“Audrey!” I called out, down the stairs as I pounded down the steps, clutching a manila envelope. “Audrey where the hell are you?”

“Calm down,” Courtney said as she passed me on the way to the back of the house. “She doesn’t live in the house, she’s probably at her dorm.”

“Oh…right,” I nodded. I often forgot that she didn’t live here yet. That was something we would probably be dealing with next year. I looked at the folder in my hand, kind of dreading going out in the world today. It was a Saturday after all. I noticed Tiffany standing in the kitchen staring blankly at the counter. “Hey, Tiffany, can you run this over to Audrey?”

“What the fuck?” She demanded, sort of stumbling away from the counter “Why do you suddenly think I want to be around Audrey all the time?!”

“For the last time,” Sighed. “What happened between you and Audrey? Did she borrow your lip gloss without asking?”

“Whatever,” She snapped. “I’ll take it over-“

“You know what, I’ll do it,” I walked toward the door, feeling Tiffany’s eyes on me the entire way. For the briefest moment I considered turning around and forcing me to tell her what the deal was, but I instead simply opened the front door and stepped out onto the porch. The first thing I noticed was the paint peeling on our front porch; it was probably time to get the pledges on that. Then again we could probably borrow the DEM pledges, that would be a lot better to look at. The second thing I noticed was the darkening sky; even though the Woodcrest dorms were in plain sight less than a mile out, there was no way I’d walk there and risk getting my new top drenched. I could either use my car or take the GAT van, and a few days ago we’d gotten a letter from national about excessive fuel use, so I guessed I’d have to use my own today. I hopped into the car, pulled out, and drove the .8 miles over to the dormitory.

I’d always gotten stupidly confused whenever I visited Audrey’s dorm; there were three buildings, side by side, and all of them were identical. Tiffany had finally pointed out to me that Audrey’s dorm was the one with the single dead shrub outside below the second window; that helped a little. I passed the shrub and pushed into the lobby. It was a mess, really. The white tile floors were stained with footprints, the light in one of the vending machines was flickering like something out of a horror movie. I stared at the machine for a moment and watched a bag of ‘Fritos’ flicker in and out of view with the light, then turned toward the elevator. It was still out of service. God dammit. I resolved to take the long way and trudged up the stairs, finally stopping at the 5th floor and emerging onto the open air balcony. The rain had started and the smell of petrichor was floating in over the railing. I walked to Audrey’s door and tapped lightly with my knuckles, waiting a few moments as the door finally opened. Mason stood there, dressed in a bathrobe as usual, but with his hair unusually messy and the room behind him uncharacteristically clean. I’m just going to say right now, it’s bad when you notice a room is clean the moment someone opens their door.

“Oh um, hey…Aleah,” Mason said, tripping over my name momentarily.

“Hey Mason,” I smiled. “I’m looking for Audrey-“

“Not here,” He shook his head. “She went um…I…don’t know where girls go. I need your help with something though…”

“Um, sure,” I nodded, trying to appear mildly interested as Mason waved me into the dorm room. The entire thing was clean, even Mason’s side. The place smelled good, like it had just been steam cleaned and both beds were made. “Mason, what happened here?”

“Aleah,” He said, finally, practically gasping. “I’m…having a total panic attack.”

“Sorry, what? Why?”

“I’ve never lived with a girl before, Aleah, like, I want everything to be perfect but…how do I make it easier for her? Like, where does she put her girly stuff in the bathroom? What kind of air fresheners do I get? Does she use tampons now? Like, I have so many questions and I don’t want her to feel weird here-“

“Mason,” I frowned. “Are you…on drugs?”

“Maybe a little?” He phrased it more as a question, as if he didn’t really know for sure. “I just-“

“Trans women don’t use tampons,” I informed him. “And she’s the exact same person you knew before, you just call her she, or her now instead of he and him. Look, the weirder to make it, the more weird she’ll feel-“

“I was going to put a sheet up between our sides of the room so she wouldn’t feel weird getting changed,” Mason stared at the ceiling as if he were trying to figure out the logistics of such a feat.

“Did she ask you to do that?” I asked, staring at him expectantly. “If she didn’t, wait until she says something, or ask her if she’d like that. Don’t make a bunch of changes if she doesn’t want it.”

“How do I know if she wants it?”

“I…I don’t know Mason,” I rolled my eyes and then remembered the manila envelope in my hand. I held it out to Mason who took it gingerly in his hands and turned it over curiously. “Okay, so part of being in GAT is a mandatory exercise program, we want our members to stay fit, I go to the gym twice a week, but since Audrey tends to get her ass kicked, I had her enrolled in a martial arts program. Well, self defense I guess. Anyway, the details are in there, she needs to go on…Tuesday and Thursday after class. Okay?”

“You guys…are taking good care of her, right?” Mason looked concerned. “Look she’s been my friend for…my entire life and I somehow missed ALL of this. I feel bad, like…I should have been there for her.”

“I’m not your therapist, Mason,” I said firmly, trying to avoid snapping. I really didn’t have time for this. “Just give her the packet and…for god’s sake, mess the room up a little, this is creeping me out.”

I left the dorm room and made my way back down to the first floor, sweating by the time I dismounted the staircase and bounded out the front door. As I stepped onto the sidewalk, I ran into Mike, who was making his way into the dorm with a stack of papers in hand.

“Um, Mike?” I tilted my head. “What are you doing here?”

“Cool your shit,” He said, annoyed. “I’m not here to beat up your pet, I’m hanging up these fliers.”

He handed one of the sheets, a black and white flier advertising a brand new fraternity on campus. Theta Kappa.

“YOU’RE in a fraternity now?” I said, smirking a little. “I didn’t think you were a joiner.”

“Finally found a cause I can get behind,” He shrugged. “And you know what? Once we start making the rules on the Greek council, we’re going to get that faggot out of your house, and out of this school.

“I wish you the best of luck with that, Mike,” I laughed as I turned and walked away, resisting the urge to look over my shoulder. As I walked toward my car I couldn’t help but wonder how serious he was, and if he could actually do that. I had a bad feeling and I couldn’t shake it.