Moving In

Christopher:

Using my suitcase as a battering ram I knock open the door to our suite. “Hey guys. I’m here, the party can official start.”
Paul, Aaron, Vince, Doug, and Simon are all hanging around the lounge. “Chris,” they shout at my entrance.
“Welcome back man,” Doug says clapping me on the back in a quick hug.
“Which room’s mine?”
“That one,” Vince points toward the only bare door. The rest all have band posters, name tags, and other signs on them. “What did you bring to put on yours?”
I reach over my shoulder and tap the rolled up poster sticking out of my backpack. Vince pulls it out and unrolls it.
“Of course,” he laughs and then turns it around to show the guys. They all laugh too. “So who is it?”
“It’s Ronaldo.”
“Oh and look,” Paul takes the poster from Vince and points at the jersey, “he’s number seven too.” More laughing.
“Yeah yeah yeah,” I snatch the poster back, careful not to rip it. “Whatever, why don’t you guys go have band practice or something. Practice your covers since you can’t write any of your own songs.”
“Ooohh! We struck a nerve.” Simon steps forward and takes the suitcase out of my hands. “Here I’ll set this in your room.” He holds out his other hand and I swing the backpack off and hand it to him. “You got more stuff in the car?”
“Yeah.”
Vince and Doug grab either arm of mine and turn me toward the door. “Well let’s get it then.” I drop the poster and lead them out the door yelling over my shoulder to Simon, “keys are in the side pocket of the backpack.”

Jason:

It only took me one trip to get all of my things from Mr. Bell’s car to my room. I carried the two totes of clothes and my bag of books with my laptop in it. He carried my small box of food and CD’s.
“Thanks for the ride Mr. Bell, it means a lot.” I hold out my hand to him.
“Any time Jason. You just let us know if there’s anything you need.” He shakes my hand. “I mean it,” he gives me a knowing look. I hate asking Kelsey’s family for things. I hate having to ask anyone for something. “I almost forgot,” he reaches into his pocket. “Here’s a house warming present.”
Carefully I take the small square package from him. “You guys really shouldn’t have,” a small smile touches my face, “but thank you.”
He nods, “look after yourself.” With that Mr. Bell turns and walks out the door.
Going back to my desk I plop down in the chair and open the little package. Inside is a white gold pocket watch with the initials JB on it. Without realizing it a tear rolls down my cheek and splashes onto my thumb.

Shawn:

I lumber down the hallway looking for room 246.
“Here it is honey,” my mom calls from two doors up.
“Coming,” I shout from behind the three big boxes stacked one on top of the other that I’m carrying. “Here?” I ask.
“Yes here. The door is open.”
I set the boxes down just inside the door and then stand to survey the room. My mom is standing in front of the bed on the right side of the room already unfolding sheets to put on it. The middle of the room is occupied by two desks back to back, forming a kind of half wall between each side of the room. At the foot of my bed is a large wardrobe and at the end of my desk is a square three drawer dresser. The other side is set up the same but has decorations and two people standing on it.
“Hey, I’m Arthur.” Arthur gestures next to himself, “this is my mom.”
“Hi, I’m Shawn, and this is my mom.” My mom looks over from the bed and waves. Out of the corner of my eye I see a large shape on the wall between the two windows. When I turn my head to get a good look at it my mouth drops slightly. Catching the look on my face my mom follows my gaze to the giant bronze cross with Jesus on it that is hanging on the wall. Quickly I shut my mouth and try to look calm and unconcerned.
“Well sweetie I have to be going. It’s a long drive back home.” Arthur’s mom hugs him and then comes around the desks to shake my mom’s hand. “It was nice to meet you both,” she turns to shake mine and then steps passed me through the door.
“Shawn I should be going to. Why don’t you come get the last things from the car?”
“Yeah sure.” With difficulty I pull my eyes away from the cross and follow my mom out the door.
Back at the car I throw my backpack over my shoulders and reach to pick up the last box out of the trunk. “Are going to be ok.”
“I don’t know.”
“Well some Christians are ok with it you know. Maybe he will be.”
“Yeah maybe. I guess we’ll find out.”
Mom gives me an awkward hug around the box and kisses my cheek. “I love you Shawn. You just be you and everything will work itself out. Call me if you need to talk.”
“I will. Love you too.”

Danielle:

I wave after our car as my parents drive off down Faculty Road. Within about half a second a van pulls into their spot blocking my view. A girl with brown softly curled hair slides open the side door and climbs out from amongst the packed in boxes. As she steps out from the shadow of the van the sun lights up her hair giving it a red hue.
“Hey,” she says awkwardly.
I realize I’m in the way and back up from their van. “Hi. I’m Danielle. Um,” I shove my hands in my pockets, “can I help?”
She tilts her head like it was a strange question, “sure I guess.” She gives me a small smile. “Um, which one is Gilbert?”

Matilda:

Tami, Sandy, and I are standing outside Crosby on the path between Wilson and the end of Faculty Road.
“Look at all the freshmen,” Sandy points at one nerdy looking boy with big glasses and a printer box that keeps slipping out of his grasp, “haha, he can’t even hold it.”
“Well I’m bored already,” I turn to leave knowing they’ll both follow, “let’s go.”
“What are we gonna do?” Sandy bounces after Tami and I.
“Harry Potter marathon?” Tami asks with that sarcastic tone that only I can pick up on.
Sandy starts to skip ahead of us, “oh yeah let’s do that.”
“She was kidding Sandy,” she stops skipping and drops her chin to her chest. I slide my ID through the reader and then open the back door to Crosby. “What are we going to do?”

Getting Ready

Danielle:

I turn the music down on my player as my pace slows to a walk. Three Days Grace is rocking in my ears as I lean down on my knees and try to catch my breath. The wind died down half way through my run and now the air is warm and stagnant. A car drives by sending a short blast of a breeze by me. Sluggishly I stand and walk to the bright blue mailbox at the end of my driveway. Numbly my hands pull out the letters and magazines inside. With a resolute determination I sprint down my driveway, a good two hundred meters, and then collapse on the soft green grass next to the front steps.
Bayley comes over and with a slobbering tongue licks my cheek. “Ok ok,” I sit up quickly to keep her from licking me anymore, “I’m getting up.” Holding the mail in one hand, I scratch the big German shepherd behind the ears with my other. Man am I going to miss her when I go away. Like always when the thought of going to college comes up I get an overwhelming sense of excitement and nervousness. I bend over and give her a big kiss on the head, “I love you Bays,” then I trudge up the steps and into the mudroom. Carefully I kick off my shoes before going into the kitchen, where I plop the mail down on the table. Stepping left I grab the refrigerator handle and yank it open, smiling at the acceptance letter from the University of Rochester that is hanging on the door, and grab a bottle of Poland Spring water.

Christopher:

The Facebook homepage flashes on my screen right before I click the ‘new tab’ button. In the URL line I type ‘youtube.com’ and wait for that page to pop up. Then I search ‘university of rochester midnight ramblers’. Scrolling down just a little ways I click on the ‘I Write Sins Not Tragedies’ video and then flip back to my Facebook tab and sign in.
Quickly I zip through the news feed and then go to my profile page. In the ‘What’s on your mind?’ box I type ‘Headed back to the Rock in 5 days!’ and then click ‘Share’.

Matlida:

“Yeah I know I can’t wait,” my voice squeaks with glee. In five days I will be back at the U of R. I’ll get to see my roommate Tami and our friend Sandy, not to mention all the other crazy people we know that make living there a blast.
“Next week is going to be fucking awesome. Are you packing alcohol?”
“Of course I am. Tami do you know me at all?”
“Oh right. Well I was just checking Mattie.”
I tuck the phone into the crook of my neck so I can fold the shirt I’m holding. “What about you? Are you bringing any?”
“No. Unlike your mom my parents won’t buy me alcohol.”
“Haha, oh yeah that’s right.”
“Shut up.”
I lay the shirt in my suitcase and pick up another one. It’s royal blue with a small fist sized circle on the top right corner. In the circle is a tiger on its hind legs and going around the outside of the circle are the words ‘University of Rochester Shotokan Karate’.

Jason:

Kelsey and I are sitting out on the dock in front of her grandparents’ house. I have my pants rolled up to my knees and my feet dangling in the cold water. Her head is against my shoulder and my right hand is lightly holding her waist.
“I can’t believe you’re leaving next week,” she whispers.
I place my left hand on her legs which are lying across my lap. “I’m only going to Rochester. I’ll be home all the time to see you.”
“This year is going to be so different without you.”
“You’ll still hang out with Haley and Vicki. We never had class together anyway. Trust me, it won’t be that different.”
“But I won’t see you after school or after practice, and you won’t come over for Tuesday dinners, and no more late night AIM chats.”
“Who says we can’t AIM chat anymore?”
“You’ll be off partying or studying or something.”
“Kelse, look at me,” she tips her head and stares up into my eyes, “I love you.” Gently I kiss her forehead. “You are the most important thing in my life. You’re the reason I’m even going to college. You’re the reason I stuck around and even graduated from high school.”
Her fingers start to play with the collar of my shirt as she averts her eyes from mine. “What about the guys? You had soccer, you didn’t need me to stick around, you had a life worth staying for.”
I shake my head and take her hand in mine. “No, I really didn’t. What I had was an abusive drunk father and team mates who thought I was normal and happy.” A seagull flies overhead, casting a shadow across my legs in the water. I look out over the lake to the crowded shoreline opposite us. There are so many houses I can barely make out a single piece of green lawn. The calm breeze finds a burst of strength and flutters the bangs off of my forehead. “You’re my beautiful flower,” I whisper in her ear.
She smiles and softly sings back, “and you can count on me to carry you until you carry on.”

Shawn:

Standing in Zach’s driveway, I watch his red Escape drive away down the road. He’s off to Suffolk. Next week I’ll be leaving myself for Rochester NY. I’m scared to leave my small rural town and go to a city. Losing Zach is scary too, but it was a mutual decision. Trying to maintain a long distance relationship and deal with all of the new changes seemed too daunting. Still, standing here and watching him go, I’m starting to regret our decision. He means so much to me. Maybe that’s a bad thing though. It’s almost like dating him was starting to define who I was.
Zach’s brother Mikey looks up from my leg, which his little arms are wrapped around. “How long til he comes back Shawn?”
“I don’t know Mikey,” I go back to watching the Escape and whisper to myself, “I don’t know.”