Never take your ring off

VICTORIA’S POV

“Welcome Freshmen to the University of California, Berkeley!” The deep blue words were sprawled across the bright gold banner that hung on the dormitory entrance. My breath came slightly faster as we drove right past the gates of college.

I took a deep stabilizing breath, then unbuckled my seatbelt as I hopped out of the car. I glanced over my shoulders and realized Stefan had ordered more men in black to have me taken down to college. Which I found somewhat annoying with the eyes of other college students straining directly on me on entry.

I looked down at my fingers, staring at my damn ring. Without any contemplation, I flung it off my finger and had it tossed into my purse. The student’s dorm was all clustered, and at that moment, I realized it also had a gym, restaurants, and other buildings around.

The elevator door dinged open and I followed the signs left down the hall towards my room. I found the door with the large silver 245 on it and slowly opened it. Looking around it seemed like other freshers weren’t here yet.

I took a deep breath, standing in front of the dorms, as I watched Stefan’s men drive away. But what I couldn’t understand was why he had ordered most of them to wait behind, even to the length of making them reside blocks away from my dorm.

“Ouch!” A girl’s voice cut through the walls making me curious. I opened the door and peeked out to find a tall, slender model of a girl bent over a box.

As she straightened to look at me, I took in her appearance. She must have been almost six feet tall, with beautiful dark skin, bright red lips, and tight curls that cascaded down her waist.

“Are you going to help me get these in or you’re just going to stand there staring.” she grumbled, and almost instantly I snapped out of my reverie and bent to help move in the boxes.

“My goodness!” she exclaimed falling onto her side of the bed.

“Yeah, about the loud entrance, sorry about that. I kept hoping some hot guy might show up to help me but apparently college campuses are pretty quiet on Saturday mornings,” She said.

“I’m Jasmine and you are?”

I almost couldn’t reply, I was so shocked by her overt confidence and somehow I managed to stutter a response.

“I’m Victoria,”

“Tory for short, got it,” She added as she went back to grabbing her boxes.

I guess I felt overwhelmed because meeting new people was never the way for me and I’ve always had to put in so much effort on myself not to make girls my age hate me.

“So I guess college isn’t as it seems in movies huh?” Jasmine cut in. And for some reason, it felt as though I was in for some nice time with a stranger. I could tell from the smile she gave constantly.

“We’d never know until we find out,” I managed to say and then smiled back at her, settling into my end of the bedroom.

******************************

A COUPLE OF WEEKS LATER

I slipped on some Nike shorts, an oversized T-shirt and my runners with my earpods plugged as I stepped right outside the dorm.

Just as I was about to start my run, the front door flew open and a large group of guys came falling out, yelling to themselves.

They were loud and rambunctious during the quiet morning, so I stood and froze as they ran past me. They all yelled so loud, pushing themselves back and forth and running off to the parking lot.

Once they had passed, I shook off the discomfort and continued in my steps. My worries from all that had happened these past few months washed away as I pushed my arms harder, propelling myself forward. My legs burned from running faster than usual, but I had a clear head.

I was so zoned out that I didn’t realize someone else had joined me. The minute I noticed, I jumped at the sight of a large figure jogging beside me, with a smirk on his face.

The fright threw me off balance, and before I knew it I fallen off to the pavement. I winced when pain burst through my knee as it slammed into the concrete and a whimper left my mouth when I attempted to catch myself.

“Fuck…” He muttered.

I looked up at the unapologetic face of the guy, as I tried to perk up to my feet. Staring at him, I realized I had never seen him before, and jogging on a lonely road at such early hours of the morning was quite stupid.

“I didn’t mean to scare you like that, do you need help standing back up to your feet? Or you’d want for me to call daddy,” He said, his voice laced with sarcasm.

“Get away from me!” I scowled, glaring at him.

“You sure look like you need some help, and I’m here to help you,” He responded, leaning closer to me.

In pain, I tried to pull away but then he grabbed me by the arm as if wanting to prove a point. But in seconds, a loud bang was heard from behind us, and the guy who had been pulling me a couple of seconds ago suddenly dropped to the floor.

I flinched and turned wondering what the hell had just happened.

The minute I did, I suddenly realized who it was.

Stefan and his men…

I laid back down on the cold concrete floor, panting for air, knowing if they hadn’t been here, I probably would have been dead or raped or whatever.

“I guess you’re the kid that fails to listen when being told by fathers not to be out on the lonely street on your own. Especially in the early hours of the morning!” Stefan snapped, as he crouched to the floor beside me.

“You don’t always have to play the hero, no one’s around to see this,” I responded with an eye roll trying to pull myself back up on my feet.

“If you’re trying to get yourself killed, try jumping off a cliff, that would help save us all the stress of wondering what the hell had caused the death,”

“Obviously she fell,” He said sarcastically.

“Whatever!” I snapped back and then managed my way up to my feet as I turned to leave.

“One more thing,” Stefan said, grabbing me by the wrist.

“Never take your ring off!” He growled.