State of Grace | ONGOING

Chapter 1

Late August in Oregon was beautiful in the same way that silence was beautiful, both were delicate and fleeting. As I drove down the residential street of my college town, I was reminded of both.

The city was still peaceful. I had to come back early to get practice in before the football season started, so most students weren't back yet, mostly the student athletes and a few eager students hoping to get ahead of the rush. The leaves hadn't started to turn to the rainbow of autumn's colors yet, everything was green and lively and the air was warm as I rolled my windows up just before pulling into the driveway behind Sunny's tan Corolla. I knew autumn was approaching fast, and with it, the promise of rainy days and midterms, but for now I wanted to enjoy the last few weeks of summer. I turned off my car, sitting silently in the driveway for a few moments, enjoying the last embrace of quiet before I went into my house.

I got out of the car, my feet crunching in the grass that hadn't been watered all summer as I walked around to the trunk and hauled my massive suitcase bag full of clothes out of it. I slung my backpack over one shoulder and my gym bag over the other as I staggered up the steps to the front door of my student house–affectionately nicknamed 'The Bouncy House'.

Like usual, I heard my roommates before I saw them. I dropped my gym bag on the floor of the familiar entryway of our house with a resounding thud that shook the bowl of keys on the converted dresser that served as our shoe rack and the graveyard for junk mail, sunglasses and keys. Squeals sounded from the kitchen and I laughed, bracing myself as my four best friends in the world raced around the corner and ran at me.

"Lou!" All four cheered my name as they jokingly jostled to get to hug me first

Simi caught me first, her long, black hair tangled up under my arms as I squeezed her lithe frame. She was on the cheerleading team with me and worked twice as hard as I did at it, which I admired, and usually envied. It was why she was a better cheerleader than I'd ever be. She pulled back, her lovely brown face darker from a summer in the sun. "Thank god you're finally here, Billie was about to call 9-1-1 on you," she said with a grin, glancing at the roommate in question

I laughed and hugged Billie, who only put up a tiny bit of a fight about it. She didn't like physical contact that much, but she'd warmed up to the idea slowly with us, as long as we didn't overdo it. Her brown hair was streaked with flashes of multi-coloured hair-dye and she had new glasses from when I'd last seen her in the Spring. "I was worried, you said you'd be here by noon and it's four now," she defended herself, stepping back and folded her arms over her chest.

"I think that's very sweet," I chuckled and squeezed past the two to pull Anna into a tight squeeze. "Most roommates would hope I'd died so they could get my room," I joked, and Anna giggled in my ear.

"They all know I get your room if you die," Anna said lightly, stepping back and brushing a strand of red hair behind her shoulders, making sure her straight hair wasn't rumpled by our hug. She always looked perfect, her fair, freckled skin glowed and most of us agreed that it was a tragedy that she wasted her beauty by being straight. Her last boyfriend had been a five at best.

"No way, I get it," Sunny objected, and hugged me from behind, picking me up off my feet. She was stronger than she looked, though having about two inches of height on me helped. "Best friend privileges," she cited, and the other three rolled their eyes collectively.

I turned around to look at Sunny, pulling out of her arms, my hands on my hips. "Some best friend you are, I found out you broke up with Brooke by seeing that she'd unfollowed you. A best friend texts," I argued. "Anna gets my room if I die," I added decisively, because I knew that it would piss off my best friend.

And sure enough she launched into a detailed explanation of how she couldn't have possibly texted me because it would have brought down the mood of my trip with Bo. I didn't bother to mention that it wouldn't have brought the mood down, or that I'd texted her the entire trip. And to her credit, she'd texted me the next day, I just liked to tease her about it.