Finding Serena

The Time Has Come

  I hear Derek honk the horn of his car outside. I grab four of my bags and my brother grabs the other six. My mom takes my cork board. We put them in the trunk of Derek's car. I hug my mother as she cries.
"Have fun in college, baby."
"Thanks, mom. I'll be back for Christmas. Promise."
"Thanksgiving?"
"Probably."
"Bye baby!"
I hug Nick and get in the car. We drive.
"Hi, Serena."
"Hi."
"What's wrong?"
"Leaving hurts."
"Yeah. That's how I felt last year. You'll get over it though. With classes and parties."
"Yeah. I guess so. I forget about everything when I'm with you."
"Me too, I feel that way about you."
I blush.
We drive for another hour until we get to Harvard.
"We're here!"
"This is it! Oh my gosh, Derek, it's beautiful!"
"Yeah. It is. My stuff's already in my room so I can help you with your stuff."
"K. Thanks."
We go and find out what room I'm in and which building. We pull up in front of my building and unload my stuff, and bring it up to the third floor.
"Serena, what do you have in here? Rocks?"
I open my door to find a girl laying on one of the beds. She stands up and walks over.
"Hi! I'm Maybelle. Nice to meet y'all!"
She shakes both me and Derek's hands.
"I'm Serena and this is my boyfriend, Derek. Nice to meet you too."
Derek puts my stuff on my bed. He kisses me and leaves.
Maybelle looks at me.
"You're boyfriend goes to the same college as you?"
"Yeah."
"Wow. How long have you known each other?"
"Eighteen years."
"You are a freshman, right?"
"Right."
"You're nineteen or eighteen?"
"Nineteen."
"Cool. So, you from around here?"
"Yeah, I live about an hour away."
"That's cool. I'm from Texas. You could probably tell 'cause of the accent."
"I guess."
"Are you going to rush a sorority"
"Probably. You?"
"Yeah! Sororities don't have houses though."
"I know. I'm thinking Delta Gamma. My boyfriend is in Delta Upsilon, so I'm guessing they're connected."
"Probably, that's the one I want to get into."
"Wow."
"What?"
"I thought the first day of college would be a lot more, exciting, not that what we're doing isn't exciting but..."
"If you want to go with your boyfriend, go right ahead. Don't let me keep ya."
"Okay. Bye Maybelle!"
"Bye!"
I walk down the hall and out the door. I have my phone in my back pocket. I walk down the brick pathway. I have on shorts and a shirt that has a strap at either shoulder, and farther down on the arm. It's pink and white striped. I wear pink converse.
  I look down at my phone to see a text from April.
How's college??
I start to type my response when I trip and fall, into the arms of a handsome man. He steadies me.
"You okay?"
"Yeah, thank you."
"No problem, here, come sit down."
He leads me to a bench in a small park with a fountain. He sits down next to me.
"Thanks. What's your name?"
"My name's Clark, Clark Hathaway."
"Oh. I'm Serena Porter."
"That's a gorgeous name."
"You think so?"
"Yeah. But, you have to have a gorgeous name when you have a gorgeous lady."
I blush.
"Thanks. How old are you, Clark?"
"Twenty, I'm a sophomore. You?"
"Nineteen. Freshman. What are you studying to be?"
"A pediatrician. You?"
"A special education teacher."
"That's cool."
"What's your phone number, Clark?"
He puts his number into my phone and I put mine into his.
"I'll see you around, Clark." I say as I stand up, but he grabs my arm.
"Wait, where are you going?"
"To my friend's room. It's in the boys' dorm. Will you help me find it?"
"Sure." He says as he looks at the small paper in my hands that I hold up, getting rather close to me.
"Oh, that's this way follow me."
We start walking and talking as we go to Derek's dorm.
"So, by friend, do you mean boyfriend?"
"Yeah, his name's Derek. We've known each other since I was one and he was two."
"Cool."
"I guess. You seeing anyone?"
"No. What do you mean by 'I guess'?" He put air quotes around "I guess."
"Well, I just, it's just that...well..."
"You can tell me."
"Well, I just feel like I don't get to do anything because I've always been with him. I just, need a break. I tried taking a break with him but felt guilty after and told him the break was off."
I start playing with my hair, which I had left down.
"Why did you feel guilty?"
"Because I love him."
"Oh."
We suddenly stop.
"Here you are m'lady!"
"Thanks Clark. I'll talk to you later."
"Alright by Serena."
He waves and walks down the hall with his hands in his pockets.
I knock on the door and Derek answers.
"Hi."
He moves so I can come in.
"I'm surprised you made it here on your first try."
"I bumped into some and he brought me here."
"Who?"
"Does it matter?"
"Yeah!"
"Chill, he's just a friend."
"Serena tell me I'm your boyfriend!"
"So that means you have to know every little thing that goes on in my life? I can't have some ounce of individuality. You're not my mother!"
With that I turn around, walk out and slam the door behind me. I run down the hall and don't even turn around when he yells my name.
  I go back to my dorm and lay on my bed and take a nap.
  I wake up and Maybelle is braiding her hair.
"Finally you're awake. Your phone's been goin' off like crazy. Didn't wanna answer it though."
I stand up and look down at my phone to see ten texts from Derek apologizing, a text from April telling me she missed me, and a text from Clark.
Meet me at the fountain from earlier at eight o'clock. I have a surprise.
I reply to Clark's message.
What should I wear?
Something warm! ;)
I laugh and Maybelle asks if it's from Derek.
"No. It's from my new friend, Clark. I met him at the fountain this morning."
"Ooh. Why the laugh?"
"Well, he wants me to meet him. He has a surprise for me."
"You reckon your boyfriend'll mind?"
"He's not in charge of who I hang out with. Where are you going? You're dressed nice."
"I met a boy earlier today."
"Ohh."
Her blonde hair was in a braid with a pink scarf and pink and white striped sweater with jeans and white uggs.
"You look cute!"
"Thanks."
"Have fun! I'll see you later!"
"Bye Serena!"
She leaves and I'm left on my bed. I get up and change into jeans and a grey sweater with grey uggs and a black scarf. I leave my hair down. I put on my black jacket. I leave and head towards the fountain to see Clark waiting for me.
He looks over at me and winks.