"It was freshmen year, and your brother was already on Varsity soccer." Payton was telling me as we walked towards my dorm. "The upperclassmen were mad that he made the team, so they hazed him a lot. One of the things they liked to do was pants him. Literally anywhere they were, if a teammate saw Nate they pulled down his pants. Sabrina had recently introduced Nate and I and we were going on our first date. A few of his teammates saw the same movie as us, and behaved as usual, they pulled down his pants. But then they went to the extreme and actually took off your brother's jeans. He spent the rest of our date in his rainbow polka dot boxers."
I was laughing so hard I was holding my stomach in pain. I unlocked my dorm room and we walked in still laughing loudly. Once we were in the door we froze, staring at the girl already in my room. She was sitting on a bed holding her knees to her chest. She was staring at a picture frame with tears in her eyes. I didn't know what to say, should I ask what's wrong while I'm still a total stranger, or should I just pretend I hadn't noticed, I was tempted to just leave the room.
Peyton, unlike me, was totally calm and cool and collected. "Hi!" she said. "I'm Peyton, and I'm a junior. This is Amy, I think you guys are roommates." The girl looked grateful and smiled shyly at Payton.
"I'm Rory, and... I... um... I... I'm sorry we met like that." said the girl looking down. She then began to ramble as she tried to explain herself. "I didn't mean to be all babyish, I mean we're in high school, and we have all this freedom, it, it's exciting, and I..." She said rambling nervously.
"That's better than the way I met my roommate Sabrina, she was throwing up in our garbage can. And we're best friends and roommates to this day, so you have nothing to worry about." Rory giggled, and I smiled admiringly at Peyton. "Now when you set up your room, there are a few key things you have to do..." Peyton helped us for next hour, as we shuffled, organized, folded, and talked. She left to go hang out with Sabrina and left Rory and I to finish our room. It was awkward at first, but we quickly got used to each other. She was really nice and funny. Once the room was finished, I glanced at the picture frame, and saw a photo of Rory, when she looked about 9, with a man and woman, probably her parents hugging her. She looked so happy in that photo. I wonder if she had that perfect family I'd always dreamed of. The only family I ever had was Nate, and now I have nothing.
YOU ARE READING
Finding Family
Teen FictionWhen you don't have a family, you need to make your own. A group of kids at a boarding school form their own family in order to find happiness, friendship, and love.
