Clove had been waiting for this moment for the last four years. Her parents finally pulled out of the dorm's parking lot and left her on her own until Thanksgiving. She could barely contain her excitement as she waved them goodbye, she, of course, tried to act sad on account of how devastated her parents were.

As they finally turned the corner onto the busy street, she felt a smile spread across her face. She was finally free of their insane rules, their early curfew, and their judgment. She turned and went into her dorm, Centennial Hall, built on the centennial of the state joining the union. That made the dorm 71 years old. She was eager to unpack and truly have her life begin. She walked back to her dorm, feeling triumphant that she was finally free to live the life that she felt she was destined to live.

Back in her room, she began to unpack all of the items her and her mother had carefully selected for her dorm room: string lights, a deep purple duvet, lots and pillows to make her lofted bed more comfortable, a corkboard to display all of her favorite memories from the past 18 years of her life, an electric kettle for nightly mug of tea, and many soft blankets to keep the chill away during the harsh Wisconsin winter. She played music from her brand new laptop, a graduation gift from her parents, and sang along passionately as she worked. So passionately that she didn't even hear her roommate and her parents walk in. Clove turned around to grab another command hook when she saw 3 people moving tons of boxes into the quaint room.

"Hi! You must be Annie!" Clove hopped down from her chair which she had been standing on to hang her lights.

The girl smiled brightly at her and walked over, enveloping Clove in a large hug. She was not used to someone being so affectionate and touchy upon meeting, "And you must be Clove! I've been so excited to meet you!" Her voice was melodic. She had brown hair that came down in curls and bright sea-green eyes, she was beautiful. Clove felt so different from her, they had only just met but Annie gave off the same energy as the sung, she was warm, bright, and bubbly. Clove felt plain with her long black hair and grey eyes and her cool demeanor.

"I'm excited to meet you too. I hope you don't mind that I took the bed closer to the air conditioner," when Clove had arrived, she took all the furniture that she had wanted without asking, she did move in first after all.

"Oh yeah, that's totally fine, I wanted to be closer to the bathroom anyway!" Their room was shaped like a shoebox, at the far end there were 2 small windows and on the right side was an air conditioner. There was one perk to living in one of the oldest buildings on campus, there was an en-suite bathroom in all of the rooms. It was nestled right by the door to the hallway. "I have some more stuff to bring up, I'll be right back."

Clove and Annie had been texting a little bit before actually meeting each other today at the dorms, they had agreed on who would bring what things. Like Annie would be in charge of bringing the futon and Clove was in charge of bringing the TV. Annie had been disappointed that they couldn't go pick out their dorm decor together because Clove lived so far away. She was from Iowa, and Annie was from a suburb that was about 20 minutes from their college. A small private college called Williams which was nestled into the city of Milwaukee, Clove was excited to be living in a much bigger city than where she grew up.

Clove did her best to stay out of the way while Annie and her parents brought all of her stuff in the room, and tried to give them some privacy when they were saying goodbye by putting in her headphones. After the door shut and Annie's parents left, Clove could hear that Annie was talking to her despite the fact that she had her headphones in.

"What was that?" Clove asked, sliding her headphones down around her neck.

"Oh, I was just saying that I totally can't believe that this is happening. We're at college! This is all so exciting and overwhelming," Annie was lit up with excitement.

Clove couldn't help but reciprocate the feeling, "I know, I feel like I have been waiting for this moment forever. We're finally free of everything." Clove stated with a smile.

"I know what you mean, this summer felt like forever, I was just trying to get here. To get to this moment," Annie sighed, "And now it's finally here!"

They spent the next few hours setting up their room and getting to know each other, Clove was right about Annie, she was the most positive and sweet person that she had ever met. They quickly bonded over simple things, like their absolute secret love of Taylor Swift, and the fact that they both loved to go on long runs, and they were both loved cats. Slowly, their room began to come together. Clove covered the wall behind their futon with dazzling string lights, and moved her desk and dresser underneath her lofted bed, creating tons of open space in the room, Annie had done the same except she had nicely let them use her dresser as a TV stand. Clove hung more lights around her bed and clipped clothespins to it, attaching photos to the pins. She organized her desk, arranging her nick-knacks and man pens, as well as a lava lamp and study lamp to light up the dark area underneath her bed. She then took upon a very difficult task, making your bed while it is lofted. It took her almost twenty minutes to get everything on there and straight, but it was worth adding the foam pad and the mattress topper to make the plastic-covered mattress actually comfortable.

Finally, Clove collapsed into the futon, tired from the long day. The morning and afternoon had come and gone, and she had been up since 3 am due to the long drive she had to school. Annie flopped down next to her, it was coming up on 5 pm, they would have their first welcome week event at 6:30, the whole 7th floor of Centennial was going to go to the dining hall together, their RA leading the way.

Annie turned to Clove and said, "You know, I heard that opening up your door is a really great way to make new friends when you get to college, I think we should see if it works."

Clove nodded, "Yeah, I guess we could give it a try," she said hesitantly, Clove didn't open up easily to strangers, and she sure as hell didn't want random people coming into her room.

Annie opened the door and Clove busied herself by connecting to her speaker and putting some soothing music on and started humming softly to it, scrolling through her phone, her mom had already texted a few times asking how unpacking was going and if she liked her roommate or not, her mother had been quite upset that she had not gotten to meet Annie Cresta herself.

Annie interrupted her thoughts, "What is this music? I'm really digging the vibe." she smiled at Clove, obviously she wanted to be good friends. She was so sweet and kind which was so different from Clove, but she couldn't help but find comfort in the girl.

"Oh this is The Head and The Heart, they are this indie-folk band that I am really into," Clove smiled softly at her, she loved music more than almost anything but she was always wary to share what she liked with other people.

"Oh, cool! I am into all kinds of music, as long as it has a good vibe I am totally here for it." Annie noted. Suddenly they could hear loud booming male voices walking down the hall, Annie perked up instantly, "Hey, we should go see who that is!" They could hear the boys getting closer to their room, Annie hopped up out of the futon and walked over towards the door. Yelling hi at them as they came by causing them to stop in their tracks and look into their room.

"Well, hi there," said one of the boys. There were three of them, all tall and attractive. Clove has essentially no experience talking to boys because her parents didn't let her date in high school so she never really saw the point. "I'm Finnick, and yes I know, it is so nice to meet me," he said confidently and with a smile.

Annie couldn't help but giggle at his comment, although Clove didn't find it as amusing as Annie did. "Well, I'm Annie," she turned to point to Clove and give her a look like 'hey come over here and meet these people', "and this is my roomie, Clove." She gave a small wave and smile to the boys, feeling rather overwhelmed, she was never great in social situations.

"Can we come in and check out your guys' room?" A tall brunette boy asked.

Annie beamed at them and moved from the doorway, "Yeah, of course! Come on in and see. We've been working on making it nice all day."

The three boys filed into the room, looking at all the decor and work that had gone into the room this afternoon. The only one who had not talked sat down next to Clove. He was really handsome, tall, broad shoulders, striking blue eyes, blonde hair cut neatly.

He turned to Clove, "Your room is really nice," he held a hand out to her to shake, she took it and gave it a firm squeeze, "I'm Cato."

"Clove," she stated, "And thank you, I tried my best to make it look as inviting as possible. I'm all about comfort."

Cato nodded, "Yeah, I wish I would have put more thought about went into my room. We moved in a few weeks ago for football camp and my room has basically nothing in it. This is making me want to get some more homey touches in my room. My roommate has some, but my shit is plain."

The boy whose name I didn't know yet dragged my desk chair over and faced me and Cato on the couch, "Yeah, honestly Cato's room is super fuckin lame. Me and Finnick's room is pretty cool though. We have a 'Saturdays are for the boys' flag above our futon and a sweet beanbag chair. You guys should get another chair or something in here, it would make the room."

Clove didn't understand how that flag is something to brag about, but she smiled and nodded, "Yeah that's something to consider if I ever go to Target I'll have to check it out. Thanks for the idea, err, sorry what's your name?" Clove asked.

He flashed a smile of bright white teeth at Clove, "Marvel, it's nice to meet you guys. Cato, Fin, and I have been here for over two weeks cause we're all on the football team and it's been super boring at night. I'm so glad more cool people are moving in." Marvel was talking like the 5 of them were already the best of friends.

Annie sat down on the other side of Clove, she had been showing Finnick her shell collection on her desk. "Yeah, I'm sure it's exciting seeing the campus come to life again." Annie smiled at him.

Everyone continued to talk and get to know each other for the next hour or so. Clove was actually having a good time, she wasn't talking as much as everyone else, but she was taking everything one step at a time. She was grateful to have Annie as a roommate, she was so outgoing and was the one who got her to meet these guys who were actually really cool. Clove had heard lots of stereotypes of football players but none of them were filling them.

Before they had even realized it, it was 6:30 and their RA Brutus was knocking on the door, telling them it was time to gather as a floor and head to the dining hall for dinner. All the guys had been living on campus for a while now so they already knew how the dining hall worked and was honestly kind of dreading the floor dinner.

As they walked to the dining hall their little group of five hung back from the mass a little bit, talking amongst themselves as their RA guided the helpless freshmen like cattle and answered a bunch of questions about the dining hall, but the three boys already agreed to show Clove and Annie where the best food was and the best place to sit.

Clove followed Finnick and Marvel to the grill to get a chicken sandwich and Cato and Annie went off to the build your own mac n cheese. Once they made it through the food line, they all got drinks and sat down. Clove got two big glasses of coke, she needed the energy after the long day that had started so early for her. Cato and Annie lagged behind as their food line had been longer.

Marvel started asking Clove lots of questions, she wasn't used to talking so much, especially about herself. "So, Clove, where are you from again?"

"I'm from a small city in Iowa called Grinnell." she explained as Cato sat down next to her, "You've probably never heard of it. It's a big farm city."

Marvel beamed at her, "I'm from a farm city too! I'm from Grantsburg here in-state. I actually grew up on a corn farm!"

Cato laughed as he adjusted in his seat, "Yeah, Marvel's our resident redneck. A country boy at heart, we still love him though."

Marvel faked being hurt, "Hey! I'm not the only hick anymore, little Clove here is also from a farm town."

Cato grinned at her amused, "Ahh, never would have pegged you for a country girl. Do you have any cowboy boots?"

She smacked his arm lightly, "Fuck off! I am not a country girl. Unlike Marvel, I did not grow up on a farm." she looked at Marvel sympathetically, "Not that there's anything wrong with growing up on a farm, I knew tons of people who did."

Marvel pointed at Cato with his fork, "See Cato, there's nothing wrong with growing up out in the sticks, we have a little more character than you is all."

Finnick joined in on the conversation, "Is Cato making fun of Marvel for being a hick again? Dude, I told you, it's only funny every once in a while!"

Marvel nodded, "It's all about moderation dude, say it all the time and you're not going to get a laugh anymore. He's making fun of Clove now too!"

Finnick laughed and shook his head, "Don't worry Clove, he's just a city boy. He doesn't understand."

Clove turned to Cato and raised her eyebrows, "A big city boy, where are you from?" she asked before digging into her food, which was surprisingly good for college cafeteria food.

He finished chewing and answered, "I'm from Minneapolis."

"Oh, cool! I've been there many times. I'm from northern Iowa."

Cato nodded at her, "Corn country. If you're from Iowa, I'm surprised you're not at Iowa State, roll clones and all of that."

"I came here to get away from all of that," Clove explained. "I wanted to get out of Iowa."

Cato nods, "I get that, hopefully, you'll find what you're looking for here." He smiled warmly at her and continued on with his meal, jumping in on a conversation between Finnick and Annie.

After dinner was done, CLove and Annie decided that it was only fair if they got to check out the boy's dorms as well. They begrudgingly agreed as they wanted to hang out in the girl's dorm as it was more comfortable.

They walked down the hall of the 7th floor and came upon Finnick and Marvel's dorm, it was kiddie corner from Clove and Annie's. Stepping inside Clove could tell why they wanted to hang out in their room. The room smelled of sweat and food, she didn't understand how boys could get a room so smelly so fast.

Marvel threw an arm around both of the girls and grinned, "So what do you guys think?" He was obviously more proud of the room than Finnick.

Annie tried to be encouraging, "It's nice you guys, it could use some better lighting, but it's still nice in here."

"Knew you'd like it, Annie." Marvel ruffled her hair and let the both of us go.

"It's not as nice as your room," Finnick admitted, "But we're doing the best that we can. Plus, it's not as bad as Cato's room. We at least have pictures and stuff in here, and our sick flag!" he fist-bumped Marvel.

"Okay, I really think that we need to see Cato's room. It really can't be that bad." Clove said encouragingly to Cato.

They walked across the hall into Cato's room and Clove noted that he lived right next to her and Annie, with the bed she chose she shared a wall with Cato.

"Here we are!" Announced Cato as he flipped the lights on, illuminating the practically empty dorm. They didn't even have a futon. On Cato's side of the room he had plain navy sheets, a dark grey duvet, and a singular pillow in his bed. His desk was empty except for his textbooks and notebooks for the semester. He had no photos on the wall and relied solely on the fluorescent overhead lighting provided by the university. His roommate's side of the room at least had some things, pictures of his girlfriend and family and beautifully done paintings.

"Cato, your side of the room is so sad!" Clove couldn't keep it in. "I mean your roommate has some stuff but not much, you guys don't even have a futon!" She laughed.

Even Annie didn't have anything nice to say about Cato's room, "Cato, you don't have any personal touches, where are your favorite things and your knick-knacks?" she asked sadly.

"I don't know," he shrugged, "I never really had anything like that at home, this is how my room looked there too. I didn't realize it was weird until I came here. Peeta's stuff makes it seem a little bit better though."

Marvel cut it, "Yeah, and he's been spending the majority of his time in our room anyway, why should he fix his room up?"

"To make himself feel more comfortable and at home," Clove added, "It's hard moving to a new place with new people, you should have a place that really makes it feel your own."

Cato nodded, "Yeah, that sounds nice and all, but I don't know how to make this space my own."

Clove had a great idea popped into her head, "Well, I could maybe help you. I think Marvel was right, we do need a chair in our room. So if we went to the store together I could get a chair, and you could pick out some more stuff for your room! There's a bus that could take us to target in the morning."

Cato grinned, thrilled by her idea, "Or we could go right now, I have a car on campus." he checked his phone quickly, "It's only 8 o'clock. We could go and still have plenty of time to shop."

Clove nodded excitedly, "Let's do it!" she looked around at everyone else, "Are you guys going to come with us?" she asked hopefully.

Marvel and Finnick looked at each other, "Well, we actually were gonna hang out in our room and drink some beer and play some games." they stated with regret.

Annie looked at Finnick, "I think I'm gonna hang with these guys, sorry Clove. Pick something cute for our room, okay?"

"It's fine, you guys have fun." Clove waved them off.

Cato grabbed his keys off of his desk, "Alright, everyone out of my room. Clove and I are gonna go to target."