Keeping Secrets

We meet again

PEYTON

My mom and I reached the student center without any further incidents. The cold air hissed out of the air conditioning vents as we stepped inside. The unit tried to pump out enough air to cool the room, but because of the number of people walking in and out of the doors, it didn't do much to stifle the heat.

There were large pink signs with arrows posted on the walls, directing the new students where to go. We followed them, and the people in front of us—a tall, thin boy with mousy brown hair and a couple that must've been his parents. My mom exhaled loudly as we turned the corner and found the long line of students waiting to check in.

"Great," she muttered, her irritation growing. "This is going to take forever."

This whole experience was intimidating, and I truly hoped I looked more confident than I felt. The sheer size of the campus was what had excited me in the beginning, when I first applied. The opportunity to be completely anonymous would be a tremendous change from the small town where I'd grown up, where everyone knew who I was.

And I don't mean that people knew me because I was popular, because I definitely wasn't. My best friend Amanda and I played sports and went to school events, but we were never part of the popular crowd or invited to the cool parties. It was just that our town was so small that everyone knew everyone else's business.

In Amanda's case, they knew the second her cousin - Justin - who was in a band had gotten a record deal. That had been the news of the month, hell it was probably news of the century, at our high school and Amanda's moment of fame. Suddenly everyone, including the cool kids, wanted to talk to her, but it faded pretty quickly once they realized that kissing up to her wouldn't get them a meeting with the band members.

The line barely moved forward, but it continued to grow behind us. There were just so many people and I started to wonder if I'd made the right choice. As nice as a fresh, new start would be in theory—away from the small town with the small-time minds and rumor mill—the reality was that the size of the school was huge, and suddenly it felt more than a bit intimidating.

"This is a really big campus," my mom commented, as if she could read my thoughts. "Make sure you get detailed directions to your dorm building. Oh, and to your classes too, honey. You don't want to get lost on the way to class. It's important to be on time."

I rolled my eyes, not that she could see it, since she was behind me. "Yes, Mom."

Part of me couldn't wait until it was time for her to leave. She never realized how loud she was, or how her comments made me feel like a little kid. It was embarrassing. But another part of me worried about being completely on my own. As much of a pain as she could be, she was still my biggest supporter.

Initially, it had been mine and Amanda's plan to be roommates, but her dad lost his job, which changed our plans of going to college together. She had to settle for community college instead. We had both been devastated, and I had considered staying back and doing the community thing for a year, just so we could be together, but my dad had put his foot down.

It wasn't often that he got involved in the actual parenting of me and my brother. He provided for the family while my mom was the one to teach and discipline, but he felt very strongly about college. Especially since this school had made me a good offer based on my high GPA. It wouldn't cost me much more to go here than it would to the community school.

As hard as it had been to leave Amanda back home, I was excited to finally get out from under my parents' watchful eyes. While my dad wasn't very into parenting, he was into the image and the perception of our "perfect" little family. God forbid my brother, or I did anything that could tarnish that illusion. Not that we had, but I was looking forward to being a college student, living in a dorm, and every experience that went along with that without him watching my every move.