Chapter 2
Sam stared out of the bus window, watching the rain hit the pane of glass and lazily run down the smooth surface in a thin river. It was 11:30 at night and two days since he had left. He had gone directly from the hotel to the bus station and bought his ticket that would eventually take him to Stanford via several bus stops.
Despite his fear of being completely on his own, Sam felt empowered with his freedom. He had planned everything so carefully and, so far, things had gone accordingly. His entire senior year had painstakingly saved every dollar he possibly could in order to have enough money for what he would need. He had managed to save almost $5000. He had to admit he was grateful to Dean for teaching him how to hustle at pool. While he wasn't nearly as good as Dean, he had been able to amass a fair amount of wealth from his game.
Dean.
His chest tightened at the thought of his brother. His only regret about leaving was having to leave Dean behind. He knew the hardship that his leaving would put on his brother. After all, they had been a team.
No. Sam banished the thoughts that were trying to sneak into his mind. Dean had made his choice. He wanted to be a hunter. So be it. But that wasn't the life Sam wanted and he refused to be guilted into it.
Suddenly Sam felt the bus slow down and saw that they were pulling into another bus stop. Sam knew that here he was going to have to take a connecting bus on to Stanford.
He exited the bus with the other passengers leaving and entered the station. Looking at the board he saw the next bus leaving for Stanford wasn't going to be there for another 3 hours. He sighed and looked out the window.
Across the street he spotted a Super Wal-Mart. He then realized that he hadn't bought any school supplies or anything he made need for living in a dorm room. He had saved his money. Now was the time to spend it!
He stored his duffle bag in one of the bus station's lockers. He then braved the rain and made a dash across the street to the store. Once there he quickly grabbed a shopping cart and headed for the school supplies.
Sam couldn't recall many happy times in his childhood. There had always been some monster that eventually distracted everyone and often there was a near-death experience. But there was only one thing Sam could always count on enjoying: school shopping. He loved it. He could spend hours in the stores, pouring over the different notebooks, pens, paper, and folders they had. Dean would always roll his eyes, grab a couple notebooks and pens and say he was done. Sam, however, would take his time. He would make sure he had a notebook and folder for each class, plenty of pens, a hole punch that he could keep in his three-ring binder, a daily planner to keep everything organized, and multiple packages on college-ruled paper that would all be gone by the end of the year.
Sam smiled broadly. He was in Heaven!
For the next hour he carefully selected the supplies he would need for his classes. He had his course schedule in his pocket and he made sure he got everything he could possibly need for each class. He also bought himself a new dictionary and thesaurus. He was practically giggling with glee at being able to take as much time as he wanted and could buy everything he wanted for school. It also helped that with school rapidly approaching school supplies were on sale.
Sam pushed the cart ahead of him as browsed through the rest of the store. He decided if he happened to see anything else he could use for school then he would pick it up.
And then he saw it.
It was sitting alone on the shelf in the Electronics section. Silver, shiny, and new. Sam could have sworn there was an aura of light surrounding it. A laptop. Something Sam had always dreamed of owning. He had seen college students on TV working away on their laptops and he had always dreamed of having one of his own when he could go to school.
After hunting down someone who worked at the store and adding the laptop, a backpack, and bag for the laptop to his cart, Sam gleefully went to the front to check out. Once back to the bus station Sam began to quickly fill his new bags with everything he had bought. He desperately wanted to try out the laptop, but decided against it. Last thing he wanted was to ruin his brand new laptop in a bus station!
When Sam boarded the bus to Stanford he finally felt for the first time that he really was going to college!
***
Stanford University.
Sam stared in awe at the sprawling campus. It almost seemed surreal. He couldn't believe that after all this time that he had finally made it! He was actually going to college. And not just any college, but Stanford.
He swallowed hard and looked at the paper he was gripping tightly in his hand. The paper listed the dorm he would be living in and there was a map at the bottom of the paper, marking its location. He began to quickly make his way in the dorm's direction.
He was carrying everything he owned. He had gone out and bought his books a few days ago and a rolling backpack to store all of his school supplies in. He was also lugging his laptop in its new case, his duffle bag, and an extra backpack loaded with food he had bought. He had been living in a motel since he had arrived in town and had figured he could use the extra food in the dorms.
It was still early in the day. Sam had wanted to move in as early as possible and get settled in. He wanted to explore the campus and find out where all his classes were. Despite the early hour, there were students trickling in. Students with their parents were unloading vehicles that were stuffed full of boxes, suitcases, lamps, computers, microwaves, and mini-fridges. The students leaving home for the first time were easy to spot. Their mothers were wiping the tears from their eyes and their fathers were beaming with pride. Sam felt a tightness in his chest as his thoughts went to his family and what they could be doing. He then pushed the thoughts aside.
He finally found his dorm and went in. There was a young woman sitting at a table with a box holding dozens of manila envelopes sitting nearby. He went to her and told her his name. She quickly flipped through the envelopes and pulled out his and handed it to him. He opened it to find a set of keys and a packet of papers. The first page listed the floor his room was on and the room number. His room was number 6 on the third floor.
He took the elevator up and arrived to the floor. He was able to quickly find his room. He used the key to unlock and open the door. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped.
Sam had never seen such a nice room in his life. There were two, single beds, two dressers, and two desks with a chair each, all made out of pine wood. The window looked out over the campus. There were also two small closets in the room.
He slowly walked into the room, taking everything in. The room wasn't much smaller than the motel rooms him and Dean had grown up in. And this room was a million times nicer and cleaner than any of those rooms!
He decided to take the bed on the right. He set his bags on it and began unpacking. He soon realized he was going to have to buy some more things. He needed linens for his bed, coat hangers, a lamp, and a shelf for all his food at least. And he was sure there would be more as time went on.
Despite the realization he would have to do more shopping, he was beaming with joy. He gleefully sat at his desk and began putting things away in it. He set up his laptop, plugged, and turned it on. He knew the college had Internet; he would just need help setting it up.
It wasn't long before he had everything put away. He was exploring the features on the laptop when he heard a voice approaching from down the hall.