The Best Days

Chapter 2

As could have been predicted Derek didn't leave me alone. He still called me and texted but I never answered and I never replied. Eventually the alerts got to be too much and I ended up getting a new cell phone number. My mother informed me he had come by the house a few times to see me but I was never home. Joshua made sure of that. He would take me to school in the morning and come and get me as soon as it was over. He made a complaint to the school's main office about the lax security to make sure that Derek stayed away from me. Josh was very persuasive when he wanted to be and I never saw Derek at school again.

My brother was very supportive towards me during that critical time. There were nights when I got so lonely I wanted to call Derek up just to hear his voice. But as I'd start to dial his number I would hear his venom filled words replaying in my mind telling me that I would never make it without him. I wanted to prove him wrong with every ounce of my being and I would never accomplish that if I went running back like I'd wanted to.

So instead I cried. I cried a lot. And eventually when I was all cried out Josh was there to get me through it.

Graduation day came and I'd been nervous thinking that I might see him there. But he was nowhere to be found thank God. It was a momentous occasion. When my principal called my name and I walked across the stage with my neck draped with cords I felt free. I was finally done with high school and could move on to my future. To college!

I saw the rest of my classmates gathering together afterwards to take pictures with one another and chatting about which graduation party they would be going to later. And it hit me just how much I'd missed out on. I saw Tiffany, the girl I used to eat lunch with freshman year, but she was with her friends laughing and taking silly pictures. After me and Derek got together I hardly ever spoke to her and I certainly didn't eat lunch with her again.

I imagined that if I'd never met Derek then it would be me over there smiling big and throwing up a peace sign.

But I had no one to take pictures with and after graduation Josh, Mom, and I went home.

◦●○ ♥ ○●◦

The summer flew by so quickly. I went to my grandma's house in Canada for part of the summer and had a blast with my Canadian cousins. It was nice to be a normal teenager for once. I'd always turned down trips the past few years because I hadn't wanted to be away from Derek for too long. But now I could hardly stand to be in Texas.

Even though I was sad to say goodbye to my cousins and my grandmother I was more than overjoyed to be returning home because it was time for summer orientation. I would finally be going to South Florida State University located in Coconut Beach, FL. I was officially a South Florida State Tiger. Coconut Beach is this up and coming hot spot in Florida. I'd heard about all the celebrities who lived and partied there on the internet and I was convinced that I would see a star as soon as we landed at the airport.

Summer orientation was a two day weekend where the incoming students and their parents would come to campus and have a full on college experience complete with a stay in one of the residential dorms. According to what I'd read online these 'stays' at the dorms always turned into some kind of fiasco. There was underage drinking, smoking, people sneaking out, and lots and lots of sex.

I was so scared.

Yet very, very excited.

I had quite a bit of time on my hands after school let out so I made a Facebook page. It was strange for me because I was never really one for social media sites. I had a Myspace when I was in middle school because that's what everyone was doing at the time and I felt the need to fit in. But my dad had made me all paranoid about identity stealers who go online and take your pictures and pretend to be you. That pretty much freaked me out and I deleted my account.