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Chapter 12: The Trip

Once I got to school, I realized how different things would be for the next year. Charli and I would share an apartment on campus with two other girls that we knew. The apartment had fewer rules than the other dorms we had stayed in and since juniors and seniors were the only ones that lived in the hole that the apartments were in, the community was closer. Everyone knew each other and everyone was friends. My friend, Kara, was one of our RAs and I knew with her as an RA, I would be able to get away with almost anything. Avery and Ryan were also RAs. It was a perfect setup to allow me to be as wild as I wanted with little or no repercussions. The only thing that stopped me from keeping wine or beer in our fridge was the weekly room checks by other RAs and the disapproval of Charli.

I hadn't told Charli about the Addisen or the fact that Greyson and Jordan were using drugs and were as wild as they were. She wasn't opposed to a glass of wine every now and then, but I knew she would be upset with me if she knew anything more than my occasional drink. Charli and I were best friends and we had kept up with each other over the summer. She had spent her time at home just as I had expected. She tanned, read, watched a few movies, researched events in history that piqued her interest and had went on a vacation with her family. I had told her that I spent most of my summer swimming at lakes, and camping in the front yard. I told her about Jordan and Katherine. I told her about Greyson and how I thought I might have started to like him.

"I'm not shocked. At any of that, actually," she laughed when I spilled my guts to her.

"Charli, I hope this year is gonna be different. I wanna have fun. Like, go out and explore and have fun," I said to her as we rearranged our room to fit all of our stuff.

"Same," she said back.

"No, I'm serious. All we've ever done was sit around and watch movies and go to Taco Bell at midnight," I laughed, but she looked hurt. "Don't get me wrong," I explained, "I love doing all of that, but I think since this is our last year here, we need to do more."

Just as we were getting the living room set up how we wanted, there was a knock at the door.

"I'll get it!" I said, dodging the boxes that lined the hallway.

"INDIE!" I heard as I opened the door. "AVERY! RYAN!" I flung my arm around the both of them.

"Uhh, are you okay?" Avery laughed.

"Yeah... you're being nice to us," Ryan poked at me.

I laughed, "I'm just happy to see you guys. Come in!"

The boys came inside and immediately began laughing at our furniture choices. Instead of buying furniture, we had brought an old couch and love seat set that Charli had in a storage unit back home. They were dark blue velvet with big ugly flowers all over them.

"Hey! Don't you laugh at my couches," Charli laughed as she pushed an end table into place.

"They're just so ugly!" Avery called after her, laughing.

"They have character! You're gonna hurt our couch's feelings," I hit him on the arm.

Avery and Ryan helped us move some of our larger furniture around and then the four of us walked out to the parking lot. There were two rows of apartments that faced each other. One side was the boys' apartments and the other side was for girls. There was another short row further off for married couples. Most of our friends and their friends were already out in the parking lot between the apartments. The four of us stayed out there throwing a ball and catching up with friends until a little after eleven. I had spent my summer staying up all night, but at school I liked to go to bed before midnight. My friends at Wagner were fun, but there was no way they could measure up to my friends at home.