Southern Comfort

We walked side by side through campus, the August air perfect as a warm breeze brushed across the street. Rory went on about some professor that she really liked here, and she knew I would like to. I was tuning her out though, examining the small details of the campus I'd be living on for the next four years.

It was exactly like I had expected a college to be. There were stone buildings, dorm buildings, students riding mopeds, cars illegally parked on the streets and students everywhere, some already drunk. Passing the male dorm building that was beside my res, Bek Hall, my eyes caught a group of guys in the front lawn playing tackle football.

"Who are they," I nodded towards the group as we passed, not catching any of their attention. From what I could see, they were all built and decently attractive. Someone I definitely wouldn't mind living next to for the rest of the year. Rory sighed, tugging on her short black cloth shorts, as if she were willing them to cover more of her tan legs.

"Those are the hockey players," she replied, keeping her head straight ahead. "They're bad news, Grace, you don't want to get mixed up with them," she advised, pursing her lips. I only nodded, recalling on a very distinct memory from Rory's freshman year of college.

"Come on, I know this great place on campus with the best sandwiches," she gushed, her mood changing drastically as she looped her arm through mine. I only got one last glance at the hockey players on the front lawn of Walsh before she pulled me completely out of sight. I should probably take my sisters advise on this one.

Rory knew what she was talking about. Her first year here in North Dakota, she was just like me. Scared of what was to come, afraid to be in a new place so far from where we call home. She was naive and didn't know any better. She got involved with a hockey player named Robbie Bina. Rory was one of those girls who fell in love before she could control herself. Robbie Bina ripped her heart out of her chest and walked away laughing.

I was a sophomore in high school then, I had school the next day when I got a phone call at two in the morning. Rory could hardly speak she was crying so hard. Robbie Bina had cheated on her in front of her face, claiming that he never knew they were official. Since then, Rory hated everything that had to do with hockey. And believe me, that was easy in Alabama where there was no hockey. But here, where hockey was the only thing that North Dakota had to offer, I knew it was harder for her.

Rory dragged me to some on campus cafe. She told me it had the best food in walking distance. I once again trusted her words, considering she lived in Bek her first year also.

"So, how was your summer?" She asked as she tossed a fry into her mouth.

Rory had stayed in Grand Forks for most of the summer to train for softball. At first, momma wasn't too happy about that, but she got over it eventually. Rory was home for a week during June, and then two in July, staying in Mobile with me for the fourth of July.

"It was okay," I nodded, swirling the straw around in my glass of soda, "Basically just hung out with everyone before I came to this place," I finished with a sigh. Rory laughed.

"Believe me, Gracie, this place will grow on you," she told me, gazing adoringly out the window. "These are the best days of your life, just remember that. The people you meet here will change your life forever."

Biting my lip, I nodded again, "Yeah, I hope," I agreed, imagining everything I could possibly do to have a normal college life, and to be the fun girl for once. If I wasn't so shy and nice, I can't even imagine how different my life would be. Rory sighed too, and suddenly, I was reminded of her.

Rory was everything I wanted to be. She had a million friends in every different clique in town. All of our elders loved her, thinking she was just the nicest, most charismatic person they've ever met. She could be respectable, but get down and dirty and drunk occasionally. All I knew how to do was be the perfect little girl that mommy and daddy always wanted.

"So when's your first class?" Rory wondered, changing the subject before we could get into it deeper. I thought for a moment, chewing on one of my own fries from my plate.

"Tomorrow at noon. Sociology with Professor Tiemann," I told her from memory. She nodded.

"I never took that class, but I've heard good things about Professor Tiemann," Rory told me in her sugar sweet voice. She flipped her long dirty blond hair from her face. "I'm off tomorrow," she bragged, sticking her tongue out at me teasingly. I laughed a bit.

"Mature," I commented, picking apart my sandwich that Rory insisted I ordered.

We ate in silence for a good while. It seemed like we were both lost in our own thoughts. It was times like these that I wish I could read people's minds, just so I could take a peek inside Rory's head. She was so deep into her own world as she played with her food, her empty as they were fixed on particularly nothing out the window.

I sighed, deciding that I was done with my meal, catching Rory's attention, pulling her from her own head. She let out a breath, before she took a drink.

"So did you meet your roommate yet?"

"Not yet," I answered, eying a girl across the cafe who had her elbows on the table. I sighed, shaking my head at her lack of respect and posture and turned back to my sister. "She'll probably arrive today, right? I mean, don't most classes start tomorrow?"

"I'd imagine. Ya'll will be great friends, so don't worry about that," Rory reassured me, sensing my nervousness about living with someone I've never met. I nodded in reply, hoping she was right.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As Rory said, my new roommate did show up later that day. I found out quick that her name is Elizabeth, but she goes by Ellie, and Tennessee is where her heart calls home. I knew, just by that, that we would get along perfectly.

She reminded me a lot of Rory, both looks and personality wise. She had waist long blond hair, and an hour glass shape that every girl dreamed of having. She was just shorter than me, coming in at five foot four. Her almond shaped hazel eyes, naturally tanned skin and high cheek bones were some of the traits that she was blessed with, and models paid to achieve. In other words, she was completely gorgeous.

Ellie, from what I could tell so far, was the kind of person to never hold anything back. If she had something she wanted to say, she was going to say it. I already knew that she was loud and outgoing, just like me, but on completely higher level. She was just what I needed to become the wild child like I dreamed of.

We had also met the girl from across the hall, who didn't have a roommate. Her name was Kadee, and she rocked raven black hair with a single bright pink streak in the bottom layer. She was spunky and totally different than anyone I had met back home in Alabama.

Kadee hailed from upstate California where stars are born. She's a fine arts major, specializing in musical theater and acting. She was the artsy type who mostly kept to herself and her books most of the time. But nevertheless, she was sweet, so I didn't see me having a problem with her in the near future.

The next day, I was woken around eleven. Everything in my dream started to shake, as if a massive earth quake was creating a crack in the foundation of the planet. I sat up with a gasp, only to bump heads with a smiling Ellie. She laughed loudly.

"Wake up! You have your first class in an hour," she said excitedly, jumping off of my bed and towards her desk, where her laptop was starting up.

I shook my head to myself in hopes to rattle my brain and bit and wake up. Swinging my legs off the side of the bed, I groaned, trying to figure out how the hell I slept in so late.

"How was your first class?" I asked, stretching my muscles.

"It was okay," she nodded, turning in her chair to look at me. "Typical, though. Really boring," she admitted, turning back to her computer as Windows started up.

Ellie had class at nine thirty every Monday, Tuesday and Friday. It made me thankful that I didn't have any classes this semester before eleven. I watched as she stifled a yawn. Sighing, I knew that was going to be me in class.

I left with fifteen minutes to spare before class officially started. I needed to be sure, even though Rory had shown me yesterday, that I had the right building and the right room. I refused to be one of those wondering freshmen with no idea where the hell they were going.

So I walked across campus in the warm afternoon. Some of the hockey players, though a much smaller group, were once again out on Walsh's lawn, this time tossing a neon yellow Frisbee around.

As my flip flops clicked against my heels, I prayed to the good lord that I was in the right building. Walking into the room, I sighed in relief as I read the white dry erase board at the front of the room reading my class and the professor's name.

I seated myself, as the board requested and pulled my laptop out. Killing the next ten minutes on Facebook, I waited patiently as more students began to file into the class and take their own seats. I couldn't tell who was a freshman and who were upperclassmen, though the way a lot of the students were acting gave it away quickly.

Four students in the front row looked around nervously, shifting awkwardly every few seconds. Freshmen. I could hear some boys behind me goofing off, talking loudly and laughing frequently. Upperclassmen.

Professor Tiemann stood from his chair and began to introduce himself and the course, Introduction to Sociology. After the first twenty minutes, I stopped trying my hardest to pay attention and once again lost myself in the world of Facebook.

The minutes ticked by slowly as the professor talked and talked about the first chapter that we were studying. We were informed that we were going to read a book written by one of his very good friends and we were going to meet said friend and autor before the semester was over.

I blocked him out and typed a long email to my mother, telling her how much I missed her and how college was going so far. I told her about my roommate, and my new friend across the hall and how I've never met someone like her in Mobile.

When I was done, there was only five minutes left in class. Bored, I turned my head to the side to look out the window at the sunny Grand Forks day. But my eyes caught something before they could reach the window.

A boy sat a few rows away, his head turning just as mine did. He had a mop of messy, dark brown, almost black hair that was just curling out at the ends and dark eyes. The boy wore sweatpants with the school's mascot and a hoodie that matched. He nodded a bit, acknowledging me with a smile before he turned back to the front.

Sighing, I looked away also and as soon as the professor dismissed the class, I was out of there, hoping to hurry back to my dorm to take a nap before my next class at three.