Twon

Chapter - 2

Mamma woke me up saying, "Honey, we reached. Wake up,"

I got up from my sleeping position and forthwith, saw Ethan using his phone, smiling and typing which elicited my curiosity more so I looked over and he didn't stop me. I was surprised though.

My suspicions were correct; he was chatting with that Evelyn girl since god knows when. I shot him a teasing smile, raising one eyebrow which lead to him hitting me on my elbow. Hard.

"Ouch, That hurt!" I snarled.

"I don't care," He snapped back.

"Please, you both don't start right now. We reached your hostel, Summer. You both get ready to go inside," Mamma announced, sounding annoyed and it was no wonder.

I looked up with my left hand still on my right elbow where that trash-face hit me and saw a building with three storeys — the building was built in the way how typical hostels were built; the exterior was coloured white completely with a gigantic entrance door in the middle where hung a big 'WELCOME' banner above it. There were many windows here and there in every storey.

Walking inside the building, I noticed that the interior looked much better than the exterior; the interior had a much classier look with paintings and pictures hung almost everywhere. A sofa set with a big T.V was kept on the left side. I didn't think anyone used the T.V often as everyone had their phones 24/7 with them. The staircase was in the opposite direction to us, on the left side.

We were all busy examining the place when we heard a deep, feminine voice from the right side. "Uh-Excuse me? May I help you?" The voice asked. Turning towards the direction of the voice, I saw a woman in her late forties, sitting on a chair with a desk and some paperwork on the table clipped to a clipboard and a pen on her hand. She had a short wavy ombre style black hair and wore a lot of makeup.

We went over to her desk which was on the right side from the entrance door and a little far from the main entrance which was probably the reason why we didn't notice her when we first arrived.

"Hello, I'm Victoria Johnson," The woman introduced herself. "And I'm the caretaker of the hostel. How can I help you?"

"Hi, we are the Hayes family. We are here for our daughter, Summer Avery Hayes," Dad said.

"Okay, let me see. Please wait for a while,"

After a minute, she confirmed, "Yes, She is in Room 5 and she is sharing her room with another girl, Yvonne Roberts. She will be arriving soon. She is a freshman, right?"

"Yes," Mom answered.

"Okay. The staircase is on the other side from here and her room is the fifth one from the right. Have a good day, Mr and Mrs Hayes." Victoria warmed wished, smiling.

"Thank you, you too, Mrs Johnson," Dad wished, smiling back.

We moved to the other side where the stairs are and proceeded for my room; when we reach the fifth room on the right, the template on the door read: 'R- 5'.

Dad unlocked the door and once I saw my room, I was awestruck and impressed. It turned out way better than I expected it to be. The room gave me cabin vibes because of the types of furniture and all were made of wooden materials; the floorings were done with Parquet flooring, formed from short wooden blocks or strips arranged into a geometric pattern while the walls were covered with Rio wood.

There was a wooden bunk bed at the left corner of the room and a small bedside table which was the only non-wooden furniture in the whole room. A door was just beside it which turned out to be the bathroom. Then, there were two wooden study desks with a small lamp on each and there was a small-but-enough-for-two attached closet on the right wall. One of the study desks was placed beside the entrance door on the left while the other desk is placed beside the entrance on the right. There was also a big wooden cabinet with four drawers and a small sofa with a table beside the cabinet. In short, the room was bigger than I imagined.

"Do you like it, honey?" Mamma asked, smiling down at me.

"Yeah, I think it's perfect," I answered, smiling.

"I am glad you liked it," Dad said, smiling back.

"Yeah alright, she liked the room and everything else, I am happy for her and good for her, but I am getting bored, Dad, can we please go take a walk to so that I can breathe in the fresh air?" Ethan asked annoyance and boredom heard in his tone. I mentally called him an idiot because I loved to.

"Well, I am surprised. Whenever we go somewhere new, all you do is check girls out if there is any, you didn't do that today. If it's about Chloe then I never knew you were serious with her." Mamma teased. He rolled his eyes at Mamma's statement.

"You know I can never be serious with her. She is a pain in the ass."

"Mamma, Ethan is serious about a girl but it's not Psycho Chloe. Please, I felt elated after hearing that Ethan and she broke up," I spilled, stretching the 'please'. I spilled to irritate him and besides, there was no harm since Mamma was very cool with these things.

"Seriously Summer, you had spill the beans right now, right here?!" He asked, irritated and turning to mom, he promised, "Mamma, I will tell you about her. But later, after we reach home."

"You better," She teased.

"Me too," Dad said, raising his hand from the chair he was sitting since the last five minutes and suddenly joining the conversation since it got 'interesting'.

"Geez okay, Dad, I will tell you guys."

"But now, let's move to the Dean's office," Mamma announced, typing something on her phone.

"Why?" I asked.

"We have to go there to confirm your majors," She replied.

"Oh okay but should I just keep my bags here?"

"Yeah okay, unpack after we leave,"

I heard Ethan whispering, "Thank God!" but loud enough for me to hear and I rolled my eyes again. He was very impatient that it was annoying.

We arrived downstairs and asked Mrs Johnson for the Dean's office to which she instructed us that it is in the main building behind my hostel which was a two minutes walk from here.

Thanking her, we started moving towards the main building. Ethan wanted to take the car but Dad wanted to walk and so did Mamma so we decided to walk instead. We reached the main building after exactly two minutes. Yes, I was timing it.

Standing right in front of my dream college, I smiled, narrowing my eyes a little due to the scorching sun. The building was huge and massive, just like I saw it on the website. I applied for this college at the first place since I love ancient architecture and this college was built in something 1600s so this was what I was looking for: Old and classic and everything I ever wanted in my dream college.

They also offered all the courses that I wanted to major in. In short, this college was perfect. Thankfully, I was accepted and here I am, standing in front of my dream college.

Clutching my little backpack that I always carry around, we walked inside the building and asked a worker who was cleaning some furniture nearby, for the Dean's office. He instructed us to go upstairs on the first floor and take left and the first office is his. Once we reach the first floor, it was easy to make out which office was the Dean's because of the template on the door in which 'THE DEAN' was pasted.

Mamma knocked and the next moment, we heard a voice saying, "Come in," We entered the room and immediately I saw an old man, in his early fifties, if I am not wrong. He has dark brown hair which is neatly combed, a tan complexion with smooth features. He had glasses and greeted us warmly when we entered.

"Mr Richard Hayes and Mrs Rachel Hayes, Welcome to 'DALEWOOD COLLEGE'. It is a pleasure meeting you and we are honoured to have your daughter here," The Dean said, warmly and added, "I am Darren Johnson. As you know already, I am the Dean of this college." He smiled widely, somehow proud of his title.

"It's a pleasure meeting you too, Mr Johnson," Dad said, and shaked hands with him.

"This is my son, Ethan Hayes and as you know already, she is Summer," Dad explained, pointing at us. We smiled at him.

"So, we have to confirm her majors to give her the time table for her classes. Tomorrow will be a day off for unpacking. Every freshman will get their time table tomorrow. She is in her first year, right?"

"Yes," Mamma confirmed.

"Okay, she is majoring in three subjects: Psychology, Journalism and History and she is taking one extra subject. Which is?" The Dean asked, while reading something from his laptop.

"Theatres," I added quickly.

"You have quite an interesting combination." He said, his eyes still on the laptop. I smiled but obviously, he didn't see because his eyes are on the laptop so I replied with a thank you instead.

"All done. Thank you, Mr and Mrs Hayes, it was nice meeting you. Everything is set and Miss Summer Hayes, welcome to DALEWOOD COLLEGE. I have to admit, you have a nice CV. Impressive."

"Thank you, Sir," I smiled.

"It was nice to meet you too, Sir," Dad added.

"Hope to meet you again soon, Mr and Mrs Hayes. Have a safe road trip back home."

"You too, Mr Johnson and thank you," He wished back before getting up to leave.

Coming out of his office, we headed back to my hostel. Onc we reached, Mamma complained of a severe headache suddenly so they decided to head back a little early and besides, they had nothing to do too except for a little help with my unpacking which she insisted but I couldn't be selfish and it wasn't a hard thing so I convinced them to start moving back for home. I hope my roommate is good since I might need her help in unpacking, thanks to my loads of belongings.

Before leaving, they all hugged me. "Honey, please take care okay? You are going to be away from us for the first time. Be careful of what you do and your actions. Whenever you need anything, call us anytime. We will come. Don't do anything that you will regret. Be careful and stay safe. I love you." Mamma said, tearfully. It must be hard for her too since it was the first time. I didn't want to tear up, for the vulnerability was something I hated to even be on its edge.

I nodded. "I love you too." She hugged me tightly once more but this time, I could feel that she didn't want to let go but she had to. She pulled away and weakly smiled which I returned gladly and a little sadly. I couldn't tear up.

Then, Dad came up, "What did I tell you this morning?"

"That I have got this and I will be just fine," I replied, trying to hide my tears.

"That's right. Always remember that you are stronger than you think you are. Take care and be careful of your actions. I love you, honey. We will miss you a lot."

Dad was kind of those people who didn't like to show his feelings and emotions very easily. He was super secretive about all those. He rarely let people in but whoever he let in, they were one of the luckiest because they got to see the real him - the best version of himself.

My mom was one of the first people he let in. She was the one who encouraged him to follow his dreams and be who he wanted to be.

I had never seen him cry and he still hid his feelings a lot. But today, his face betrayed how he was feeling. I wasn't going to be there with them for the first time and that affected him. His facial expressions destroyed the mask I wore just so I could hide my tears.

"I love you too," I heard myself saying right after. I could hear my own voice breaking but I tried my best to cover it up.

Ethan came up after dad stepped back, "Take care Summer and stay safe. Don't focus too much on boys and study." He made that funny trying-to-be-serious face which made me laugh. I legit thanked God from within because it was a good distraction to cover up my tears.

"And don't worry about Evelyn. You will be the first person to know if anything happens, I promise. I never told you this before because it's a really sentimental and cheesy line but I hope you know that I love you, always. I will miss you a lot. Remember, I got your back, always."

I knew I was right and that very moment, I was proved right.

I smiled and hugged him. "I love you too and I will miss you. I got your back too and you know it."

Right after we pulled away from the hug, they moved to the car to drive back home when I felt an urgent need to hug them all one last time - until next time.

We stayed like that for a while before they got into the car. After Dad started to drive away, Ethan looked out of the window and shouted, "Bye Summer, we will miss you a lot! Dad and Mamma said too!" I laughed at his small but sweet gesture before shouting "I will miss you guys too" back.

Once they were out of sight, I turned back to go inside my hostel when I noticed the sky; the sun was setting so the sky looked very pleasant. The orange-yellow mixture of the sky seemed to be smiling at me and I smiled back which made me remember dad's saying when I was young, 'Try seeing the happenings in your surroundings as an indication for something when you are in a situation. The situation might be a bad one or a good one. You might think I am being paranoid or spiritual or whatever...I don't know. But I simply believe that nature wants to help us in many situations only if we pay attention to them and observe them.'

The sky just smiled at me and I took it as a good indication that I would be just fine.

I walked back to the hostel and go to my room when I saw a girl sitting on the sofa checking out the room. She had a rebellious look with small tattoos on her neck and legs with many piercings on her ears. She was attractive and her hair was fully dyed pink and purple; her makeup was less but intense.

She wore a tight black full sleeve with a v–neck which was cut till her chest, showing her cleavage; a tide skirt with a small slit on its right and she paired the outfit with black boots that reached till her thigh. Her outfit hugged her curvy body perfectly, and I kinda felt envious that someone could have such a nice body. Was that normal? Or was I being a bad person.

She smiled at me when I entered the room which I returned shyly. I was the worst with new people. I used to shy away so much, and I still did.

"You must be Summer Hayes, my roommate. Hi, I'm Yvonne Roberts and I'm in my first year, for the second time." She introduced herself with a big smile.

I gave her a confused look but she didn't seem to notice.The girl who was now revealed as the 'Yvonne' stood up from the sofa and started checking my outfit out. I was wearing my high-waisted boyfriend jeans and a block-coloured sweatshirt with black ankle boots.

"You are really reserved. Aren't you?" She asked. "I mean when it comes to clothes," She added.

I nodded. "Yeah, you can say that," Like I said before, I wasn't the best with strangers since I was too introverted at times.

She again smiled warmly at me. "I like you already. Girls here are all bitches and slutty, excluding me." She emphasised the 'excluding me' further but I didn't really pay heed to it because my mind was surged with only one question, and took all the place there.

"Can I ask you something?" I found myself asking suddenly. It was like a reflex action, and I had no control over those words that came out before I could even think of asking them.

"Of course sweetheart,"

"Why are you in your first year again?"

"Oh that! Actually, I fucked up last year. I didn't get a good result so I convinced my parents to let me repeat the year."

I nodded. "Oh!" I didn't have anything else to say.

"Your parents went already?" she asked, settling down on the sofa again.

"Yeah, actually I'm from North Carolina and it is two hours away. They wanted to reach home fast so they left just around ten minutes back."

"Where are you from?" I asked, trying to get to know my roommate better. I was very experienced when it comes to the consequences of what happens if you don't try mingling with other people. So, I trend to make effort to be friends with her, if it's possible (because she didn't seem like someone who would want to be friends with me).

My entire high school life was very lonely, and even though I wouldn't admit it, at times, I felt lonely. The only person who was worth calling a friend was Barry, a black guy who lived two blocks away from me. He was sweet, cool, and just like me, the only person who he considered his friend was me. We sometimes used to hang out together but never got the chance to become good friends because his parents were very strict with him around girls. Not that we liked each other, but he was careful to not let his parents have wrong ideas about our simple friendship. He moved away after our tenth grade, and we didn't keep in touch.

"I'm from here. My home is just thirty minutes away from here. My stepmother came to drop me with my elder brother. They went like twenty minutes back." She answered. "Don't get any ideas because I have a stepmother. She isn't bad. To be honest, she treats me and my brother pretty well." She added in a defensive tone.

"Oh no, nothing like that."

She signalled me to come sit next to her, which I obeyed and we sat there for a while, talking about normal stuffs. I asked her about her father and she told me that he was barely around because of his business so it was just her stepmother, her brother and her.

I also learned that her mom came out of the closet a few years back. In her words, "She immediately filed for divorce to her father and ran away with her girlfriend."

I also narrated my lonely story to her and spoke about Barry too, and we had a pretty good time.

"Do you wanna go take a walk or something? It's pretty noisy here and I can show you around too." She suggested after we both were sure we were already pretty comfortable with each other. It was also a reaction to the other girls creating noise pollution downstairs and upstairs.

I nodded. "Sure," before quickly adding, "If we are allowed to go out at this moment?"

"It's college, girl! Not high school so more freedom. Don't worry." She assured me, smiling, before getting up and taking me to our walk cum tour.

People say that if you make a friend on your first day of school or college, you can consider yourself fortunate. I guess I could also consider myself fortunate because she clearly gave me sweet and kind vibes. I didn't trust people easily, and I still didn't but being simple friends until I was sure about trusting her wouldn't hurt anybody.

Besides, I wasn't looking forward to a college where the experiences would be the same as high school. I was ready to change a bit. And as for her, sure she had a scary face and I thought we wouldn't get along but well, I was starting to think I was kinda wrong.

I guess you shouldn't judge so fast because the worst could turn out to be one of the best and the best could turn out to be one of the worst.