The first thing I noticed about the university was how loud it was.
Not just noise, people laughing, shouting, dragging suitcases across the pavement but the kind of loud that made you feel small.
Like everyone already belonged and you didn't.
I tightened my grip on my bag and stepped through the main gate.
This was it. New city. New life.
" Alexandria?"
I turned.
A girl waved at me, smiling like we had known each other forever.
"Room 312?"
I nodded slowly.
"I'm your roommate," she said, grabbing one of my bags before I could protest.
"Come on before someone else steals your bed." I almost laughed.
Almost.
Because for some reason something about this moment felt familiar.
Too familiar.
Like I had already lived it.
Her name was Lila.
She talked a lot about everything classes, boys, lectures and even food.
I mostly listened.
" You're so quiet, " she said, dropping onto her bed.
" It's suspicious."
"Or maybe I just don't talk too much."
She grinned. "We'll fix that"
I smiled faintly, but my attention drifted.
There it was again.
That feeling.
Like I knew what she was going to say next.
Like I had heard this exact conversation before.
"You're going to love it here," she added.
And that's when my stomach dropped because I knew she was going to say that.
Before she said it.