I can’t say I blame Steph for laughing at these 3 idiots.
Samantha: But hark! A knock on the door! In walk two boys and our narrator practically dies on the spot. There are BOYS in a GIRL’s DORM. (M: Homegirl, your BOYfriend is literally standing right next to you…) She thinks that she probably should have screened her roommate and I’m just going to call misogny and vague slut shaming. Tessa and her mother are assuming that these boys are here for sexual purposes and it’s all making me eyeroll. And even if they are, fuck off with your judgement. This over the top narration to really drive home that Tessa is a “good girl” is already grating.
One of the boys is named Nate and he also has tattoos, as well as gauged ears.
Mari: The Internet is telling me he’s based on a member of One Direction. This guy:
Samantha: I’m glad that you’re handling the “How This Is 1D Fan Fic” side of things.
He is genuinely nice to Tessa and she thinks, “His expression is warm and inviting, despite his harsh appearance.” Good gravy. Tessa shifts her focus to the other boy, who is also covered in tattoos. His are all black, GRAY, and white though, because he’s special. He has some piercings and thick wavy brown hair. (M: At least it’s brown and not copper or bronze or whatever.) Tessa just can’t help but stare at him and he rolls his eyes at her. He’s not friendly but, according to Tessa, he’s more appealing than either of the friendly people in the room. Screw people being nice to you, get you a man who’s rude.
Mari: WHY. Why MUST WE do this so soon? Why do we have to have our MC literally attracted to the asshole rolling his eyes at her? WHY.
Samantha: Tessa tries to convince herself that she was only staring out of shock at these vagrants’ appearances, rather than lust. The hooligans leave and Tessa’s mom flips out, demanding that Tess get another roommate and actually calls the kids “punks.” Tessa talks her mother down because it would be humiliating to try to get another roommate at this point. The chapter ends with her mother huffily agreeing but telling Tessa that they’re going to have A Talk before she leaves.
These chapters are pretty short, you guys, so that’s nice. I have also noticed that I am hyper aware of the word gray being used. I wonder why.
Mari:
Next time on After: Tessa tries to acclimate to life at school with a punk roommate in Chapter 03.
I'm a 28 year old graduated English major and almost librarian. I can often be found singing too loudly (poorly) in the car or spending some time (hours) on Tumblr. I am a lover of Harry Potter, the Spice Girls, and too many other things.
I'm a 30-something south Floridan who loves the beach but cannot swim. Such is my life, full of small contradictions and little trivialities. My main life goals are never to take life too seriously, but to do everything I attempt seriously well. After that, my life goals devolve into things like not wearing pants and eating all of the Zebra Cakes in the world. THE WORLD.
