A New Home - Room D09 (Sonja)

[Snow Damon]

After having gotten her things from the Main Office, Snow jumped back in the car, scanning the piece of paper that was given to her. "Um... We've got to go to the White Ribbon house. That's where I'll be staying at," she told her parents.

It didn't take them but a few minutes to actually find the building, much to Snow's relief, and after having gotten her bags out of the trunk, two big suitcases along with her tennis bag that she brought for her own reasons, she turned back to her parents and waved to them. They had asked if she would need any help taking her bags up, but she declined her offer, saying that if she was going to be without them for now on, she had to start doing things on her own, like taking her own bags to her room. She knew that they were disappointed, but, nevertheless, Snow persisted that they start heading back home. After all, they had a nine hour drive back to Albion, Michigan.

She watched as the car pulled off, but after the car's figure disappeared in the distance, Snow looked back at the building, her eyes wide with excitement. So, this is where she would be staying at? 'Pretty nice place,' she thought as she grabbed her bags, grunting as she lifted them up. Upon heading into the building, she basked in all the furniture around her as well as the decor, thinking that who ever designed this place definitely had a taste in style! But, pushing those thoughts aside, she proceeded up the steps.

"Now lets see what room I'm in... Oh, room D09." Swiveling her head from side to side, and after walking down the hall a little, she finally found the room. A rush of anxiousness ran through the girl's being as she unlocked the door, that stupid grin stretching across her face again as she opened the door. She walked into the room, taking in the sights around her once again, before she dropped her bags in the middle of the floor. "My new home. I think I'm going to like it here."

[Sonja Stokes]

"D09...D09... D09... " played through Sonja's head as she walked down the hallway of the White Ribbon House. She has just left the Main Office and her family behind, to start her new life at the prestigious school. She has been waiting for this moment for almost three months now, and now that it was finally here, anxiety overpowered her excitement. As room D09, the room she would be living in the the next two semesters, came into sight as she walked down the hall, her anxiety was immediately replaced by excitement as she walked through the already open doorway.

A girl, not much older than herself, was already in the room, with a huge smile on her face, and her bags thrown onto the ground. Sonja laughed. "Um, hi! Nice to see that my new roommate is a neat freak!" She continued laughing, hoping the girl would find her sarcastic remark humorous and not offensive. She walked deeper into the room, and set her bags neatly onto one of the two desks. "I'm Sonja Stokes, and you must be Snow Damon!" A week prior to arriving at Blue Ridge, Sonja has received a packet in the mail detailing her living arrangements, including the room number, floor plan, and roommate. "So, since we're both here, we may as well get the hard part over with." She gestured towards the two beds, one near the window and the other near the door. "How should we decide who gets what bed?" She grinned at the girl. Sonja was hoping the girl would either let her have the bed near the window, or have some sort of challenge to decide on beds. "Just so you know, I'm down for either arm wrestling or rock-paper-scissors!" She smiled widely, and chuckled. As she waited for the girl's response, she looked around the room's empty walls, and imagined the possibilites for all of the posters and ribbons that she can litter the walls with.

[Snow Damon]

Completely consumed with her thoughts, thinking about all the possible things she could to do make this room, at least her side of it should she have a roommate, more Snow like, Snow failed to notice that someone else had entered the room. So, it came as a shock to the girl when a voice suddenly rang out behind her, startling the girl slightly, but after regaining her composure, she merely laughed at her own reaction.

"Well I do have to commend my work on keeping things clean for a little," she commented back, taking note of the sarcasm that came from the girl. Rubbing the back of her neck, she shrugged her shoulders as she looked down at the pile of bags that she had yet to pick up. "Anyway, sorry about this. I gotta little side tracked with everything going on." She watched the girl then, looking her up and down to take in her appearance. Obviously she was younger, but, after much thinking, Snow figured that this girl couldn't be that much younger than herself. "Yep, that's me! Nice to meet you Sonja."

Looking over at the two beds, she had to admit that before she hadn't even thought about which one she wanted. Though, after looking at them now, the one next to the window obviously seemed like the best choice, especially with the view! She turned back to Sonja, smirking as a bit of the competitiveness started to show in her. "Well, since I'm almost positive that you want the bed by the window as well, I'd definitely be up for an arm wrestle. You know, just to see who really deserves the bed." She put her hands on her hips.

[Sonja Stokes]

Sonja raised her left eyebrow in surprise. Normally when she challenged anyone to anything, they either backed down or didn't say anything at all. Sonja was used to always being the alpha dog, not in the snotty, "Popular Girl" way, but in the more subtle way, where she would always be the one looked up to in a group to make decisions. But this girl, didn't back down to her and give her the bed, she openly accepted her challenge. Sonja has met her match.


"Fine, so be it!" She looked around the room for a place that could host this arm wrestling match. The only acceptable surface was one of the two beds. She gestured toward the two beds. "Either one of those will do" She grinned and looked at the girl before walking over towards the bed closest to the door, and crouched down. As she walked past Snow, she realized that she was massive next to Snow, as she stands tall at 5 foot 8, and her roommate couldn't be an inch taller than 5 foot 3. Sonja has always been the tall girl, so it doesn't really make her feel uncomfortable. What does irk her, however, is when people make comments on how tall she is and all of the other comments that go along with it.

The ground was surprisingly comfortable on her knees; the only thing separating her knees from the ground were her leggings. She looked over towards Snow, who had her hands on her hips. Her body language was enough to show Sonja that she was ready. "Ready when you are!" She flexed her arm, as a joke, and chuckled. She knows she doesn't have the most athletic physique, but she always enjoys to lighten the mood with some humor, even if it is as self-deprecating as making fun of her own thin arms.

[Snow Damon]

At Sonja's comment, Snow started grinning again, her eyes gleaming with excitement at the prospect that, already, she was making a challenge against someone. This had to be a record for her or something. But, nevertheless, she was going to have fun with this, whether she won or lost this little arm wrestle, though she would much rather win than anything. It made her wonder how many other competitive people attended this school that Snow could indulge herself with.

When her roommate walked passed her, Snow couldn't help but gawk at how much of a height difference there was between the two. Yes, Snow knew she was kind of short, and back at home most of her friends towered over her, but not like Sonja was! Not that she cared or anything about the height, it was just a little funny to Snow how much of a difference there was in that department. She shook her head though, figuring that it was nothing to worry about.

A small, giddy little laugh escaped from her mouth as she walked to the other side of the bed and knelt down on the ground, her eyes trained on the girl now. "Right then! Let's see if these fourteen years of swinging a tennis racquet around is going to be more useful than just being able to have a good grip on the reins when riding." She swung her arm out, swinging it in a circular motion before bringing it back to herself. But then, an almost contemplative look came to Snow's face as she raised both her arms and placed them on the bed. "What are you, right handed or left?" Snow was actually ambidextrous in most cases, though in actuality she was a lefty and favored her left side. But, if push come to shove, she could use her right hand when needed.

[Sonja Stokes]

Sonja laughed as Snow swung her invisible raquet. "Wow, you're hardcore!" Sonja played a sport too, aside from riding cross-country, just not a sport that requires any equipment. She has been running track for the past 4 years, and she's become quite good at it, finally breaking the 4-minute-mile club. " Haha, you see, my sport is your sport's punishment!"

She raised her eyebrows as the girl set down both of her arms and asked her if she's right or left handed. Almost everyone she knows is right handed, with the exception of her mother. She raised her right hand proudly. "I'm a righty! I'm assuming, since you're asking the question, and you've got both of your arms on the bed, that you're either a righty secretly hoping I'm a lefty, or you're ambidextrous!" Sonja has not ever personally met anyone ambidextrous, but she knows that being ambidextrous is an incredibly useful trait in baseball.

She looked at Snow with a slight smirk on her face. She always made a point to use her body language and facial expressions to convey her emotions, and in this case, her friendly yet competitive nature. "So? Which is it?"

[Snow Damon]

"Hardcore? Now that's a new one," Snow commented, laughing as another grin stretched across her lips. Though, she had to admit that when it did come to that sport, as well as her barrel racing, she was a little 'hardcore' about those things. It was just in her nature to be that way though, not that she was complaining about it. "Oh really now?" She raised an eyebrow, leaning back slightly. "So that must mean you do some type of sport that involves an extreme amount of running." Oh yes, sometimes the amount of laps that her coach had given her were punishment, and she hated it sometimes! "I'm actually entering into another sport while I'm here; figured I might as well do something so that I can stay in shape." She shrugged her shoulders, as if it really meant nothing.

She looked back down at her arms, smiling sheepishly before she raised her left hand. "I favor my left hand, but yeah I guess you can say I'm ambidextrous in some things." Her mom was always telling her that she couldn't just depend on one hand, or side for that matter, for the rest of the life, which, in turn, led Snow to being able to use to use both hands. "But, for the sake of the arm wrestle, and to make it fair, I'll use my right hand."

She dropped her left arm from the bed as she copied Sonja's smirk. And, after doing so, she raised her right arm so that her elbow was laying on the bed, her palm open, getting it into the regular 'arm wrestling position'. "Let's get this over with. I want to be able to get my bed ready so that I can have a good look of the view from the window." Of course she was only being playful, even though a bit of confidence did come from her tone.

[Sonja Stokes]

"Yep! I run track. I don't do all of the other crap, like the pole vaulting and the shot put and all of that other fun stuff, I just run. I specialize in 100m. " She smiled proudly, hoping Snow understood what she was talking about.

"Besides riding, I'm an eventer, but I spend most of my effort and training in cross-country." She remembered when her trainer first suggested she take up cross-country. Her mother wasn't please, as she went home and googled the sport only to find numerous videos of people falling off. Now, years later, her mother still isn't a huge fan, but she has lightened up a bit.

When Snow mentioned needing to find another sport to participate in, to stay in shape, Sonja immediately got excited. "You should totally run track with me! Its really fun! And running is pretty much the best exercise ever." Sonja hoped the girl would take up her offer, as she has no other friends on the track team.

Sonja laughed sarcastically at Snow's comment on the view from her bed by the window. "Yeah, maybe I'll rent my bed with the view out to you on the weekends!" She held up her right arm, and made a few fists, to loosen up her hand. "Ready when you are." She stared Snow dead in the eyes, and smiled, and waited for their hands to meet for the arm wrestling duel.

[Snow Damon]

"The 100m? Nice!" Snow said, nodding her head in appreciation for what Sonja was saying. "But yeah, all those other 'field' parts do it seem a little... Well ridiculous in my opinion, though I do think that it would be fun to try pole vaulting." A small laugh escaped from her mouth, but she shook her head after the thought. She was probably too uncoordinated to do something like that; running at a steady pace with a long pole in her hands probably spelled disaster for the girl.

"I'm not much of an English rider, though I have done cross country before." Again she shrugged. "Pretty interesting and kind of fun, but just not my thing. I do Western riding, barrel racing more than anything since my horse refuses to do anything else." Yes, she had had to do a cross country event once, and to say the least Snow didn't do too well. But, in the long run, it did give her a little insight on which style of riding she preferred more, so she figured the experience wasn't all that bad.

She blinked a couple of times, surprised a little by the reaction from her roommate, but she soon smiled after nodding her head. "Yeah, I figured on doing track anyway. Seems like it would be the best choice considering how I run a lot anyway." That much was true. To keep up her endurance, she would run four miles every day back at home. She wondered if she would keep the same schedule pertaining that while she was here.

"Yeah, well we'll see about that!" She nodded her hand and gripped Sonja's outstretched hand, looking the girl intently in the eyes as she became focused.

----- 5 minutes later ------

Snow brought her hand back, pouting as she rubbed her wrist after having arm wrestled her roommate. 'Oh, I knew I should have picked rock, paper, scissors!' she thought as she groaned. Sitting back on her butt on the ground, she looked across the bed and looked at Sonja. "All right, fine! You get the bed by the window." She turned her head to the side, trying to act as if she was upset in some kind of way, but, in the end, she ended up smiling in the long run. She couldn't be mad, not when she lost fair and square. "I guess we know who has the better right arm though." She laughed then.

[Sonja Stokes]

Sonja, herself, had never ridden Western, with the exception of those horse trail rides people go on with their 8 year olds. She had always been an English rider, from the time she first rode a horse. "I actually started out riding as an exercise rider for racehorses at the farm my dad worked at, back in New York." She frowned. Her dream, for the longest time, was to be a jockey. But once she hit 5 foot 4, her and her father knew that dream wasn't going to be a reality. "But, as we can both see, I'm 5 foot 8 now, which isn't exactly jockey material." She shrugged. "And wow! Barrel racing? I've only seen it at rodeos and stuff. That stuff is freaking amazing, though." She gave an enthusiastic smile. She enthusiastic smile didn't fade when Snow mentioned possibly joining track with her. "Oh my god! That would be
so awesome if you did! If you want, we can go to the field together to talk to the coach?"Her smile was even bigger now.

But, the smile quickly left as quickly as it had started when the arm wrestling contest began, for the sake of the bed with the view.


---- 5 minutes later ----

Sonja raised both hands in delight. "Victory!!!!!!" Sonja hates losing, so losing was not an option for her. Luckily, her right arm overpowered that of her hardcore tennis playing roommate. "Haha, yep! Looks like this arm is brawniest of them all!" She flexed again, and then rubbed her arm in pain. "Whew, I'm not gonna lie, I'm sort of sore from that." She smiled at Snow, trying not to look smug or anything at her victory. She held up her hand to high five Snow, as she knew this would be the genesis of a beautiful friendship.

[Snow Damon]

Laughing at Sonja's obvious excitement about having won the bed by the window, Snow turned back to the girl, grinning despite the fact that she had lost. "Yeah, yeah," Snow said as she waved her hand dismissively. "You're just lucky my right arm isn't as strong as my left. Otherwise, I'm more than positive that the result of this would have been different!" She watched as her roommate rubbed her wrist, and in turned looked at her. "A bit of a workout, but nothing too bad." It almost surprised Snow when Sonja extended her hand out for a high five, if only because it had been such a long time since she high fived anyone. Nevertheless, she outstretched her arm over the bed and smacked it against Sonja's.

"Oh wow, exercising racehorses? That's gotta be exciting." Going back to the earlier conversation, Snow stood up and sat on the, actually her, bed and kicked her feet out. She tilted her head to the side. "Aww, that's too bad. But, at least you were able to be around those types of horses and experience a little of what they did. That's has to at least be worth something!" She had to admit, she wasn't much of a fan of jockey racing, but she had to commend the people who took part in it. There was just too much stuff involved in it for Snow's taste. But when the conversation instantly turned over to barrel racing, Snow was all ears. "Yeah, it's really fun, especially if you've got some stiff competition to compete against! I love it though!"

She nodded her head at the suggestion. "Hey, now there's an idea! Though, maybe we should unpack first, now that we've got the bed situation settled and all." She rubbed the back of her head as she looked at her bags that were still laying in the middle of the floor.

[Sonja Stokes]

At Snow's mention of unpacking their stuff, she was immediately reminded that she still had to unpack all of her stuff too. "Crap, I forgot all about that! Let's get to it!" Sonja picked her bags up off of the ground and brought them over to her bed, and set them on top of it. Sonja, being the neat-freak that she is, already knew exactly what was contained inside of each bag. The only things that had yet to arrive are her riding gear, namely her helmet, saddle, bridle, and other tack, and her beloved cat, Chloe. When she thought of Chloe, she raised her eyebrows and looked gingerly towards Snow. "I, uh, hope you're not allergic to cats or anything... Because my cat, Chloe, will be coming within the week along with my horse, Henry." Henry and Chloe had left about 4 days after she had, in a separate shipping car. All of her horse related items and cat items are with the shipping car, so she didn't have to worry about any of it just yet. "My Henry is a gorgeous, palomino off-the-track-Thoroughbred!" She smiled as she remembered her father giving him to her so she could pursue eventing.

One by one, Sonja took out each article of clothing and either hung them up, or folded them in the drawers. She put all of her bathroom amenities to the side, saving them for last to put away. Her first priority was her clothing, second would be putting up her pictures and posters. "On my side of the room, do you care if I put up posters?" She looked questioningly at Snow.

[Snow Damon]

With the nod of her head, Snow walked over to her bags, picked them up, drug them over to her bed, and laid them next to it, heaving a sigh as she got on her knees and opened one of the suitcases, the one containing her clothes. Oh, how she hated packing and unpacking so much! It was such a hassle to her, and honestly she would have been happy to just not do it. But, she refused to just live out of her suitcase while she stayed here, so she knew she had to do this. So she started by taking her clothes out, separating her long sleeved shirts from her short sleeved shirts, her shorts from her jeans, and so on until all were in a pile. She started putting them in the drawers, her long sleeved shirts and jeans going at the top since it was pretty clod outside, and her shorts and what not at the bottom. 'Well that didn't take too long to do,' she thought, having momentarily forgotten about her other suitcase.

She turned to Sonja, wondering how she could be so neat, and listened to what she said. "No I'm not. On the farm we had three barn cats, and a couple of dogs around, so they don't bother me." She smiled. "Can't wait to meet your cat though!" It came as a surprise to hear that her horse hadn't even arrived yet. "I bet it's pretty nerve racking to not have your horse here with you yet, huh?" She tilted her head, knowing that she would have been a little worried if her horse wouldn't be coming for another week. "A Thoroughbred! Sweet!" She grinned, her eyes glittering with excitement. "My horse, Skippy, a Quarter Horse, should be here now. I just hope he's not causing any trouble." That just reminded her that she would have to check on him later on.

She started unpacking again, pulling out pictures that she had brought with her and putting them on the desk that she would use, along with a few other things like her cowgirl hat. She put her tennis racquet and stood it up against the wall next to her bed, knowing that she probably wouldn't use it much there, but at least it was a reminder to her about where she came from.

"Why would I care about that?" She asked, shrugging her shoulders. "I mean, it's your side of the room. You can do what ever you want with it!" She smiled then.

[Sonja Stokes]

Sonja breathed a sigh of relief when Snow mentioned she is fine with cats. "That's great! Chloe is a super fluffy little girl! And she's not hyper or anything, she'll just sleep in the laundry bin all day, I promise. " Sonja turned back to her chest of drawers. Underwear and bras and socks in the top drawer, basketball shorts, and workout clothes in the second drawer, oversized t-shirts and pajama pants in the third. Her riding pants and polo's will go in the fourth, and in the bottom drawer, all of her jeans and other bottoms. In the stand alone wardrobe, all of her t-shirts and jackets, and riding dickies and blazers. Everything color coded, because Sonja is that much of a neurotic neat freak.

She stood up and walked over to the wardrobe, and started hanging up the black t shirts, right next to the previously hung white t-shirts. She looked over at Snow and gave a half smile. "I know its weird, but it drives me insane if my shirts are not color coded." After hanging up all shirts according to color, she stood back and admired her work, to make sure every shirt was in it's correct place.

"I'd love to meet your horse! I love quarter horses, though I've personally never ridden one. We should totally go on a trail ride, or something, when my horse gets here!" She laughed at the girl's mention of her horse being a trouble maker. Henry, an off the track Thoroughbred, is about as hot blooded as they come, and yet, by a miracle, he isn't the biggest trouble maker in the world.

"Eh, I just thought it'd be polite to ask before I start to litter the walls with Metallica posters and stuff." That being said, Sonja walked back to her suitcase, where at the bottom, beneath the clothes, were her posters, laying neatly. She pulled out her favorite Metallica poster, and grabbed the tacs in a little zip-lock baggy. She stood on top of her bed, and tacked the poster to the wall, directly above her bed.

[Snow Damon]

Snow laughed, turning back to her suitcases. "Well, she sounds a lot tamer than the cats I'm use to, thank goodness." The cats they had back at the farm, while weren't dangerous or anything, could be a little rough at times. So, it was nice to hear that a cat would be around that would be happy to just lay around all day and sleep. She pulled her rodeo clothes out of the suitcase and spread them out, separating them from shirts to pants, and then hung them up in the wardrobe. She then proceeded to put all her jackets in the wardrobe as well as her formal attire, none of then in a particular order, but rodeo clothes were off to one side, jackets were in the middle, and formal attire (should she ever need to wear them) were off to the other side. The only thing she didn't have in there were her boots, but she figured that were with Skippy's tack.

She turned back as her roommate spoke, taking a look at the girl's wardrobe, surprised at how neat and color coordinated everything was. She shook her head, a look of disbelief written across her face. "You remind me of one of my friends; she use to have a fit when ever she came over my house and saw that my things were never coordinated 'the right way'." The thought made her laugh. "I guess I just don't care enough to have everything organized like that. Too much of a hassle!"

A grin spread across her lips. "He's a good boy. He can be a bit childish at time... But he's good." She rubbed the back of her neck, nodding her head at the suggestion. "Yeah, that'd be totally cool! I haven't ridden a trail in a while, so it'd definitely be fun to do it again." Walking back over to her things, she finished unpacking the rest of her stuff, which consisted of a few more pictures and the sheets to go on her bed.

After having placed everything in it's place, at least to Snow's standard, she stood back, hands on her hips, and looked over everything. She smiled, nodding her head. "Yep, now this is more like it!" She grinned. There was only one more picture she had left to get out, the one that she kept in secret, but she would wait to put that up. When she turned her head to watch Sonja hang up the poster, she tilted her head. "Nice poster."