My Last Semester

Gabby despised the beginning of the spring semester. She was Puerto Rican and had that island blood so she was practically freezing in any weather that was below 75 degrees. Why she had decided to stay and attend college in Massachusetts she would never know. New England winters were known for being very long and very cold with unpredictable weather. To make things worse, the campus was designed as a wind tunnel so it was even colder up where she attended college. But now it was the ending of the spring semester and everything on campus seemed to be alive. The birds were chirping, the geese came back, students were studying by the lake and playing volleyball on the quad again. Yeah finals were coming up but Gabby couldn’t study when the weather was so nice, hell no she was going to enjoy every second that she could.

“Hey Jess, I’m going out boarding for a bit, do you need anything?” There was no response. Gabby looked up and saw that her roommate was on her laptop but had the headphones in. Gabby grabbed a pillow and threw it at her roommate. Jess jumped a little and squealed.

“What the fuck did you do that for!” her roommate yelled, as she took off her headphones.

“Because I wanted to tell you I was leaving.” Jess rolled her eyes.

“You didn’t have to throw a pillow at me though geez.” Gabby scoffed. She had known her roommate since September and it was now April. She knew her roommate long enough to know that she was practically deaf. Hell Gabby learned that the first day they had met.

“Well get over it.” Gabby pulled a black sweater on over her Ramones t shirt and tied the laces to her vans.

“Hey Gab, you should totally wear those pants tonight, your ass looks hot.” Gabby blushed. She was always very self conscious about her body. At 5’7 she was on the taller side, but she was very slender and was often self conscious about that. She thought she was too thin but for the life of her she couldn’t gain weight like everyone else. She ate and ate but felt that she was always the same size. Her friends and family all thought she was ridiculous for being self conscious but she couldn’t help it.

“Jess I don’t have any butt or shape to myself and you know it. And what’s going on tonight anyway? Finals are coming up and we have to study.”

“Yeah so we study for a bit today and all day tomorrow… but we have to take a break sometime right? It just so happens that our break will start tonight at 10 and will go over night and will involve vodka… lots and lots of vodka.”

“Jess you know I don’t do parties. It’s just not my scene.”

“Yeah but you promised to come to one party with me before the semester ends, and guess what babe, it’s ending in 2 weeks. This is spring weekend you have to go out.” Gabby opened her mouth to say something but Jess cut her off. “Come on Gab, it’s our last free weekend together and you promised. Please come?” Gabby tried not to look at Jess. She knew the words were true. Over the past few months Jess had become like a sister to Gabby and she didn’t ask for much. After all the help she gave Gabby, going out was the least she could do. Gabby sighed.

“Alright Jess I’ll go.” Jessica squealed with delight and clapped her hands.

“Yes! And I’m gonna pick out your clothes too. There’s no way in hell I’m letting you wear any band shirts or ripped jeans tonight. We don’t wanna scare the guys off.” Gabby rolled her eyes and picked up her skateboard, looked at herself in the mirror and pulled her wavy hair into a messy bun. She stuck her tongue out at Jess and left their room. As she walked towards the elevator she heard Jess yell, “Your ass still looks good in those jeans!” Gabby couldn’t help but smile at that remark. Jess was a pain in the ass but she was the most caring person Gabby had ever met.

She put her headphones in and waited for the elevator to reach her floor. Gabby scrolled through her music. What shall I listen to today she thought to herself. She was in the mood for some A Day To Remember and put them on shuffle. All Signs Point to Lauderdale came on just as the elevator opened. Two guys were already in it and at first glance she could already tell they were athletes. She hated athletes. At her school all the athletes were given special privileges and had a high status. It was sickening the way the school singled them out and catered to them. But her college was really famous for their basketball team. If the campus was Mount Olympus, the men’s basketball team would be the equivalent of Zeus. And what’s more the players themselves believed they were gods. They walked around with their heads held high, strolled into class over twenty minutes late, and were known for being man whores basically. She didn’t care how talented they were or how many followers on twitter they had, it was no excuse for being an asshole. She recognized one of the athletes and of course he was a basketball player. His name was Terry and he lived a few floors above her. On the second week of the fall semester he had asked for her number without even asking for her name first and the first sentence that came out of his mouth was, “I play basketball.” She shot him down right away and ever since then he was always awkward around her. She stepped into the elevator without saying a word and focused on the song. I hate this town it’s so washed up and all my friends don’t give a fuck. The elevator reached the lobby and she practically sprinted out of the building and into the sunshine, and into freedom.

Gabby jumped onto her board and finally felt relaxed. She had been too busy to board that week and it had started to take a toll on her. She felt anxious all the time and her mind was going a thousand miles a minute. She enjoyed going to school and learning but she never felt like she fit in. She had a handful of friends because everyone at school just seemed so superficial or fake. There was a lot of rich kids who looked down at people who had less than themselves, there was some racist people she had encountered and the people who were nice to your face but used you and only cared if you could benefit them. Then of course the preppy kids didn't wanna hang out with a "punk" chick like her. Sometimes it was like high school all over again. She loved to board so that she could view the beautiful side to campus, the peaceful side of campus life. The wind felt cool and relaxing as it whipped through her dark hair and caressed her face.

She wove in and out of crowds with such stealth and grace. Unlike a lot of the people who boarded on campus, she actually knew what she was doing. She had been boarding since she was five and had even won some skate competitions when she was a young teen. But it was something she did for fun; she wasn’t really interested in competing. The sun had started to set and she groaned, knowing she had to get back before the dinning halls closed for the day. As she made her way back to her dorm a bus passed her on the road. Gabby heard a phone ring and realized it was hers, it was her best friend Kiara. She slid the answer button and took the call.

“Hello?” she said.

“Hey, wanna get dinner in a bit? I’m on the bus now.” Gabby could hear lots of talking in the background.

“Yeah sure, are you on red line?”

“Mhm we just passed the U so we should be back at Hilltop in about 5 minutes.” Gabby looked up at the street towards the direction of the Union. Sure enough Red Line was making it’s way down the street.

“Gabby guess who just got on the bus” Kiara’s voice was filled with excitement. There were only a few people on campus that Kiara would ever be excited about seeing.

“Lemme guess, a basketball player?”

“Mhmmm today it’s Giff. Oh god he’s looking fine today. Don’t you dare roll your eyes Gabby, you know he’s a hottie.” Gabby laughed. Her friend knew her so well. Giff was on the men’s basketball team. He was from Germany and pretty quiet. Gabby hated to admit it but he was pretty hot, and even though no one knew much about him
she figured he was an arrogant asshole like the rest of the team.

“Kiara don’t feed into that mentality everyone has on this campus. They treat the athletes like they’re above everyone else. He’s just a guy.” Gabby didn’t know how many times she had this conversation with her friend. At this point she made her way back towards the bus stop she knew Kiara would get off at.

“But I can’t help it he’s sooooo cute. They all are!”

“There really is no hope for you is there Kiara. I’ll see ya at the bus stop.” And with that she hung up the phone slightly annoyed by her friend. She didn’t believe in encouraging any of the basketball players. As she walked towards the bus stop she saw the Red Line drive right past her. Shit she thought to herself. She had wanted to beat it. She jumped on her board and skated down the hill. The wind was on her side today and thankful there was no one on the sidewalk. She kept up with the bus and saw her friend sitting near the window, which was open.

“Hey Bridgeport!” She yelled. That was a nickname she had for Kiara, who was from Bridgeport, Connecticut. Kiara was loud, diverse, and tough…just like the city was raised in.

“Don’t you have some rice to eat!” Kiara yelled at her from the window. Gabby burst out laughing. Being Puerto Rican she was subjected to many stereotypes, and eating rice and beans 24/7 was one of them. But with Kiara, who was African American, it was a joke made with good fun. Her friend was ridiculous. Gabby flipped off her friend and sped up. She passed the bus after it stopped at a stop sign. Gabby placed her hoodie on the bench at the bus stop. Just a week ago she had to wear her winter jacket still, needless to say the weather up there was bipolar to say the least. She got out her board and started to just play around with it. There were steps near the bus top that led to a dorm. She climbed the top of the steps, ignoring the weird looks people were giving her. She hopped on her boarded and grinded across the railing, landing on the pavement easily as if it was the simplest thing in the world, which for her it was. There were people around her clapping and they surrounded her asking her all kind of questions about how she did that and giving her compliments. Large crowds made her feel uncomfortable and she tried to get out of it to reach the bus stop where her sweater was. She was relived to find Kiara was already there and holding her sweater.

Kiara took a look at the crowd that was still looking at Gabby with awe and just knew what that meant. “You grinded across the big ass railing in front of Batterson again didn’t you.” Gabby just shrugged non chalantly.

“I have no clue what you’re talking about.” They tried to make their way through the crowd, which now consisted of people who had just gotten off the bus as well. They passed Giff who had been talking to his friend and lucky for Kiara didn’t notice her staring at him. Gabby never looked up and held her head high. When they finally reached the edge of the crowd she relaxed a little. Kiara turned to make one last look at the German hottie/basketball player but this time she saw him staring at Gabby’s back. His eyes roamed her tall and slender figure and he gave a little smile and turned away. What the fuck just happened. Kiara thought to herself as she and her friend made it to their building.
********************************

“Okay you are definitely wearing that! You look so hot right now holy shit!” Jess was putting the finishing touches on Gabby’s make up. How she managed to convince Gabby to let her pick out her clothes and do her make up, she’ll never know. She know how self conscious her roommate was about her body so she chose something less revealing, or as Gabby had put it, “I don’t wanna look like a typical college slut!” Jess smiled at how beautiful her friend looked. Gabby never dressed up. She usually wore very dark colors, and black band t shirts and ripped jeans with beat up chucks or vans. Gabby’s long dark waves were always messy and her eyeliner was usually smudged. Take one look at her and you immediately thought, “There’s a rocker chick.” Which was true, Gabby loved punk rock with all her heart. But she hid behind clothes that didn’t flatter her body at all. Jess thought her friend needed to do something different tonight so she pulled out her short black sleeveless dress with mesh cutouts on the side. Gabby was skeptical about putting it on. It was just out of her comfort zone, but after some coaxing…and yelling done by Jess she finally agreed to put the dress on. Now she looked at herself in the mirror, hardly recognizing the girl that stood in front of her. The dress came up about mid thigh and exposed her mile high legs that Jess, being only 5’1, would kill for. The sleeveless dress hugged her small chest nicely and the mesh cutouts contrasted nicely against her tan skin. Perks of being Latina Gabby thought, was having a tan all year round. The dress really clung to her and brought out her soft and subtle curves. No one could deny that for a slender person, she had some hips and now in this dress they were more prominent than ever. And with her black waves hanging loosely by her side and her dark eyeshadow, Gabby had to admit, she didn’t look half bad.

“Wait right here, I’m gonna get Kiara! She has to see this!” Jess bolted out of the room. Kiara lived just four doors down from them which was always awesome, but right now Gabby hated it. She didn’t want people making a big deal about this. She went to go put on her shoes. She smiled to herself when she thought of the look Jess gave her when she told her that if she wore the dress then she got to wear whatever shoes she wanted to. Heels is where she would draw the line. She slipped on her grey chucks to complete the outfit. Gabby wore sneakers all the time that she could probably wear them with a wedding dress and get away with it.

“HOLY SHIT WHO IS THIS CHICK!” Kiara’s voice rang throughout the whole room and probably throughout the entire building Gabby thought.

“Hi Kiara.” Gabby said flatly. She really hated all this attention she was getting. Kiara stepped into the room and took her friend’s hand, twirling her around. Gabby had to laugh, Kiara was always dramatic.

“You look so good right now! Why don’t you dress like that everyday?”

“Umm because I have dignity?”

“Don’t be a smart ass with me Gabrielle!” Gabby laughed and hugged her friend. Kiara was the straightest chick she knew and Gabby wouldn’t want her any other way.

“ I’m sad you’re not going. Who’s gonna be my side chick?” This would be the first party she went to without Kiara, and she was already feeling nervous. Kiara understood how out of place Gabby felt at parties, so she always made sure to include Gabby and not leaver her for too long. Besides they both hated dancing and liked to sit in the corner with a drink and laugh at the slutty girls, and the white guys who couldn’t dance to save their lives.

“You’ll be fine. Jess will be there.” Both girls looked up and found Jess putting condoms in her purses.

“Oh right what was I ever worried about” Gabby snapped at Kiara sarcastically. Kiara had a smug look on her face and just shrugged her shoulders before leaving the room. Yupp, this was gonna be a long night.