Today is the first day of classes. I can't be too sure what my professors will be like, but Mom says I have to be good today so that's what I'll do. Not that this week will be too bad, though. Tomorrow will be the first day of my other three classes. Call me an overachiever if you want, but I just want to make sure I'm exposing myself to different subjects early.

The first thing I do after waking up at exactly 6 AM is take a shower and get ready for my first class of the day. I haven't heard too much about my Greek Civilization professor, Arthur Read, but he seems like a decent enough guy. He seems to have a good head on his shoulders. Plus, he earns about six figures from this tenure at Rutgers alone; so he's probably pretty rich, all things considered. Either way, I'm bound to learn something from the guy.

It takes me just eleven minutes to walk all the way from Nichols Apartments to the Wright-Rieman Laboratories where the class is being held. Likewise, it doesn't take much time to find my seat within the auditorium of the classroom. I sit down all the way up in the front row, where I'm certain I can get Professor Read's attention. While I wait for everyone else to show up and take their seats, I decide to kill some time by playing a video game on my iPhone and munching on some snacks, which Mom made sure to get me from Costco. (Costco is awesome, by the way.) Slowly but surely, everybody else comes in and starts taking seats. Eventually, Professor Read walks into the classroom.

He's got short hair that's so blond that it almost blends in with his skin, and he's wearing coke-bottle glasses with a dark brown frame. He wears a golden yellow sweater over a wide-lapeled white dress shirt, a carmine bowtie, beige dress pants, and mahogany brown dress shoes. By all accounts, he dresses somewhat like those stereotypical nerds you might see in old cartoons.

"Good morning, class." Professor Read adjusts his coke-bottle glasses while he speaks. "Welcome to the first day of school. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Arthur Timothy Read, but you can just call me Professor Read. I grew up in Elwood City, Pennsylvania, which is six hours and two minutes away from the township of Piscataway. It was a great city for me and my sisters to grow up in. It helped me to understand what friendship and humility were all about. My family pretty much knew everybody there. My wife's name is Francine, and we have three children together. There's our twins Romy and Nigel, and then there's our other son Patrick. We've also got eight grandchildren that keep our lives busy and interesting. Now that I've told you about myself, I want to hear from you guys. Who wants to start?"

I immediately raise my hand, eager to get Professor Read's attention.

"I see you've got your hand raised, Miss Harvey-Dahl," Professor Read says. "Would you like to come up here and introduce yourself?"

"I sure would, Professor Read," I reply confidently.

"Alright, then. Come up here and introduce yourself."

"Okay." I get up out of my seat and stand in the spot next to Professor Read. "Hello, fellow students. My name's Hope Harvey-Dahl, and I'm a freshman here at Rutgers University. I'm not originally from around here. I actually came here from Beach City, Delaware."

I can hear the other students murmuring amongst themselves.

"Very fascinating, Miss Harvey-Dahl," Professor Read comments with a smile. "Proceed."

I clear my throat. "Yes, well, Beach City is a great place to raise your kids and grow old together with your partner. My twin brother Jonah and I have lived there for pretty much our entire lives. When we were born, we were adopted by a single woman named Garnet that we call Mom. The reason Jonah and I have never had a dad is because Mom is aroace. She has two moms, and my brother and I call them Grandma Ruby and Grandma Sapphire."

"Grandma Sapphire?" Professor Read's eyes widen in surprise. "Excuse me, you wouldn't happen to be the granddaughter of Sapphire Dahl, would you? You know, Sapphire Dahl? The head of Diamond Bright Records?"

I nod my head with a smile. "Why, yes, Sapphire Dahl is my grandma. Thanks for asking."

"Okay, I thought so. How does it feel to have a grandma for a celebrity?"

"It's alright. It still feels a little weird having people stop you on the street and ask questions about my personal life, but I'm used to it now."

"Well, at least you're handling it well now."

"Thank you, Professor Read." I clear my throat again. "Anyway... my brother and I have lived with our mom and her friends. We have Aunt Pearl, Aunt Belinda, Aunt Amy, Aunt Nyoko, Aunt Peri, Uncle Greg and his wife Aunt Margie, and then Pearl and Belinda's daughter Hermione. I graduated from William Dewey High as the valedictorian of my class. I hope that I can put in as much effort here as I did in high school. I've wanted to come here ever since I was little, so I want to do the best I can for you guys. Thank you."

All of the students who are seated murmur amongst themselves.

"That was very nice, Miss Harvey-Dahl," Professor Read says. "You may go back to your seat now. Anybody else want to introduce themselves?"

As I'm heading back to my seat, I see other students eagerly raising their hands in the hopes Professor Read will pick them. In the meantime, I decide to take my textbook out of my backpack and started reading. I have to make sure I already know the material by the time we get our first assignment. I have a feeling this will be a fun class.

I head back to my apartment, my backpack strapped to my shoulders and my lunch within a white styrofoam container in hand. I'd stopped by the Busch Dining Hall earlier and ordered two slices of turkey pepperoni pizza for myself and Quilene, though I'm not sure Quilene will want any food by the time I've reached my destination. She'd called a little while ago and said she might try to stop by a local food place around here, so she might not even be hungry then. Whatever, she could always have that slice of turkey pepperoni pizza later if she wanted.

Anyway, I can't help but think to myself how nice this day has been so far. Professor Read is a pretty friendly guy who's willing to help out any one of his students, and all the students (including myself) seem to like him and trust him. I can't wait to see what my Introduction to Creative Writing professor is like. I bet they'll be just as nice as Professor Read.

I close the door behind me as I come into the living room/dining room of my apartment. "Quilene? You in here?"

Not even a full minute goes by before I see her walk out of her bedroom.

"Oh, there you are," I say with a smile. "I stopped by the Busch Dining Hall and got us some pizza. Do you want any?"

Quilene just quietly shakes her head. "I already stopped by Woody's Cafe over at the Kessler Teaching Building and had a hot dog with some Coke."

I give her a dejected look. "Ah, I see. Do you want me to put away a slice of that pizza in the fridge for you then?"

"Yeah, that's fine." She goes over to the couch and sits down. "So I guess we have some time before our 1 PM classes."

"Uh-huh." I sit down at the dining room table and take a slice of the turkey pepperoni pizza out of the white styrofoam container. "So... how have you been handling the day so far?"

"Okay."

"Okay? Just okay?"

"Yeah, pretty much. I'm a little bored, that's all. I can't seem to figure out what I can do in the meantime."

I think about it for a minute. "Uh... how about Netflix? We've got Netflix, right?"

"I think so."

"Okay, then I guess we can do that."

Quilene chuckles. "Okay, I guess that sounds good enough to me."

Quilene and I proceed to watch Netflix all the way up until 12:30 in the afternoon. Man, that one cooking show we binged through earlier kinda got me hungry again. No worries, I still have snacks. I gotta hurry up, though. I've only got about thirty minutes until my Introduction to Creative Writing class is supposed to start. The class itself is being held in Frelinghuysen Hall, which is about forty-eight minutes away on foot or seventeen minutes away by car (only through Cedar Lane, though). Guess I'll have to take the car for this. I sure as hell don't want to be late or anything, especially not on the first day. What would Professor Hillenburg even think of me if I came to the first class of the semester late?

I start up the car and proceed to carefully navigate my way through Davidson Road, Metlars Lane, Suttons Lane, Cedar Lane, and finally towards Frelinghuysen Hall on 611 George Street. Once at my destination, I quickly get out of my car and make a break for my Introduction to Creative Writing class. Holy shit, I can feel my heart pounding as I reach my classroom and take the first seat I can find, and of course it has to be at the front of the class. By this time, a few students have already taken seats behind mine. I briefly look all the way towards the back, and I can see some middle-aged folks who are eager to learn. Without even hesitating, I flip over my iPhone once Professor Hillenburg walks into the room. All eyes are on him now.

Professor Hillenburg's got ocean blue eyes that just stick out every time you look at him. He's got something of a tan, and he's got butter blond hair (with a few grays here and there) that's cut short. He wears a white short-sleeve shirt with a wide lapel, a red tie around his neck, brown pants with matching suspenders, and black dress shoes. I swear he must share about the same fashion sense as Professor Read. I wonder if they give each other fashion tips while passing by on their way to teach class.

"Good morning, class," Professor Hillenburg says with a big smile. "I'm so excited to have you all here on the first day of class."

I can hear all the students around my vicinity murmuring to themselves.

"Glad you all agree," Professor Hillenburg says again. "Well, I guess I should introduce myself now. My name is Robert Hillenburg, but my friends call me Bob for short. I was born and raised in the state of Hawaii, and I worked as a fry cook at the Krusty Krab for many years. I grew up alongside my best friend, Patrick Star, and we are in a polyamorous relationship that consists of three other people. I spent much of my life in Hawaii making friends and catching bugs in my spare time before eventually moving here to New Jersey along with my partners and getting a tenure at Rutgers. As you've just heard, we all have our own life stories to tell here, and my job is to help you figure out how best to tell your life story. We will be going over genres, writing methods, famous authors, et cetera. To start things off, I want everyone to tell a short story about themselves, and I do mean short. So who here would like to be the first to tell their story? Anybody wanna raise their hand?"

Just like I had done in Professor Read's class, I immediately raise my hand in the hopes Professor Hillenburg will pick me.

"Yes, young lady?" Professor Hillenburg asks me. "Did you want to start us off?"

"Of course." I get up from my seat and take a deep breath. "Okay... first things first. My name is Hope Harvey-Dahl, and I'm originally from Beach City, Delaware."

"Ah." Professor Hillenburg gestures at me. "Go on."

I do as he says. "I also have a twin brother named Jonah, and we were raised by a single mother all our lives. It wasn't just us, though. We lived in a beach house along with friends of our grandmas and our mom. We have a cousin named Steven who used to live in the beach house with them, but he moved out about a year before Jonah and I were born. Mom is aroace, so she was a single mom by choice. She herself had two moms when she was growing up. Our grandmas' names are Ruby Harvey and Sapphire Dahl. Grandma Sapphire is currently the head of Diamond Bright Records."

Professor Hillenburg beams at this. "Oh yeah... I've heard of them. Miss Harvey-Dahl, I'm just gonna say this now. You should be proud to have a grandma like Sapphire who values love and equality and compassion and everything that's good in the world."

I just chuckle at this. "Thanks, Professor. From what I understand, she's been making sure the record company can survive during this modern age just by being herself. You have to understand, Professor. Just because of who they are, both she and Grandma Ruby went through a lot before they had Mom and even after that."

Professor Hillenburg nods as if in agreement. "Of course, Miss Harvey-Dahl. I, too, have faced some hardships just because of who I am."

"Thank you, Professor. Anyway, I graduated as valedictorian of William Dewey High. I'm hoping that the hard work I put in to graduate high school will pay off here as well. Thank you."

"Well, thank you for sharing your short story, Miss Harvey-Dahl. You can sit down now."

Just like back in Greek Civilization class, most of the other students start eagerly raising their hands once I've sat back down in my chair. I just focus on copying what's on the whiteboard into my notebook while everyone else gets a chance to introduce themselves. I don't know what it is about this class that's doing it for me, but I think I like it.