“How’s your ear feeling?” Alice glanced over at me as she drove. Despite her late night, she was up bright and early, waking me up before we had to leave in the moving truck.

“Fine.” I shrugged. “A little sore, but nothing too bad. Didn’t bleed nearly as much as the tragus.”

“I remember how bloody your pillow was that night.” She laughed. “How’d you get home? Sorry about that, by the way.”

“Josh, actually.” I rubbed my arm, nervous about her reaction.

“Oh, cool. That was nice of him.” She smiled, not seeming to mind. “He didn’t try anything, right?”

“No. Just teased me the whole time. I spilled my drink on him too.”

She laughed wholeheartedly. “He probably deserved it.”

We alternated between chatting and listening to music for the rest of the trip. Nerves were finally getting to me. I wasn’t looking forward to starting classes again. Thankfully the meds were tempering the storm of anxiety.

Eventually, we arrived at the dorm after some issues with direction and Alice not listening to them. We spent the next few hours moving things in and setting our shared room up before a couple of girls came in to greet us.

“Hey girls, I’m the RA or, the resident assistant.” The tallest of the girls spoke, waving at us. “I’m a third year, so if you need anything, please feel free to come to me with whatever it is. I want to make a safe and healthy environment. This is my roommate, who will also be here if you need someone to talk to. My name is Rachael, and this is Karina.” She motioned toward the shorter girl to her left.

“Nice to meet you guys.” Alice smiled at them cheerily. She was always good with strangers, anyone and everyone.

“Thanks.” I slightly waved at them, wrapping my arm around my waist.

“You two should meet the other girls. Most of them are freshmen like you two are, so you’ll have things in common, I’m sure. We’ll have plenty of events for you girls to join in on. We’ll be giving out schedules soon, but not everything will be on the paper, as we love to do small things together like movies or dinner.”

“Sounds like a lot of fun.” Alice seemed like she was genuinely excited, not that it surprised me at all.

“Alright, we’re off to the next room. See you two later!” Rachael smiled widely before backing out of our room and leaving.

“Mali, I’ve got to go turn the truck in before it gets too late. Wanna come or finish setting the room up?”

“I wanna finish setting the room up if that’s cool with you.” I looked back at my side of the room. I wanted to put the rest of my clothes away.

“No problem.” She left with a smile.

I turned some music on and put on my headphones before getting to work. It didn’t take long for me to finish up, making me regret not going with Alice to take the truck back. Luckily, it didn’t take long for her to show back up. She began putting her own things away while I laying on my new bed for the year.

We both looked over as there was another knock at the door. Alice walked over to open it up, revealing a pretty gothic-looking girl. She was beautiful. Point blank, period. From her dark skin contrasting her light-colored eyes, making me believe she might be wearing contact, as they seemed a bit too bright to be real, to her punk combat boots that I would totally kill for. The most stunning part of her, though, was the purple locs that looked amazing. All in all, she was cute as fuck.

“Hey.” She slightly smiled, looking at Alice, before glancing over at me. “I’m, uh, one of your new roommates.” I sat up in the bed, up off the pillows, and crossed my legs. “My roommate wanted to write a letter to everyone and wanted my help to pass them out.” She handed an envelope to Alice, before walking over and holding one out to me.

“Thanks.” I smiled up at her as I took it, admiring her strong features.

“No problem.” Her smile grew as mine did. “She’ll be around eventually to say hi.” She looked back over at Alice for a moment, before looking back over at me. “What’re you listening to? I’m curious.”

“Badflower.” I shrugged, not expecting her to know them.

“Oh, I love them!” Her eyes lit up. “They’re one of the guys who opened for MCR, right?”

“Right.” I smiled, surprised to find someone else who actually knew them.

“I was just listening to My Chemical Romance back in my dorm.”

I glanced at Alice behind her, who was giving me the thumbs up. I rolled my eyes, causing the girl to look behind her. She looked back at me with a smile. “I’m Chani, by the way. I’m two doors down.” She thumbed in one of the directions.

“Malia. And that’s Alice.” I motioned behind her. “Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too, Malia.” She flashed me a beautiful smile. “I’ve got to get going. To hand out the rest of these, but…I’ll talk to you later.” She paused for a second. “Both of you two, I mean.” Though she corrected herself, her eyes still were stuck on me.

“Bye, Chani.” I smiled back at her, watching as she left the room. Alice closed the door behind her, before looking at me with a large smile.

“Did my little Mali find herself a new friend?”

“I--I hope…” I rubbed my arm nervously, not wanting her to suspect anything.

“Good.” She clasped her hands together excitedly. “I told you it’d be better here.”

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I woke up, yawning and placing my arm over my eyes to keep the sun out. It took me a few moments to realize where I was, before remembering I was in our shared dorm room. I rolled over to my side to see Alice, but she seemed to already be gone. My eyes widened. We had gone to bed at the same time, yet she was nowhere to be seen in our room. I turned to find my phone before checking the time. I must have slept through my alarm!

I threw my sheets aside and jumped out of the bed. Pulling on a pair of pants, I searched for my backpack, eventually finding it. Thankfully Alice and I had gone around with some of the other girls to tour the campus the best we could with our limited time. That, along with my memory of orientation, I at least knew which building I was headed to.

I speed-walked across the campus, too occupied to look around or take in any of the sights of the beautiful campus. Eventually, I arrived at the building, and after asking a few people, I finally found the room I was supposed to be in. I took a deep breath before opening the door, knowing everyone was going to turn to look at me. I wasn’t wrong, as they all did exactly that, turning to stare. Including the professor at the front of the room.

“You’re late.” The professor spoke, causing me to jump and look in his direction.

“I--I’m so sorry.” I squeaked out.

“Take a seat.” He motioned at a seat in the front row. I walked towards it, feeling all the eyes on me as I did. I could feel my cheeks burning up. “Miss…?”

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“Silva.” I set my bag down, slipping into the chair.

“Miss Silva, I’m sorry to make an example of you, but it’s vital for adults like you to learn the importance of being able to keep a schedule.” With that, he turned back to the board and continued the introduction lecture.

Throughout, I could feel eyes on the back of my head, burning into me. I spent the rest of the lecture with a dark blush on my cheeks. Eventually, the class let out. I packed up and got ready to leave but was stopped by the professor by his desk.

“I apologize once again for making a spectacle out of you, Miss Silva.” He walked around from behind his desk and leaned against it next to me.

“It’s--it’s okay.” I shifted my weight onto my other hip.

“You should be more careful on the first day of classes, after all you are an adult now.”

“Yeah.” I looked at him apologetically. “I really am sorry, sir. I must’ve slept through my alarms, or forgot to set them in the first place. Total rookie mistake.”

“Just don’t let it become a habit; I can’t help you if you don’t help yourself.” He smiled at me.

“I won’t.” I nodded with a small smile. “Promise. I should get going. I don’t want to be late for another class.”

“Take care of yourself, Miss Silva.” He tilted his head up slightly.

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“In this class, we will have an introduction to psychology, hence the name.” The female professor Stromwell cracked a smile as she spoke. “This course will assist you with a foundation of basic knowledge in order to pressure further studies in specific areas of psychology. We will be going through introductory topics such as psychological disorders, research methods, behavior, stress and health, and more, including states of consciousness and psychotherapy. Relevant cases and learning activities will be used to help the study become practical and help you better understand yourselves and the world around you.”

I jotted down notes in my notebook as she spoke. Of all my classes, I looked forward to psychology the most. It’s truly what interested me and the main reason I was willing to go to college. I wanted to become a psychologist by the end of my schooling.

The rest of the introductory lecture went by without much struggle and a handful of questions from other students. I had one last class before I could go back to the dorm room. Before I knew it, my least interesting class of statistics was done, and I was on my way through the college grounds back to my dorm room.

“Hey.” I smiled at Alice, who was already there.

“Hey.” She flashed a smile in my direction. She was sitting at her cramped desk and was working on something on her laptop. I followed suit and took my things out, and started on my homework for the day. Mostly online post-board introductions. Alice and I chatted while we worked. It really didn’t feel so different from high school, other than a location change. Alice and I used to head to each other’s houses every day after school and do our homework, or lack thereof, together before hanging out for the rest of the night. We often had sleepovers at each other houses, even during school days. Our parents always joked we were practically sisters.

We worked diligently, well, as close to it as we could be while in each other's vicinity until there was a knock at the door. Alice got up to answer it, revealing Rachael.

“Hey.” She spoke chipperly.

We both responded with a greeting.

“I was wondering if you two want to join us and some of the other girls for dinner.”

“I am getting pretty hungry.” I nodded, looking over at Alice to see if she was on the same page. She nodded, before looking back at Rachael.

“We’re game.”

“Awesome. We’ll meet downstairs in ten.” Alice closed the door behind us, leaving us to clean up our things and get ready.

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“Where’re you guys taking us?” One of the girls at the front of the group chipperly asked.

“Tacos El Metate.” Rachael answered from the front. “Everyone loves tacos, right?”

We walked through the school grounds until we made it to a sidewalk along the street and followed that down to the taco shop. The building was pretty small, so if felt crowded with all of us, as well as the other customers, inside. I ended up at a table with a few girls I didn’t know, but Chani walked over and convinced the girl next to me to switch spots with her.

“You looked pretty sad being alone.” She smiled over at me, her dark painted lips contrasting her white teeth.

“I was fine, but I don’t mind the company.” I shrugged with a small smile.

“I’m a vegetarian. You think they’ve got a taco for me?”

“We can always hope.” I paused for a moment, considering what I was about to say. “Or…if they don’t, you and I could always find someplace else that does.”

“I don’t even need to look at the menu then.” The smile on her face grew. “They definitely don’t have what I’m looking for.”

“You two are ditching us?” One of the girls at the table asked.

“Seems like it.” Chani laughed before standing up and grabbing her studded purse.

Chani and I left the taco shop and started searching for where we were going next. Eventually, she found nearby restaurant that had some vegetarian dishes. Luckily it was just a few doors down and on the other side of the road. After getting settled and ordering our food, we began chatting.

“So, you from around here?” I asked, after handing our menu back to the waiter.

“Yeah. My parents live in Engelwood.”

“I…don’t know where that is.” I admitted. “I’m not from around here. Well, at least this part of the state.”

“Where you from?” She cocked her head to the side.

“Trinidad. It’s far South, nearly New Mexico. It’s a small town, mostly farming and ranching. ‘Least that’s what my folks did.”

“You have some goats and pigs and sheep?”

“And a couple of horses.” I laughed.

“I’d love to see it. I love animals. I have a bunch at home. My little brother’s taking care of them until I move out. Nothing like farm animals though.”

“I have a handful back home too.” I smiled at the thought of my pets I couldn’t bring. Especially the bigger animals.

“You’ll have to show me sometime.”

“I’d like that.” Admittedly, I really would. Having more friends is something I have always wanted. Alice was my best friend, but it always made me sort of jealous when she’d hang out with her other friends, going out of town sometimes, too, while I was left at home.

“You okay, Malia? Your whole face kinda dropped.”

“Just…thinking…” I shook my head.

“About?”

I took a deep breath. “Just thinking about the downsides of living in a small town.”

“Yeah? And what are those?”

“When people don’t like you, there’s not a whole lot you can do.” I watched as the waiter brought our food and drinks out.

“I don’t know why someone wouldn’t like you.” Chani placed her hand on top of mine gently.

“Guess it’s just hard for me to make friends.” I shrugged weakly.

“Well, I’d say you’ve already made a new one at college. And she’s pretty cute.”

I smiled slightly, looking back up at her. “I hope so.”

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“Where’d you run off to?” Alice asked as she brushed her hair, sitting on her bed.

“Chani and I went to find something vegetarian for us.”

“I knew you two goths would become friends.” She smiled triumphantly.

“Yeah, yeah.” I waved her off. “She’s nice, though. I like her.”

“I’m glad for you, Mali. You need some friends.”

“Thanks, Alice.” I rolled my eyes, before moving under the sheets of my own bed. “I’m off to sleep. Turn the light off when you’re done.”

“Sure thing.”

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