Cassandra spent a couple of hours unpacking and figuring out where she wanted everything to be. It was kind of weird after having to share a room with another girl for three years to have a place all to herself. She finally settled on a plan and put everything in its place. After Cassandra finished unpacking and arranging, she decided it was time for a good old college student afternoon nap. She had a peaceful and dreamless hour's sleep. The bad dreams from that endless day and the car crash had mostly faded away. Once in a while when she was stressed, one of those old nightmares would return, but that was the exception, not the rule.

At about 4:30, someone knocked on her door. She opened it a crack and was greeted by a smiling Jenny who was wearing yet another different outfit. "Hey Cassandra, we're going to dinner at five, do you want to come along with us?"

The tall thin girl hesitated a moment and thought about making up an excuse but thought better of it. "Yeah, thanks that would be nice."

Jenny smiled. "Okay, see ya' then."

Cassandra started to close her door but changed her mind. Instead, she picked up one of her idea books and an art pencil and sat down on the couch in the main room. Suzi was sitting on the other side intently studying a notebook with page after page of what looked to be meaningless lines, arrows, and squiggles. She was wearing khaki shorts and a loose-fitting muscle-T with a black sports bra underneath. Cassandra found herself a bit jealous of Suzi's beautiful fit body. She went back to her sketchbook and drew a couple of more ideas for her portfolio. After a few minutes of silence, Suzi looked up from her binder and asked pleasantly. "Whatcha' you workin' on Cassandra?"

Cassandra looked up and smiled brightly. "Ah, these are just a few ideas for my senior portfolio. I have to finish most of it this summer if I want to graduate on time next June."

Cassandra glanced over at Suzi's mysterious aluminum binder and asked. "And you, what's in your book?"

Suzi laughed. "Playbook, it's all top-secret. Don't tell anyone from State or I'll have to kill you!"

Just then, Jenny opened the door from her room. "You girls ready for chow?"

Cassandra and Suzi closed their books simultaneously and stood up. The three of them walked downstairs and then across the quad to the dorm dining hall. The food there was not bad, but it was not good either. Over the three years of living in the dorms, Cassandra had settled on a dinner routine of a green salad, a cup of yogurt, and a diet soda. Jenny had a little more food than Cassandra did, but Suzi's plate was impressive. Cassandra shook her head and thought. I'm not sure if I've ever seen a girl eat quite that much!

Just like earlier in the day, lots of other students greeted Cassandra and her two new roomies. She discovered that she was apparently now living with two of the most well-known people in the dormie community. After a couple of minutes of idle chat, Jenny asked. "So Cassandra you're an art major?"

Cassandra put down her fork and smiled. "Graphic arts with an emphasis in photography. How 'bout you two?"

Jenny answered for the two of them. "Accounting for me, sports management for the blonde jock chick."

Through a mouthful of food, Suzi retorted. "Hey, I resemble that remark!"

Cassandra found herself instantly liking those two girls. They were completely and totally different from each other yet seemed to be best friends. She knew from that first day that for some reason they had accepted her. It felt very good.

Later that weekend on Saturday night, there was a big blowout of a dorm party on the lawn. Out of the 10 dorm buildings, only one was occupied during summer so the party was pretty tame by C.U. standards. Because it was the first week of the summer semester, the RA's reduced their enforcement of the rules a little bit; as long as everyone stayed cool, there would be no problems from the authorities. Cassandra was completely overwhelmed by the whole scene. People were drinking God knows what out of Solo cups and she even smelled the smoke of a certain weed which was not quite legal in the state. At one point, Jenny handed her a cup of punch and said. "This one's good, not too strong, and nothing weird."

Cassandra sipped her drink and just watched and observed. She was invisible or at least felt invisible. Cassandra mused that as a tall, way too skinny girl with long black hair and wardrobe of old gym clothes, she WAS invisible. Once again, she resolved to get better, whatever it took.

She left the party early. Not too early, but later as she lay on her bed, she expected that one or both of her roommates would either return with someone or not come home at all. At 11:30 the outer door opened and the two other girls returned to the quad. Cassandra listened to their conversation for a moment. "Fun night J. I'm not ready to go to sleep, but coffee is off of my list, don't want to stay up all night after all."

Jenny responded amiably. "Same here, I have some herbal tea which will put you right out."

Suzi responded. "Perfect, give me five to rinse the stench of dorm party off of my hide and I'll be right back."

Cassandra sat up in bed for a moment decided that she would no longer be just an invisible observer. She got out of bed and started to take off her old T-shirt to put on a bra and then laughed aloud. "WTF."

She just left the shirt on and pulled a pair of shorts over her panties and opened the door. Jenny greeted her kindly. "Hi C, we thought you had crashed."

Cassandra smiled at her and said. "I was, but now maybe I have a second wind. The scene earlier was a lot, you know..."

Jenny nodded. "I know what you mean. Hey, we're fixing some tea would you like a cup?"

Cassandra smiled at her again. "Thanks that would be great."

A couple of minutes later, Suzi came back to the quad wearing only a towel around her waist, and just barely at that. She had evidently walked all the way from the shower room that way. Her breasts were not large but were firm and in perfect proportion to the rest of her beautiful body. Cassandra tried not to stare. Even when she lived in the all-girls dorm there had been a few rules. One of them was not to walk around the halls naked. Jenny gave a look to Suzi and said with a pleasant laugh. "Put some clothes on woman. This girl does not yet know our ways."

Suzi made a pouty face, put her hands on her hips, removed her towel completely, turned, and walked into her room.

Cassandra tried not to stare and then gave Jenny an incredulous look. "And what are those ways?"

Jenny poured three cups of tea and said. "It's not what you think. We are not sluts and we will not tolerate sluttery in our quad. Boys are allowed, but only with very specific restrictions. We have our reputations to think of after all!"

She nodded and whispered. "This is not exactly a boy issue. Suzi was just walking around the dorm half-naked. I mean from the shower room, down the hall..."

Jenny laughed. "She does that sometimes. I think she likes to impress certain people. Don't worry, Suzi won't put the mash on. She knows that she's totally hot, it's just an act to maintain control."

Cassandra shook her head. "I don't understand?"

Jenny sipped her tea. "Cassandra, Suzi is not quite what she seems. She has always been an athlete, track, soccer, basketball you name it. Did you know that she is Captain of the C.U. volleyball team?"

Cassandra shook her head again and Jenny went on. "So for most of her life, people have made assumptions and sometimes say mean things. She's not gay or bi or anything but if somebody spreads a rumor, and they do; she just ignores it and lets it go."

Cassandra sipped her tea and thought. I hadn't really thought about it one way or another.

Jenny gestured to Suzi's closed door. "99% of our Ms. Hanson's self-confidence is real, but sometimes I think that she has doubts about her appearance and really does care what people think."

Cassandra shook her head in disbelief. Suzi's door then opened and she returned to the main room wearing shorts and a tank top which obviously had nothing underneath. She took the offered cup of tea and smiled. "Thanks, J. Sorry Cassandra, did I scare you?"

She laughed. "Not at all, it's our room and we can be naked if we want to. And if I looked like you..."

Cassandra then looked directly into Suzi's strikingly beautiful eyes and said. "Suzi, you are one of the most beautiful women I have ever met."

Suzi turned away, maybe to wipe away a tear as she whispered. "Cassandra that is one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me."

The tall blonde girl then came over and gave her new friend a sisterly hug. After she sat back down Jenny said. "Okay, here the basics of the rules of the quad. Each of the three of us can reserve one hour of the main room per week."

Cassandra raised her hand like a schoolgirl. "What about the girl in number D?"

Suzi laughed. "Nope. She's gone for most of the summer; she's off on some dig in dinosaur country."

Jenny continued with her dissertation. "So for example, if you wanted to bring a guy over like on a second date or something but don't want to give him the wrong idea by taking him into your room, just leave a note on the board that says: Cassandra call your aunt Lois on Thursday at seven. That means that you have the place to yourself from seven to eight. The other two girls just have to hang out somewhere else."

Cassandra nodded and asked. "Okay, what else?"

Jenny went on. "If you want to be in your room whether it's to be alone with your boyfriend, a study date or just to take a nap and don't want to be disturbed, just put something on the doorknob a sock, scarf, whatever. This lets the others know to keep the noise down and since you might have a visitor not to walk around in our birthday suits like Ms. Hanson here."

Suzi stuck her tongue out at Jenny and asked while guessing at the answer. "Do you have a boyfriend Cassandra?"

The skinny girl responded glumly. "Nope, I've never had a real boyfriend. My dad was real strict and didn't let me date until I was 17 and then I got sick...that's how I got so thin..."

Her two roommates tried to not give her a sad look. Cassandra smiled and asked. "How 'bout you two?"

Suzi chuckled. "Dumped the last metro-sexual, snow-flake I was dating a few months ago so no; and sadly it's been a while if you know what I mean."

Jenny looked down at her shoes and mumbled. "Me neither, but there is this friend that I like a lot, so we'll see where it goes."

Suzi rolled her eyes and Jenny went on with her explanation. "Okay back to the rules. If you have a guy over and are going to have sex, and put your bra on the doorknob so we know to listen in!"

Cassandra started to say something and Suzi flashed me her gorgeous smile. "Just kidding, it lets the other girls know to keep quiet and respect each other's privacy. Sound good?"

Cassandra nodded silently and thought to herself: this is not quite like living in the Virgin Vault!