Dell

CHAPTER 1

It's Monday morning, and it's move in day. I wake up extra early to be able to shower and get ready on time. I am already stressed and nervous. I'm worried about how today will go. What if i don't make any friends? I quickly shake the negative thoughts from my head and gather my clothes before going to the bathroom.

I take a quick shower and get dressed in a hoodie and some jeans. When i go downstairs i see my dad making breakfast. Or at least trying to. I do most of the cooking around here since mom died 4 years ago.

"Hey pumpkin, you excited?" my dad asks with such glee in his eyes that it makes me smile.

"Yeah, i'm a little worried though. What if I don't make any friends? I really wish Avery was coming too." I say quietly.

"Hon, you gotta branch out someday, Avery will still be around. You're gonna make a ton of new friends. Just make sure you'll come back to visit your old man." he says with a hint of sadness.

I'm also a little worried of leaving him alone, he's been so lonely since mom died, I wish he would find someone, but i feel he worries too much about how I would feel about it. Maybe now that i'll be gone, he can go out and find someone. My dads always been a bit of a free spirit, the rock n roll, biker type. Until he found my mom, the shy bookworm. She tamed him and when I came along, he traded in his motorcycle in for a car, and his wild life for a family. He always said my mom was his soulmate. It always baffled me that he fell in love with someone so different than him, someone so vanilla. But when I ask him about it he always says, that while my mom looked different than him, she was the same as him. "We were the same pumpkin, mind and soul. She knew me better than anybody." He'd say.

"Of course i'm gonna come back and visit dad. I gotta make sure you don't burn the place down." I tease.

"Ha Ha. I'll be fine kid, don't you worry about me."

"I know dad, I know."

"Alright enough, before you make me cry. I got all your stuff packed in the car, you ready to go?"

"Yes sir, about as ready as I can be." I say and muster a smile.

"Well alrighty then, I'll be in the car." he says and goes outside.

I go upstairs to my room and glance around one last time. Let's see what college has in store for me.

~~~

When we arrive to campus, I am instantly overwhelmed by all the people. My dad goes over to one of the counselors and asks for directions to my building before coming back over to me.

We walk to the dorms in silence. I'm overthinking everything and going through my schedule in my head, and I suspect my dad is too sad to speak. Once we get to my dorm, I open the door to find a pretty blonde and who I assume to be her mother. Her mother looks just like her, groomed to perfection, except her mother wears a snobby expression and gives me and my dad a quick once over before making a face. I assume she was thrown off by my dads rugged appearance but still, how rude of her. The girl speaks first.

"Hi my name is Alex." she sweetly introduces herself.

"Alexa." her mother quickly corrects her.

The girl, Alex rolls her eyes quickly so her mother doesn't see, and says, "Yes, Alexa, but I prefer Alex."

"I'm Della." I smile at her.

"I'm Mason." my dad introduces himself to her mother and reaches out his hand. She takes it and they shake hands. "Denise. Pleasure." I half expected her to leave him hanging or say something rude. That's what you get for judging Dell.

"Alexa call me when you're settled in. I have to get going." Denise says.

"Yes mother." Alex says quietly.

"I'm actually gonna get going too Dell." dad says.

"Okay dad, drive safely and tell me when you make it home."

"I will." he says and gives me a kiss on the forehead before leaving.