"Oh, isn't this adorable!"
Yua looked up to see a bubbly woman staring back at her. With the dorm room being the size it was, the woman practically knocked into Yua's desk.
Yua removed an earbud and looked at the woman up and down. A white woman with impeccable, expensive clothing and dark hair stared back. The blue eyes staring at her did not have much behind them, Yua decided.
"We're going to be roomies! Oh, this will be so much fun!" The woman said, smacking Yua with the many bags around her arms as she walked into the room. She walked to the other side of the room to the vacant bed.
Yua sighed. She slid down her glasses and closed her laptop knowing she had to determine who she would be living with for the next year.
"I'm Cindy!" Cindy said with a wide smile and a thick southern accent. "And what's your name? Oh, sorry, do you speak English? Do you understand what I am saying?"
Yua bit her tongue but flashed a smile. "I'm Yua, and yes, I do."
"Oh, that's so cute! You almost sound American!" Squealed Cindy.
Yua sat there, stunned.
"This is going to be so wonderful! I've never been to the far east. Daddy took me many places but said it was too dangerous there. It will be great learning from you! I hear your country is run by dictators. Did you flee? Are you on the run?"
"I'm from Japan, and no," Yua said slowly, trying to figure out if this woman was real, "I came here because it was one of the cheapest universities to come to with the classes I require. It turns out your state is very uneducated so getting a spot was simple."
Cindy giggled. "Well, I can't tell my Daddy I'm staying with a Japanese person! He hates them after they took his job years ago. So, you'll be my little secret, okay?" Cindy said with a wink. "Oh, I can't wait to teach you all about America and how to be American!"
"I've been living here for almost a year," Yua said with a sigh.
"We'll have to do something about that accent, though! No one will take you seriously!" Cindy said, turning her back to Yua and unpacking. "Also, I'll probably need your closet space too. I didn't realize it would be so cramped in here! No space for clothing, I swear."
Yua decided her roommate had to go. Flashes of parties where everyone spoke behind her back, Cindy halting any conversation when she walked near her or her friends, drunken escapes, everything she feared about University wrapped up in a bubbly package.
Yua shook her head. No, Yua decided Cindy would have to go. She would leave it up to Cindy to decide how that would happen.
"I'm here taking psychology and cellular biology," Yua said pretending she did not mind Cindy stuffing her things into Yua's closet. "What are you here for?"
"Oh, I don't know yet. Daddy's paying for everything. Hey, is it true that you have to do well in school or your parents disown you?"
Yua gritted her teeth.
"That's so horrible. I keep saying, more countries should be like America. Free. Don't you worry, I'm a kind Christian soul. I'll make sure your poor self is shown the right way to live. I'll be your guide. I'll turn you into something respectable, something people would be proud to have around. And church! You'll love church!"
Cindy continued to talk. Yua decided Cindy had to go.
The hard way.
She took a white noise machine out of her bag. Something she liked tinkering with. Heavily modified, she attached it to her laptop.
"Cindy, I need to study here, okay? Just for a bit."
"Oh, I totally get it! I'm going out for a drink after I finish here, anyway. I'd invite you...but, well, you know."
Yua tried not to chuckle as she loaded up her software on her laptop for the white noise machine. "Oh, I get it. One thing. I need white noise to sleep, is that okay?"
"White noise? What's that?"
Yua flicked on the machine. "It helps me sleep. Just something quiet, like this."
"Hmm. I don't know..."
"Please? It helps me sleep so I can study. If I don't get the high marks in school, my Dad will send me back home and I'll have to work in the rice fields," Yua said, turning and pleading with Cindy using her eyes.
"Oh, okay. Oh, you poor soul. You poor, poor soul. Don't worry, I'll have you American before you know it!"
Getting what she wanted, Yua ignored the rest of Cindy's talk. She loaded up a special program on the white noise machine and had to keep from giggling to herself.
"And I'll have you as a slut before you know it," Yua said under her breath.
***
Yua rolled her eyes as Cindy continued to talk to her like a child about how great American and Jesus was. Yua tapped the white noise machine on her night table, waiting for Cindy to take a breath. Yua noticed that while it was her night table, most of the space Cindy took for herself.
"My friend, it is late. We should sleep," Yua said.
"What? Oh, yeah! Early! I'm getting brunch with the women tomorrow. Mimosas! Can you say that? Mim-os-a!"
"Wonderful," Yua said. She shut off the light to the room. Yua slipped on noise-canceling earbuds and turned on the white noise machine. "Thank you for letting me use this!"
"Oh, I can barely hear it, it's fine. Good night Yuyu!"
"Yua."
"No, we need to think of something American for you."
Yua sighed and turned away from Cindy. She calmed her mind, thinking of her program working its way through Cindy's mind.
Yua chuckled at that thought.
Yua knew that would not take long.
Unable to hear a thing, Yua slipped off to a peaceful sleep.
***
"Good morning, partner."
Yua turned and smiled at Cindy. She shut off the white noise machine and then took out her earbuds. Yua looked over at the other bed. She smiled.
Cindy wrapped up in her sheets, looked like a mess. Confused, half-asleep, with her sheets drenched in sweat.
"Have a good sleep?" Yua said in a sweet voice, trying to ignore the mess.
"Buh," Cindy replied.
