It's Not All Roses

Chapter 2

The drive wasn’t as long as I thought it was going to be, but I’m relieved when I pull into ASU’s parking area. It’s such a beautiful campus. The campus is as big as the city I grew up in. I was so ready for this. I can see students and parents hugging and crying. However, I couldn’t be more excited for the change I was about to start on my life.

A girl bounces up to me and asks me, “Hey there freshman, are you in A hall? I have those keys for you.”

“Yeah, um,” I pull out my phone and open up the email. “My room is A13.”

“Oh sweet, your with Jessica! She’s pretty cool, here’s your key! Good luck!” I watch as she bounces off to the next person.

I really hope everyone is as nice as her. The dorms are so crowded that I want to bury myself under a blanket but I eventually find my room, I set down the four boxes I carried in. I get ready to unlock it when it flys open.

Jessica, I’m assuming, stands around six feet, with her heals on. Her hair is shoulder length and purple. It’s oddly pretty. She’s wearing a see-through tank top where I can see her black bra. Her skinny jeans are adorable and I’m going to have to ask her where she got them. Honestly, she could be a model, but she’s covered in ink and piercings.

“Are you Mae?” She asks, popping her gum with a smile.

I nod with a shy smile. I bend down to pick up my boxes but she stops me and grabs two of them, helping me into the room. I set my boxes down on my and look over to Jessica’s side of the room. It’s colorful but in a punk way, lots of bright reds mixed with whites. She has stickers and photos hanging all over her wall with lots of band posters.

I already like her.

“I’m Jessica. But people call me Jess.”

“I’m Mae Daniels. Everyone just calls me Mae.” I smile. She laughs and helps me put my books on the shelf. She compliments my yellow bedspread with the sunflowers on the pillow cases. After about an hour of getting to know one another, there’s a knock on the door.

Jessica hops off the bed and opens the door. There stands a guy, he had tons of tattoos, his lip has been stabbed with a needle and a ring holds the curve of his lip beautifully. His eyes are a blue-green and his sandy blonde hair looks soft.

He’s wearing a Captain America tee with black skinny jeans and combat boots.

He’s really, really cute.

He makes himself at home by going straight for Jess’s bed. He turns and looks at me. “You must be Jess’s new roommate.”

I nod shyly for a moment.

He gets up real quick and sticks out his hand, which I oblige and take, shaking it. “Well, welcome to ASU. My names Luke Hemmings.”

“Mae,” I say.

He plops down on the bed again and scrolls through his phone. Jess swirls around in her desk chair. “So I know we just got to know each other, but do you wanna go to a party with us tonight?”

A party on the first day of school? I mean it’s not the first, tomorrow is. My normal friends cause so much drama and  I don’t have a lot of them, so I might as well start with a fresh start in college.

“Sure. Where is it at?” I ask.

I’m picking at a loose string on my sweater. A nervous reaction I get sometime when I get lost in thought.

“A fraternity, it’s right off of campus, huge parties like all the time, hopefully you don’t mind pot smoke and beer,” Luke states.

“Not at all. Umm I do need to be back at a reasonable hour though, I have class first thing in the morning and since it’s my first day I’d rather not be late you know?”