Chapter 1
967 Words
Jo
Jo“These are going to be the best years of our life!” Ellie exclaimed as she finished putting the yellow-striped pillows on my new couch. She fluffed the fabric monstrosities she picked out for me and moved the frame on the wall so it was level. Affectionately, she touched the old picture of us. “We’ve come a long way, Jo.”
“I joined her on the other side of the small room that was my new home for the year and smiled. “We have. I love those cute pigtails we had. I remember wanting them because you did your hair always like that.”
Ellie chuckled. “Yeah and I’m wearing the blue shirt I borrowed from you.”
“We were so cute.”
“Hah. We are still cute,” Ellie laughed as she danced away and landed on the too-large-for-the-space couch. “Movies and ice cream?”
“You bet.” I grabbed the tub of cherry ice cream from the small freezer drawer in the fridge and jumped over the arm of the couch and onto the spot next to her. “Ah. Spoons.”
I groaned as I got back up and made my way to the cupboard that had some cutlery in it. Since I was going to be sharing a kitchen with the rest of the people in the dorm, it was good to keep my stuff here so nobody would steal it. The joys of student dormitories and communal living.
I tossed my best friend a spoon and she held it out.
“En garde!”
Amused, I clinked my spoon against hers, pretending they were swords. We sparred for a couple of seconds before I joined her on the couch so we could dig into the ice cream.
With her mouth full, Ellie hummed. “Mmmm, I loooove cherry ice cream. It’s my favourite.”
“I know, why do you think I sacrificed the chicken nuggets for it?”
She took another big bite and giggled gleefully. “You’re the best. I’m totally blogging about this later. And I can’t wait for us to be able to do this every day. We’ll hang out at your place, hang out at mine, eat ice cream and pizza. It’s going to be the best.”
“The best years of our life, right?” I teased, looking at my best friend.
Her brown eyes shimmered with promise and joy. “Exactly. I’m so glad we’re in the same city. You’re going to become a world famous painter, I’m going to become a kickass chef. Life is good.”
I laughed. “I don’t want to become famous but you’re definitely going to be a kickass chef.”
“I can’t wait.” Ellie licked her spoon and nestled herself into the yellow pillows. “Ahh, these are so comfortable.”
I was inclined to agree, it was just a shame they were so ugly. I didn’t really care. Ellie got them for me as a housewarming gift so I was happy to keep them.
She yawned as she reached for the remote and turned the tv on. “What are we watching?”
“Hmm, there’s a new show about pottery. It’s a competition too, I think.”
“Sounds great, love it.”
“Only a couple of episodes though,” I warned her. “I’m really tired and I don’t want to be late for my first day of school tomorrow.”
She agreed but after a long and hard day of moving, we were no match for the comfortable couch and it wasn’t long after the intro rolled in that Ellie and I dozed off, the tub of ice cream melting away on the coffee table.
I awoke entangled with Ellie, half on the couch, half off it. Her head was against my leg, my arm under hers. Light peeked through the blinds and I jolted up. “What time is it!?”
Ellie’s eyes flashed open as she startled awake. “Don’t scare the ducks.”
A laugh escaped me. “Don’t scare the ducks?”
She wiped some dried drool from her chin. “There were ducks in my dream. It was a really weird dream. The ducks were pink and I brought them with me to my home where my mum was making jam. I remember it very vividly, she was putting all the glass containers upside down.”
“That makes no sense, Ellie. Your dreams never make any sense.”
“They do in my head but I don’t think I’m very good at retelling them.”
I snorted. “No, you’re not.”
“I know the ducks were weird but the dream was nice. Why did you wake me?”
“Oh, right. Cause—” I checked my phone for the time and screamed. “Aah, I’m late! I’m going to be late for my first day. Get up, get up, get up.”
Ellie rolled off the couch and almost fell face first on the wooden coffee table. “You can’t be late. What time is it?”
“It’s almost eight. My class starts at eight-thirty.”
“Go on then, get ready. Hurry, hurry.” She pushed me towards the bathroom. “But don’t be too long. I need to pee! And ooh, we should meet up after to celebrate your first day. Yeah?”
“Yeah. We’ll call!” I laughed as I grabbed my toothbrush, relieved that I had a dorm with my own toilet. While I didn’t mind sharing a kitchen, it was good to have my own bathroom.
Toothbrush in hand, I stared at my reflection in the mirror. First day of college. Show time.
- Writer
