one

Welcome to the University of Chicago.

The sky was a sullen grey but the trees above her lay still, the sounds of birds scorch high above, but out of sight. Her hands waded through her hair, angled in every direction. The air had a crisp texture but was perfectly dry. The first day of college. After almost a year of her yearning to be here, she finally was. She walked across a bustling campus, filled with frenzied students rushing to find where they were supposed to be. She'd pray that no one would bump into her because she would be completely tongue tied, unable to speak – her mind going from brilliant to blank in the space of a second. Plus, she hadn't really had that much experience in mass social situations. But now was her time. How hard could it be?

'This suitcase weights like, a thousand pounds? Maybe I shouldn't have brought this much…' she thought to herself as she dragged her suitcase across the rocky campus paths. She felt the vibrations rush through her hands as she gripped even tighter to her suitcase as she went over the bumps. She passed golden leaves on trees, slowly falling to the ground without a care in the world. Snowdrops and bluebells crowded the patches of grass surrounding the large fountain in the centre of campus.

She put her head down and put her earbuds in as she let the music take over her mind. As the words blasted through her brain a numbness flashed through her and she almost dropped her phone onto the floor as the acidic feeling in my stomach fought against the melody.

'Shit!' she whispered under her breath, taken away completely by her clumsiness. She immediately took out her earbuds and put her phone back in her pocket, still looking down. She began to turn a corner when she looked up and smacked right into a guy jogging by.

"Whoa?" He said as they collided, both falling on their feet.

"Ohmygosh, I'm so sorry, are you okay?" She quickly regained her composure but then began to freak out slightly. The guy she'd bumped into was hot. Smoking hot. He had sandy blonde hair and ocean blue eyes. He was tall and muscular; a football player, she'd thought. She snapped out of her trance of staring him down as he got up also.

"My ego's a little bruised." He got up, dusting himself down, smirking. "If the other guys on the team saw me get tackled by a pretty girl, they'd never let me forget it."

'He called me pretty? Ohmygosh. Ohmygosh.' Was all that was circulating through her head at that point. She'd turned into one of those awkward girls that she'd hated all through high school.

"Thanks? I think?" She smiled, hiding her awkwardness well for someone that hadn't encountered this feeling before.

"I'm Matthew Casey. You can call me Matt. Nice to meet you." He extended out his hand to shake mine, and I almost dropped my suitcase, embarrassing myself more. She was secretly screaming internally. A crush? No – she came here to get away from girls like that. She needed to focus on her studies more than anything if she wanted to be a doctor. She recouped her confidence, smiling, and said:

"Nice to meet you too. I'm Gabriela Dawson, but I prefer Gabby. Sorry again." She simpered.

"You sure you're okay? Nothing broken I hope." He laughed. His smile was so contagious and it took all her strength not to giggle then and there.

"I'll be fine." She said, looking down at her hand, seeing it bleeding from it scraping the floor. "My hand's just a little scraped up."

"Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?" He seemed genuinely upset by what he'd just done, so she accepted.

"Well, you could help with my bags if that isn't too much of a burden?" She gestured for him to look at her suitcase and the bags she was carrying on her back and in her other hands. He gazed down at her bag, which had popped open. That couldn't be too good.

"Um, Gabby, your stuff is literally everywhere." Her expression was evidently perplexed until she too darted her eyes down to the cobble path, her clothes scattered across the path like litter in a park. How embarrassing, she thought.

He helped her retrieve her items, however in the process she managed to pick up her black lacy bra.

"Oh…wow. I didn't mean to… Uh, is this yours?" He asked, confused.

And when she thought this couldn't get worse.

She grabbed the bra out of his hands and quickly and hectically stuffed it back into her suitcase. She nervously smiled at him, biting her top lip, then realising that she needed to go find her dorm room.

She said, uncomfortable, "I think that's enough help for one day. Thank you though, Matt." She smiled sheepishly and her cheeks blushed a bright shade of crimson.

They were interrupted by a female voice booming from over the quad, "Matthew, there you are! Don't forget about the Kappa house mixer tonight." She giggled loudly as she walked, well more like, strutted over.

"Ah…Bella. Hey, I'd really love to go, but I promised my roommates I'd hang out with them." He retorted with a tint of sarcasm, while Gabby just stood there, bewildered by the scene unfolding in front of her.

Bella moved forward, grasping onto Matt's arm, resting her head on his, "Too bad… I promise you'd have a better time with me…" She replied, an obvious sense of desperation in her voice. It's funny how men can never seem to pick up on that. Gabby sensed Matt's awkwardness around the conversation and so butted in,

"Uh…we're kind of in the middle of a conversation…so, Bella, ummm-"

"Oh really, you're having a conversation. How cute. It looked to me like you were just leaving."

"Actually, Bella –". Just then, Bella dropped her ice coffee in front of her, splashing it up her clothes. "Seriously?!"

"Oops! I'm so clumsy." She giggled, staring Gabby down, twiddling her hair.

"Gabby, your outfit! I'll go get some napkins!" Matt yelled as he jogged off into the distance.

After Matt was out of sight, Bella leaned in close to her. She chewed her gum obnoxiously in her ears, whispering, "Just so you know, he's mine."

"Oh, he's your boyfriend?" I asked, flummoxed as to why Matt would choose someone like Bella.

"No. Not yet. But he will be." She snarled.

"That's great, Bella. I couldn't care less about your love life." I scoffed, trying to walk away, but Bella blocked her way.

She continued, "Great. Just stay out of my way, and we'll be fine…what's your name." She asked arrogantly.

"Gabby."

"Gabby. I'll try to remember that." She smiled, imperious, and walked away, giggling to herself. Matt walked up with a stack of paper napkins, handing them to her as she chaotically dabbed her clothes, trying to remove the stain that was forming.

"This is the best I could do. I'm really sorry about Bella." He said, rattled.

"It's a start…I need to find my dorm and change out of this. See you around Matt." She began walking away hastily to find her dorm, agitated by the events that had happened to her, when she saw Matt start to jog away, but not before he said,

"You can count on it, Gabby."