One Try, One Mess Up.

Chapter 1

Chapter 1
Kevea
Ohio
August 2022

"Honey, I don't understand why you can't just leave the bed this way."
Move in day, one of the most exhausting days of your freshman year. Or at least that's what my older sister said. I say it's one of the most
annoying. For the three hours I've been here, my mom has been irking my nerves. The drive up here wasn't so bad. it was actually pleasant, until we got closer to Ohio. That's when mom started asking a lot of questions I didn't know the answers to.
"Mom, I wanna move the bed to the wall, so I have more space in here." Giving her an annoyed look.
"Okay, baby I was just giving my two cents." She said, putting her hands up.
"I know Mom, I've had this vision in my head ever since we came to look at the dorms last summer."
    When visiting schools junior year of high school, Willow State was at the top of my list, mainly because of their pre-med program; then when we decided to tour the school, and I fell in love with the campus. There are so many opportunities this school has to offer, and I'm going to tackle them all.
"Mom, can you grab the bedding stuff from the bin?"
"Sure baby." Finding bedding I liked was the worst. Either everything was gray, pink with little dashes of white, or just plain ugly. But JC Penny did ya girl one. I found a comforter set that was perfect. A dark ocean velvet comforter with dashes of white specs giving it a night sky look alongside with the matching sheet and pillow set. I loved it.
"Have you gotten in contact with your roommate?"
Truthfully, contacting them wasn't on my mind. I was just so obsessed with getting stuff for my dorm, kinda skipped over the whole contact your roommate thing. Hope she's not a roommate horror story.
"No, I haven't. I low-key forgot to contact them." She looked at me.
I shrugged.
A knock on the door stopped me from putting my clothes away.
"Come in." I yelled.
"Are you Kevea Hughes?"
I turned around and saw a girl with nice big eyes and long raven hair that was cut nicely into layers. Her warm ivory skin glowed brightly alongside her perfect straight teeth. This girl is gorgeous.
"Yeah, that's me." I smiled.
"Hi, I'm Irene. I'll be your roommate." Her straight brows slightly raised as she smiled.
"Nice to meet you." I turned towards my mom, who was sitting still, putting my clothes away. "This is my mom."
"Hi, nice to meet you."
"Likewise, baby, are you gonna need help with your stuff?"
"No, I'm okay. My brother should be coming in with some of my things." she smiled warmly.
As if right on cue, a man walked in with two large duffle bags.
"Irene, if you are done with introductions, please go get the rest of the stuff." He said, throwing the stuff down with a deep sigh.
"Ethan, don't be rude." She said, giving him a warning look.
"This is my older brother, Ethan."
I looked towards the tall man with a tiny little stubble. He gave a quick head nod and left.
"Sorry he wasn't raised right." She said playfully.
After putting all my things up, Mom decided it was best for her to leave, or she wasn't gonna be able to say goodbye.
"Alright now, you be safe."
"I will, mom, drive safely." I looked up at her. The blinding sun gave my mom's deep brown skin a fresh glow. Her teary eyes almost made me not want to let her leave.
"I'll be fine, mom, I promise."
When I got back to my dorm, Irene was damn near done setting up her side of the room. Our sides of the room are polar opposites. While my room has a dark oceanic vibe, her room has light Planty. From the falling vines hanging from the wall to the emerald plush comforter. Green is definitely her color.
"Hey, wanna go walk around campus?" Irene said.
"Sure, let me use the bathroom real quick."
When I walked into the bathroom, there was a girl with red passion twists standing by the mirror.
"Oh shit, my bad. I didn't realize anyone was in here."
"You good, I'm Malaysia, your suitemate." She said, looking at me through the mirror.
Malaysia. That's cute.
I scanned her up and down. The 24-inch half up half down, red passion twists complemented her smooth golden brown skin nicely.
"Hey, I'm Kevea." I beamed.
"Girl, your puffs are so cute."
"Thank you so much. I'm glad they turned out well. I was struggling this morning."
It's true. These two puffs were giving me hell. At first, they weren't even, then one had too much hair. It was a mess.
"I feel your pain girl, before I got my twists, I didn't have a clue what to do with my hair."
She pulled up a picture of her fro. It was picked nicely into a circular shape.
"You a good one. I don't have the patience to pick my hair out." I complained. "Where do you get your lashes done?" Her lashes were seriously nice. They fit her angular eye shape well.
"My lash tech back at home did these, but I'm trying to learn how to do them myself." She said determinedly.
"Shit, teach me." We giggled. "My roommate Irene and I are gonna walk around campus. Wanna come?"
"Sure."
Willow State's campus is a nice medium size. Not too big. Not too small. Another reason why I chose this school. I'll be damn if I had to walk across the world just to get another class. I definitely wasn't built for walking long distances. Speaking of walking, I should go out to find the buildings my classes are in before school starts on Monday.
"What are y'all majors? I never got to ask." I said, turning my head towards them.
"I'm in Psychology." Said Irene.
"Business for me."
"Is there a reason why you guys chose those?" I'm always so curious about why people choose certain majors.
"I chose business because, eventually, I wanna own my own business. So I'm using the next four years to determine what kind of business I wanna run, while learning the ins and outs.
She's smart. Instead of just starting out and jumping right into it blind, take some time while also still learning.
"I chose the psychology route simply because I wanna help kids. I wanna be a child clinic psychologist. Irene stated.
"Dang, I see y'all." I was truly lost for words. They both had such good reasons for choosing their majors. While I'm over here still stuck on which route I wanna take.
"How about you Kevea?" I looked at Irene.
"Honestly, I'm looking into the pre-med program. I'm just not too sure what exactly I wanna do with my life.
"No need to rush into a decision now. You have four years ahead of you.
Irene's right. I don't need to rush. I'm still a freshman. Shit classes haven't even started yet and I'm already stressing. A trait I definitely get from my mom.
"Y'all wanna go check out the football field? I heard there was some event going on?" I turned toward Malaysia.
"Sure, Irene, you cool with that?"
"No complaints over here."
Walking to the football field took a lot longer than I thought. 25 minutes longer. Malaysia was right, there was an event going on, it's carnival theme. They have booths throughout the whole football field.
"Let's play free throw." Malaysia grinned.
To say Malaysia was good at this game was an understatement. Sis hasn't missed a shot yet and we've- she's been playing for 30 minutes. Irene walked off a while ago to play another game.
"Malaysia, imma go find another game." All I heard was a high pitch noise. I'm gonna take that as a yes. Looking around these games, I didn't have a clue what any of these games were. I never really been to a carnival before, never had any time. I was always either working or doing something at school. Even during the summer when my town had their annual strawberry festival, I never went. So this is really my first time. I was brought out of my thoughts when I heard someone yelling.
"Ayo girl with puffs, come over here to play." I looked around. There was no other girl with puffs, so it was clear that he was talking to me. Glancing at the event, Skee ball. I've played Skee ball in the arcade before. I was pretty good last time I remember.
"You know how to play?" I looked at the boy. I noticed that all the people behind the counters were wearing football jerseys. The footballers must be running this event. Looking back towards the game, who doesn't know how to play? Even if you didn't, it's self explanatory, throw the ball into the holes and try to score points. Simple.
"So you just grab the b-"
"I know how to play." I interjected.
"Damn my bad. You ain't say nothing, so I assumed you ain't know." He grinned. "If you get 100 points, you get a prize.
My eyes wander to the prizes hanging up. I want the red panda. Its orangey body with black legs is really cute. "How many points for the panda?"
"That's worth 300."
Only 300? This is gonna be a piece of cake.
"I'll play." I'm gonna get that panda.
He handed me three balls. "Only three?" So I only have 3 chances to get 300 points. Maybe this will be a little harder than I thought.
I shook my head.
I got this. You were good at this game when you were younger.
I threw my first ball. 100 points. I got this in the bag.
"What the fuck? this shit rigged." I exclaimed. "There is no way in hell that my last two balls got only 10." This ain't right.
"Kevea, you suck at the game. Accept the facts." I turned around and saw Irene grinning.
Where the hell she been?
"Irene, I'm not accepting that. something about this game is messed up." A deep laugh made its way to my ears.
Looking to my left, the footballer behind the counter is laughing. My eyes narrowed. "What's funny"
He looked down at me. His deep dimples became more prominent the wider he smiled.
I felt the heat rush to my cheeks.
"How could we rig the game? The way you throw determines if you get any points." My lips got tight. "You just suck." He cackled some more.
"I-I wanna see you try. If it's so easy, I wanna see him try.
"What do I get if I win?" I looked at him, his brown eyes had a playful glint in them. There is something about this boy.
"I don't know, a prize? I said pointing to the prizes above. What else is there?
He let out a slight chuckle. "What if I don't want those prizes?"
"Then you don't get one....." I trailed off
"Okay. How about this, if I get 300 points with three balls? I get your number. if I don't get 300, I'll give you the panda for free.
I glanced at Irene. My number? Why does he want my number?
"Why do you want my number?"
"You're cute. So I want your number." He stated.
I shifted on my leg.
No guy has ever been this bold with me. I mean, he's not evening being bold. All he said was that I was cute. A chuckle brought me out of my thoughts.
"In a little sister type of way." He clarified.
I felt the heat creep into my cheeks. Of course he did.
"Whatever." I rolled my eyes. "Just play the game."
He took his position and rolled his first ball. 100 points.
"Easy." He Whispered.
I scoffed.
He threw his second ball, another 100.
"Beginner's luck."
"This isn't my first time." He taunted.
I watched him as the last ball went into the 100 point slot. Ain't no fucking way. I watch him clap his hands, drawing attention towards us.
"Like I said, you suck." He boasted.
"Ugh whatever." I started walking off. Fuck this game. I don't suck. He's just good. Yeah! He's just good. I finalized.
You suck.
"Slow yo roll." I raised my eyebrow.
"You won, congratulations."
"My prize?"
"What about your-" My eyes grew wide. His prize. I thought back to the deal we agreed on.
After giving him my number Irene, and I walked off. Well, Irene walked off. I did some sort of mall walk thing. I don't even know why he wants my number. He said I was cute but in a little sister way, so what possibly could he want with my number?
After Irene and I got corn dogs from the concession stand, we went to find Malaysia. It's been 2 hours since I last saw her.
"There she is." I looked to where Irene pointed. She was talking to a couple of footballers.
"Hey Malaysia, we've been looking for you." I expressed.
"Girl my bad, I low key just left the free throw game, 10 minutes ago.
Hell nah. You're trying to tell me she played that game for two hours straight? Couldn't be me.
"These boys just invited us to a party tomorrow night. Wanna go?"
A party? I have never been to a party. A college party at that. Of course I want to go, but what would I wear? I should worry about that later.
"Sure."
My first college party, I can't wait.