A Guide to Love (ONC 2023)

Chapter 2

Mila stretched a little, the 4-hour plane ride from Georgia to California taking its toll on her. Grabbing her carry-on, she made her way to baggage claim, where her other suitcase was waiting. The rest of her stuff would be shipped here.

Finding the baggage claim proved to be harder than she thought.

First, she managed to make it to the exit without seeing the baggage claim, then she went back, and managed to start on the opposite side of where she started. No sign of baggage claim still.

Trying to remember what was in the other suitcase, she remembered that she had linen sheets and crap in there, for the first few days when her luggage hadn't arrived yet.

"Uhm, excuse me? I-"

The person turned around, showing a boy, wearing a UCLA sweatshirt. "Yes?"

Mila tilted her head a little. "Not trying to get off topic but...do you go to UCLA? Because I'm pretty sure that's all the way across the state."

He shrugged sheepishly. "Nope! I'm actually from Germany, and didn't know what I was thinking or doing. I'm actually going to Stanford."

"Me too! But...I can't find the baggage claim."

"That's what I've been looking for too. I was going to ask you when you came up, but...I guess that didn't work out. I'm Julius."

Mila smiled. "My name's Mila. Uh, I'm from Georgia."

Julius smiled, his dark-blonde hair shining under the sunlight. "So...maybe you should ask her instead." He pointed towards the girl standing behind the counter, and Mila laughed.

"That should've been my first choice, eh?"

If I could go back I would still ask you.

*_*_*_*_*_*_*

Scarletta didn't know what to think. Stanford was big, yes, but the dorms. Three girls in one dorm, and the other two hadn't even arrived yet. Guess she could pick bunks first.

Picking a photo up of her best friend and her, she smiled, placing it down next to a photo of her mom, dad, and her. Scarletta's smile faltered, when a knock sounded at the door.

Navigating between the boxes she had brought, she opened the door, and was startled to see a girl with black and white hair standing at the door. "Uhm, is this 380A? I..."

"This is 380B, 380A is over there." Scarletta pointed towards the room next door, a little bit annoyed. Read the plaque you idiot.

"Thanks. My name's Celia by the way," Celia stated, shifting her bag to the other arm.

"Scarletta." she didn't know what else to say, and it seemed as if Celia didn't either, as she walked off. Scarletta closed the door and got back to unpacking.

She wondered if the girl next door was a newcomer-she had never seen her before. And plus, the accent that she had made it clear that English wasn't her first language.

Another knock sounded, and Scarletta opened the door again. This time, it was a fiery red-head, sunglasses perched atop her head and clutching a suitcase. Peering over her shoulder, she saw a blonde-haired boy dragging the other one, and she pointed at him.

"That your boyfriend?"

The girl blinked. "Oh no. My name's Mila, and I guess I'm your roommate."

She blinked at the sudden change in topic. "My name's Scarletta."

*_*_*_*_*_*

Kathleen realized that she shouldn't have packed so much. Or rather, she should've stopped Auntie from packing all of those black sesame, goji berries, and dates. Hauling them around was turning out to be a pain.

Auntie, with the amount of stuff you packed, not even that much would be able to save me.

Suddenly, a figure passed her, knocking her suitcase into a spiral. Indignantly, she marched up, pushed the figure a little, and put her hands on her hips. "Who do you think you are? That suitcase-"

The person flashed a look at her, and she recognized her childhood friend. "Aspen? That suitcase was-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know Kathleen. That suitcase holds everything Auntie got me, and if anything happens to it she'll kill me and I'll kill you."

Rolling her eyes, Kathleen punched him. "Then you have to get it back for me so I can go get settled in my dorm."

"That's not fair! You spill my coffee and just say 'sucks to be you'!"

"Fine. And to be fair, I didn't spill your coffee, you saw a pigeon and freaked out. We were in New York, how did you get scared by pigeons?"

He scoffed a little. "Puh-lease. I was there to look at designer brands, not birds."

"Aspen..."

"Fine. I was actually there cuz a girl I liked was there but then...she told me she was visiting her crush so I ended up with you looking at designer brands that you like."

Glaring at him, she retrieved her suitcase and continued on her way.