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“We are now standing in front of the Roger Milliken Science Center. This is where all of the laboratories are located, as well as the majority of science classes. The first floor houses the physics department. The east end of the second floor has all of the biology classes and labs, and the west end is where all the psychology classes are located. The third floor is for the chemistry department,” Kandi explained. She was giving yet another tour of the campus to a group of incoming freshman. Even though the words she was saying bored her to death, she still managed to sell the college to the parents with the enthusiastic smile plastered on her face.

Kandi could remember when, not long ago, she had been in their shoes. She had fallen in love with Wofford College after first visiting it when she’d been accepted. It was only the spring semester of her freshman year, and that love had already begun to fade.

Today she was the face of Wofford College, but how could she convince anyone to want to go there if she didn’t want to go there herself?

“Does your school get a lot of science majors?” one of the mothers asked, that same frantic look on her face as every other mother Kandi had seen on the tours. The mothers were pretty psychotic when it came to their children’s educations, but Kandi couldn’t blame them. If she were paying the forty thousand dollars a year for tuition, she’d want to make sure it was worth it too.

“Actually, over fifty percent of our students major in biology. I’m a bio major myself, I plan on going pre-med,” she smiled. The mother seemed satisfied enough with her answer.

Kandi pulled open one of the four glass doors leading into the science building and held it open as the group gathered inside.

“This is Great Oaks Hall, the main study hall in Milliken,” she said, pointing to her left. “And this is Acorn Café.”

She led the group into the small, dimly lit café and let them all take a seat. A few of the moms went to get coffee, and Kandi joined them, taking a place at the end of the line. A couple of the women made small talk with her, throwing the typical college questions at her: what percent of students got accepted into graduate school, what was the average GPA, what would the college do after graduation to help ensure their children's success later in life.

Kandi successfully answered their questions, but she couldn't help but get a little distracted when a certain fair-skinned boy entered the room...

Logan joined his friend Kendall, who was sitting at a table near the corner of the room. He had been chatting with some girl for the last half hour of the tour, leaving Logan to entertain himself. His other friends, James and Carlos, had ditched the tour ten minutes in to chase down some girl they’d spotted. He figured they were lost somewhere on campus by now; no self-respecting college girl would hook up with a high school senior, even if that senior was James.

Logan took one of the empty chairs across from Kendall. “Hey, what’s up?”

“Nothing much. Hey Logan, this is Genevieve, she’s really cool,” Kendall said, waving towards the girl beside him. “Genevieve, this is my buddy Logan.”

“Hey,” they both muttered at the same time, reaching awkwardly across the table to shake hands.

“So this is the place you want to go? Seems like a bunch of preppy rich people to me,” Kendall sighed as his fingers traced circles on the tabletop.

“Yes Kendall, this is the place I want to go. I feel like I could really do something with my life at a place like this."

“Okay, it’s your call. You know I trust your judgment, Logan. If you say this is a good school, then it’s a good school,” Kendall replied as he folded his arms behind his head.

Their tour guide, Kandi, walked over to their table and took the empty chair beside Logan.

“Hey guys, how’s it going? I’m Kandi,” she grinned, tossing her long brown curls over her back as she spoke.

“I’m Logan,” Logan replied, offering her his hand. “This is Kendall, and this is Genevieve.”

Kandi quickly shook his hand. “Genevieve? Genevieve Caulfield?”

Genevieve twirled a strand on strawberry blonde hair around her finger. “Yep, that’s me.”

Kandi’s big brown eyes lit up. “You’re actually my shadow for the Night and Day! You’ll be rooming with me this weekend and going to class with me tomorrow.”

“Awesome.” Genevieve faintly smiled at the older girl, though she silently wondered to herself why she got paired with such a bubbly and outgoing girl.

“Oh and by the way,” Kandi whispered leaning in so the parents around her couldn’t hear, “don’t believe a single word I say. It’s all bullshit. We don’t study because we don’t need to study, and we start our weekends on Thursday night at the Row. Don’t worry, you guys are all going get to go to the Row this weekend.”

“So,” her voice adjusted back to its normal pitch, “have you guys decided what school you’re going to yet?”

“Well,” Kendall glanced quickly at Genevieve before turning back to Kandi, “we all got accepted here. Logan is going for sure, I’m still undecided, and I can’t speak for her.”

“Oh I’m coming here next year,” Genevieve replied, discreetly jabbing Kendall in the ribs with her elbow.

“Great! This is a really good school.”

Kandi quickly left the table and stood at the center of the café area, trying to get everyone’s attention.

“Okay, so in case you don’t already know, the Night and Day is a program at Wofford in which prospective students come and spend the night in the dorms with an upper classman and then attend class with that student the following day. I understand that this group will actually be staying here until Sunday morning, which is really neat. I have a list of which prospectives will be paired with each student, so if you need help, feel free to ask. I’m pretty sure all of the students are out in the courtyard waiting for me to turn you guys loose,” she laughed.

As the crowd began to disperse, Kandi leaned against the café’s conter, watching all the nervous faces as they left to find their mentors. Kandi looked up and smiled when she saw Genevieve walk over towards her. Kendall and Logan weren’t far behind.

“So I’m ready to have the college experience,” the girl laughed as her thumbs tugged at the belt loops of her jeans. Kandi noticed the white Jack’s Mannequin shirt she was wearing. It reminded her of herself before this place had changed her. Genevieve actually reminded Kandi a lot of her younger self: same fair skin, same face full of freckles.

“You like Jack’s Mannequin?”

Genevieve nodded, her eyes darting around the room.

“Sweet. I actually saw them play at the beach last summer. It was one of the best shows I’d ever been to,” Kandi gushed, her mind wandering back to that night.

Genevieve couldn’t stop the grin from spreading across her face; maybe her mentor wasn’t a perky bitch after all.

“Hey Kandi, do you happen to know who Thomas is?” Kendall asked. Logan was standing sort of behind him, obviously too shy to ask her himself.

“Yeah, I actually do. Thomas is the one over there with the brown hair in the green polo shirt. He’s kinda sorta my boyfriend.”

Kandi couldn’t keep from smiling at the mention of Thomas.