A/N: Hai. c: So. This is weird. I'm like really late to this fandom (you can't really blame me though I was too young for this kind of TV when this show was actually on lol...) but I've realized that people still post fanfics for Spashley (because Spashley is fucking perfect I mean let's be real) so I was like AY why not!

So here I am trying not to be an awkward weirdo! I started watching South of Nowhere ummm last week/the week before. Hahah. It's not like it takes forever to watch. So I watched it all and I've been reading so much Spashley fanfic bc I can't handle how perfect this ship is and so... I was like ay might as well write some. So I basically word vomited up three chapters since yesterday and since I just ended my Quinntana fanfic, I was like why not post it now? :P

OMG ! SORRY! I didn't introduce myself ;P I'm Tana! I'm a weirdo. I'm kinda crazy. Heh. Yeah. I talk a lot.

Umm... *casually can't remember what I usually write in my first A/Ns* Well this is awk... Ima just talk about how I write. Yeah. That's sounds right.

Italics are thoughts unless they're mentioned as being a flashback or a dream etc etc..

Bold is for texts and emails and such things will be indicated before they occur.

I give shoutouts to ever 50th reviewer on my stories :) Yay for shoutouts :) I love reviews but I don't update based on reviews, I update when I have time and inspiration and that's that :) Hopefully that will be often c:

I've got 3 other WIP stories up at the moment - WAYF (Emison), Our Beginning (Hollstein), and Molihua (Clexa)... I also have 2 of my stories currently being translated and posted in French :P Woohoo c: So if you enjoy this, feel free to check more of my stuff out :)

Alrighty...

Disclaimer: Um I obvs don't own South Of Nowhere bc I was like 7 when it was on. XD

PLEASE enjoy, favorite, follow and REVIEW! :D


College is weird.

That's all that Spencer Carlin could think about as her dad parked her Toyota Corolla in the parking lot that was spread just down the street from Hedrick Summit – her new home for the year. To say that she was nervous was an understatement. Coming from her small town in Ohio, Los Angeles was overwhelming. Actually, it would be overwhelming for her to visit, but she was going to live in the middle of it, going to school at UCLA and living on the campus with two total strangers in a triple room.

"Are you ready to lug all your stuff up there?" Arthur Carlin questioned, giving Spencer one of his wide smiles that indicated how proud he was that she was here. He had always known that Spencer wasn't interested in staying in Ohio forever, and he had been overjoyed when she had gotten accepted to UCLA. Her mom, not so much, but Spencer hadn't let that stop her from pursuing her journalism dreams at the school that she had always dreamed of going to.

"Guess so," Spencer answered. "I guess there's no delaying the inevitable."

"Oh come on, Spence! What happened to the excitement when we hit the road?" her father demanded, still sounding joyful as ever. Spencer pursed her lips in a thin smile and shrugged.

"I guess I'm just nervous, that's all." Her eyes flickered back to the building down the street, where freshmen were lugging all sorts of boxes and suitcases in through the front doors. Move in day. Hooray.

Arthur smiled again and shook his head. "You've got nothing to be worried about, sweetie. You're going to breeze through college, trust me. If you're anything like me – and we both know that you are – then everything will be fine. You'll love it here."

Smiling a weak smile, Spencer held her breath and opened her car door. Immediately, the noise of the moving in freshmen filled her ears, and she exhaled deeply. She would learn to love the crazy, she hoped.

Hedrick Summit looked nice, even from right down the street. She could see how the residential connected to the other parts of the building. Hedrick Hall was just across the street from the parking lot. She couldn't recall where most of her classes were in comparison to the dorms, but she figured that she would have plenty of time to figure that out over the move in weekend. The letter sent by the admissions office had suggested that students move in on the first day of the move in weekend, and Spencer was glad that she had decided to do just that, because it seemed like everyone was already here.

She suddenly became aware of her dad closing the back of her small car, her bags piled up on the ground around him. The rooms came mostly furnished, so Spencer hadn't bothered bringing any furniture or anything. In fact, she had basically brought the bare minimum. "Why don't you grab one of them and I'll morph into the Hulk and carry the rest?"

Spencer rolled her eyes at her dad and gave a fake laugh. "So funny, dad. I didn't bring that much stuff. Do you see those people?" Her gaze dragged over to the entrance of the residential again. "They're carrying a lot more than I have."

"Well, sucks if they're on the ninth floor then, huh?" Arthur joked, still smiling a goofy smile.

"Not much better than floor seven," Spencer reminded him, grabbing two of her bags and leaving her dad with the other two. "C'mon, I don't want to make you miss your flight."

"Alright, alright," Arthur said, becoming slightly more serious as he grabbed the other bags and began to follow his daughter toward the building. Spencer felt slightly out of place as she noticed how diverse everyone around her was. Ohio wasn't like that. Sure, there were definitely people who stuck out, but most people weren't incredibly obvious about it. It just wasn't like this place, where nobody seemed to care. She liked it, but she still felt new to it all.

"I'm sorry that you had to drive me all the way out here only to take a plane back," Spencer apologized for probably the fifth time since they left Ohio the previous morning at an ungodly hour. They had stopped at a small hotel on the way, only to sleep for a few hours, but Spencer needed her car in LA, so there wasn't much of a choice.

"It's fine, Spencer," her dad insisted. "We still have miles saved up from your mom going to that training session in Seattle last year, remember?"

Spencer nodded that she did, and then she braced herself as she and her dad joined the crowd of people entering the Hedrick Summit grounds. Inside, most people were heading straight to their rooms, clearly having already done their required checking in. Spencer, however, went to the front desk, where a woman was typing vigorously behind the screen of a computer. "How can I help?" the woman asked, not even looking up from her computer.

"Um, Spencer Carlin. I need to get to my room," Spencer answered, trying not to feel so nervous.

Clicking a few things on the screen and then typing in a series of characters that were likely Spencer's name, the woman nodded slowly. "You're on the seventh floor." Spencer nodded, having already known that she would likely end up on that floor from when she signed up for the living space. "Room 715. Triple room. One of your roommates has checked in, the other hasn't." The woman produced a key from a plastic box sitting next to the computer, and slid it across the desk. "If you have any questions, just call or come down."

"Thank you," Spencer said, feeling herself get less tense as her hand closed around the cold metal key. She stepped away from the front desk and went for the crowded elevator, her dad on her heels.

She found her room pretty easily and, upon entering, realized that her roommate wasn't in the room yet. However, the third of the room that was half unpacked led Spencer to believe that the girl had just run back downstairs to grab another bag or something.

Choosing the second third of the room, which was the middle of the room really, Spencer tossed her bags down. Her dad followed suit, although placing the bags more gently on the ground. Spencer turned to him and realized that he wasn't looking near as chipper as he had been down in the parking lot. "What's wrong?" she asked him.

"Nothing's wrong," he answered. "It's just sad to see my baby girl growing up."

Spencer smiled warmly at her dad and stepped forward. "Dad, like you said, I'm going to be fine, and I'll love it here. But trust me when I say that I can take care of myself."

"Trust me, I know," Arthur insisted, smiling. "Well, if you don't need my help now, I guess I'll go. I learned from Glen going off to college – it's easier to leave as soon as possible."

"Please, dad, Glen doesn't count. You drove him half an hour and left him so quickly because he was making fart noises with his new roommate, remember?" Spencer reminded him, laughing a light laugh.

"True," he said. "And now I'm going to have to rush leave in order to make my flight. You going to be okay?"

Spencer nodded. "Bye, dad," she said, leaning forward and embracing him in a tight hug.

"Don't grow up too fast. As in, don't you dare get so drunk that you can't remember anything," her dad advised, narrowing his eyes. Spencer laughed and pulled out of the hug.

"Call me when you land in Ohio, okay?" she requested.

"Of course, honey," he agreed. "I'll get out of your way now. Call your mom when you get the chance, okay?"

"Sure," Spencer said, and then her dad was gone. It was like ripping off a band-aid, she guessed. Exhaling slowly, she finally looked around the room. She had a small dresser next to her bed, in between her bed and the one that had not yet been claimed by her second roommate – the dresser for that bed was between it and the wall. She also had a shelf above her twin sized bed that would hold books or other small things, and a small night stand on the right side of her bed. In between the wall and the left side of her bed was a wide window that let in the sunny light of Los Angeles. Across the room against the wall was the already claimed bed, another dresser, and another shelf. Next to that was the door that her dad had just disappeared through. On the far wall – the same one that hosted the third bed's dresser – was the door that likely led to the bathroom.

There was a space on the wall in between the bathroom and the entrance for a TV – she could tell because of the weird wire hookups on the wall – but she figured that would have to be something she and her roommates decided to get. She smiled as she scanned over the space again. It wasn't huge, but it wasn't too tiny. And hopefully, she would like her roommates enough to learn to love this space and look at it like it was home.

Crouching in front of her dresser, Spencer began to – as neatly as possible – shove her clothes into the drawers.

She was halfway done doing so when the door behind her opened and she heard feet shuffling in. "I can't see anything, Madison," a voice growled. "Why did you give me this big ass box? Actually, why the fuck did you need to fit anything in a box? You live like thirty minutes away from here and you couldn't leave a single precious thing behind?"

"It's important, ugh," another voice – Madison? – answered, sounding offended. "Just put it down, gosh."

Spencer stood up from where she'd been squatted in front of her dresser, and turned to face two girls. One was placing a rather large box on the bed that had already been claimed, and the girl behind her was setting down a small bag.

"That's all of it anyway," the second girl said, smiling like she was pleased with herself. Finally, she noticed Spencer standing there. "Oh, hi! I'm Madison!"

Spencer gave a small smile. "Spencer. Nice to meet you."

"Did you just get here?" Madison asked. "Because for all I know, you could've gotten here like an hour ago, what with how slowly my friend here likes to walk."

"I was carrying your fucking big box!" the other girl exclaimed, having already set down the box. She was faced toward Spencer now as well. "Whatever, next time you want someone to move your shit for you, go fetch one of your boy toys."

"Hey, I'm just messing with you," Madison said, laughing and shaking her head. "I'm not a bitch anymore, remember?"

"Could've fooled me," the girl muttered.

"Sorry, Spencer! This is Ashley," Madison introduced lamely, rolling her eyes.

"Hi," Spencer said, trying not to laugh at how pissed Ashley looked. Her face was slim and framed by beautiful dark hair. Something about her made Spencer hardly able to pull her eyes away from her. "Do you live in the building?"

"No, thank god," Ashley answered. "I couldn't handle living that close to this bitch. I live in one of the singles in Rieber Vista."

"How'd you get to living in a single?" Spencer asked, gaping at the brunette. There were about two hundred in the Hedrick residential, but there were only about seventy in the Rieber residential. Ashley smirked – a look that peeked Spencer's interest – and shrugged.

"Trust me, I've been here and done this," Ashley stated, gesturing to the room around her. "Last year."

"You're a sophomore?" Spencer asked, tilting her head.

"She is, which is why she so graciously helped me moving my stuff," Madison stated. Spencer blinked, realizing that she had barely even remembered that Madison had been standing there in the few words she'd just exchanged with Ashley. That was rude... "Now, Ash, unless you're going to help me unpack..."

"Nope! I'm out!" Ashley exclaimed, pushing past Madison and toward the door. She hesitated before leaving though, and looked over her shoulder at Spencer. Smiling a wide smile and winking at the blonde, she added, "Bye, Spencer."

Madison rolled her eyes as she closed the door behind Ashley. "Sorry, she's crazy."

Spencer shrugged, realizing that her cheeks were slightly pinked by the wink sent to her from a really attractive girl. "She seems nice."

"Mm," Madison hummed. "So, any word on our other roommate?"

"Nope," Spencer answered. "Are you from here? LA, I mean?"

"Yep," Madison answered. "Born and raised. What about you?"

"Ohio," Spencer admitted, crouching back down in front of her dresser again to continue unpacking her clothes. She heard Madison opening the big box on her bed.

"Wow, really? You came all the way out here?" Madison wondered. "That's a pretty big change. Do you have family here or something?"

Spencer shook her head, even if Madison couldn't see. "Nope. I hated Ohio, though. I needed to get away from it, and from my overbearing mother. Plus, I've always dreamed of majoring in journalism at UCLA."

"So journalism is your thing," Madison commented. "That's cool. I'm into design, though I'm not sure what kind exactly."

Spencer cleared her throat a little bit. "What is Ashley majoring in?"

"She's in the music program," Madison answered. "Wants to be a big big singer, you know?"

"That's cool. So is design. I've never really considered much else besides journalism, though," Spencer admitted.

"Must be nice to know what you want," Madison commented. "I switched plans like fifteen times in high school. The only reason I even settled on anything here is because Ashley sat me down for a good three hours and walked me through each major at UCLA."

"Wow," Spencer commented, snickering a little. "Well, at least you picked something."

Before Madison could say anything in response, the door to the room opened to reveal a blonde girl donning three bags slung around her in weird ways. "Hi!" she exclaimed as she entered the room. "I'm Kate."

"Hey," Madison responded, glancing over her shoulder. "I'm Madison."

"Spencer," Spencer added in introduction. Then, the two of them went back to unpacking, tension for some reason increasing as Kate dumped her bags on her bed.

"Well, I'll see you guys later!"

"You're not even going to unpack?" Madison questioned, giving Kate a weird look.

"Nah," Kate answered. "I'll do that tomorrow. I'd rather go check out the people – err, the campus." Spencer raised her eyebrows slightly as she kept her eyes trained on her hands as they folded her clothes into semi-neat squares.

Spencer heard the other girl leave, and then she looked over her shoulder at Madison, and they both busted out into laughter at their roommate. "Damn," Madison said, amused. "You know, Spencer, I think that you and I will be good friends."

Spencer smiled, because she could already picture her upcoming year, and the image in her head was nothing like the hell that it definitely could be.


Brief and sorta just an introductory thing... But omg I wanna go to UCLA so bad. Every time I go to write thing I have the UCLA map open so that I can get everything as accurate as possible. You'll see what I mean in the next chapter c: I don't want to rush this story too much, but I'm not in the mood to write a story that drags out a lot (my Clexa fic is already sorta doing that), so there will be Spashley pretty quickly :)

I hope that this beginning at least peaks your interest :) Thanks for reading lovelies :)

Update will probably be tomorrow or Saturday :) *hearts* Please review your thoughts! :D