The List

Chapter One

I always loved long drives, especially when I was younger. My parents always told me that car rides were the only thing that could get me to sleep as a baby. The hum of the engine and the sound of pavement turning over the wheels was music to my ears. Long-distance driving was even better. There's something peaceful about driving so far away that you can become a completely different person—a place where no one knows your name, your story. The scenery and people change as you cross county and state lines. The drive from Stillwater, Oklahoma, to Lubbock, Texas, is one I have made numerous times with my family. Today, though, I'm making this drive alone.

My old-time country music blares through my car's speakers, and my brown hair blows wildly from the wind of the open roadway as I cross state lines into Texas. I've been dreaming of this day since I was a freshman in high school. I'm finally getting away from the strict restraints of my mom and branching out on my own. Liam, my older brother, graduated two years before I did. Liam and I have talked about Texas Tech all of our lives. Our parents went, but they never pressured us to continue that tradition throughout the family. Liam got accepted through a baseball scholarship. On the other hand, I just wanted anything outside of Oklahoma.

Liam and I are the products of two college professors. One is a math whiz, and the other is a literary genius. We spent all of our free time at the college in our town, listening to our parents' lectures. Most rubbed off on him and me. Liam became the math genius, and I couldn't keep my nose out of a book.

My mom refused to let me go out of state. I was their youngest baby girl, and she didn't want anything to happen to me. The day my acceptance letter came in, my mom cried and locked herself in my bedroom, thinking it would keep me from leaving. It didn't. I'm not the kind of girl to disobey my mom though we never agree on anything. It was always a different story with Liam, though. When he left, mom's control became even tighter. I needed that chance to leave behind who I was in Stillwater and discover who I could become. 

This is my chance to become who I want to be, not who I'm expected to be. College is the time to mold your future. It was my chance to break free from the memories of my hometown.

Now, it's four in the afternoon, and I'm pulling into the parking lot of the on-campus dorm rooms in Lubbock. I pick up my phone off the console and call Liam.

"Hey, Cari!" He greets. "How's the drive?"

"It was great!" I say. "I'm parking right now. Could you help me unload everything up to my dorm?"

"Damn, Speed Racer, how fast were you going?" he teases. "Couldn't wait to get out of there, could you?"

"You know me," I laugh into the phone. "Just the bat out of hell."

"By hell, you mean Stillwater?"

"What else would I mean?"

I can practically see him roll his eyes on the other end of the phone. " We'll meet you at your car. What section are you in?"

I glance around and find a light pole with a letter and a number next to it. "D-2."

"Be there in a sec." He says. "Everyone can't wait to see you."

I hang up the phone and climb out of the front seat of my blue Ford Explorer to open the trunk. While waiting for my brother and his friends, I start unloading whatever boxes are light enough for me to pick up.

I'm about to reach for another box when a set of arms grabs me from behind and spins me around. I look down and recognize the compass tattoo on my brother's best friend's forearm.

"Nathan!" I squeal, trying to get out of his tight grip. "Put me down!"

He laughs and gently sets my feet back on the ground. I spin around and wrap my arms around his neck. "I've missed you!"