Five hundred pounds, it had to be at least five hundred pounds!

Beth wasn't sure how it was possible for clothes to be so heavy, but it turned out that the entire contents of her closet weren't as easy to carry as she'd thought. Giving up, she dropped the duffel bag to the ground and began kicking it along. A boy passing her in the hallway smirked at her struggle but made no attempt to help her.

"Asshole." She huffed out, finally arriving in front of her door. Except instead of entering she stood frozen, trying not to let the full extent of her nerves take over. This was what she had wanted so why was she so afraid? It wasn't like her mama and daddy were more than an hour's drive away. She'd see her friends on breaks, and even Jimmy had promised to visit her if his dad ever gave him a break from their farm. For God's sake, Maggie was ten minutes away!

"Freedom," Beth reminded herself. "Fun, learning, traveling, freedom again." She let her thoughts run over everything she had hoped for in these next four years. With a deep breath she was resolved. These were going to be the best four years of her life. She would make sure of it. Beth raised her hand to open the door, but it swung open before she could reach for the handle.

"I thought that was you! What the hell are ya doing just standing out here?!"

The girl who was presumably her roommate, Rosita, stood in front of her with her hands on her hips. Beth took her in with wide eyes. Her hair was pulled out of her face in innocent looking pigtails, but Beth would be damned if Rosita wasn't wearing the shortest skirt that she had ever seen.

A grunt a few feet away alerted Beth to her father and Otis carrying her mattress down the narrow hall. She could only imagine their reaction on seeing the girl that she was going to be sharing a bedroom with all year.

Beth's face slowly broke out into a grin. Even if college didn't turn out to be everything she hoped, it would sure be interesting.

"Why the hell didn't you tell me we were out of peach schnapps?"

Daryl looked up from cleaning glasses to see his boss, Abe, clutching a near empty bottle of peach schnapps, an annoyed expression on his face.

Not stopping what he was doing, Daryl simply shrugged. "Because who in this bar would ever order peach schnapps?"

A snort from the bar's entrance alerted Daryl and Abe to Merle's presence. Twenty minutes late, of course. Merle sauntered up to the bar with a smirk that made Daryl grit his teeth. After dragging Daryl out to party the previous night, Merle had of course slept in all morning while Daryl got up to open the bar. Not that he hadn't enjoyed the night; it just pissed him off that he had to do extra work while hungover.

"College girls," Merle explained. "They all come back this week so you'd best get used to mixing drinks, brother. Your days of opening a beer and calling it a day are over."

Daryl groaned inwardly at the thought. How could he have been so stupid? When Merle had told him his old buddy, Abe, was looking for help in his bar he had agreed immediately. He had been looking for a chance to bring up going straight to Merle for a long time, so he hadn't been about to pass on one. Especially since he'd assumed it would be serving beer to a bunch of grimy old assholes who spent their night quietly getting drunk before going home to their pissed off wives. Which is exactly what it had been for the past month that he and Merle had worked here. Maybe it was the fact that he'd never gone to college, but the fact that The Moonshine Shack was within walking distance of three college campuses had never occurred to him.

The gleam in Merle's eyes alerted Daryl to the fact that his brother had most definitely thought about it though. A sinking feeling in his chest told him that his and Merle's already too small place was about to see a string of drunk college girls come through. Girls who were dumb enough to go home with his brother, at least. So much for easy money.

"I'll be fine, Daddy! Mama please tell him I'll be alright!"

Annette just smiled and shook her head, standing back while Hershel hovered close to Beth. Her daddy had been making up excuses not to leave since the second that had finished setting up her room over an hour ago. Poor Otis had finally given up trying to get him to leave. Instead he had wrapped Beth up in a bear hug that nearly crushed her ribs, said goodbye, and went to find food for their ride home.

Rolling her eyes at her mother's clear entertainment, Beth decided to break out the big guns. She moved forward to wrap Hershel in a tight embrace. Thankfully, this seemed to get his attention.

"I'm just worried about ya, Bethy."

Beth extended her arm out to include her mother in their hug. "I know, Daddy, but I promise I'll call every day. And I promise not to get a single tattoo while I'm here!"

"You'd better not," Hershel chuckled, "Or you'll have your mother to answer to."

"Besides, Maggie will look out for me."

With a quick kiss to Beth's forehead Annette stepped back. "You look out for Maggie too, ya hear?"

Beth promised that she would and kissed her parents one last time before they grudgingly headed home. With a heavy sigh she flung herself back onto the bed, happy to finally have a moment alone.

Alone.

Oh my god, she was alone here. All she had here was Maggie and Beth was sure that Maggie would be bust during her final year of college. Tears began to well up in her eyes before she forced them back. "No," she told herself firmly, "You do not get to cry."

Resolved, Beth sat up just as the door unceremoniously flew open for the second time in as many hours. Rosita rushed in and jumped onto Beth's bed with her.

"Thank god they're gone. No offense or anything, but now we can start to have some fun!"