Exchanging Roommates

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Exchanging Roommates Chapter One

Danica's stomach was growling as she walked into the main dining hall on the campus of the small exclusive Liberal Arts College located in Northern California that she attended. She hurried on to the line feeling her stomach growl once again. She said a curse under her breath since she had woken up late thus she didn't have time to stop and get something to eat before her first class. However her alarm failed to go off through she was sure that she had remembered to turn it on when she went to bed the evening before. She didn't need three guesses as to how her alarm got turned off; it was her wonderful and friendly roommate Debbie. One of these days she knew that she would have to kill that girl and she was sure that there wasn't a court in the world that would convict her at least not after she described what Debbie had put her through this semester and the bad part was that the semester was barely three weeks old. The line slowly moved forward thus giving her time to plot the sudden and unfortunate demise of dear sweet roommate Debbie.

When she got to the serving food section, she knew that she should just get a salad however her stomach told her that the cheeseburger with fries would be much more filing. She did have a love hate relationship with the food at the college. Everything they served was great, well except the liver they served on Thursdays, and that only served to prove the theory that all women gain fifteen pounds their first year of college as she had already added a couple of pounds. She got the cheeseburger and fries vowing to get salads for the rest of the week to make up for splurging today.

She picked up her tray along with a diet soda, turning to find a table. The dining hall was packed so she had to venture past several tables before she saw a table with a lone girl sitting eating a salad of course. She went toward the table and the closer she got to the slim girl with short black hair, she realized that she knew her, well had met her during orientation that summer. She seemed really nice though she didn't get to talk to her for very long. They had different majors so after the first brief introduction by the college president they were separated into different groups.

"Hi Anya, do you mind if I sit with you?" she asked when she got to the table.

Anya looked up at her and Danica could see that she was trying to place her, "I know you don't I?" Anya asked as she was obviously racking her brain to figure out who she was.

"Yes you do," Danica said trying not to grin but she couldn't help herself. "May I sit?"

"Oh yes please do," Anya replied gesturing to the chair beside of her.

Danica sat her tray down and then pulled out the chair, sitting down. "Don't you just hate it when someone knows your name and for the life of you, you can't think of theirs?" Danica stated more than asked.

"Yes I do, but obviously you don't have this problem very often," Anya said and Danica could see that she was still trying to place where they had met.

"Actually this is one of the rare times where I'm not sitting where you're sitting," Danica confessed.

"That's good to know," Anya said smiling back at her.

Danica figured that it was time to end this game, "Hi I'm Danica Kowalezyk and we met...

"...freshman orientation this summer, you're going to be a writer," Anya said with a laugh as the synapses in her brain finally made the connection.

"And you're Anya Sharapova, not kin to the tennis player and you're going to be a concert violinist." Danica said laughing with Anya.

"So how you been doing?" Anya asked. "Do you like it here?"

"Yea, it's been great, I love my classes and my professors are super," Danica replied leaving out the one thing that was ruining her college experience. "...and you?"

"The same, I really have loved everything," Anya said then pausing for a moment, "Well about everything..."

"That being?" Danica asked before popping a fry into her mouth.

"I have the world's worst roommate," Anya said with her lips forming into a deep dark frown.

"The second world's worst roommate, I got the world's worst," Danica corrected her.

"And the University's literature started that they use all the latest technology to match who your roommate will be," Anya said. "I think they need to update their technology and fast."

"I think what they meant when they said that they use the latest technology is that they pull names out of a hat and hope for the best," Danica said with a laugh, popping another fry in her mouth enjoying immensely the taste of the salty sliver of potato.

Anya let out a hearty laugh that made Dania laugh, "You are probably right, at least in our cases."

Danica noticed Anya eyeing her fries, "You want some?"

"Oh no, I don't need them," Anya replied though her eyes never left Danica's plate.

"Neither do I, but I just couldn't resist." Danica said, "I really should have gotten that salad that you were smart enough to get. I really do need to eat better..."

Hold on, I'll be right back," Anya said getting up from the table, leaving Danica with a bit of a confused look on her face. She watched as Anya went to the salad bar, bring back a extra plate to the table. She then promptly dished out half of her salad into a plate and pushing it to Danica.

"What you doing?" Danica asked.

"Dividing up my salad," Anya said with a little grin.

"Oh no, don't do that," Danica said to her.

"Too late, already done," Anya said with that same grin but then Danica remembered Anya eyeing her fries so Danica got up without saying anything, going to the salad bar to get yet another plate. When she returned she cut her cheeseburger in half and putting a half onto the plate along with half her fries, pushing the plate to Anya.

"Thank you," Anya said grinning before dipping a fry into Danica's ketchup, putting it into her mouth. 'Mmmm, these are good."

"Yes they are, too good," Danica said and then she picked up a fork and took a bite of Anya's salad which was very good and she liked the salad dressing that Anya had chosen.

"So shall we discuss whose roommate is worst?" Anya asked once they had both began to eat again.

"Sure but I'm going to win hands down, Debbie's a conniving bitch whose just loves to stir up trouble," Danica told her.

"Well Shelley's middle name is trouble and she's the biggest slut on the west coast. With the way she walks, it's a wonder that she doesn't dislocate her hips. She actually thinks her skinny ass will get her though life." Anya replied sure that her roommate had to be the worst.

"Well Debbie gets pissed off that I have early morning classes so I'm sure that she turned off my alarm last night so I was almost late for class this morning," Danica told her before finally taking a bite of her cheeseburger that was as great as she knew it would be.

"Oh god, don't get me on getting up early, Shelley comes in late every night making all this noise thus waking me and then she gets pissed at me because I get up early to take a shower. She is such a bitch, she never studies, and I doubt that she attends half her classes," Anya replied with a frown.

"Yea I'm not sure Debbie goes to class either and I know she never studies. She is definitely not smart enough to pass any of her classes without studying," Danica stated.

"Well all Shelley wants to talk about when she does talk is how everyone doesn't do anything for her, everyone is against her," Anya told her.

"At least she doesn't call you a Pollock under her breath," Danica said feeling her blood pressure rising just thinking of how she did that.

"No Shelley doesn't call me a Pollock, she calls me a commie," Anya said and Danica could see Anya's face flush from her own rise in blood pressure.

"Mmmm... I see that this is going to be a little tighter race than I thought but I haven't conceded defeat yet," Danica told her as she let out a little laugh easing the tension they both were beginning to feel.

"Nor have I," Anya replied laughing with her.

Danica took a bite of her salad and then washed it down with a bite of her cheeseburger as Anya did the same. This gave Danica a moment to think and when she spoke, she just began to talk about Debbie and how bad she was thus allowing Anya to do the same about Shelley. It was a relief to just talk and get all the anger out and she could see that Anya was doing the same. It was nice to finally talk to someone who would listen to her complains and the tension in Anya's eyes eased as they talked so she figured that she was receiving the same benefit as she was. They talked long after they had finished the cheeseburger, fries and salad that they were sharing. It was only when Anya had to hurry off for her next class did the conversation end.

That evening when Debbie came stumbling in around midnight thus waking her from a nice dream about someone, Danica thought of her conversation with Anya. Her first thought, well the one after thinking about getting up and beating the shit out of Debbie for waking her, was how nice it would be to have Anya as a roommate. When she had talked to the dean of housing, he said that she could change roommates if she could someone to switch with. So first she would have to convince Anya to switch roommates and then talk Debbie and Shelley into becoming roommates. However she wanted to make sure she wasn't switching one bitch of a roommate for another. She didn't think she would be however she wasn't going to take the chance without knowing for sure first.

She lay there thinking about what to ask Anya when she heard Debbie say, "Let's turn off the Pollock's alarm." Danica's first thought was that Debbie had brought some guy into their room but then she heard Debbie giggling as she said, "Oh let's." She then realized that Debbie was so drunk that she was talking to herself and doing so out loud without realizing it.

Danica heard Debbie first knocking her alarm off the nightstand and then fumbling around to put it back. Danica wanted to laugh at the dumb cunt but she kept it inside. Debbie finally got the alarm back on the nightstand and then it sounded like she fell into her bed or fell off her bed. A couple of minutes later, she heard Debbie snoring loudly. Danica turned on her bedside lamp hearing Debbie groan and turn away from the light. She turned her alarm back on, however she put it to the loudest setting. She turned the light back off, falling back to sleep with a smile on her face.

The alarm didn't have the effect that Danica had wished but she did get Debbie to say some colorful words before she pulled the covers over her head and began to snore again. Danica got ready and set off on her new mission in life. She didn't see Anya at the dining hall that morning nor did she catch her at lunch and dinner. The next morning she missed Anya and she begun to think that she would have to live at the dining hall to be able to catch Anya again. She really began to think that when she didn't see her there all weekend. She really was getting desperate as she didn't want to spend too many more weekends dealing with Debbie. However when she arrived at the dining hall around noon on Monday, she spotted Anya sitting at a table however she wasn't alone.

"Shit," Danica said to herself seeing that her plan would be delayed and she had to get rid of Debbie before she killed her.

Danica kept to her diet this day and got a salad. She picked up her tray heading toward Anya's table. She felt more than a little relief to see that girl that was sitting with Anya, get up taking her tray with her. When she got to Anya's table, she started to ask if she could sit down but then she decided to just sit and see what Anya would say hoping for something good. What she got wasn't what she thought it would be.

"Where's my cheeseburger and fries?" Anya asked looking at her with this serious expression.

"Oops," Danica said looking down at her salad that looked like exactly like the one on Anya's plate down to the amount which made her think that maybe Anya had been waiting on her.

"Try not to let it happen again," Anya said still acting all serious like until she finally had to let out a little giggle that quickly grew to a hardly laugh making Danica laugh with her.

"I won't," Danica said as they stopped laughing.

"So how's it going?" Anya asked before she took a bite of her salad.

Danica knew just what Anya was really asking. "Oh she's still as much a bitch as she was the other day." She replied.

"So how's Shelley?" Danica asked.

"Other than keeping me up half the night with her headphones on full blast, she's doing fine," Anya said and Danica saw the dark circles under Anya's eyes.

"So what time do you normally go to bed anyway?" Danica asked as if it was a normal everyday question.

"I don't know, it depends on how much studying I have to do but I'm usually in bed by eleven but sometimes I have been known to be in bed by nine," Anya told her. "Why do you want to know?"

"Oh just asking," Danica said taking a bite of her salad. "You got early morning classes too don't you?"

Anya's fork stopped halfway to her mouth and Danica could see that Anya was studying her carefully. "Yea on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday; Tuesday and Thursday I don't have a class until ten." She said moving her fork on up to her mouth.

"You don't go out drinking nor do drugs do you?" Danica asked.

"Of course not," Anya replied strongly. "Why would you even ask that?"

"Oh just asking," Danica said with what she hoped was a calming tone. "By the way what do you do on the weekends?"

"Why do I feel like I'm being interviewed?" Anya asked staring straight into her eyes.

"Because you are," Danica said finally grinning.

"And what am I being interviewed for, might I ask?" Anya asked.

"I'm looking for a new roommate and I want to make sure my next roommate is better than the one I currently have," Danica told her.

"And you think I'd be an improvement?"Anya asked.

"Well I figure a commie is an improvement over what I got to put up with," Danica said hoping Anya would take it the right way.

"You know I may have a few questions of my own before I decide if I want a Pollock as a roommate," Anya replied seriously before she began to laugh.

"I guess you do," Danica said laughing with her.

"Do you really want me as a roommate? I mean you don't know me that well," Anya asked being serious once again.

"I know you well enough to think that we could be friends, I thought that when I met you back in the summer. It just that I wasn't smart enough to get your phone number or email address," Danica said.

"Yea, if you had done that then we would be sitting here bitching to two other people about the bitches we have as roommates," Anya said laughing again.

"True," Danica said with a laugh but then she got serious again, "Do you want me as a roommate?"

"Yea I do, I think we can be friends and get along," Anya said. "I know that you won't be calling me names under your breath and rest assured that I won't do so either."

"I didn't think you would, you're not that type," Danica said.

"So what time do you go to bed and what time do you get up in the mornings?" Anya asked before taking a bite of her salad.

"Ah, so it's my time to be interviewed," Danica stated with a little laugh.

"Yep," Anya replied smiling.

"I'm like you, I got early morning classes so I'm up early about every morning and thus in bed early unless I have a paper due then I'm up later," Danica said, "But I can work with just the light from my laptop."

"I can sleep through that," Anya said and Danica saw that she was hesitating, wanting to ask something more.

"What is it, you can ask me anything," Danica told her.

"Do you like classical music? You know I play the violin," Anya asked with the worry showing in her eyes and lips.

Danica had to smile, "Well I could say that I love it and listen to it all the time however..." she said hesitating just enough to make Anya worry more, "... However you'd figure out pretty quickly that I don't know anything about classical music nor do I listen to it."

"Oh..." Anya said with the slightest of frowns forming on her lips.

"But I grew up in a house where my each of my brothers had different taste in music from country to hip hop to classic rock. I could listen to them all and I liked a little of each so I think that I can handle a little classical, as long as you ease me into it. And I would love to hear you play violin." Danica told her giving her a reassuring smile.

"I think we can work something out and I listen to other styles of music, anything type of music is fine with me," Anya said doing her best to reassure her which she did.

"Well I think we got the basics down, now we just got to figure out a way to convince our current roommates to change with us," Danica said.

"I wonder how hard that will be?" Anya said in almost a whisper as if she was musing out loud.

"I hope not too hard, I know Debbie hates me but will she like Shelley and vise versa," Danica answered Anya's musing.

"So how do we start, just get them to meet and hope that they like each other enough to be roommates?" Anya asked.

Danica had to think that one over for a moment, taking the time to finish what was left of her salad. "You know maybe we need to give them time to hate us a little more."

"Oh... I think I see where you're going, and I like it." Anya said sitting back with a smile on her lips, like there was hope once again.

They talked for a while longer discussing their roommates and how to be shed of them. They also talked a little about themselves, just so that they could get to know each other a little better.

"So when do you want to meet up again?" Danica asked as they both got up to get to their next class.

"How about meeting up here in the morning for breakfast? For some reason I have a feeling that I'll need to get up a little earlier than normal tomorrow," Anya said with a grin.

"I bet you do, I might have to do that myself," Danica said with a laugh.

"Say about six-thirty," Anya suggested.

"Mmmmm... I can do that," Danica said not liking having to get up that early but then if it worked then it would be worth it.

Danica got her work done early that evening and then she settled in her bed with her favorite book to do some light reading. It was a short book that she could finish in an evening and left her feeling good and more in control of her fate. After finishing the book, she turned off the light to let her mind rest and fall asleep.

She heard Debbie come in sometime later that night. She heard her fussing about something but she blocked it out. In a way Debbie's fussing was music to her ears and that allowed her to fall right back asleep. Her alarm went off at five- thirty blaring loudly. She let it sound off for a few seconds to make sure that it woke Debbie before she turned it off. It was actually beginning to irritate her by then. She sat on the edge of the bed turning on the bedside lamp to the lowest level. She watched as Debbie angrily put her pillow on her head but not before using that ethnic slur that she loved to use against her.

She went on into the bathroom to take her shower. When she came out, she saw that her bedside lamp was off and Debbie was lightly snoring. She used the light from the bathroom to gather her things together. She put a light jacket on as it was cool out that early in the morning.

She saw Anya waiting for her at the entrance of the dining hall. She looked just as sleepy as she felt. "I see you're wide eyed and bushy tailed this morning," Danica said when she got up to her.

"About as much as you are," Anya replied giving her a sleepy smile.

"I'll be better once I've had a pot full of coffee and I don't even drink coffee," Danica said laughing a little.

"I do drink coffee so I'll share that pot of coffee with you," Anya said. "Come on let's get that coffee and something to eat."

"Sounds good," Danica said following Anya into the dining room. They both got a cup of coffee and then a bowl for their cereal that they picked out for breakfast.

"So how did it go this morning?" Danica asked as she sipped her hot cup of coffee loaded with milk and sugar to make it drinkable.

"I think another day or two of me waking her this early in the morning Shelley will be ready to get rid of me... either that or she will beat the shit out of me," Anya said with a laugh.

"Yea, Debbie wasn't so pleased with me this morning either," Danica said thinking about the same thing as Anya was about going too far with this.

"So how far do we take this before we try introducing the idea of exchanging roommates?" Anya asked.

"I don't know, maybe another couple of mornings just to get them to think about it seriously, and then we will see if they might be willing to try changing." Danica told her.

"Okay, that sounds good; maybe we can change this weekend. I don't want to be locked out of my own room while Shelley fucks one of her boyfriends," Anya said and she wasn't smiling about it either.

"At least they locked the door; Debbie didn't even bother one night, walked right in on them. Debbie wasn't even embarrassed about getting caught, she just grinned at me," Danica recalled.

"Yes we got to change by this weekend, come hell or high water," Anya said with the determination in her voice.

"We will," Danica said making a promise that she wasn't entirely sure that she could keep. She had a feeling that Debbie rather enjoyed being a pain in her ass and was content to continue to do so.

They continued to talk as they ate and drank their coffee, talking so long that they were both almost late for their first class of the morning. They met for lunch with Danica remembering to get a cheese burger and fries that she split with Anya who was grinning when Danica set her tray down.

They met the next two mornings for breakfast with both getting up at five- thirty much to their roommates' displeasure. Neither one of them really enjoyed getting up that early either but they hoped that they were making a point. Of course Debbie and Shelley began to make their own views known by making a lot of noise when they came in late at night thus becoming a bit of a battle of wills between the two sides.

By Friday morning, Danica sensed that the time was about right present their offer to change roommates to Debbie and Shelly with Anya readily agreeing as she was at the end of her rope with Shelley. They discussed how they would go about making the change figuring the best thing was for the four of them to meet in one of their rooms. Danica wasn't so sure that she could get Debbie to do anything that wouldn't be to her benefit, she wasn't the type of person to help someone out; she rather enjoyed making trouble of those around her, or at least stirring the pot enough to cause the trouble to happen while she remained innocent or so it would seem. However Anya thought that she could get Shelley to come down to Danica's room, that way all Danica had to do was to make sure that Debbie would be there when she came.

They also had to figure out a compelling story as to why they wanted to be roommates. Throughout the rest of their breakfast, they came up with different possibilities until they hit upon one that they figured Debbie and Shelley would buy. The last thing they wanted to do was to state the real reason for wanting to change thus ensuring that Debbie would make it even harder on her.

At four Debbie came in from her last class and Danica was waiting for her. She was pretending to be working on a paper but was actually watching her phone as Anya was already working on Shelley, telling her the tale that they had come up with.

Danica knew better than to be nice and ask about Debbie's day, she had stopped trying to engage Debbie in idle chatter soon after she had gotten there. Debbie wasn't interested and only gave one word answers when she did. So she launched right into her attack.

"I met an old friend of mine the other day, she lived next door and we were best friends all through grammar school," Danica said as Debbie was putting her book bag down on her desk.

"So," Debbie stated like she was already bored with this conversation.

"Well I didn't even know she was going here much less that she was living in this dorm, just a couple of floors above us," Danica told her and she saw that devilish grin of Debbie's which wasn't a good sign. Anything that she could do to keep someone else from being happy made Debbie happy.

"So I guess you're wanting to room with her?" Debbie asked.

"Well we had talked about it..." Danica said seeing Debbie give her that grin again so she knew she had to say something to make Debbie think that the move would benefit her even more.

"Her roommate's name is Shelley and she has all afternoon classes like you..." Danica said leaving the rest unsaid praying that Debbie was smart enough to connect the dots.

It took Debbie a minute or so for her to make the connection, "Oh, I see." She said not giving anything away as to how she thought about that bit of information.

"I think Anya and Shelley are in, I could get them to come down and you and Shelley could meet to see if you would like to change," Danica suggested.

"I don't know, I like it here just fine," Debbie said and Danica could see that it was the mean streak coming out.

"Well okay, it was just an idea." Danica said hesitating a moment. "I got two papers due next week so I don't really have time to move my stuff. I'm going to be stuck at this desk for the next week."

She saw Debbie thinking that over and the fact that she wouldn't have to room to herself any for at least the next week and also that Danica would be going to bed early and getting up even earlier.

"Well maybe I got a minute to meet her," Debbie said now seeing that it might be in her interest to change roommates.

Danica had to force herself not to seem too happy, "Let me text Anya to see if they can come down." Danica said slowly turning toward her desk to get her phone. She had to force her hand to stop shaking as she picked it up. She quickly typed in her message sending it to Anya.

Debbie went on to the bathroom allowing Danica to finally smile, though that smile disappeared when Anya didn't immediately answer. She began to become anxious waiting for her reply. But it did finally come, "It took me forever to get the dumb bitch to figure out what in the hell I was talking about, she is in the bathroom and we'll be down in a second." Danica wanted to laugh as she had already figured out that Shelley wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer.

Debbie was taking her time in the bathroom so she was just coming out when they heard a knock on the door. Danica was hoping to be the one to open the door so that she could read Anya facial expression but since Debbie was right there, she beat her to it.

"Well hello Shelley, I didn't realize it was you, whom Danica was referring to, come on in." Debbie said.

Anya was just following Shelley in when Debbie stopped her, "why don't you and Danica renew your friendship as Shelley and I catch up on some things."

"Sure go ahead," Anya said.

"Yea, take your time," Danica said getting up making sure she got her purse as she had never trusted Debbie.

"It shouldn't take long, be back in a half hour," Debbie said clearly in charge and liking it.

"Does Shelley know Debbie?" Danica asked once they were a few steps away from the door.

"No I don't think so, I mentioned Debbie's name and she didn't appear to know her." Anya said looking as confused as Danica was.

"I didn't think so, Shelley looked as surprised by Debbie's greeting as you did," Danica said not adding that she was just as surprised but then she didn't have to, she knew her face gave that away.

"So what is going on?" Anya asked.

"Debbie is up to something, she spent a lot of time in the bathroom and she has obviously came up with something that she thinks will either kill this idea just to piss me off or she wants something from us," Danica said.

"Which is it?" Anya asked.

"If she wanted to kill the idea she would have done so as soon as she opened the door, she wants something, I'm sure of it," Danica stated.

"What will she want?" Anya asked.

"On that I have no clue," Danica said with a sigh.

Danica tried to think of what Debbie would want but she had never tried to get into Debbie's mind nor had she ever wanted to until now. They headed toward the lounge at the end of the hall but there were several people already there so they would have no privacy to talk.

"Well we could just go and sit by the door and wait for them," Anya suggested.

"No I don't want to them to think that we desperate," Danica replied.

"But we are that desperate," Anya countered.

"I know but I don't want them to think we are," Danica said.

"Then what the hell are we going to do?" Anya asked with her voice showing her desperation.

Danica thought for a moment before coming up with an idea, "Come on, I got an idea." Danica said taking Anya's hand leading her back to her door.

Danica sat down outside of the door but she couldn't hear what is anything was being said inside. She dug into her purse getting her phone, "We're going to play this new game I downloaded on my phone."

"I'm terrible at those games so I never play them," Anya said.

"Well you're going to pretend that you love this one, it's short and you can easily get killed. We're going to pretend to be playing and act like that we are trying to beat one another." Danica said giving Anya a little wink.

"Oh I see," Anya said grinning. "You go first," she added as she scooted up against her.

Danica started the game and she didn't get far before she died. "Beat that I dare you!" She said a bit louder than necessary since Anya was sitting right next to her.

"No problem!" Anya said just as loud.

Anya didn't last as long as Danica did but she still said, "See I told you I could beat you!" Anya said laughing a little.

"Give me that!" Danica said taking the phone from her.

"You won't beat me!" Anya added a dare now getting into their little game within the game.

Danica played until she died and playing her part she again dared Anya to beat her. Anya decided to admit losing this time and she grumbled that Danica cheated. Danica soon realized that their game was doing two things, killing time while making it appear that whatever Debbie was up didn't worry them and it was also easing the tension that they were both feeling. They had been playing for a while when Danica heard the door being cracked open. It took all that she could do not to look and only when she heard the door close did she whisper to Anya that they were now spying on them. She began to get the idea that maybe they weren't the only ones desperate to be rid of their current roommates.

They kept playing getting louder and more rambunctious as they played, pushing each other and generally having fun. And somewhere along the way they actually began to try and beat each other, as they both had figured out how to play the silly game.

Danica had just started her turn when the door open, "We've made a decision," Shelley said with what seemed like a gleam in her voice.

"Hold on, I'm about to beat her," Danica said never looking up from her phone.

However hearing Shelley's voice and how she sounded like she had just won the lottery did cause Danica to lose her concentration and the phone dinged indicating that she had just died.

"I told you that you couldn't beat my score!" Anya said right on clue.

"Oh shut up!" Danica said like she was mad that she had lost. As she put her phone back into her purse, she leaned in toward Anya, "No matter what they say don't show any emotion. Play it straight faced like it's no big deal."

"Okay," Anya replied giving her a smile.

When they entered the room, Debbie was sitting in her own chair and Shelley was sitting in Danica's desk chair. This meant that she and Anya would have to sit at the end of the beds. Danica sat at the end toward the center of the room on what was Debbie's bed and she had Anya sit at the center edge of her bed so that they were opposite of Debbie and Shelley. This way she could look Debbie in the eye while still keeping Shelley in view. But it also allowed her to glance over at Anya every once in a while to make sure that she was keeping up the illusion that they weren't as desperate as they really were.

"So what did you two decide?" Danica causally asked.

"Well we're willing to make the change since you two want to become roommates," Debbie said as if this was a big sacrifice on their part.

Debbie paused at this point waiting for their reaction which Danica didn't give and she could hear no reaction from Anya. Danica saw the disappointment in Debbie's eyes so she knew that their reaction wasn't what she was hoping for. Debbie obviously wanted them to jump up for joy just before she dropped her bomb, which she finally did so with a lot less fanfare.

"However we do have a couple of conditions..." She said.

"And what might they be?" Danica asked calmly.

"First off, since you want the move, you move Shelley's things down to my room and yours up to her room..." Debbie said again pausing for the dramatic effect.

"What else do you want?" Danica asked with her voice showing that she was already tiring of Debbie's games.

Debbie seemed irritated that they weren't playing along with her games and that was good up to a point. "We also want you to do our papers this year and we need to be compensated for the trouble you are causing us." Debbie said again pausing though not as long as previously. "We want to be paid one hundred dollars a month for the rest of the year."

Danica knew that Debbie would want the moon for changing roommates but she wasn't expecting her to go for the whole universe. Danica turned to Anya, ignoring Debbie and Shelley completely, "Are you hungry?"

"I'm starving," Anya said right on clue.

Danica got up not saying anything to Debbie or Shelley, however when she got to the door, she turned her head back toward Anya saying, "I know what you were saying about the alarm clock not being loud enough to wake you up when you have to get up so early, we'll go on into town and get you one like I got, it'll wake up the dead."

"I'd appreciate that, I got so many papers to write that I just have to get to the library first before my favorite table is taken." Anya said just loud enough that Debbie and Shelley were sure to hear.

They had barely gotten out the door when they heard Shelley say, "I can't take that commie waking me up at five in the fucking morning for the rest of the fucking semester."

"Hush!" they heard Debbie say harshly to Shelley. Then they heard them talking but they were now too far away to hear what it was.

They were about halfway down the hallway when they heard footsteps behind them. Danica figured it was Shelley coming to fetch them back or kill them; she wasn't entirely certain which it would be though hoping for the former.

"Hey come back a minute and we can talk some more," Shelley said as she caught up with them.

Danica stopped looking at Anya and ignoring Shelley, "Should we?"

"I don't know, they need to come up with something better than that," Anya said.

Danica appeared to be thinking it over before she finally said, "Okay we'll come back."

"Okay, I'll tell her," Shelley said scampering back looking more than a little worried.

"You got a plan that will work?" Anya whispered to her.

"I do," Danica said more confidently than she felt. She'd feel a lot better if she knew just how far Debbie was willing to press her demands. She knew that she was a bitch but how much of a bitch she wasn't sure, however she was about to find out.

As Danica came back into the room, she first glanced toward Debbie who seemed just as determined and had that look of someone who holding the upper hand, however when she glanced toward Shelley, she saw that she was definitely the weak link of the two. Danica was trying to think of what to do when for some reason; she had the image of her favorite character in a series of books that she was reading. There were a total of five books in the series and she was in the middle of the third one. The main character Carla was a young woman who was always getting herself into messes that by the end of the book, she had somehow gotten herself out of just using her wit and fast thinking. She knew what Carla would do when she walked into a room like this, she would immediately take charge, faking her way through it if she had to. Carla's wit and quick thinking had gotten her out of a lot of scary situations and she was going to get them out of this one.

Somehow Danica had more courage and a stronger backbone that she had ever had before. The first thing Danica knew that Carla would do was not to sit meekly and let someone else dictate the terms. She stopped before she got to the beds and she used her right hand to stop Anya from going further into the room.

"I tell you what we have to offer, it's a take it or leave it offer," Danica said in a strong voice that even surprised her and it definitely surprised Debbie.

"What makes you think that you're in any position to dictate the terms," Debbie asked with her lip curled in contempt.

"Because you want rid of us as much as we want rid of you." Danica said letting it sink in for a moment looking first at Shelley who confirmed her thoughts. She also saw that as much as Debbie wanted to argue and she would argue, Danica could see that she was reading her right too.

Danica had them where she knew Carla would want to her opponents to be. She also knew that Carla would offer a little to get a lot in return. "What we will do is to give you both one payment of one hundred dollars each for your trouble, we will do all the moving so neither of you will have to lift a finger and lastly we will type up any papers you need typed. We will not write them only type and correct any grammar errors. The offer is good for five minutes, we'll wait right outside the door and when the five minutes have passed, we're going to go get something to eat." Danica said and she turned on her heels walking out of the room.

She let Anya close the door and she knew that Anya was going to ask her what the hell that she was doing so she put her finger to her lips telling her to remain quiet. They both put their ears to the door hoping to hear what they were saying. While they couldn't hear exactly what was being said inside the room but they could tell that Shelley was doing a lot of talking and there was desperation in her voice.

When things began to become quiet inside they stepped away from the door going to the other side away from the door. They both leaned against the wall and Danica began to talk about what she wanted for dinner. It took Anya a moment to catch on but then she began to name off what she might like. They only had to talk for a few seconds before Shelley opened the door for them. She didn't say anything nor did she have to. The fact that she was opening the door before the five minutes was up meant that they had won. But Danica figured that Debbie wasn't done yet.

Debbie didn't let them get too far into the room before she spoke, "We've decided to be nice and let you two become roommates but it will cost you four hundred each and you have to get everything moved tonight."

Now Danica knew that Carla would find a way to make this deal more favorable to her however Danica was smart enough to know that she wasn't Carla and besides Carla was a fictional character and she wasn't. She was real and she lived in the real world.

"Deal, Anya you go with Shelley and get her stuff ready. I'm going down to the basement to get a luggage cart. I'll get my stuff and come on up." Danica said and she started to turn to leave.

"What about our money?" Debbie asked with that smug expression that Danica want so to smack off her. But that would have to wait for another day.

"You'll get it when the move is completed," Danica said leaving the room before Debbie could protest as she was sure she was going to do.

She hated paying Debbie just to get her to consent to trade roommates but she had tried going through the Dean of Student Affairs and that wasn't getting her anywhere, at least not as fast as she wanted things to happen. She wanted them to work things out and had even offered to consult with them both but Danica knew that Debbie would turn on the charm with the Dean and then she would be stuck with her. So she figured that bribing Debbie and Shelley was the only way she would get some peace and bring peace to Anya too. She kept telling herself that as she rode the elevator down to where they kept all the carts and luggage racks that students used when they moved back in at the start of the spring semester.

Once down in the basement, she got the largest luggage cart that she could find. She barely got it into the elevator but she wanted to make this in one move. She didn't have that many clothes but she figured that Shelley would have. Anya had been complaining that Shelley had taken over part of her limited closet space. She did stop at the lobby to hit the ATM machine, she hated having to withdraw that much money but at the moment it was worth every penny to be rid of Debbie and Shelley for Anya's sake.

When she got back to her room, she found Debbie sitting on her bed with her back against the backboard. She obviously wasn't going to lift a hand to help her nor did she expect any help. Debbie still had that smug expression on her face that Danica so wanted to smack off. Instead she began to throw her things onto the luggage cart. She was normally a very neat person but at the moment she just wanted to get out of the room and as far away from the bitch as possible. She piled everything that she owned onto the cart before going to the bathroom to get her personal items. As she reached for her toothbrush, she noticed Debbie's toothbrush sitting on the opposite side. She never thought of herself as she vindictive person but she couldn't resist picking it up and spitting on it. She had just put it back when she heard Debbie's bed creak so she quickly started to grab up her own toothbrush. She got her hairbrush, curling iron, make-up bag and then went under the sink to get the new box of tampons that she had bought the day before as she had used her last one and needed them to get her through her period that had just come upon her.

She could feel Debbie's eyes staring into her back watching to make sure that she didn't take any of her items. It wasn't like Debbie had anything that she would use. She turned giving Debbie a big smile that just seemed to piss Debbie off which pleased Danica to no end. Since her smile seemed to irritate Debbie, she kept it plastered onto her face as she put the last of her items onto the cart and wheeled it out of the room.

When she got to Anya's room, she saw Anya very carefully folding up Shelley's clothes as Shelley sat on what was to be her new bed. Danica saw that Anya was close to tears so things had obviously not gone well. She thought that maybe sending Anya up with Shelley wasn't such a good idea but she didn't want give Debbie any more time with Shelley alone so that they could scheme up some more demands.

Danica went straight to Anya and as she took the jeans that Anya was folding, she leaned in close whispering, "Smile, that will piss them off, and whatever you do don't let Shelley think she got the better of you."

Anya looked at her for a second and for that second, Danica was sure that Anya was going to burst into tears so she smiled at her, a big fake smile that Anya seemed to take strength from. She took in a breath and when she let it out, an equally fake smile appeared on her lips.

"Now don't wrinkle anything,' Shelley said like she was talking to a maid.

"Oh we won't..." Danica said turning toward Shelley and giving her a big smile while her eyes gave her a dangerous stare.

Shelley seemed to be taken back by the smile and stare. She moved nervously on the bed like she was the one who was outnumbered and she was without Debbie there to do her talking.

"Come on, let's put my things on your bed and then we can start loading up her stuff," Danica said to Anya.

"Thank you," Anya mouthed to her so that Shelley couldn't hear nor see.

"It's cool," Danica said as she reached down grabbing an arm full of her clothes.

"You'll wrinkle everything," Anya said.

"'That's why I got a iron, you can iron everything once we get me moved in," Danica said and she saw Anya thinking that over for a second and a worried expression came to her face.

"Got ya!" Danica said grinning at her.

Anya gave her the finger before she too grabbed an arm full of Danica's clothes. They dumped everything onto Anya's bed before they began to carry Shelley's things out to the cart.

When they went into the bathroom, Shelley wasn't bright enough to follow them. Like her Anya went first to Shelley's toothbrush however she did her one better. She dipped it into the toilet before putting it into Shelley's toothbrush holder. Danica couldn't help but to grin at what Anya had done. Obviously Anya held Shelley in even greater contempt than she did Debbie if that was possible.

When they got to the elevator, Danica and Anya got stood on one side of the cart making Shelley squeeze in on the other side. Shelley was skinny as a rail so she was able to get in. Actually she was determined to do so as she had finally got enough of a clue not to trust the two of them from doing something to her clothes. That was a smart move as Danica was sure that Anya was just about capable of doing something her never dreamed that she would do.

When they got back down to where Debbie was waiting, Danica saw that Debbie made sure that Shelley did nothing to help. Danica spent a lot more time unpacking and putting Shelley's things away than she would have liked but their time dealing with these two was near the very end.

When they put Shelley's things away in the bathroom, neither Debbie nor Shelley got up to supervise. Danica remembered what Anya had done to Shelley's toothbrush and she figured that she hadn't done enough. She with Anya being the lookout, Danica dipped Debbie's toothbrush into the toilet. This made Anya grin and she had to admit made her feel ever better than when she had spit on it.

When they came out, Debbie finally got her lazy ass up off the bed. "Where's our money?" She asked.

Danica reached into her jeans pocket and pulled out eight one hundred dollar bills. She started to hand over the money but she stopped short. "Exchange keys first," Danica demanded as she still didn't trust Debbie to go through with the deal.

She hoped that Debbie wouldn't argue and when she saw Debbie's eyes light upon the eight crisp hundred dollar bills, she knew she wouldn't.

"Give her your key," Debbie ordered Shelley.

Shelley went to her purse getting her keys and after a bit of trouble, finally got the key off. Danica had already taken her key off of her key ring. She handed hers to Shelley grabbing Shelley's key in return. Only then did she hold out the money that Debbie quickly snatched from her hand.

"Now get out of our room, you fucking dykes," Debbie ordered them.

"Gladly," Danica said with a big smile not bothering to argue with her, she wasn't worth the trouble.

They didn't close the door behind them as they left and they got no more than ten steps away before they heard Shelley say, "Give me my money."

To which Debbie replied, "Let me hold onto it, I'll keep it safe so we'll have money to spend later."

"But it's my money too," they heard Shelley whined.

Danica leaned in close to Anya, "that didn't take long for Debbie to screw her new roommate."

"Nope, but they do make a rather lovely couple don't you think?" Anya said as they got to the elevator.

"Yep, two bitches in paradise," Danica said with a laugh.

"I'll pay you my half of the money, but I'll have to go to a bank that takes my card to get it," Anya said.

"It's cool, I trust you, I mean I know where you live," Danica said with a laugh.

"I guess you do," Anya said finally letting out a real laugh.

They didn't say anything on the ride down to the basement, both lost in their own thoughts but when the elevator stopped Anya said, "I don't know how you knew what to do, I would never have been able to play it so coolly."

"I didn't, Carla did it," Danica said with a shy grin.

Anya was on the front end of the cart and she stopped causing the doors to hit the cart and come back open, "Whose Carla, I want to meet her?"

Danica laughed at Anya's confusion, "she's this character in a series of books that I'm reading. She's always getting herself into messes and finding her way out. I just thought about what Carla would do in our situation and that's what I did." Danica said pushing gently on the cart to get Anya moving again before the elevator alarm went off.

"I'm going to have to read these books,' Anya said.

"I'll loan them to you, you'll love them I'm sure." Danica said liking the fact that she might have someone to talk about the books that she loved to read and reading books came second to her first passion of creating her own stories.

Danica told Anya about the series of books that had Carla as the main character as they put the cart away and headed back to what was now their room. Anya gave her to privilege of opening the door with her key but it also assured them that Debbie and Shelley hadn't pulled a fast one. The keys were marked so that a copy couldn't be made but like everything in the world, there would always be someone out there who would make a copy for the right amount of money. The key worked and so they entered their room.

Danica's eyes went directly to Anya's bed piled high with her clothes and personal items. "You know I'm not so sure I'm ready to tackle putting all this shit away, how about we go eat."

"That's sounds like a grand idea to me," Anya said with a smile. "Besides it will give me a chance to stop to get you your money."

"I'm not in any hurry, you can wait." Danica said feeling that she really could trust Anya to get her the money eventually.

"No I want to pay you now, that way I know that I am truly rid of that fucking bitch, I was to point where I wanted to..." Anya was saying when she stopped herself however her red cheeks told Danica the next words that Anya wanted to say.

"Yea I know the feeling, come on and let's get something to eat, something really bad for us." Danica said with a little laugh, seeing Anya noticeably calming back down.

"Like a big juicy cheeseburger..." Anya said with a giggle.

"I know just the place," Danica said going to the door and holding it open for Anya.

To be continued...

Please let me know what you think of my story. I welcome all comments good or bad. You can email me at numlfl@hotmail.com