After high school, Penny wanted nothing more than to go to college. She knew that college was a gateway to better and higher paying jobs and frankly she didn't want to spend the rest of her life as a waitress like her mother.
But unfortunately for her, Penny's father lost his job right before she graduated high school and they couldn't afford to send her to college. Penny had to get a waitress job that he same diner her mother worked at to help her family pay the bills. She knew she'd never be happy with that life and career though so slowly but surely she saved up her paychecks and after 5 years she finally had enough to put herself through college. Well, at least to put her through a few semesters anyway. She hoped to be able to work while in college to help keep her there.
Penny packed up her car and began the 16 hour road trip praying that the POS could at least get her there. She didn't hold out much hope that it would last much past then. As she drove, Penny began to daydream about what college would be like. She'd romanticized the whole thing in her mind for years while saving up for the chance to go and she knew it probably wouldn't quite live up to her expectations but it was still fun to think about.
She knew that at 23, she'd be older than most of the other freshmen and imagined herself becoming a mentor to some of them. Especially her roommate. She imagined taking on something like a big sister role with her roommate. Give her advice about life and helping her out with boys and stuff like that. She didn't know much about her roommate yet, just that her name was Myrthe, she played on the school volleyball team, and that she was an international student from the Netherlands. Penny mostly just hoped she would speak English well since she wasn't even sure what language they spoke in the Netherlands. Dutch maybe? That sounded right.
By the time she reached the college, Penny had imagined hundreds of scenarios and convinced herself that her roommate would look up to her and think of her as a big sister. She parked her car and began unloading boxes. She wished she had a few friends in the area who could help her out with this but she didn't even know anyone in the state.
As Penny brought her first load of boxes into her new dorm room, she was a little disappointed. Logically, she knew the dorm room was just like every other dorm room in the world but subconsciously she'd half expected one of the huge, beautiful dorm rooms everyone in TV shows seemed to her. The room was roughly 20 feet by 40 feet with cinder-block walls all painted white. There was just enough room for 2 twin beds, 2 small desks, and 2 small wardrobes.
The near side of the room was already claimed so Penny put her stuff on the far side of the room near the window. Myrthe wasn't in the room but she seemed to have finished unpacking all her stuff. Penny wasn't sure but she guessed the school let the athletes move in early.
Penny finished bringing all her boxes into the room and was making good progress toward unpacking and getting things set up when the door opened and her roommate walked in. Penny's first impression was that she was some sort of Amazonian. Myrthe was larger than Penny in every dimension standing 6 foot tall and with wide shoulders. She was very muscular and had a slightly squared off jawline that wasn't enough to hide her obvious femininity. She seemed to have just finished volleyball practice as she was dressed in spandex shorts and a sports bra that did nothing to hide her large chest. It was enough to make Penny feel more than a little self-conscious about her own petite frame and modest assets.
Penny wanted to make a good first impression so she crossed the room to introduce herself but Myrthe didn't seem interested in that. Her English was very good but she still had a thick enough accent to make it slightly difficult for Penny to understand but her manner was brusque and instead of calling Penny by name, she simply called her "girl". As soon as the introductions were done, Myrthe grabbed a towel and left the room heading for the communal showers down the hall.
Penny was left alone again. She was miffed that her roommate didn't seem to want to be friends but consoled herself that maybe it had just been timing. After all, Myrthe was only 18 (it was easy to forget that given her stature) and living in a foreign country. That had to be a bit unsettling. And maybe her volleyball practice hadn't gone very well; that would certainly explain her bad mood. By the time, Myrthe returned, Penny had completely forgiven her for the earlier rudeness and resolved to give Myrthe her space for at least the first few days while they got to know each other. She was confident that they'd be friends before too long.
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Myrthe didn't really seem interested in becoming friends though. After the first few weeks, she and Penny hardly talked at all. But Penny was able to learn a few things about her new roommate though. She knew Myrthe was extremely smart based on the textbooks on her desk. She'd apparently skipped right to Calculus 2 while Penny was only taking Pre-Calculus. She also knew Myrthe was hardworking and determined to better herself because Myrthe worked out every day either in practice with her team or just spending time in the gym alone. And while she didn't have any hard evidence, Penny got the distinct impression that Myrthe came from a very wealthy family.
Myrthe never said anything about it but Penny noticed that all her clothes seemed to be high-end and she had the same sort of arrogance that Penny had long since associated with the wealthy. She also seemed to be used to having servants. While not a slob, Myrthe never seemed to clean up her half of the room and after a few weeks, Penny couldn't stand the clutter anymore and cleaned up for her. Myrthe never thanked her or even acknowledged that she'd done it. When Penny grabbed her laundry basket to do her first load since coming to college, Myrthe stopped her and handed Penny her laundry as well and told Penny to do it. She didn't ask Penny to do it, she told Penny to do it.
That made Penny mad and she was about to yell at her roommate about respect but stopped herself. If she was right and Myrthe was a rich as she suspected, then she'd probably never done laundry before. She probably didn't even know how. Penny left the room feeling proud of herself not only for knowing how to do laundry but also for being the bigger woman and not yelling. She resolved to try to teach Myrthe how to be more independent and take care of herself. Or at the very least, teach her to say "thank you" when people did things for her.
If there had been any doubt about Myrthe being wealthy, doing her laundry certainly convinced Penny. Myrthe's closes basically fell into two categories; they were either workout clothes smelly with dried (and sometimes still wet) sweat or name-brand designer clothes. As she sorted through Myrthe's underwear making sure they could all handle the delicate setting, she realized that a single pair of Myrthe's underwear probably cost than Penny had spent on every pair of panties she'd ever owned. Unfortunately that meant that almost every pair of her underwear needed to be hand washed in the sink and hand dried between two towels. Washing Myrthe's clothes was going to be a lot more effort than doing her own.
Hours later, Penny finally finished washing and drying all the clothes. Penny sorted through the clothes and piled them into hers and Myrthe's laundry baskets. She brought them back to the room leaving Myrthe's basket on her bed while she folded and put all her clothes away. Myrthe was out and Penny suspected she was probably at the gym again.
Finally finished with her clothes, Penny moved to her desk to start on some homework but stopped when she saw Myrthe's basket of laundry. If Myrthe didn't get back soon to put them away, her clothes would wrinkle. It seemed like a shame to let that happen after she put in the effort to wash them all. Penny decided she could put in a little more effort but she would definitely be asking Myrthe for some quarters to pay her back for the machines. Penny carefully folded and put away all of her roommate clothes making sure there wouldn't be any wrinkles before finally sitting down to do her homework.
Shortly thereafter, Myrthe returned to the room. Penny smiled secretly to herself as she watched Myrthe move around out of the corner of her eye. She knew Myrthe would be happily impressed at all the work she'd done. She slyly watched out of the corner of her eye as Myrthe crossed the room to her dresser and looked in...