First

Two

Mamma wakes me up saying, "Honey, we reached. Wake up."

I get up from my sleeping position and see Ethan using his phone, smiling and typing which arouses my curiosity so I look over, he doesn't stop me. 

I am surprised though. 

My suspicions were correct. He was chatting with that Evelyn girl since god knows when so I give him a teasing smile and he hits me on my elbow. Hard.

"Ouch, That hurt!" I snap.

"I don't care." He snaps back.

"Please don't start right now. We reached your hostel, Summer. You both get ready to go inside."Mamma says.

I look up with my left hand still on my right elbow where that trash-face hit me and I see a building with three storeys — the building was built in the way how typical hostels are built; the exterior is coloured white completely with a gigantic entrance door in the middle which hung a big 'WELCOME' banner above it. 

Walking inside the building, I notice that the interior looks much better than the exterior; the interior has a much classier look than the exterior with paintings and pictures almost everywhere and a sofa set with a big T.V on the left side. I don't think so anyone watches the T.V often as everyone has their phones 24/7 with them. The staircase to upstairs is in the opposite direction to us, on the left side. 

We were all busy examining the place when we hear a husky voice from the right side.

" Uh-Excuse me? May I help you?"

 When we turn towards the direction of the voice, I see a woman in her late fifties, sitting on a chair with a desk and some paperwork on the table clipped to a clipboard and a pen on her hand. She has a short wavy ombre style black hair and wore a lot of makeup. 

We go over to her desk which is on the right side from the entrance door and a little far from the main entrance which is probably the reason we didn't notice her when we arrived.

"Hello, Sir and Ma'am. I'm Victoria Johnson and I am the caretaker of the hostel. How can I help you?" The woman says.

"Hi. We are the Hayes family. We are here for our daughter, Summer Avery Hayes." Dad says.

"Okay. Let me see. Please wait for a while." She answers.

After a minute, "Yes, She is in Room – 5 and she is sharing her room with another girl, Yvonne Roberts and she will be arriving soon. She is a freshman, right?"

"Yes," Mom says.

"Okay. The staircase is on the other side from here and her room is the fifth one from the right. Have a good day, Mr and Mrs Hayes." Victoria says, smiling warmly.

"Thank you. You too" Dad says, smiling back.

We move to the other side where the stairs are and move to my room; when we reach the fifth room on the right, the template on the door says 'R- 5'. Entering the room, I'm amazed and impressed. It turns out to be a lot better than I expected it to be. 

The room gives me cabin vibes because it looks just like a cabin bedroom. The floor is covered with wooden tiles and so does the walls. There is a wooden bunk bed at the left corner of the room and a door just beside it which turns out to be the bathroom. Then, there are two wooden study desks with a small lamp on each and there is a small-but-enough-for-two attached closet on the right wall. 

One of the study desks is placed beside the entrance door on the left while the other desk is placed beside the entrance on the right. Then, there is a big wooden cabinet with four drawers and a small sofa with a table beside the cabinet. There is also a small bedside table. In short, the room is bigger than I imagined.

"Do you like it, honey?" Mamma asks.

"Yeah, I think it's perfect," I answer smiling.

"I am glad you liked it," Dad says.

"Yeah alright, she liked the room and everything else, I am happy for her and good for her, but I am getting bored, Dad, can we please go take a walk to so that I can breathe in the fresh air?" Ethan says which make me roll my eyes.

"Well, I am surprised. Whenever we go somewhere new, all you do is check girls out if there is any, you didn't do that today. If it's about Chloe then I never knew you were serious with her." Mamma says teasingly.

Ethan rolls his eyes at Mamma's statement.

"Mamma, Ethan is serious about a girl but it's not Psycho Chloe. Please, I felt elated after hearing that Ethan and she broke up." I say to Mamma to irritate him.

"Seriously Summer, you had spill the beans right now, right here?!" He says, irritated and turning to mom, he continues,"Mamma, I will tell you about her. But later, after we reach home." 

"You better."

"Me too, "Dad says from the chair he was sitting since the last five minutes and suddenly joining the conversation since it got 'interesting'. 

"Geez okay, Dad. I will tell you guys.”

"But now, let's move to the Dean's office," Mamma says, typing something on her phone.

"Why?" I ask.

"We have to go there to confirm your majors," Mamma says.

"Oh. Then should I just keep my bags here?"

"Yeah okay, unpack after we leave," She says.

Then, Ethan whispers, "Thank God!" but like enough for me to hear and I roll my eyes again. He is very impatient.

We come downstairs and we ask Mrs Johnson for the Dean's office and she instructs us that it is in the main building behind my hostel which is a two minutes walk from here. We thank her and start moving to the main building. 

Ethan wanted to take the car but Dad wanted to walk and so did Mamma so we decided to walk instead and we reach the main building exactly after two minutes. Yes, I was timing it. 

The building is huge and massive, just like I saw it on the website. I applied for this college in the first place because I love ancient architecture and this college was built in something 1600s so this was what I was looking for. Old and classic and everything I ever wanted in my dream college. They also offered all the courses that I wanted to major in. In short, this college was perfect. Thankfully, I was accepted and here I am, standing in front of my dream college.

We go inside the building and ask a worker who was cleaning some furniture nearby for the Dean's office. He instructed us to go upstairs on the first floor and take left and the first office is his. Thanking him, we move for the Dean's office. 

Once we reach the first floor, it was easy to make out which office was the Dean's because of the template on the door in which 'THE DEAN' was written. Mamma knocks and the next moment, we hear a voice saying, "Come in." 

We enter the room and immediately I see an old man, in his late fifties if I am not wrong. He has dark brown hair which is neatly combed, a tan complexion with smooth features. He has spectacles on and greets us warmly when we enter.

"Mr Richard Hayes and Mrs Rachel Flores Hayes, Welcome to 'DALEWOOD COLLEGE'. It is a pleasure meeting you and we are honoured to have your daughter here." The Dean says warmly and continuing, "I am Darren Johnson. As you know already, I am the Dean of this college."

"It's a pleasure meeting you too, Mr Johnson," Dad says and shake hands with the Dean.

"This is my son, Ethan Hayes and as you know already, she is Summer," Dad says.

We smile at him and he smiles back.

"So, we have to confirm her majors to give her the time table for her classes. Tomorrow will be a day off for unpacking. Every freshman will get their time table tomorrow. She is in her first year, right?"

"Yes," Mamma says.

"Okay, she is majoring in three subjects: Psychology, Journalism and History and she is taking one extra subject. Which is?" The Dean says while reading something from his laptop.

"Drama," I say quickly.

"You have quite an interesting combination." He says, his eyes still on the laptop.

I smile but obviously, he didn't see because his eyes are on the laptop so I say thank you instead.

"All done. Thank you, Mr and Mrs Hayes, it was nice meeting you. Everything is set and Miss Summer Hayes, welcome to DALEWOOD COLLEGE. I have to admit, you have a nice CV. Impressive."

"Thank you, Sir," I say.

"It was nice to meet you too, Sir," Dad says and smiles.

He smiles back.

"Hope to meet you again soon, Mr and Mrs Hayes. Have a safe road trip back home."

"You too Mr Johnson and thank you," Dad says and we get up to move back.

We come out of the Dean's office and head back to my hostel. Once we reach my hostel, we realize it's already going to be four so they decide to head back home. North Carolina is two hours away and they wanted to reach home at least by six. We already had our lunch on the way. Dad took the shortcut to reach here so we saved thirty minutes and reached here by twelve-thirty. 

Before leaving, they all hug me.

"Honey, please take care okay? You are going to be away from us for the first time. Be careful of what you do and your actions. Whenever you need anything, call us anytime. We will come. Don't do anything that you will regret. Be careful and stay safe. I love you." Mamma says.

I nod before saying, "I love you too." and she hugs me tightly. 

I can feel that she doesn't want to let go. 

But she has to. 

She pulls away and smiles at me and I smile back. Then, Dad comes up and tells me, "What did I tell you this morning?"

"That I have got this and I will be just fine," I say.

"That's right. Always remember that you are stronger than you think you are. Take care and be careful of your actions. I love you, honey. We will miss you a lot."

Dad is that kind of person who doesn't show his feelings and emotions very easily to people. He is secretive about his feelings and emotions. He rarely lets people in but whoever he lets in, they are one of the luckiest because they get to see the real him. My mom was one of the first people he let in. She was the one who encouraged him to follow his dreams and be who he wants to be. I have never seen him cry and he still hides his feelings a lot. But today, his face betrayed how he was feeling. I wasn't going to be there with them for the first time and that affected him. His face makes me want to cry.

"I love you too," I say. I can hear my own voice breaking but I try my best to cover it up.

Ethan comes up after dad steps back and says, "Take care Summer and stay safe. Don't focus too much on boys and study." I hit him on his shoulder for saying that and we both laugh.

"And don't worry about Evelyn. You will be the first person to know if anything happens. I promise. I never told you this because it's a really sentimental and cheesy line but I hope you know that I love you, always. I will miss you a lot. Remember, I got your back, always."

I knew I was right and today, I am proved right. 

I smile and hug him before saying, "I love you too and I will miss you. I got your back too and you know it."

We pull away from the hug and they all move to the car to leave but before they do, I run up to them and hug them all together. We stay like that for a while and after we pull away, they get into the car. After Dad started to drive away, Ethan looks out of the window and shouts, "Bye Summer, we will miss you a lot. Dad and Mamma said too." I laugh at his small but sweet gesture before shouting "I will miss you guys too" back. 

Once they were out of sight, I turn back to go inside my hostel when I notice the sky. The sun was setting so the sky looked very pleasant. The orange-yellow mixture sky seemed to be smiling at me and I smiled back and I remember dad's saying when I was little 'Try seeing the happenings in your surroundings as an indication for something when you are in a situation. The situation might be a bad one or a good one. You might think I am being paranoid or spiritual or whatever...I don't know. But I simply just believe that nature wants to help us in many situations only if we pay attention to them and observe them.'

The sky just smiled at me and I take it as a good indication that I've got this and I'll be just fine.

 I walk back to the hostel and go to my room when I see a girl sitting on the sofa checking out the room. She has a rebellious look with small tattoos on her neck and legs with many piercings on her ears. She is attractive and her hair is fully dyed pink and purple and her makeup is less but intense. She wore a tight black full sleeve with a v – neck which is cut till her chest, showing her cleavage and a tide skirt with a small slit on its right and she paired the outfit with black boots that reach till her thigh. The skirt and the full sleeve she is wearing hugged her curvy body so perfectly. 

She smiles at me when I enter the room and I smile back.

"You must be Summer Hayes, my roommate. Hi, I'm Yvonne Roberts and I'm in my first year, for the second time." She says.

I gave her a confused look but she doesn't seem to notice.

The girl who is now revealed as the 'Yvonne' stands up from the sofa and start checking my outfit out. I was wearing a high waited jeans and an oversized light brown sweatshirt tucked inside my jeans with black ankle boots.

"You are really reserved. Aren't you?" She says

"I mean when it comes to clothes."

I nod and say, "Yeah, you can say that."

She smiles warmly at me and says, "I like you already. Girls here are all bitches and slutty, excluding me."

"Can I ask you something?" I ask.

"Of course sweetheart"

"Why are you in your first year again?"

"Oh...that. Actually, I f****d up last year so I didn't get a good result so I convinced my parents to let me repeat the year."

"Oh," I say

I didn't have anything else to say.

"Your parents went already?" she asks.

"Yeah, actually I'm from North Carolina and it is two hours away and they wanted to reach home fast so they left just around ten minutes back."

She gives me an 'oh' look.

"Where are you from?"

"I'm from here. My home is just thirty minutes away from here. My stepmother came to drop me with my elder brother. They went like twenty minutes back."

"Don't get any ideas because I have a stepmother. She isn't bad. To be honest, she treats me and my brother pretty well." She says in a defensive tone.

She sits down again on the sofa and signals me to sit next to her. I obey and we sit there for a while, talking. I asked her about her father and she told me that he is barely around because of his business so it's just her stepmother, her brother and her. I also got to know that her mom came out of the closet a few years back and filed for divorce to her father and ran away with her girlfriend. I also told her stuff about myself and we had a pretty good time.

"Do you wanna go take a walk or something? It's pretty noisy here and I can show you around too."

I nod and we go for the walk c*m tour. People say if you make a friend on your first day of school or college, you can consider yourself lucky. I guess I am one of those lucky people now because Yvonne looks like an amazing person. Sure she has a scary face and I thought we won't get along that well but I was just so wrong. I know I just met her but her aura seems so friendly and kind. I don't think so I'll regret saying this but she is one of the sweetest and friendliest people I've ever met. Guess you shouldn't judge so fast because the worst can turn out to be one of the best and the best can turn out to be one of the worst.