New Girl at UA (OC Character)

3 - Move-In Day

The 6 days I had to wait until I was able to move in seemed to fly by. This week was spent going shopping with my dad and my little sister for things that I might need for my dorm room. We had gone and bought a couple of the training uniforms, just so I had extras between loads of laundry. We got many different decorations for the room itself along with some much-needed essentials. My dad had bought me a cute bath matt and some matching towels and washcloths for my bathroom along with a giant supply of toilet paper, which he said was necessary. 

My dad also loaded my boxes with a whole new wardrobe which I was super excited about. I thought it was so cool going shopping with my dad and little sister, it felt nice being with them and laughing about some of my bad outfit choices and just talking about everything and nothing at the same time.

All of this was such a great distraction from everything I was used to, it was nice to be with my family again. It made me feel like things were back to the way they had been before everything went down and then got worse.

Elena had asked me yesterday if she could come with my dad and I to help me unpack my things and set up my room. I of course agreed, I love spending time with my little sister when I could. She and I were attached at the hip when she was born. Our mom died only a few months after she was born. She was finally returning back to work at the hero's agency that she worked at as their secretary after her maternity leave. On her way home she got t-boned by a drunk driver on the driver's side. She died on impact. It was hard for my dad to raise the both of us, so I tried my best to step in whenever I was home long enough, I learned to cook full meals, do my own (and my sister's) laundry, and managed to keep my school life decent as well. I'm not going to lie, growing up like that was hard, having to keep everything going on in my life was hard, but I've always thought it made me stronger as a person, and as a potential hero. 

My father has always told me that he appreciated everything I did for our family, he knows that losing my mother was hard on me, but I wasn't able to complain. As much as I say I'm excited to live with all of the other students here, a large part of me is sad. I know I'm going to miss them. I will be able to see them though, it's not like they're moving back to America. They're in the same city, and that's where they're staying. Knowing that they're going to be here for me when I want to come home is reassuring and makes me think I can do this.

My dad and sister were in one car, and I had taken the second. I'm so glad I had gotten my license or else we would have had to make two trips. I had some music playing in the car as I followed behind my family. Luckily we had permission to pull behind my building to make moving the boxes and all the things into the building easier. 

We all helped bring up the boxes not bothering unpacking anything until everything was in the room or the hallway close to my door. We spent about two hours unpacking everything until we got to the last box which held some small trinkets and a photo of my family. The photo was of my mom, dad, me, and my little sister a month after she was born, and also two months before she passed. My small hand reached down and picked up the cold silver frame, looking at the photo I didn't feel sad, I felt happy when looking at it and remembering what life was like before she died. We had a great family and nothing will ever change my mind about that. I placed the silver frame containing the photo of my family on my bedside table facing my door.

I sat down on my bed feeling tired after doing so much in such a short amount of time. I couldn't help but gaze at the room I was in and admire the work we had done. My fairy lights were wrapped around the pole holding up the curtain to my sliding door, my bed was all made with my new bedspread and pillows. A fuzzy carpet sat in the middle of the room between the desk and my bed, and a black and white marbled cushion sat on the desk's chair. I had all of my trinkets places everywhere and my dad had managed to bring in another bedside table and put it at the edge of my bed so I could put my TV and Xbox there. I also had just finished setting up my PC on my desk (with enough room to still do work) and left two controllers and my headset in the room. I can survive one day without my games. The tapestry that was on the wall next to my bed was big enough to cover most of the wall, and wherever there was space I hung photos of the friends I had made throughout my life who meant the most to me, my family, and cute posters.

I felt the bed sink next to me as my father sat down admiring the room. "It really came together didn't it?"

"Yeah it did dad, I love the way it turned out, and having Elena and you here made it even better. I'm glad you guys came to help me." I replied to my father, feeling a bittersweet smile on my face. My dad put a large hand on my back and looked at me with pride, happiness, and a bit of sadness lingering in his eyes.

"I want you to know, that I am proud of you. I always have been, and always will be. You're going to love your life here and I know you're going to be an amazing hero one day. I just want you to remember that your past doesn't define who you are as a person now and that your emotins can't control you the way you think they do. I love you, Alexis, and you are going to succeed and become the person you want to be, rather than the person that is engraved in you. You better come home and visit us whenever you can though." As he said the last part he shoved me a bit and laughed. 

"I know your mom is proud of you too. Just know that she loves you just as much as I do and that I know she's more than proud of you." His words hit me like a truck, it was always hard talking about my mom, it was something that I still can't talk about easily. I felt hot tears brimming in my eyes, and he pulled me into a big hug. Once I felt his arms and smelled his shirt I couldn't resist the temptation to just let the tears fall.

"I love you too dad, and I'm not far away, 20-minute drive max. I know she's proud of me. I'm going to be working as hard as I can, not just for myself and my own dreams, but for you, and mom, and Elena." Just as the words left my lips Elena came running over from the bathroom, she joined in on the hug and the three of us just embraced each other.

After our moment of sadness had passed, we gathered up all of the empty boxes and started to bring them down to the cars. Once everything was loaded up we headed home. Once at home, we ate the takeout food we had gotten and retreated to our separate rooms after saying our goodnights to each other. 

I walked into Elena's room and sat on her bed, "Elena, I love you so much kiddo. You are the best little sister a girl could ask for and I'm sorry I couldn't be around as much as I wanted to be, but don't miss me too much." I laughed at the end of what I said and gave her a big squeeze. She told me she loved me too and I made my way to my now empty room. It was such a weird feeling seeing all of my things not here and knowing that they're all in my soon to be new home. I laid my head down on the pillow and fell fast asleep, excited for tomorrow, it is my first day and all.