Ah university. After studying for 13 years, there’s nothing like a good 4 more to go. I sighed, facing the entrance of my new academic hell hole. Some people viewed college as a place to mess around, have sex, get drunk, go to parties, etc. Those are the ones with enough money to mess around. Me? No way. I had to work my butt of all through highschool to pull a 4.04 GPA in order to get a scholarship to a rather simple college. My parents were both just barely scraping by, and I wanted to pull them out of our poverty slump, however, getting out of poverty is nearly impossible.
To get money you need a good job. To get a good job you need good education. To get good education you need money. Without one of the three, the whole triangle falls apart, and my family was missing the money part. So here I am, on a full-ride scholarship and headed to the main faculty office.
I tentatively opened the blue door and poked my head in. At the main desk, the receptionist beckoned me to come in with a smile.
“Hi hon, how can I help you?”
“I’m here to see Ronda Shillings?”
“Down this hallway here and to the right, her name’s on the door.”
“Thank you.” She nodded her head and I followed her directions to Ronda’s room. When I entered she greeted me warmly.
“Scarlette! Come in honey how are you?” She got up and embraced me strongly. Ronda was a good friend of my mom, and had helped me in getting so many great scholarships.
“I’m good Ronda, you?”
“I am great sweetie, how can I help you?”
“It’s about the dorm situation. Students here are required to live in the dorms unless you have a special case like taking care of someone at home or poverty, and even though I’m poor, my parents live 1,000 miles away so that doesn’t help me, apartments are even more. I didn’t get any scholarships for the dorms. What should I do?”
Ronda looked at me, concern and doubt in her eyes, obviously worried about how I was going to solve my little predicament. She sat there for a while biting her lip looking around the room as she thought.
“Let me call a few people and look through some of the rule books. You can stay with me until we find a solution. But, even if I do find something, the conditions will probably not be ideal since you’re signing up so darn late.”
I nodded in an understanding, “Thank you so much Ronda, I am sorry to impose on you so much.”
“Don’t you worry your pretty little head about it, we will figure something out.” Ronda’s kindness left me with no choice but to smile out of habit. “Now you get to class sweetheart, do not be late on your first day you hear me?”
I nodded, “Of course. Bye Ronda, thanks again!” I talked over my shoulder as I left the room. My first class wasn’t far, so I leisurely walked through the hallway and looked around, trying to get used to my surroundings. The hallways were large and roomy, opposed to highschool where everyone is packed in the hallways like cattle in a cattle shoot, jostling around and getting stuck. There were windows everywhere, so none of the lights were turned on, all light was natural. My fellow students were also quite nonchalant about getting to class, some simply meandering around and talking with a friend-overall a pretty low-key environment.
When I reached my class, Literature and Composition, I strode into the large lecture hall and set my bag down at an unoccupied table. The room was starting to fill up, and soon my empty table had an occupant other than myself. I glanced briefly at my new companion. He wore a simple black T-shirt and his black hair was disheveled and had a pair of sunglasses lazily stuck in it. His blue eyes met mine and I smiled.
