story#10

College
Pack your things. Bring your favorite everythings. The jeans that make your butt look good from all angles. The jacket that goes with every imaginable outfit you could put together. Your house slippers that through the years have been molded to fit your feet just the right way. The pictures of your best friends, Jessica and Sydney, whom you promised to call daily so that nothing will change between the three of you, not even something like going to college. Leave Mr. Fuzzy at home, you’re too old for stuffed animals. Don’t forget your party dresses, makeup and hair products. They’ll get plenty of use the next four years.
Arrive at school. Unload the minivan that your parents used to drive eight hours to drop you off at school. Carry your things up the stairs and wish that you had chosen a school that actually had elevators. Use your new key to unlock the room that you will be living the next nine months out of. Meet your roommate and her parents. Smile and be polite because first impressions are important. Find out that she has already picked the less squeaky bed and the desk with the working desk light. Move your things anyway there’s nothing you can do about it now. Unpack. Say good bye to your parents. Freedom at last! Meet the rest of the girls on your floor. Most seem nice. Stay up all night talking to your new floor-mates and finally go to sleep at four in the morning.
Wake up and go to your first college classes ever. Walk to class and keep an eye out for college hotties, they’ll be plentiful, after all its college. Get to class. Didn’t see any attractive men, yet but keep looking, you’ll find them soon enough. Talk to a couple classmates, it would suck going through college without friends so make some. Don’t forget to befriend upperclassmen too. If they like you, they’ll invite you to their parties, where there will undoubtedly be cute boys present. Text your roommate so you don’t have to eat lunch by yourself. Try the cafeteria food and force yourself to swallow it. Be sure to try a different dining hall for dinner. Talk to your roommate. Find out that she was also one of the popular girls in her high school. Tell her about your friends and how inseparable the three of you were. Remember to call them later.
Time passes. Get to know your floor-mates better and start hanging out with them more. Join a couple clubs; it’s good to get involved. Look into the Greek life offered. Ask around to see which sororities are the slutty ones and which ones are more dignified and pick one in between to pledge to. Humiliate yourself during the pledging process, that’s what it’s meant to do. Meet new people and party with your new sisters. Start flirting and hooking up with a couple upperclassmen boys, but don’t be too slutty. The school is big, but not that big.
Don’t ignore your mother’s phone calls. She misses you and cares about you a lot. Ask for more money. New clothes and alcohol are expensive, but don’t tell her that. Don’t forget to go to class every now and then. If you feel like you’re not going to make it through the whole lecture, sit in the back of the lecture hall. The professor only sees the first seventy or so faces in front anyway. Try to bribe the TAs so that you won’t have to do the homework, but if that doesn’t work, find someone else to copy off of. Don’t forget to call Jessica and Sydney later, it’s been a while since you’ve talked to them or returned a text message.
Meet a hot guy at a party. He asks for your number, give it to him, but don’t look too pleased about it. Two days later he asks you out on a date; before you know it the two of you are official. He’ll say nice things to you about your hair and your body. You practically move into his apartment. He’ll be the best and only serious boyfriend you’ve ever had. You two will spend almost every waking hour together and have quickies between classes. Don’t forget to still hang out with your sorority sisters; they’re starting to get upset that you’re not spending time with them anymore. Time passes.
Try to talk to your roommate. Things have been bumpy between you two since you and your boyfriend have gotten serious. Offer to lend her one of your green tops so she doesn’t get pinched on Saint Patrick’s Day. Come back to the room later that evening to find it laying in your dresser. Your roommate never does the laundry in the middle of the week. Pick up the shirt, smell it, then toss it in your hamper to wash it later.
Party with your sisters but leave your boyfriend at home this time, it’s time to spend some quality time with your girls. Have fun but miss your boyfriend. Go back to his apartment and try to be intimate with him but tonight he’s not interested. He won’t admit it but you figure out that he’s mad that you went out without him. Go to sleep. Call your mother and ask for more money. Write a note to yourself to call Jess and Syd after class. Go to class.
More time passes, your boyfriend becomes more accepting of your afternoons spent shopping and movie watching with your friends, which is good but he seems to be getting less affectionate. Maybe this is what all couples go through after the honeymoon phase is over. He says he’s going home to Connecticut to celebrate his mom’s birthday with the family and will be gone for a couple days. Feel hurt for a while because he didn’t invite you to meet his family, but understand that there will be time for that later.
Spend more time with your floor-mates who you’ve also neglected. Get in a fight with your roommate because you found out that she had stained one of your favorite shirts when she wore it without asking. Looking through your drawers, you realize that you’re missing more shirts. Get frustrated and leave the room. You need time and space from other people right now. Go to your boyfriend’s apartment and use the spare key he hides in the backyard to let yourself in. To your surprise you see that he left the wrapped present that you helped him pick out for his mother sitting on the table when you walk in. Shaking your head at his forgetfulness you decide that you should give him a call to inform him that he forgot it, in case he doesn’t already know, and to hear his voice again. From your phone, you can hear his ringing on the other end of the line, normal enough. But you also hear his ringtone coming from the bedroom. The phone is silenced and it goes to his voicemail box. Hanging up the phone you walk over and open up his bedroom door. On top of him is some girl, whose face is hidden by her drapery of blonde hair, is rocking and moaning with pleasure. They both look up at you, the intruder. You recognize the girl’s face to be that of his ex-girlfriend of whom he’s shown you pictures. Before anyone has a chance to say anything, you flee the room and the apartment. How could you have been so stupid. It all made sense.
Go to your sorority sisters’ house. Tell them about what happened with your roommate and your boyfr — ex-boyfriend. They tell you they’re going to have a party tonight and that you should go. They’ll let you wear one of their dresses if you’d like. So you go. You drink a lot; to forget and show yourself and everybody else who’s watching you that you can have more fun without him.
Wake up the next morning and feel shitty. You had way too much to drink. Time passes. You really should call Jessica and Sydney, they’re probably starting to get angry with you. Its been two months since the break up and things have gotten better. Your roommate has gotten better about respecting your things and your space and your floor-mates are always there when you need to talk. You start actually doing your homework, no more bribing the TA. A month passes. And without your period. What happened that night? Could you be…no. you’re probably just stressed out with school and friends. You’ll get it next month. But you don’t. Shit. What are you going to do?