Excerpts, from a Galaxy Wide

Greek Street

Although it was somewhat summertime, nights at St. Paul's could quickly draw in the cold. The sea breeze and slightly elevated altitude at which the university was placed could cause some nasty weather even in the summertime.

I had now known that most of the night would be spent outside in the wind, so picking an outfit was not that difficult; skinny jeans, long sleeve, boots and my grey coat.

And even though I found my black boots to be very comfortable, I would have rather opted for some sneakers and even switched out the jeans for some leggings, but I had doomed myself in asking for Robin's assistance.

She even made sure my long sleeve shirt, which wouldn't even be seen, matched the outfit.

"I know we aren't going into the party and we'll only be outside but that doesn't mean that you aren't going to meet other students." She insisted as I looked longingly at my leggings.

"I'm not really good at social events; I'm not really looking to impress anyone."

Robin smiled, "a group of friends and I are going to Dellah's Diner afterwards, and there's kind of a dress code after 8. So you gotta bite a bullet for tonight." She said this as if she thought I was truly interested in going out in general.

"Are you inviting me?"

"Of course, I'm not just going to leave you alone on the first night – we can decide if we like each other afterwards, but tonight you're stuck with me."

I thought she meant that last part seriously, as if she would immediately start hating me after tonight but Robin laughed again, so I assumed that she was joking.

"Uhm, okay."

As soon as I felt mildly comfortable with the fact that my roommate was trying to push her friendship onto me (which took about a minute or two), I stood up, picked up my satchel and prepared myself for the night ahead.

As Robin (six pack of Coca-Cola tucked underneath her arm) and I walked down the main street that ran through the St. Paul's campus and into the official Greek street, Robin was greeted a total of 17 times.

By the time we reached the Kappa Sig house, I could see many of the freshman that were denied entry into tonight's party, if it weren't for Robin I would be clueless and probably walk up to the door like many other students and be totally embarrassed as I was denied entry.

I was even more grateful that I was privy to the secret when I saw countless students in shorts and t-shirts unprepared for their short camp-out, and I instinctively pulled my coat tighter around me. I didn't know if I was truly cold or if the crowd of people around me made me feel small and I was trying to emulate the inside feeling to the outside.

Looking around, Robin and I found a small spot close to the side of Kappa Sig and sat down – she handed me a Coca-Cola, and soon I realised why freshman were staying instead of going back to their dorm rooms, even if they weren't allowed to the party inside the frat house, nothing was stopping them from partying outside Kappa Sig.

Beers were passed around and there were senior students milling about, the freshman weren't totally excluded – more like barred from the party just because we could be.

We had barely been sitting when a couple, a blond boy and dark haired girl each with a beer in hand, joined Robin and I at our wannabe picnic on the ground.

Robin's eyes lit up when she saw them, and I instantly knew these were her friends.

"Jay meet Vanessa and Jason, we went to high school together."

"Hi, nice to meet you."

Jason and Vanessa smiled kindly and they sparked conversation with Robin and another group that weren't sitting too far about warm beer. All I could here was Robin saying the same thing she said earlier

"That's why I bring my own drinks."

Time passed on and while I had only met Vanessa, she seemed just as kind as Robin but with a more relatable sense of humour. We had light conversation about majors, high schools and other small talk while Jason snuck into the frat house to steal some ice seeing as he was the only sophomore among us.

Jason came back empty handed and I hadn't even noticed throughout my conversation with Robin and Vanessa, that the front lawn of Kappa Sig was becoming emptier and emptier. Freshmen sick of warm beer and soft music retreated back to their dorms and with less and less freshmen to torment the seniors became more relaxed and friendlier.

Some of Jason's friends joined us on the lawn and our party of four grew to seven. Funnily enough, the increase in people hadn't bothered me at all, no matter how many people joined our group, Robin and Vanessa kept me well incorporated in the conversation and I even spoke briefly to Jason about Finance and Internships.

The six pack of Coca-Cola Robin had brought was long time drank up by the time we decided to end the night at Dellah's. I quickly realised that Dellah's Diner was a popular place as more Kappa Sig members joined our group walking up Campus road to the diner.

The more I looked around, the more I noticed that Robin, Vanessa and I were the only freshmen and that no one seemed to care, most of the remainder of the group were Juniors and Seniors, and as I understood it (and as Robin put it) freshmen were practically shunned on the first night.

But I kept walking, it wasn't as if I could bail, I practically promised Robin I would go with and the way she had her arm wrapped around mine ensures I couldn't escape. She smiled at me ever so often throughout the multiple conversations she was involved in, as if she was trying to reassure me that she wasn't forgetting about me.