this too shall pass [[OPEN]]

Alicia stepped into her room and took a look around.

Books on the shelf. Thoughts on the shelf. Twenty thousand lines of graffiti littered the bits of furniture in what was obviously destined to be her turf in the dorm room. Being late had its advantages- the other girls had apparently saved her the trouble of trading for the 'junk' furniture that was covered in scrawling sharpie, white out, nail polish, and the sticky white paper that gets left behind when stickers are hastily peeled off. 'I <3 Trevor,' her nightstand declared in bitter blue Sharpie. It was an inheritance that Alicia was happy to claim- her birthright, this furniture covered in the faded dreams and imperative statements of other girls long grown and graduated.

Daddy's men had done exactly what they were told and left her luggage by the bedside in a neat and absolutely unopened fashion. She would puzzle out what to do with some of the more discreet items in later. For now, it was time to get comfortable. Turning her attention to the bare mattress that was to be her sleep sanctuary, Alicia quickly made her bed up and sprawled out.

Enough of that.

She looked to the boxes that the moving guys piled in the closet and noticed with a smile that the one marked 'MY SOUL, ASSHOLES!' was on the top of the foremost stack. If it weren't too late, she would make it a point to urge daddy to shower the movers with lavish gratuity. The last of her very particular instructions had been fulfilled perfectly. Digging through the box, she found her zen garden and set it up on her nightstand next to her alarm clock.

Taking a moment to sort through the random mishmash of bracelets, plastic tongue ring balls, and old handbags full of Gosh-knows-what, Alicia decided to skip dinner and have dessert, hanging her favorite poster off center over her bed and another poster in a wooden frame on the adjacent wall above her dresser.

With reckless contentment, Alicia tossed herself onto the bed in a pile of static energy and anticipation. Getting set up was always fun, but...

where were the other girls?

Isabelle had been back at school for a while but had left all of her junk in Isaac's car, too eager to get outside FAST, especially since she was president of Shakespeare in the Sun this year and today was the day of their very first performance! So now during some picnic downtime, she was walking to set up her room, wondering casually if any of her roommates would be making an appearance in their habitat.

Isaac had helped load her up with her bags and boxes, but kissed her goodbye at his dorm and left her to trudge down the hallway towards the sophomore girls' room. Grumbling grumpily, Isabelle had managed to make it to her new bedroom with two massive duffel bags and a box of knick knacks in her arms, huffing more out of frustration than difficulty breathing. The door was, blessedly, ajar, and she headbutted it open, grinning broadly when she saw the all-too-familiar girl sitting on her Twister duvet.

"LISH!" Izz called out ecstatically, dropping all of her stuff on the ground and rushing forward, throwing her arms around the girl in a mess of long limbs and still-wet hair. She was in nothing but her shorts and bikini top, but never felt awkward around the Allred girl and thus hugged her with indecent enthusiasm.

"How are youu?" she asked with a grin, rolling off her friend and setting her bare feet on the floor, walking over to her boxes and bags and hauling her duffel onto the bottom bed that she was now claiming for her own.

Carefully Isabelle began pulling out clothes, stocking them in the wardrobe on her side of the room carefully, sprinkling moth balls and scented stuff in the drawers afterward to keep her clothes from smelling all "woody". The whole time she chatted Alicia up animatedly, pulling her shoes out from her last bag and lining them under her bed next to her dance bag (only the bare necessities, since her dance clothes and shoes now took up almost a whole drawer in her wardrobe).

"So how was your summer? Did you do anything fun? What's new with Bad Atom? Write any good songs? We should sing a duet..."

Finally Isabelle ran her finger through her hair before pulling out her sheets and dressing her bed. When the final fluffy pillow was placed, she kicked all of her bags and her empty box under the bed, setting her iHome on the bedside table and slamming her purple iPod in the dock. Pressing the 'iPod' button, it came on shuffle, and some musical song popped up. With a sigh she pressed the 'next' button, bobbing a little to a cobra starship song.

Izzy.

Life was suddenly so much better than it had been a moment ago, and it just kept getting better as Alice's friend literally dropped everything to pounce her with a hug. It was enough to make a girl feel like she had come home. And just like home of any sort has always been, there were little demons that she struggled with- like enjoying this hug just a little too much.

Wet skin, smooth and warm. Wrapped up in one of the most beautiful girls Alice had ever known. It felt really good, but not for the reasons it was supposed to. She mentally turned down the volume on the miniature lust in her head and turned up the things that she felt for the right reasons. They were back at school, they were back in their room, they were... together for all of the bullshit and drama that would go down, and Alice smiled as she was rolled over on the bed just thinking about how good it was to be on the same team as Izzy.

And just like that, the moment was over. It was something remarkable that Alice had noticed about her friend from the day they met- if you wanted to keep up with Isabelle, you had to be ready to change pace constantly. The girl started to business, chattering away, and Alice let it wash over her. It was one of the most comforting nuances about their friendship. Alice didn't talk much, and Issa did. And her friend was almost always kind enough to understand that without being a douche about it like so many other people had. Finally, Alice felt like keeping up a little and started shooting back short answers to some of the questions.
"So how was your summer? Did you do anything fun? What's new with Bad Atom? Write any good songs? We should sing a duet..."
"Summer was summer, that's really all there was to it."
"Same old stuff, no big deal. I had a lot of time to myself, and I think it was pretty constructive."
"If I don't get anyone to sign up, Bad Atom might be defunct. We'll see though, otherwise I might just start something else.
I wrote about 30 songs. Truthfully, maybe one and a half of them were any good."

That was another thing about Izzy that Alice loved about their friendship. The way that she could bring Alice out without being overbearing or patronizing about it. It was a remarkable gift. Energized by the social interaction of catching up with the person who was likely to be her best friend, Alicia bounced up off of the bed with a smile when Isabelle put on some music. She groaned a little bit on the inside- Izzy had, from time to time, the most gosh-awful taste in music ever. 'EVAR,' the way she said and spelled it in her mind.

But that didn't cancel her smile and certainly didn't cancel her joy. Alice took it upon herself to turn to the side and start shaking her booty a little to the beat, leaned over with her hands on her knees. Grinning even bigger because she knew she looked silly, Alicia stood up and bopped her hips and shoulders a bit with her arms tucked in like an old person.

It was good to be back.

Darnell was bored. He was really bored, and he just wanted to check in on his little sis. He'd been trying to make up years and years of pig-headed and crack-headed craziness to her, and it seemed he was doing pretty okay. Alicia had always been laid back. Even more so since she started picking up the things he'd brought in... which he was of course super guilty for... being that he was supposed to be the big brother and protect her and what not. But they'd had that battle before and he'd lost it. So now all he could do was whatever else she would allow. Beginning of school check-ups were on that list.

Coming to her door, he knocked a few quick raps against the wood, getting a little too into the drum beat sound. "Hey, Allie? Izzy? What's up?" He called her Allie- it was his brotherly privilege.

He wondered what she was up to. She was always so difficult to keep up with.

Alice jumped as the knock on the door broke her reverie. Startled, she turned around to see none other than

her brother. If it had been anyone else who would have felt obligated to knock before entering, she would have likely been annoyed. But instead, she just felt... better. It was hard to feel good about seeing him. She just never knew who he was going to try to be on any given day- an ass, a hypocritical ass, an overprotective ass, or an over apologetic ass. Chalk it up to budding maturity, but Alice was feeling too content in the moment to make an issue of it. And she was starting to learn that you get what you give...

She would think back on that later. Maybe she would find her mistakes, maybe she wouldn't. But forget about the theory. Alice made a strong commitment right then and there to give it an honest go as far as Darnell was concerned. She couldn't begrudge him the truth- he really had earned another shot.

So without a word to return his greeting, she hustled over and gave him a big hug. No words about summer, no small talk about family members that neither of them knew. Just a hug. It felt good. And because she felt a little silly and wanted to embarrass him in front of Izzy, she jumped up on her tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek.

Spinning around with her arms out, she fell on her bed and smiled. "Word," was all she said with a wink and a smile. Taking a moment to glance at Izzy, she looked back to her brother to gauge his reaction.

"One and a half, eh? That's a shame... I really wish you wouldn't break it up..." she felt so good to be with her friend, watching her dance with a highly amused face, her long legs splayed out in front of her. "I always thought it'd be cool to be in a band... but all I can do is sing. And dance, I guess, you know whatever..."

Isabelle would have jumped up to join in the booty bumping, but they were interrupted by a sharp knock on the door, and she turned her blue eyes to Darnell, Alice's admittedly attractive older brother. She stood up quickly, leaning against the bunk bed and crossing her ankles, her long legs feeling suddenly bare under their short shorts, nevertheless her indecently exposed midriff.

"Hey Darnell..." she said, watching Alice with an amused expression, resting one hand on her hip as she kissed her older brother on the cheek. Oh, the things that girl would do. Isabelle's eyes followed her as she spun back to the bed, declaring in one simple word what was "up".

Only because Darnell was cute did Isabelle continue the conversation, rolling her eyes and answering his question. "Just finished unpacking... You're not going to the picnic?"

Isabelle leaned over to click to the next song as a track from 'Legally Blonde: The Musical!' came on, highly embarrassed to even begin to admit that she listened to the show obsessively. Praying to sweet baby Jesus that she'd switched it soon enough to prevent any damage, she swept forward, leaning against the dresser now and appraising Darnell like an auctioneer.

"Hasn't he gotten a little... twiggy, Lish? No time to lift this summer, Darn?" with a saucy wink Isabelle headed back towards her bunk bed and plopped down, punching the next track button again.

"Oh well..."

Alicia always surprised Darnell. He never knew what to expect from her- but then, when he thought about it, that seemed pretty fair. He wasn't always very easy to read either, and he gave her a whole lot more crap than she'd ever given him. It made him feel so guilty when he thought on it- but if he showed it, she'd get annoyed with him and that wouldn't help anything. So, he just kept his cool. Yeah... stayed chill.

The kiss on the cheek was quite welcome, and Darnell gave his little sis a quick squeeze as she came into his arms.

Darnell leaned against the door frame, a thin wiry smile spreading across his face. Word? Really?

"Well, that's descriptive," he teased, "I know exactly what you were up to now. Hey Izz," His eyes flickered over to Isabelle. She seemed a little- um- taller. "Thank you," he replied to her reply, and then turned to look at Alicia with a knowing expression. The kind that said, 'See, now was that too hard?' "I hadn't really thought about it..." He shrugged, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

He had just planned on laying in his room, reading... maybe heading over to the music hall- practicing some stuff. Experimenting with some beats.

He just smiled and laughed as Isabelle came over and reviewed his current state of body. Good thing it was Izz saying all this- any other girl and his face might have flushed up bright red. But Izz, nah- he considered her another little sister- and didn't worry about what she thought... unless it was a reflection of girls in general, in which case, he might be able to use her advice. But nah...

"Twiggy? What? You must need to get your eyes checked, Izzie." Oh yes, he'd been working out over the summer- it was one of the things that kept him busy- kept him straightedge. Exercise. "Do you see this? I know you see this." He lifted his shirt just slightly, just enough to expose the nice shapely corner of his six-pack. A pride and a joy- it made him proud to see the female joy that arose at its unveiling.