Dorm Number 173

Declan was sitting in his dorm room, his iPod was blaring from a base and he didn't realize how loud it was, let alone that his door was wide open. Declan remained on the floor, though his bed was just an arms length away, as he stared up at an easel. A canvas was three-fourths of the way covered with paint, and Declan was matching the colors.

The teenager had been painting all morning. The door had been opened as a method of ventilation, and he was shirtless at the moment so as not to stain anything. His jeans were previously covered in white paint, so adding various shades of blues didn't affect him much. Declan bit his lip as he sat there thinking. Practically both of his forearms were covered in paint, and on several occasions he unintentionally touched his cheek, and forehead earlier so there was paint covering his face and a small amount in his hair which he was oblivious to.

Michelle sighed, walking through the halls, getting lost often, having to keep asking random strangers for directions. She needed to see Declan.
When Charlie had told her that Declan had a girlfriend, Michelle was crushed. But something she knew from past crushes, no matter how hard it is, she couldn't move on without telling him herself that yes, she liked him. If she didn't, then even if she found a new guy and became friends with Declan, a little piece in her heart may still have feelings for him.
So she finally found his room and took a deep breath. She knocked on the door.

"Mmm." Judy moaned as she sprayed Vanilla Sugar body spray onto her soft, tan skin. Her bright orange IAMS CAT FOOD tee shirt hugged her stomach. She sighed and then walked out of her dorm.

Judy walked a little farther down the hall and saw an open door. She heard loud base. She smiled. Lillian had been telling her about this guy. She slowly approached the door, then seeing another female standing there, and knocked softly and awkwardly.

Declan was staring at his floor for a while. He was mouthing the words to 'Hear Me Now' by Framing Hanley as it played on his iPod when he heard a knock on his door. Declan offered a smile to Michelle. "Hey, come on in." He spoke as he stood up. There was paint on his shirtless torso, but he didn't seem to notice. Declan glanced around. The only place to sit in his dorm was his bed, so he offered it to her. "Have a seat, if you want."

Just as Declan was moving to clean up is random painting things when there was another knock, which also surprised Declan. "Come in." He called, pushing the easel out of the way and leaning it against a wall, turned away from his guests.

Michelle nervously looked at shirtless Declan, and she swallowed, unable to talk for a moment. Realizing she needed to be strong and firm with this, she couldn't show any weakness. She nodded and said, "Okay. Thanks." She sat down.

Declan nodded and offered Michelle a smile. He scratched his side briefly before he realized that he was in fact shirtless. Declan's cheeks reddened slightlyas he reached into his closet and grabbed a plain white t-shirt. "So, how hae you been?" He asked as he pulled the shirt over his head.

"Um, well, okay," Michelle said, lying through her teeth. She then forced a grin and said, "I heard you've been having some fun lately. With May." Michelle tried not to have anger in her voice as she said the name of a girl she already didn't like much even though they didn't know each other.

Declan shrugged, "Yeah, sure. We've been hanging out a lot." Declan moved over to his bed and sat down at the other end from Michelle, leaning against the wall and facing her slightly at an angle. Then Declan's eyes widened, "Was I supposed to hang out with you one day and forgot?"

"No," Michelle said, "but we did hang out once. At a party. But you left early..." Michelle took a deep sigh. Then she looked at Declan. "Yeah, you and May, 'hanging out', huh?" she asked, doing air quotes as she said hanging out.

Declan nodded as he reached over to turn his iPod off. "Yeah, just hanging out." He shrugged, not knowing what else to say. "Just kinda like this, chatting and listening to music and.." Declan trailed off, realizing that he was talking rather quickly and probably not making much of a point.

Michelle tilted her head a bit, narrowing her eyebrows. She was confused. She blurted, "Well a friend of mine mentioned to me that you and May are a thing now."

Declan's brow furrowed slightly. "What?" He asked, confused as to where someone would have gotten that idea from. "No," Declan began as he shook his head, "No, Maylon and I aren't dating." Declan shrugged before he shook his head. "I'm not dating anyone."

"Well, I think she likes you. A girl can tell," Michelle said with a shrug. Then her heart pounded, feeling a bit sorry for May. "You better set her straight before she gets the wrong idea." Michelle sighed. She came here to tell Declan her true feelings, but she'd probably leave just giving Declan another excuse to talk to May.

"Well, I would hope so." Declan responded, not even thinking that Michelle was talking about as a crush. "Normally friends like one another and don't try to kill each other." Declan offered Michelle a crooked smile as he turned and glanced around the room, trying to find something the pair of them could do while sitting there.

Michelle narrowed her eyebrows. Declan was stranger than she thought. She realized he meant just liked as friends, "No, Declan. She really likes you. Like she has a crush on you." She then looked down and mumbled under her breath, "That makes two of us."

"What?" Declan responded almost instantly, his brow raised slightly. "Oh, I doubt that.." He said as he lifted himself off the bed. Declan was making his way to the other side of the room as Michelle spoke to herself, so he was unable to distinguish what she had said. Though Declan denied that Maylon may like him, he was in fact thinking about this idea. Declan ran his fingers over the wall as he decided to change the topic, "Been horseback riding lately?"

Michelle sighed a small sigh. Declan was annoying her a bit. But she decided it was useless. She looked down at her bracelet with heart beads on it. She stared at the heart, remembering how much she liked Declan. She looked up at him. She was pretty sure she still liked him. But it was useless. But she still decided she neeed to tell him. So she opened her mouth, but what came out was: "Oh, um, no. Not for a while."

Declan turned around and looked at Michelle once more. This time offering a smile as he watched her sitting there. "We should definitely go some time soon." Declan glanced around his room almost frantically before he found a small picture frame on his desk. Declan offered it to Michelle, showing her the picture of a quarter-horse walking next to small bulldog. "That's Sonny and Phred."

Michelle smiled as she studied the picture. She definitely was starting to miss the horses back home. But then, something hit her. Some kind of karma thing or something. She just couldn't take it anymore. She put the picture down and said: "Declan, I'm in love with you."

Declan chuckled. It didn't occur to him that she was serious since so many of his friends were constantly saying I love you as a friendly way of reminding one another that they were friends. Declan nodded and responded with a crooked smile, "Yeah, I'm really glad you got lost near my dorm."

Michelle smiled. She didn't know he didn't realize she was serious. So from his response she decided it seemed like he felt the same way. She grinned at him. "That's so cool!" she exclaimed with a blush. She wasn't sure what exactly to do.

Declan turned his back to her as he began to pace his dorm, unsure of exactly what the two of them should do rather than just sitting here. Then an idea came into his head, "Why don't we go somewhere this weekend?" He scratched the back of his neck as he completely tried to develop the idea. "Yeah, why don't we get a group of friends and take a ride out to the camp grounds?"

Charlie was walking in the hallways reading a book. Her new glasses were on. But too bad she was too busy paying attention to the book she ended up walking right into Declan's doorframe and hit her head. "Oh man! Ow!" she said and dropped her book rubbing her forehead and her eyes squinted. She broke her glasses. "Darn! Those were new!" she said. She didn't realize there were people in Declan's dorm.

She looked up, "Oh," she squinted hard and opened her eyes, "Umm, you can say that," she said blinking hard. "Oh they broke!" she exclaimed.