Nolan was still outside when he was approached by a pair of people who he normally would have walked right by without thinking twice about. After leaving his sisters and mother outside of the senior girls' dormitory building, Nolan had headed over to the boys' one, but had gotten sidetracked outside of it, as he spoke to some guys from the baseball team. They were just leaving his side when Illiana and Ian approached, and though Nolan knew Ian from classes and liked him from what he knew, they weren't friendly enough where he would have imagined that the guy would have just wanted to strike up a random conversation. When Ian began to speak, though, it made more sense. "I think we were supposed to, but the rooming situation got switched up or something. I don't know why, but when I moved my stuff in earlier, your name was crossed off of our sheet. Apparently I'm just rooming with my boy Emmett, some dude I forget the name of... and some dude named Jax. I'm not sure where they put you, but the new dorm adviser... Brian, I think his name is, should be able to help you if you don't see your name on any of the doors up there," he shrugged.
Just as Illiana reached for her phone, Nolan did the same, and he soon realized that it wasn't just coincidental that they had gotten notifications at the same time. The start-of-school games were kicking off, and the seniors were playing Assassin. That sounded cool, and with Victoria as his target, Nolan was all the more ready to play. Claiming that he had a crush on the Queen Bee might have been pushing it a little bit, but that was only because Nolan didn't think that Tori was into him like that, and therefore, hadn't allowed himself to consider liking her in that manner. He had tried to hook up with her multiple times over the past few years and had always been shut down, so it only seemed logical to believe that she didn't have the major crush on him, that she actually did have. With a smile on his face now, he answered the group chat with Emmett and Seth, saying, "So... I'm on the lookout for Tori with this game, which means that if any of you idiots have me and assassinate me before I can get to her, I'll kill you... outside of the game". He was only joking and the boys probably knew that, but he wasn't going to hide his interest in being able to one-up the Queen Bee today. And he was serious, in a sense, that he wasn't going to let himself get taken out, before taking her out. Illiana's exit was a strange one, and as it raised a few red flags in Nolan's mind, he looked back up in suspicion. However, he brushed it off as her just being an odd girl. He didn't know her very well, but being quirky didn't seem like a far fetched assumption of her personality.
He dismissed the idea of her being his assassin just as quickly as the thought came into his head, and looked back to Ian. "So, yeah, man, looks like we're not gonna be dorming together but I'm sure I'll see you around. Maybe we'll end up in the same English class this year again, and hey, I'm throwing a party at my place tomorrow. I can't remember if you've ever come before, but my family owns a vacation house ten minutes away or so, and my sisters and I are hosting a little kickoff to the school year. There's gonna be lots of booze, so make sure you're good with Ubering back to campus, but yeah, come check it out if you're around tomorrow night," he offered, before turning to head into his dormitory building. He looked back a second later though, being more playful now, though it was possible that the lack of seriousness in his words wouldn't show through to someone like Ian, who didn't know him very well. "And if they give you a problem at the door, just tell 'em you're on my guest list. That should get you in." Of course, this wasn't some high end club that they were going to with bouncers and a guest list that needed to be adhered to, so Nolan was only kidding. However, he wouldn't doubt that Juliette would probably have some words for him if she found out that he was inviting C-listers. Juliette had already attempted to ban Charlotte and her friends from coming over, so he knew that adding a nerd to the list wouldn't make tensions any less than they already were, but... oh well. She would never have to know that he was the one being a good guy and inviting good people like Ian.
Since he was heading into the boys' dormitory now too, it would have made sense for him to just head up with Ian, but his thoughts had already moved on from the guy, as he now tried to formulate a plan to take out Victoria. He had a text waiting from her on his phone too, and though it had been sent as a group chat, he decided to text her back privately. "I'll definitely see you at the barbecue... but a tip since we're friends... watch your back around Hilliker ;)". It was an attempt at throwing her off from believing that he had her, and just to cover his ass, he texted Emmett separately too saying, "If anyone asks, you've got Tori as your target... aka sorry for giving you even less of a chance at getting a piece of that ass today". The text probably wasn't necessary, given that it only took another two minutes for Nolan to be inside their dorm room, and then pushing open the door of Emmett's bedroom. "So, for show, you have Tori, but who do you have for real? And like I said, if it's me, man, I'll fucking murder you if you try any shit before I get my hands on her," he said with a smirk, though a raise of his eyebrows at the last part, as if to express his seriousness.