"Where are they tonight?"
"I don't really know. James said they had some things to do or something. He was kind of secretive about it."
"Weird. What do you think he's doing?"
"I have no idea."
"Maybe it's something romantic."
"I don't know why he would have taken Rob and Brendan with him instead of me then."
"Wait, Brendan, Brendan? The guy you made out with while you were stalking James? Why are they hanging out? That's so awkward."
"Yeah. Rob befriended him. I thought it would be weird. But the three of them seem to get along really well."
"I think I want to start hanging out at your new place more often," Melissa said. "It's like an eligible bachelor sausage fest." She got off my bed and began to do her makeup.
I laughed. "Actually, I kind of wanted to talk to you about that."
"That sounds ominous. Are you actually here to just get the rest of your stuff?" She smiled at me.
"No. That's not it. It's just been a lot harder than I thought around campus."
"Yeah, I know." She paused in her mascara application "There are a lot of rumors going around. Whenever I hear someone say anything, I always defend you. I've started to hate girls in general."
I laughed. "Me too. But it's more than that. It's my professors too. They...well they're...it's just really hard." I didn't need anyone else beating up Professor McCarty.
"I'm sorry, Penny. I did kind of warn you that would happen though."
"I know." Melissa loved being right. But she wasn't going to like what I told her next. "But it's just too much. I think I'm going to take the rest of the semester off."
"What? But the semester's halfway over already. Last time we talked you said you were going to finish. You even said you'd finish Comm, which I thought was crazy. Lucky for you, you just get an automatic A for shagging the professor."
I laughed. "I didn't get an A. I had to withdraw from Comm."
"I thought everyone was getting an A in James' classes?"
"Everyone except for me. It was my fault too."
"Sorry, Penny. That really sucks. But you can take it again next semester. There's no reason to drop all your classes. That'sinsane. Why would you want to just retake all the same things next semester?"
"I'm actually not sure I want to take classes here next semester either."
Melissa put down her eyeliner. "What are you talking about?"
"I can't handle all of this..."
"Penny, you can't just drop out of college. You don't want to be a college drop out! You don't want to be one of those girls who finds her dream guy and just forgets how to have her own life. You're being ridiculous. This isn't the sixties."
"I'm not going to drop out of college. I'm just going to transfer to a different one."
Melissa looked even more upset. "You can't leave."
"I'm thinking about going to NYCU. It's only two and a half hours away. We can still visit each other all the time."
"You're moving to New York? Penny, I'm sorry, I can't just say nothing about this. You barely even know James. You can't just up and move because he wants to."
"It was my idea."
