It's been a long summer break, but I'm glad it's coming to an end. I can't wait to start the next chapter of my life at Rutgers. I mean, don't get me wrong. Beach City is a nice place to live and raise a family, but I need to spread my wings and explore myself elsewhere. As an aspiring author, my success depends on exploring a whole new world outside my own, and that includes attending school in a different state.

It's a beautiful August morning, about five o'clock or so, and my mother helps me and Jonah load up into our respective vehicles. I think between all of us, we're pretty sad that we've had to go our separate ways for school. While I'm going off to Rutgers to pursue a BA in English, Jonah is going off to Delaware State University to pursue a BA in music. It's actually the first time in our lives that we won't be hanging out together, at least not in person. I know that Jonah knows this, and I know that Mom knows this. She's tried everything she could to be a good mom to us for the first eighteen years of our lives. She even went so far as to invite our birth mud and their family to our graduation ceremony at William Dewey High because she knew how much it meant to us to see them there.

"Oh God, I'm gonna miss you two so much," Mom says while tearing up. "Please be good at school, okay?"

"We will, Mom," I assure her.

"Yeah, you can always count on us, Mom," Jonah adds.

Mom smiles at us. I look into her blue and brown eyes, and I can see the inherent sadness and worry in them. At the same time, I can see how hopeful she is that we will do well in school.

"Alright, I just wanted to make sure," Mom says once more. "I know you two are going to be have great times at Rutgers and Delaware State. If there's anything I know most about you two, it's that you are the smartest, kindest, most considerate, and most thoughtful people I have ever met. You are absolutely going to make your schools better places just by being there. Now bye bye, kids. I hope to see you again during the holidays."

"Us too, Mom," Jonah and I both reply in unison.

Mom chuckles at what we just said. "Alright, have fun." She grabs us in a bear hug. "I'm gonna miss you in the meantime."

"Us too, Mom," Jonah and I reply again.

After we all let go from the bear hug, Jonah and I separate from Mom and then we get into our cars and go our separate ways. I look over to Jonah in my white 2010 Toyota Corolla, and I wistfully watch him put the key in the ignition and start up his red 2012 Honda Civic and drive off to Delaware State. Once he's disappeared from my line of sight, I put the key into my own ignition and start off for Rutgers. As I head out into the open road, I take one last look back at my childhood home and then truly begin my trek to New Jersey.

It's about eight in the morning when I finally arrive on campus. It's so relieving to just be here and start my academic career. First, however, I need to find a parking spot at Nichols Apartments. After doing so, I quickly make my way inside and find my apartment on the second floor at Room 89. I politely knock to see if anyone else is in there.

"Hello?" I call out.

I wait a few more minutes before the door opens up to reveal my new roommate. She appears to be around my age (eighteen or nineteen), and she has fair skin like I do. She's got bleach-blonde hair with dark roots that's styled into a hime cut with a barrette clipped to the left side of her head, and she appears to be using eyebrow soap to make her dark eyebrows look fuller than they are. Her small thin lips have had a coat of MAC Cosmetics New York Apple Frost lipstick applied to them, and she's wearing what appears to be eyeshadow from the NikkieTutorials x BEAUTY BAY Pressed Pigment Palette (more specifically, she's wearing eyeshadow with shades of blue from the palette). Her eyes are a rather mystifying light gray color, which stand out compared to my green-hazel eyes. Her nose is small and straight, only barely connected to her philtrum. Her chin is like a Calabi triangle, tapering at the very end from two wide points in her lower jaw.

"Can I help you?" the girl asks.

"Oh, hi, I'm your new roommate," I answer. "I came all this way from Beach City, Delaware. What's your name?"

The girl looks at me with suspicion. "My name's Quilene Summers. What's your name?"

"My name's Hope Harvey-Dahl."

Quilene looks at me with a curious smile. "Hope, huh? What a pretty name. And you say you've come all the way here from Beach City?"

I nod at her. "That's right."

"That's so cool. I heard Steven Universe was born and raised there. Do you know him?"

"Know him? He and my grandma Sapphire are cousins!"

Quilene perks up. "Oh yeah, that's right! His mom's Petunia Diamond, isn't she? Can I see, like, a picture of him or something? I heard he's real hot."

"Uh, sure, I guess." From my iPhone, I quickly pull up a family photo including him. I show her where he is: in between Mom and Uncle Greg. Grandma Ruby and Grandma Sapphire are off to the side, lovingly looking into each other's eyes. "He's a pretty cool guy, isn't he?"

"Uh-huh." Quilene then points to Mom. "Who's this lady next to him?"

"Oh, that's my mother Garnet."

Quilene looked at me, puzzled. "That's your mom? How? You're white and she's Black."

I'm tempted to lash out at her for how racist that was, but I keep my cool. This is an opportunity to educate her.

"Well, my twin brother Jonah and I were adopted, actually," I explain. "Mom has something called Waardenburg Syndrome. Waardenburg Syndrome is a congenital disorder that can cause hearing loss and changes in coloring of the hair, skin, and eyes. There are four types of Waardenburg Syndrome: Type I, Type II, Type III, and Type IV. What Mom has is Type II. She was worried about possibly passing it down to her kids because it's usually inherited in an autosomal dominant pattern, so that's why she decided to adopt us."

"Oh..." She appears to understand what I've told her. "That definitely makes sense. Sorry about what I said before."

"That's alright." I look back at the door behind us. "Hey, do you wanna help me move in my stuff? I brought a lot of stuff with me from Beach City."

Quilene perks up again. "Sure! Maybe later, you can tell me more about your family?"

I nod with a smile. "Sounds good to me."

Quilene and I head out the door towards my car and start bringing in my things for our dorm.