Late in August, a day anticipated by many young high school graduates dawned hot and sticky. Formerly abandoned dorms were swarming with students, most of those in Crawford Hall fresh faces. One of the hundreds of new freshmen timidly approached Room 266. The door was open. Inside she could hear a girl singing, "And stay away from Juuu-lie-e-et!" She peeked in.

"Is that Celine?" asked her mom. The girl hanging her filmy green closet curtain turned to face them with an inquisitive smile. "Hi, Kortney?"

"Yeah. You're Celine?"

"Yeah! It's so great to meet you." Celine held out her arms and gave Kortney a hug. Kortney's mom was right there to hug Celine as soon as they let go.

"I'm sorry I couldn't make it to NSR," Kortney apologized.

"Oh, no, I totally understand. Come in! They dropped off all your stuff already. I've been trying to move my stuff to make space for it."

Kortney looked around: at her new bed groaning beneath her essential possessions, the tiny half of the closet where she was supposed to put them all, the Clorox-scented sink over which she would brush her teeth for the next year, and the stained floor tiles and gritty carpet she would walk on.

"Do you need help unpacking?" asked her mom.

"I don't think so. We may need you to help bunk the beds, though."

"Do you want the beds bunked?" asked Celine, looking up from her suitcase.

"Won't we need to?"

"Actually, some girls down the hall have their room set up really cute without doing that. It's because they have the smaller-sized furniture like we do. The girls with bigger furniture have to bunk or loft, but I know how we can arrange our room and still have lots of space."

Kortney's mom stayed to help tug beds and desks around until the room was arranged to Celine's satisfaction. After one more motherly goodbye hug, the girls were alone. Celine jumped up on her bed. "Wow, this is so exciting! I think I need a break. Do you want some Pringles?"

Kortney looked at the can. They were low-fat. "No thanks."

Celine munched away as she slid her thumb around on her smartphone. Kortney opened her suitcase and began laying out clothes to hang up. Celine's half of the closet space was bulging, and things were hanging out of her dresser drawers. Kortney had just enough to fill her closet and maybe her nightstand. The flatscreen TV, mini fridge, and Wii were all Celine's, whereas Kortney had felt tech-savvy just for bringing the microwave and (rather cheap) iPod speaker. She wondered how soon Celine would be trading her in for an equally well-off and flashy roommate.

With most of her things arranged, Kortney decided to take a break herself and reached for her wallet to get a VitaminWater from the vending machines downstairs. She glimpsed a pipe-covered brick wall out the window.

"Huh." She leaned over Celine's bed for a better view. "What's that building?"

"That's the freshmen boys' dorm."

Kortney stretched her neck as far as she could in both directions without banging into the glass. Finally she got the bright idea to open the window. The heat was immediately oppressive, but the air was stirring enough to make her position pleasant. She saw that her room was at the end of the wing. There was a boys' first-floor window right across from her second-story one. A cluster of girls passed by in the hall, chattering merrily. Kortney waited until they were gone before she went for her drink.


The introductory programs passed in a slow blur. Kortney was impatient for all of the mixers to be over so she could be spared the trial of socializing, but Celine shone at such gatherings. She already knew most of the girls on their floor and was planning a night out with them. She was kind to Kortney, but they both knew they would never be spending their weekends together.

Then there was an unexpected bright spot in the hall dinner: the girl across from Kortney. Her name was Noelle. They hit it off right away. Noelle introduced Kortney to her roommate Tiffany, and Kortney thought she would probably be more at home in their room than in her own (especially now that Celine kept inviting gaggles of cool girls over).

That night their group played a silly charades game in which each person had to act out his major while the others tried to guess it. The two Undecided majors had it easy. They shrugged. Kortney pointed to an imaginary blackboard behind her, pretended to read from a book, and stopped to call on someone in the distance.

"Education," said a boy. Kortney nodded.

"Do you know your emphasis?" asked a leader.

"Yeah, it's—"

"Don't tell us! You have to act that out too."

Kortney held up her hands like she was reading a book.

"Reading."

"Bible."

"It's like reading," Kortney offered.

"English," said a girl.

"Yes."

"Your turn," the leader told the girl. She got up and held her hands like Kortney had done.

"English education," said Kortney.

"Just English." The girl sat back down by her. "What's your name?"

"Kortney."

"I'm Rayne. We'll probably have the same professors."

A psych major got up and started trying to act. Kortney looked around. In the group next to theirs, a guy was busy making athletic gyrations.

"Sports!" yelled his group members.

He flipped his hand to say "sort of" and made more exaggerated movements with his joints.

"Anatomy," Kortney thought.

"Biology!"

"Close enough," he said to the person who guessed. "Kinesiology."

"Do you want to be a personal trainer, or a coach, or a gym teacher, or what?" asked his leader's perky assistant.

"Coach, probably."

"What do you want to coach?"

"Soccer."

"Do you play?"

"Yep."

"Any other sports?"

"No, but I'm in the drumline."

"Ooo, then you'll be in Tigerblast! That's my favorite part of Tunes."

"Yeah. We've already started practicing."

"Y'all, you have to go to Tiger Tunes. Get your tickets as fast as you can, cause they go quick," advised the girl. "And don't go on Thursday night."

"Oh, no," agreed the leader. He pointed to another kid. "Next. Show us your acting."

After bidding Rayne good night, Kortney went to bed more comforted than she had been since she arrived. There were three new numbers in her cell phone, all belonging to potential friends, and registration was soon. Only four more days until classes started.