“No,” he says, fighting a smile.
“Good.” She sits back in her chair and says no more as she looks around the room.
Ryland looks at me for an explanation and I shrug. There is no explaining Elle. That much I know.
Our food arrives, and I have to admit, my B.L.T. looks pretty good.
“So—” I munch on a chip “—where are you guys from?”
“Nebraska,” Elle says, enunciating the end of the word.
“Maine,” Ryland answers. “You?”
“Virginia.”
Ryland smiles. “A lot of us from different states end up here for some reason. Most of my friends are from out of state.”
“It’s a good school,” I reason.
“And most of us want freedom.” Elle raises her glass of water in cheers.
I clink my glass to hers and Ryland does the same. “To a new year,” he says.
“And new friends.”
My alarm goes off and my eyes shoot open.
“Shut it off,” Elle groans, covering her ears. When it continues to trill, she turns over and screams into her pillow.
I fumble for my phone and finally grab it, shutting off the annoying alarm.
My first official day of college—I’m not ready. I’ve never felt more unprepared in my whole life. I know I have everything I need, but mentally, I’m just not ready.
I get out of bed and gather up my things for the shower. I purposely set my alarm for five in the morning so I could have the bathroom to myself. I didn’t want to deal with the chaos of everyone getting ready at the same time and the overabundance of first day nerves.
Like I predicted, the bathroom is empty. I pad in my shower shoes across the room and get into the shower at the very end.
I don’t know why I’m so nervous. It’s not like I’m about to get up in front of a stadium full of people and sing.
I shower quickly, too hyped up to enjoy it, and shut the water off. I wrap the towel around my body and go to the sink and brush my teeth. I gather up my stuff in my arms and leave, heading back to my room. I can hear other girls on our floor moving around now, and I thank my forethought that I decided to get up early.
The door clicks shut behind me, and Elle groans.
“You better go grab a shower,” I tell her.
“No.”
“It’s going to get too busy in there soon,” I warn her.
“Ugh.” She presses her face into the pillow.
I lift my foot and kick her bed. “Come on. You’ll thank me later. We’ll go get breakfast when you get back.”
She reluctantly pushes her body up and grumbles the whole time she grabs her things and leaves the room.
Once she’s gone, I dress in a pair of ripped skinny jeans, a loose, off-the-shoulder, gray sweater, and choose a pair of nude-colored pumps. I slip my large gold watch onto my wrist. It was a graduation gift from my parents and they engraved it on the back.
I lean over my dresser to see into the mirror above it so I can put on my makeup. I apply a gray smoky eye look and put a nude color on my lips.