College Fiend [A$AP Rocky]

Two

One Month Later

College, since I was born, had been depicted as two completely different atmospheres morphed into one to create a place where anything can happen. The first portrayal I had been given of college by my parents—the parents who constantly strived to sugarcoat every corner of life to see to it that I forever lived in a fairytale—was a dull place filled with books, academics ten times as difficult as the work I had been doing in grade school, and absolutely no free time.

But as I grew up to be exposed to opinions other than those of my parents, I found that college could be something else, something ugly and exciting all at once. The mischievous girls in the bathroom told tales of what their parents had told them, and of what they saw on television. All of it I believed to be lies, to this day, because I couldn’t understand how a place so dull and so deprived of playtime or fun could contain young adults who partied every night, got drunk, took drugs, and had sex. It just didn’t add up.

Now the equation was making sense, though, as I sat in bed with my nose buried in a book. The news Sheena was about to deliver to me would open my eyes to the truth in both stories I’d been told.

The textbooks I had been going over were for Finance and Global Studies. The teachers of both of these subjects—Ms. Frontany for Finance and Mr. Haughtman for Global Studies—had specific characteristics when they planned on giving a pop quiz, characteristics that I was keen to and could easily identify thanks to my experience from the past month. I was determined to be prepared.

College was moving slowly in fun’s perspective, but as for academics everything was moving a bit too quickly. I was managing to keep up though, and even managing to barely excel in most of my classes. Sheena lagged a little bit behind, but I encouraged her constantly.

Just as I thought of her, she burst through the door, her permanent smile glowing more than usual. Her gel-smeared hair was up in a messy bun, and she still wore her waitress uniform (she had gotten a job at a local restaurant that paid mediocrely).

“What’s up with the smile?” I asked, smiling too to see her to happy.

“Bean, you won’t believe it.” She dropped her leather tote bag, sent all the way from Paris by her father, and sat next to me. “This is what we’ve all been waiting for!”

I laughed and shook my head. “Sheena, I haven’t been waiting for anything. So it might as well be whatever you have been waiting for.”

“Whatever. But you know how you say that the first day we came here was kind of a tease, because we met everybody but barely got the chance to speak to them because of how busy we all are?”

I nodded. It was true; all the people I had been introduced to on my first day were just a blur now. I saw them in the lonely, unloving corridors of the school and waved to the ones I had interest in befriending, but the only person I really got to talk to regularly was Sheena (and my bonding sessions with her were gradually lessening).

“Well Brian just gave us the solution to that problem.” Sheena’s enthusiasm made her shiver as she stared into my eyes, waiting for me to guess what got her so delighted. When she could no longer wait, her eagerness burst out of her and she couldn’t resist a second longer. “WE’RE HAVING THE FIRST PARTY OF THE YEAR!”

I looked at her blankly, and her fervor immediately died. She expected me to be just as excited, or even more excited, than she was. But for some reason even I didn’t know, I wasn’t so thrilled about this party. Sheena glared at me, waiting for a response.

“I don’t know…”

“Oh, come on!” She shouted. “Don’t tell me you don’t want to go!”

“I really don’t know if I’m up for it. I don’t even know anything about it. When is the party? Where? What kind of people will be there? You can’t just give me that kind of vague information and expect me to react.” I remarked. Truthfully though, it wasn’t the lack of information that prevented me from being zealous. It was just…that shyness that was forever going to plague me.

“Okay, you’re right. Brian is throwing the party. He’s been organizing it since the first day of school; did you notice him on his phone that day? He was making arrangements. It isn’t necessarily his party—both he and Wayne are hosting it.” She explained. I winced at Wayne’s name, but one little butterfly fluttered around in my stomach. He was so cute; nevertheless, I hated him. I despised boys like him, arrogant and pushy. “The party, as my source tells me, is exactly three weeks from now. And it’s off campus, at some place they rent together. The best part is that only freshmen are invited! That means you don’t have to worry about being intimidated by sophomores, juniors, or seniors. It’s perfect.”

It was perfect. And being shy wouldn’t really cause any problems, would it?  I couldn’t possibly be the only shy girl in a freshmen body of so many. Maybe the other shy girls, or even guys, like me had friends like Sheena who could coax them into going to the party. I wouldn’t be alone. Besides, I had made a few associates the first day of college. They would be there to mingle with me. Most of all, co-host Wayne had been more than friendly with me. He could make me feel comfortable.

“Okay, I’ll go,” I said finally. Sheena squealed and engulfed me in her arms. “Only if there are no tests or quizzes around that time, though.”

“There won’t be any quizzes. The night of the party is our first holiday of the year. We freshmen will have the college to ourselves, since most other folks are going home to their parents for the weekend.”

I froze then. The first holiday of the year? Those words sounded so familiar, like I had heard them used in another sentence before.

“We’ll pick you up on the first holiday of the year, we promise.”

My parents were expecting me on the day of the party. These were cold, aloof parents who had no interest in sending me to any party. So there really was just one option.

I couldn’t go.