I stepped out of bed and followed the usual routine. I wasn't ready to treat this day any differently yet. I made myself toast and coffee, threw on some jeans and a cropped hoodie (along with my vans) and brushed my teeth before leaving the house. As I reached for the suitcase I noticed the picture of my mom on the side and realised I shouldn't forget her. I threw the photo in my bag so it wouldn't get crushed in the suitcase. I also had my childhood teddy, my application forms, my phone, my headphones and a book in my bag too. My dad called up the stairs for me and I realised that I needed to get a move on. I dragged my suitcase down the stairs with my bag thrown over my shoulder but, once I got to the bottom of the stairs, my dad took my suitcase for me. He put it in the boot and I climbed into the passenger seat. He got in the drivers seat and turned the ignition on. He started a conversation once we started driving.
"So, college. You're growing up so fast."
"Yep. Thanks for the reminder Dad." I sighed.
"C'mon you'll love it." He said smiling, trying to lighten me up a little.
"Hopefully."
"The people are different, it's not like high school. I promise it'll be great. Anyway, if it's not, you can always come back home."
"I know it's not like high school and don't worry when I start hating it I promise to come home."
"If not when." I rolled my eyes at him but went along with it.
"Fine. If I start hating it."
"That's better. Stay positive." Bless, he's always trying to make everything better.
"In every category?" I was on about pregnancy tests, I knew the subject would make him uncomfortable and we wind each other up all the time.
"You know what I mean."
"Do I?" I said sarcastically.
"Are you really gonna make me go through the 'talk' with you?" At this point I burst out laughing.
"No, I just wanted to make you nervous."
"Well it worked."
"Ha! Now you know how I feel right now."
"Haha. You're very funny aren't you."
"Dad, funny is an under exaggeration. I'm hilarious."
"Don't I know it." We just kept a light conversation going until the SatNav said 'you've reached your destination'. I looked out the window and it was huge. I was in shock but then Dad started talking and told me to hurry up before he cries. He's so sweet. He got my suitcase out the boot and handed it to me. I didn't care if I looked stupid in front of everyone so I lept forward and gave him a humongous hug, crying into his shoulder a little. When we broke apart he held my shoulders then used a hand to wipe my tears away.
"Ey, don't you cry because it'll make me cry."
"Ok." I smiled and tried to calm myself down.
"Love you Dad." I said as I turned around and started to walk away.
"Love you too." He replied and so I turned around to give him one last smile, until I FaceTimed him when I'm all settled in.
There were tonnes of stalls for tonnes of different clubs and these twins came past me and asked if I wanted to join the first unisex ice hockey club. They were gorgeous. They had hazel eyes which looked a little green too and dark hair to match their sharp jawlines and tall, muscly builds. I never really did ice hockey but I had no friends here anyway and, well, they're gorgeous. The conversation went a little like this:
"Hey, what's your name?"
"Hi, I'm Billie."
"I'm Ethan. Hey Billie, wanna join me and my brother, Grayson, on the first ever unisex sports team this college as ever had?" He smiled at me and showed me a leaflet. I looked over at his twin, Grayson, and he shrugged his shoulders at me.
"What sport?"
"Ice hockey, played before?"
"Yep, used to play it for my high school team." I lied through my teeth.
"Great then, see you at 7pm next Thursday."
"Wait. Ice hockey? Where's practice at then?" I asked, realising that the sports hall definitely had wooden floor and the school doesn't have a skate rink.
"Sports hall. Use roller-blades."
"Don't have any."
"We have spares."
"Ok, see ya at 7 then."
"Next Thursday." He reminded me.
"Yep, got it. Bye." I turned around but stopped when he continued talking.
"Bro don't forget to hand her the sign up sheet." So Grayson can speak.
"Oh yeh. Fuck. Here you go." He handed me a sheet and I signed up so that I'd hopefully get to see them again. Meanwhile, I had to teach myself ice hockey. Great.
Once I'd gotten past all the stalls I met my tour guide (she said her name was Bex) and she showed me to the dorm building first and gave me my key so that I could leave my stuff in there. Each side of the room (the dorm is for 2 people) had one locked cabinet and the others were all unlocked. I hadn't met my roommate yet so I thought best not to take the risk and locked my case into the secure cabinet. She then showed me around the different building and explained which each block was.
She then lead me to the activities building which had the gym, canteen, sports centre, swimming pool and theatre. This place was massive, no denying it. We walked back into the canteen because that's where most people were right now and Bex's friend called her name from across the room. She looked at me indecisive.
"Go Bex, I'll be fine." I promised as I smiled.
"Thanks. Here's my number if you need anything." And with that, she handed me what looked like a business card that stated her name, that she was a tour guide and her number at the bottom. When I turned it round, it also had her dorm number on it too.
I decided to make my way back to my dorm so that I could unpack and had planned not to leave the dorm for the next hour in case my roommate showed up. After an hour of waiting, I still hadn't met them so I headed back into the halls because I had my first class of the day. English (language and literature). It's not like I wanted to be an author or anything, it's just something useful.
