Freshman Year: sHE beLIEveD & sHE's brOKen

2: "Forget what hurt you in the past. But never forget what it taught you."

  "Forget what hurt you in the past. But never forget what it taught you."

There I was, at orientation. My group was Po2. It was a strange group, but one with two people that would end up being my friends. The group consisted of maybe ten people. The two guys that ended up being my friends were Joey and Steve. At first I thought they were similar but then noticed the differences. Though they both had blonde hair, Joey was true punk with his Mohawk and clothing, while Steve was more Beatles style in hair and just casual guy in style. Steve wasn’t that much taller than I and Joey was at least a couple inches taller.

            Our group was saying goodbye until tomorrow, which was the last day of orientation. Joey, Steve, and I hung out though. We just walked around the town. The college we were going to was an arts school, and the town pretty much revolved around the college. It was a quaint, small town that was very welcoming. That hospitality feel was there because we were in the south. I love the south. The north is just mean. Everyone in the north is focused on their individual lives and their own problems. In the south people say “hi” to you, or wave, or smile. As I stated before, it’s quite welcoming.

“By the way, I love your batman glasses,” Steve said.

“Thanks, so is he your favorite superhero too?” I asked.

“Yup, by far,” Steve smiled.

“So what do you guys want to do?” Joey asked.

“Not sure,” Steve replied.

“Well, we could regroup later, and go to city market. They play live music on the weekends and that’s always fun, and the galleries are open,” I suggested.

“Good idea, how about we all grab lunch, then part ways until tonight?” Steve asked.

“Sounds good,” Joey replied.

            Walking downtown we found a sandwich shop that really wasn’t a sandwich shop since they made plenty of other foods. We all ordered individually, and sat down. The place was busy since it was about the time for a late lunch, so our food took a while.

“So tell me something about yourselves,” Joey said to pass the time.

“I am a gamer, a musician, and just like having fun,” Steve replied as his name was called, letting him know to get his food.

“I also am a musician, and I’m a photographer, and writer. Just creative in general,” I responded as my name was called and Steve sat back down.

            Grabbing my food, I looked at my plate and reminded myself it was just soup. Sitting back down, Joey’s name was called and he left. I looked at Steve’s plate and couldn’t help but compare it to mine.

“What?” Steve asked.

“Oh no, I’m just a picky eater,” I responded.

“Okay, really? Like how picky?” Steve asked as Joey sat back down.

“A really picky eater, but it’s chill, I am going to eat this…” I trailed off.

Steve and Joey bonded over video games, while I sat back and listened as I ate my soup slowly. Though you may not think it, I am- or was- a quiet person. I entered the conversation whenever I could relate to things, which wasn’t often, but at least I spoke.

See at my high school, I was quiet. Like, I didn’t really talk to many people because I just couldn’t relate to them. All they talked about was designer this, or sports that. Not that I am not into sports, just I wasn’t competitive. I played soccer, but gave it up because our school took all the fun out of playing with its drive to win.

“Vanna?” Steve said, trying to get my attention.

“What? Sorry, I spaced,” I said.

“You done?” Joey asked.

I looked down at my plate to see that the soup was mainly gone, and half of the bread was eaten and replied, “Yup.”

“Okay, cool, so see you guys later tonight then,” Steve said as he got up to put his dish away.

Joey and I followed and nodded. We said our goodbyes, and I walked back to the dorms by myself. I could hear my stomach grumble but ignored it. I had eaten. I shouldn’t have been hungry, so I ignored it.