Ring of Love

Welcome Week

Ally's Pov:

I can't recall how long I've been sitting on this god-awful bleacher, listening to the administrators talk about the campus and the goals that we as students should have for the upcoming semester.

I get this is important, but all I can think about is when we will be getting dinner.

Which is an awful way of thinking, by the way, because a lot of this information is useful to an extent...

I should have gotten something to eat at the airport, I guess you can say I was a bit too excited to start decorating my dorm room.

Guilty.

"My butt hurts," Claire whines from beside me, shifting back and forth in her seat while groaning under her breath.

I giggle while finding myself agreeing with her words. My butt is sore. It is a hate crime having us sit out here on a hot summer day on these metal bleachers. I get that there are a lot of students here for freshman orientation, but anywhere, preferably with air conditioning, would have been better.

"How much longer will this take?" I whisper to no one in particular, looking at Claire, Zoe, and Sophia, who shrug their shoulders in response.

Sophia opens up the welcome pamphlet, and the look on her face tells me that it's an answer I won't like, "Another hour."

We all groan as we give our attention back to the speaker.

There were a lot of students here. And by a lot, I mean A LOT of students. If I were to guess I would say there are close to 3,000 students, and this is only the freshman class.

I expected it though because I knew this was a bigger university. The complete opposite of my sister, who has chosen a college with 3,000 student's total. I felt like I may have been in a bit over my head choosing a bigger university so far away from home, but there's no turning back.

That's a lie, my mom told me a thousand times that if I ever wanted to come back home, I always can. But I refuse to be a quitter.

I needed the opportunity to venture out and see the world for myself. No overprotective parents, no sister holding my hand every step of the way, just me. And as much as I hated saying that, it's true. I needed this for myself.

"Does the pamphlet say what the next activity is?" I ask, praying that her answer will be dinner. My stomach is about to start growling any second now, and I would be pretty embarrassed if the people around me were to hear it.

Sophia reads the pamphlet before giving me an answer that I've been looking forward to the least since learning of the welcome activities, "Ice breakers"

You've got to be kidding me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After what felt like hours, we are finally dismissed to the dining hall.

About time.

I can't even put into words how much I dislike ice breaker games. Talking about myself in front of a group of people who couldn't give a crap about what I had to say... no thank you.

It doesn't help that Claire, Zoe, Sophia, and I were all in different groups.

Once the group activities were over, I was so glad to see them again. Even though we just met, meeting them has been the highlight of the day so far.

The rest? bleh.

When we got to the dining hall, we chose a table near the back wall. Not that we were trying to be antisocial to everyone else, but it seems everyone has already found their groups. It's crazy how quickly that works.