Five Friends, Ten Seasons

Where Emma meets Leslie.

Where Emma meets Leslie

           THERE WERE MANY TIMES when Emma was not embarrassed of her family. This included the time when they spied on her date with 'the guy of her dreams' during high school, and the time when they decided to show all of her friends and acquaintances the awkward pictures of her pre-puberty years. It was okay though; she loved them in spite of everything because they were her best friends when she needed them.

       This moment in time however, Emma's emotions about her family were quite the opposite. It was her senior year in the university and her parents were acting like she was just a naïve little eighteen year old going off to college for the first time.

        Well, Emma changed in the period of college. She was definitely not eighteen anymore; she was almost twenty two for god's sake, although her naivety hadn't really vanished during that period. Her sister meanwhile, was sitting in the car waiting for their mom and dad to finish their emotional melodrama. She had about two more years to go before she even needed to think about what colleges she wanted to go to.

           Emma looked down at her watch to keep track of the time. Even though she didn't have anything planned for today and classes wouldn't start for another week and a half, she just really wanted to finish unpacking and setting everything up in the apartment and just relax. Relaxing obviously meant reading a good book and listening to music, since she was free for only a few more days before college started.

           "Mom, it's my senior year, I've been through this process three times already," Emma sighed, leaning against the car watching her mother pester her father about every single arrangement. Her mother was frisky at times, especially when it came to her children.

         "Honey, did you put money in Emma's account?" Her mother ignored her mumbling and continued checking everything off her mental list.

        Emma's father rolled his eyes before nodding, since his wife had asked that question quite literally about twenty times throughout the drive to St. Bard's college. St Bard's, was one of the most under the ball, prestigious universities. It wasn't very well known, but somehow thousands of people still applied, and only a few hundred are accepted each year.

        Although Emma hated how this process droned on every time she came back to school, secretly she enjoyed the amount of care her parents still give her, even though she's legally allowed to do anything she wants to. For this reason only, she had made a vow to do the best she could in her classes, always making sure that her grade point average was high. Because of this reason, Emma didn't really make that many friends during her whole college experience; and now, she was about to enter her senior year unknown by the most of everybody.

        She didn't really mind not having friends in college because of studying, she, however, always felt a pang of envy when she saw groups of people walking and laughing together. She didn't need friendship, but she's always really wanted a friend. Her roommates were always distant to her as well, usually since Emma always kept that distance when any of her past three roommates tried to include her in some event. It was partly because of her main reason, and partly because she was never the one who was outgoing and social anyhow.

        However, Emma wanted something to change this year. It was of course her final year, and she wanted it to be exciting. The only downfall was that she really didn't have many friends in the university. And, that thought made Emma depressed. But she still wished, that somehow, she'd end up having a blast this year. Of course, she would maintain her grades and GPAs but, college was supposed to be one of the best times in your life. And Emma wasn't about to ruin another thing by herself. She hated the idea of not being able to enjoy at least one year. So this year, she promised herself. One frat party, one time of getting drunk (with a person who wouldn't take advantage of her) and at least one new friend that she'd hopefully stay in touch with the rest of her life. Maybe it was an impossible goal though. One school year didn't seem like enough for all that to take place.