A Petrichoric Romance

Transitions

*AN* The weeknd up above simply because Michael's a HUGE Weeknd fan. Thanks for reading the first chapter of APR! Comment with tips and thoughts below!

It was June 28th, and I was currently tossing and turning in my bed, trying, unsuccessfully, to fall asleep.

I grabbed my phone from underneath my pillow and groaned once I saw what time it was. It was 12:28, and I had a flight to catch at 7! Normally, I wouldn't stress so much over sleep, but I already knew my parents wouldn't want to wake up. Not to mention O'hare airport is about a two hour drive from my house.

I looked around and saw my little brother, Charlie, still perched on the end of my bed, watching cartoons. To make it worse, he was narrating everything that happened on whatever cartoon he was watching. "Charlie stop yelling before I make you lay down," I groaned. Charlie, in fact, did the opposite of being quiet; he decided to go and cannonball on my back.

That was the one downside of Charlie visiting when he did, he had a capacity to be a little too playful. Charlie had just turned 8 a few months ago, so he still had the normal amount of annoying in him that all other children do.

I flipped him off of me and decided to get on snap chat. I looked through my friends and picked out the ones who would likely have the same feelings as I did at the moment. I watched Natalie's story and saw that her and Chelsea were together in some hotel listening to weird music. I couldn't blame them though; we were all squirming in our respective seats, beds, or whatever the hells because we would see one another in at most 24 hours. We would all be returning for our second year in the (MS)^2 program!

Despite having to go to school for 5 weeks in the middle of my summer vacation, I absolutely loved (MS)^2. It was a math and science program for minority students, so you got to further your education while meeting different groups of people from all over the country. In a way, it was like going off to college because you got the chance to live totally on your own, budget your own money, worry about your own studies, and reside in a culturally diverse place.

You attend the program for 3 consecutive summers, and I was about to begin my second summer. I couldn't wait to see all of the friends I had made last summer and meet the incoming first years.

I was especially looking forward to seeing my best friends Elyse, Dakota, Kate, and Jennifer. They had made my first year unforgettable, in both amazing and kinda sad ways. Long story short, I may have fallen for Elyse, but she was dating a third year. And I may have even further fucked up by kissing our best friend, Dakota at the last dance. But that's all in the past, let's not go there!

I turned on pandora and went to The Weeknd's radio station, hoping the music would lull me to sleep. I put my phone under my pillow and laid back down, humming the words of Abel's Outside to myself. Before long, I felt myself drift off to sleep...

Only to wake up a few hours later at 3.

I shook off my sleep and decided to just get up and get ready. I had about two hours to get ready and wake my parents up and get them ready. I love my parents to death, but unless it's an appointment of theirs, they tend to treat it as less important.

I went to my dresser and got a pair of black jogging pants and a black T-shirt. I knew it was summer, but black has been, is, and will always be my color! That and I always wear black clothes for my first day back on campus. I walked to the bathroom and checked my phone; I assumed I had messages from some of my friends in the program because none of us could sleep. I saw that Danielle had texted me about four times, demanding me to wake up.