"I love you, mama," I sniffle, quickly wiping away the fallen tears before tightly hugging her while we stand just outside my dorm room at my new high school. "I am gonna miss you."
"Awe, Brae, I love you, too," she sniffles, holding me tightly against her thin body. "I am gonna miss you, too, baby boy, but you will be home for summer break before you realize. Be good, and study hard."
Inhaling deeply her soft perfume scent of lilacs and lavender, I pull away, giving her a weak smile before bending down to grab my three duffel bags that contain my belongings. Opening the door of my shared room as she turns to walk the short distance to the door that leads her to the parking lot, and her beat up, red 2002 Ford Focus.
When she exits the dorm building, I step into my home for the next nine months with fear coursing through my body. Scanning the main area, it is a large living area with a large, gray colored, four person couch, a seventy-two inch flat screen television that is mounted on the wall across from the kitchen. There are two closed doors that I assume are the bedrooms. My roommate is either out doing something, or he has not moved in yet.
Walking to the first closed door, I turn the nob, opening the tan colored door to find an undercoated bedroom with a single, unmade twin bed. I step inside, leaving the door open, and leave my bags on the floor just inside the door. I let out the breath that I did not realize I had been holding.
"Hello?" a deep baritone voice calls from just inside the main door.
Thickly swallowing around my nerves that are settling in the pit of my belly, and closing my throat. Walking to the threshold of the bedroom door, nervously looking at a 6'1", muscular male with messy dark brown, curly hair, and I think he has hazel eyes, but from this distance, I cannot be sure. He is beautifully handsome, and is giving me a strange expression until something registers in his mind.
"Oh, you must be my new roommate! Nice to meet you! My name is Xavier Santiago, and you must be Braelin Grayson, right?" he asks with slightly wide eyes, and a big goofy grin.
Nervously nodding as I softly stutter; "Y-yes, I am B-braelin G-grayson. N-nice to m-meet y-you, t-too."
Dropping my eyes to the floor in front of my feet as I shift my weight between my feet, but snap my gaze up when I hear laughter from Xavier. My whole body burns at his laughter, and I feel my heart drop into my ass along with tears filling my blue eyes.
"I-I am g-gonna u-unpack n-now," I mumble, not wanting to cry in front of my new roommate because he is laughing at my stutter and nervousness.
Quickly backing into the room, I shut the door, leaning my forehead against the door as a few tears leak from my eyes, and letting out a soft sniffle. This is gonna be a long school year because now I feel like I need to avoid my roommate as much as possible. Backing away from the door, I start unpacking my bags, placing the clothes into the built in dresser that is located into the wall opposite the door, make the bed with the baby blue colored sheets I brought from home, and place my personal hygiene items on the desk that is located facing the short wall opposite the bed.
When I finish, I stand with my left ear pressed against the door, trying to hear if Xavier is in the main area of the dorm room. When I do not hear anything from the area, I quietly open the door, stepping out toward the front door to wander the school building that is located next door to find my classes before these start in three days.
"Hey Braelin, where are you going?" Xavier asks as I touch the doorknob, causing me to jump from fright.
"U-um, I-I am g-going to f-find my cl-classes," I mumble, not turning around to face him.
"Oh, I did not realize you are a new student," he says, his voice sounding surprised. "Would you like me to show you around?"
"U-um, t-thanks, but t-that is o-okay, y-you do not h-have to," I mumble, wanting nothing more than to leave, and be alone.
"Did I upset you earlier?" he gently asks, and he is now standing about two feet behind me, and now I am wondering if he is a freaking Ninja. "I apologize if I did because I did not mean, too."
"It-it is f-fine," I murmur, peeking at him over my right shoulder through my thick eyelashes. "I-I am o-overly s-sensitive."
"Come on, let's find your classes, and then we can meet my best friends at the cafe for dinner, okay?" he kindly offers with a large, goofy grin.
Silently nodding, I open the door, walking out ahead of Xavier, and wait for him in the hallway.
"Follow me," he grins, and leads me down the hall, and out of the dorm building, and head toward the campus building. "How old are you? I am seventeen."
"I-I am six-sixteen," I answer quietly, glancing at him from the corner of my eye. "I-I am in t-the el-eleventh g-grade."
"That is cool, and I am in the twelfth grade," he returns, opening the door of the main building, gesturing for me to enter ahead of him, and I give him a thankful smile. "Start school at a young age, or did you skip a grade?"
"I, uh, sk-skipped e-eighth g-grade," I admit bashfully with pink cheeks while keeping my eyes on the carpeted hallway ahead of us.
"Can I see your class schedule?" he asks, and I think he noticed my blush, so he changed the topic slightly.
Taking the folded paper from my back, left pocket of my faded jeans, and silently hand this to him to read for himself. He stops walking, so do I several feet from him while he reads over the schedule.
"Okay, all of your classes are on the second floor except for your art class which is on the main floor," he says, walking up to me, and handing me the paper. "Let's go."
Thirty minutes later, we are heading to the cafe on campus to meet his friends, and I am starting to freak out over this. His friends are named Logan and Shay, and he has said both are seventeen, too.
"Are y-you s-sure y-your f-friends will be o-okay with me j-joining all of y-you for d-dinner?" I tentatively ask, chewing on my left thumb nail.
"Stop chewing on your thumbnail, and yes, they will not mind, I promise," Xavier explains again for probably the fourth time. "Shay and Logan love meeting new people, and are very chill people."
"Okay," I whisper, chewing on my bottom lip now, and a minute later, the cafe comes into view, where there are at least ten other people inside that I can see through the glass windowed walls.
Xavier leads me over to two guys that are sitting at a round table by themselves, and before we sit with them, Xavier introduces us to each other; "Guys, this is my new roommate, Braelin Grayson. Braelin, these guys are my long time best friends, Shay Paxton and Logan Noble."
Tentatively, I sit on a hard plastic, blue colored chair without armrests. I leave an empty seat in between Logan and myself.
"Hello, I can go sit somewhere else if I am intruding?" I whisper, feeling oddly comfortable with the other two men, and hope they do not agree to my suggestion, but I will understand if they do.
All three of them frown at me with Logan saying; "Nope. We would love for you to stay with us. We were just about to get some food, do you want to join us?"
"Um, no, that is okay. I ate lunch already, so I am good until tomorrow afternoon," I bashfully answer, hating that I do not have the money to eat more than once a day.
They frown at me, and Shay says; "We do not have to pay for meals, the food is included in the tuition."
Now it is my turn to frown as I timidly ask; "Even for scholarship students?"
