Chapter One

I actually before the quarantine for NanoWrimo. I have since revisited and revised this chapter but I found that the original was actually quite good and I wanted to share with you all. Let me know what you think. Enjoy

“We need to find you a man!” Sam proclaimed. 

Most people lead with, “You excited about your first day?” Or something to that effect. But Sam was not one to waste time. Plus she had already asked me about that ages ago.

I found out about my roommate assignment early and decided it would be better to acquaint myself with my dorm room companion now, then wait until August and she find out I'm a weirdo. I wanted to give her time to acclimate to my weirdness now, rather than become annoyed with me at the beginning of the school year. I knew I would need at least one person on my side in this hellscape and I didn’t want to end up avoiding my roommate. 

We had been corresponding for over a month via email. She knew about my major, psychology, and I knew about hers, theatre. She wanted to become the next Jennifer Aniston or any other famous actress really; and I liked Fraiser, so I thought maybe psychology. But I was really undecided. Much like I was undecided about this conversation.

“But what if I don’t want a man?” 

“Honey, what girl doesn't want a man?” Sam questioned, as if I were silly. 

“Uh, this girl.” I jerked my thumb towards myself. “You know my rule, books before boys. Boys would only slow down my schooling.” 

“Boo. No fun,” Sam said. “That’s just an excuse so you won’t have to date. College is a chance to reinvent yourself. Why not become someone more fun?” 

“I’m fun!” I protested. 

“Psh,” Sam scoffed. 

Thus, I mustered all the strength I could and suggested something I never thought I'd say. "Hey, do you want to go to the freshman mixer in the quad this evening?" 

"Sure thing. I was planning on dragging you to that anyway."

"Even if I didn't want to go?"

"Especially if you didn't want to go." 

 “So, you excited about college?” my roommate Sam asked me. If I had a dollar. Apparently this was the million dollar question that everyone wanted answered. And apparently being in a different location meant you could be that question again.

I was just nervous about college. What if I picked the wrong major? What if I picked something that was too hard? I just didn't want to screw up my future and be stuck with a bad career choice. Sam didn't seem fazed by any of these concerns. 

"So," Sam said. "Who at 18 has ever had life figured out. Just have fun and the rest will fall into place."

"Easier said than done." 

She seemed to contemplate this but then said, "By any chance, are you a pessimist?" 

I didn't care for the word pessimist. Realist seemed more befitting. But no one had ever used that word to describe me. 

And from that moment on, Sam had me pegged. Maybe she's right, I did need to let loose and have fun.

We had just finished a hall meeting with our Resident Advisor, or RA. She basically told us the dorm rules: no guests after ten, no loud music after ten and trash goes into the dumpster behind the dorm, not on the floor. The cleaning staff will not pick it up. All in all, nothing I didn’t already know. 

Now we were standing on a dewy, grassy lawn with a bunch of other freshman, too scared to approach one another. 

“What about that guy?” Sam pointed to a tall, lanky guy with a green lantern shirt on, glasses and what looked like unwashed hair. Plus he was standing near a bunch of guys who looked like the cast of Big Bang theory. I know beggars can’t be choosers, but no. On the other hand, what could it hurt? 

“Maybe,” I finally replied. 

“Okay, so not your type,” Sam concluded. “What about that guy?” She pointed to a guy on the steps of the adjacent dorm. He looked too old to be in college, but he probably was the same age as her. It was just the beard making him look that way.

“Uh . . .” I paused, looking for a polite way to say no.

“Okay, okay. So not this guy either. Maybe . . .”

“Maybe we just grab some ice cream and head back to the room,” I suggested.

“Oh come on. We’ve only been here for like five minutes,” Sam whined.

I was beginning to lose patience. I loved Sam, I really did, but there was only so much interaction I could handle in one day. I already had to deal with our way too perky RA; not to mention we were the only non-sorority girls living in a sorority dorm, it was all too much socializing.

No sooner had I decided to tell Sam how I felt, a couple of guys headed in our direction, holding extra ice cream cones.

“Ooh,” Sam cooed under her breath just as they arrived. “Well hello.” She stuck out her hand in anticipation.

“Hey,” the first day prompted. He was tall, but not too tall. And he was lean, but not too lean. And he was wearing a yellow shirt with what looked like a gaming company on it and skinny khakis. And his had brown shaggy hair with thick rimmed glasses.  “I’m Louis. And this is my friend Jamie.” He gestured to his friend, who was slightly taller, more lean, no glasses, jet black hair, wearing dark colors.

“Hello.” Sam smiled. Then she nudged my shoulder with hers and informed, “This is my friend Serena. We both live in McKoy, right over there.” She pointed over her shoulder behind her. Great, now they knew where we lived.

“Sweet!” Louis exclaimed under his breath. This he cleared his throat, trying to cover up his exuberance. “Cool.”

“Whatever,” Jamie finally chimed in. For a minute there, I didn’t think he spoke. At least he wasn’t engrossed with sorority girls. He had some class about him.

“Actually, Ren and I are freshman. And freshman can’t pledge,” Sam explained.

“Oh.” Louis seemed to lose interest.

What? Suddenly we weren’t good enough to talk to unless we were Greek affiliated. He wasn’t so cool himself, bringing over Goth Vader.

“Excuse me?” Now it was my turn to chime in.

“Serena!” Sam hissed.

“Who do you think you—”

“Oh I think I see some girlfriends over there,” Sam interjected, steering me in some random direction, away from too-full-of-himself and wannabe emo. And they never even gave us our ice cream.

Once we were a safe distance away, I asked, “Why did you do that?”

“Oh I didn’t see a need to make a scene.” She waved her hand.

“Well, if you’re afraid of me making scenes, let me go back to my room.”

For a second, she seemed to be debating with herself, then finally she sighed. “Fine.”

Sam decided she wanted some food and left with some girls she actually met on the floor to drive her around. She asked if I wanted anything (not if I wanted to come), and I told her I’d just find my own dinner. And with that she left.

Was this how it was going to be? Every time I did something she didn’t like, she’d leave? If that’s how things were going to be, then this was going to be a long semester. 

Whatever. Let her go. Those guys were rude. Mr. Emo could care less to be there and Louis was only interested in dating a sorority girl. He wasn’t remotely interested in Sam as a person. I did her a favor. 

Hours had passed and Sam still wasn’t back yet. I mean, how long did it take to get dinner? But she probably went someplace else afterwards, and one thing led to another, and it’d probably be after midnight before Sam would get back. I figured no since waiting up for her. With that, I slipped into my pjs and turned the light out. 

Just as I was drifting off to sleep, I heard voices whisper-shouting outside. You know, trying to shout but do so quietly. Apparently not quiet enough. 

From what I could gather, they sounded like guys and they sounded like they were calling out some girl’s name. 

“Kale!” Paused for laughter. “Kale!” Paused for more laughing. 

I couldn’t take it anymore. I touched my bedside lamp until it was on full brightness, opened the window and whisper-shouted back, “Could you guys keep it down. Plus, I don’t think there’s a girl by the name kale here.” And firmly shut my window and touched out my light. 

Not a moment later I heard a light tap on my window, which I could only assume were rocks being thrown at it. I sighed and prepared for what would inevitably be a long night. 

“What?!” I shouted a little too loudly, then softened, “What?”

There were three guys standing there looking at me. One was built like a Mexican wrestler with the school sweatshirt on; number two was a super tall and lean with just a plain black long sleeved on, hands rammed inside his jean pockets; and number three was in between one and two, not too tall, not too big, with a very nice windbreaker on. Clearly he was the smart one out of the group. Or at least, he appeared that way. 

The wrestler stepped forward, “Yo Caro—hey was it Caroline or Carolyn?” He turned to the other two. 

Oh, he was trying to say Caroline or Carolyn, but kept getting stuck, this the kale. I should get my hearing checked. 

Windbreaker stepped forward and whispered something in his ear. Probably the correct pronunciation of said girl’s name. 

“Sorry Sleeping Beauty,” windbreaker addressed me. Sleeping Beauty? Was he serious? “We’ll come back at a more appropriate time, where we won’t disturb your rest. Sleep well princess.” He winked, or at least I thought he might have. It was hard to tell from the third floor window.