If anything I've ever written is reminiscent of my own life, it would be this chapter. Not every detail, but just the overall sense of what's going on. I really hope you enjoy.

Cindy's POV

"Okay, I think this is it!"

With bated breath, I twisted the key in the keyhole, turned the knob, and pushed open the door whose adoring numbers matched the ones of my room assignment sheet. Even though I haven't been outwardly expressing it much, I was immensely excited for this new chapter of my life to begin. The room I was about to enter and everything it symbolized was a part of it.

After so many years, ending with some intolerable final weeks of waiting, I was finally moving into college. And if that wasn't exciting enough, it was all happening at the school that I've been dreaming about for years. Given my hard work all throughout my academic life, I was confident enough that I would be accepted into Columbia, despite their competitive acceptance rate. However, to have everything work out successfully so that I could enroll and move out here was incredible. And the day that I would begin this crazy, adventurous new journey has finally arrived.

Like Jimmy, my parents made the trip with me. This way, they could extend their time with me but still leave as soon as I was settled in. The two of them, never really being emotionally expressive people, have admittedly surprised me with the subtle signs of affection since we got on the plane to New York.

While they may be leaving in a little bit, them coming in the first place further reminds me of how grateful I am for everything they've given me my whole life including this opportunity. I can't say that it wasn't a challenge being their daughter, but it was certainly worth the hassle.

As I dragged in a duffel bag, my parents followed close behind, each pulling in a luggage case after them. Instead of focusing on their entry, however, I was paying attention to the fact that the room was already half decorated and that an olive-skinned, long haired brunette was rising from a chair at the far end.

"Hi!" I began, not bothering to hide my enthusiasm. "You must be Sonya."

"Yes! And you're Cindy?" She smiled.

"Yeah!" I replied. "These are my parents." I moved to the side so that they could all introduce each other. Setting my bag down on the remaining plain, uncomfortable looking mattress, and glad to be relieved of the weight, I took a quick look around the entire room. A smile spread onto my face and I'm sure I couldn't stop even if I tried.

I was glad to see that despite the tough and downright unlikeable first impressions my parents usually tend to make, that wasn't the case this time around. They were courteous and caring and considering their short amount of time here, they made a genuine effort to get to know Sonya. It could just be that as both my roommate and the person I'll be officially living with, they wanted to size her up and get an idea of what she's all about. Which is, to be honest, fairly appropiate.

As Sonya seemed to be done with setting up her half of the room, she assisted my parents and I getting mine done and with four sets of hands, the job did seem to go by a lot quicker than I could have imagined.

A few hours later, after we had mostly finished unpacking and Sonya and I got all our mandatory paperwork and materials taken care of, my parents announced their departure.

"Alright Cindy, we'll be leaving now." My mom turned to face me and I immediately felt a funny sensation in my stomach. As much as I did not like to admit it, I knew that it had everything to do with my parents leaving.

"Okay. Umm... thank you. For everything."

"Of course sweetheart." My mom smiled. "You're going to be staying in touch, correct?"

"Yes. I'm going to be calling both of you all the time." I finished off the vagueness in the sentence by looking at each of them.

"Anytime of day, anything you need, you let us know alright?" My dad, always so careful, informed me.

"Yes, I promise. Anything." My dad leaned in to kiss my forehead in response.

"Take care of yourself okay?" He reminded. I nodded as my mom embraced me and I hugged her back.

"We're so proud of you." My mom said as she pushed some of my hair out of my face. "You're going to do some great things here."

"Yeah, I think so too." I agreed with a nervous but growing smile. Another round of hugs went around before my dad spoke again.

"We'll get out of your hair now." He affirmed. "We love you. Work hard and… be careful."

"I will. I love you both too." With our final goodbyes in place, I closed the door behind them as they left.


"So tell me about Jimmy."

It was nearly an hour after my parents left and Sonya and I were killing time before going to one of the many freshmen activities organized by the university by getting to know each other. Earlier today, she asked about the framed photo I had placed on my desk of Jimmy and I, taken at graduation by his mom, and I informed her of who he was. As we sat on our own beds, cross-legged, she nodded towards the photo, and I explained our story a little more.

"Umm, well there's really not much." The poor girl does not deserve all that on the first day. Baby steps, I think. "We started dating a couple of weeks before graduation -we got together at prom actually- but we've known each other since we were kids."

"So you guys were friends before you got together. That is so sweet." She said it as more of a statement, not that I could really blame her for jumping to that conclusion.

"You-you could say that." At seeing the confused look on her face, I decided to continue. "Jimmy and I sort of had…like a casual kind of…thing… before we got together."

"Oh!" Based on her reaction, both body language and tone of voice, I knew she could tell what I meant. I practically saw the light bulb turning on over her head. "So, that does actually happen. And with that kind of result."

I laughed, thinking of how funny it was.

"Yeah, very much so."

"Sounds intense." She observed.

"Oh, believe me," I began, "you don't know that half of it." All in due time, I thought.

"Where does he go to school?"

"MIT." I announced proudly, noticing that I sounded a little like him when he tells people.

"He must be really smart then. You sure know how to pick them." Sonya pointed out.

"He's definitely a pretty smart guy." I answered, knowing just how much of an understatement that was. "He got into all the schools he applied for. I only found this out after he applied but he was really excited about Caltech since he's always wanted to go there."

"Caltech was his first chose? So why didn't he go there?"

"Well, I guess for me and-." She got me there.

Jimmy never said (nor did I ask) why he was going to MIT as opposed to Caltech, which he made a big deal about going to when I asked how the application process was going for him. It does seem obvious that my coming to New York had something to do with it. Geographically, since MIT is in Massachusetts, it made sense. Logically, not so much.

"I mean,… I suppose I don't really know why he didn't. He got scholarships for both and got into the Honors program so…." I explained more to myself than to her that time.

The more I thought about it and considered the facts, which I hadn't done prior to Sonya's interrogation, it truly didn't make sense why he'd end up going to MIT instead of his dream school. Take me out of the equation or remove the fact that we're in a relationship, and he could have been a Caltech Beaver instead.

"Well," She began cautiously, probably being able to tell how uncomfortable I was, "he must really love you then. That's awesome. Guys like that are not easy to find nowadays."

"Y-yeah."

To avoid any awkward tension, she looked over at her alarm clock, where the neon green digital numbers indicated the hour.

Seeing as it was about time to head over to the freshman mixer, we started getting ready.

In the back of my head however, I had a hard time letting go of what Sonya said.

I guess it's not supposed to be much of a concern, considering that Jimmy never brought up any issues. But the facts were there. There was ample reason for Jimmy to pick Caltech over MIT and yet he didn't. And there's a very large chance that I was a huge, arguably the only, cause for it.

Had I had any sort of inkling before I left, I would have taken advantage of my final days back home to find out the truth.

At first glance, it may have appeared a little weird when I accepted Mrs. Neutron's offer to stop by her house for tea. Yes, she is my boyfriend's mom, but seeing as he's an entire time zone and many states away, our meeting seemed a bit meaningless. Then again, as I began thinking while walking over, now that he's gone, she probably thought it was the perfect opportunity to have that long awaited, boyfriend's mom-to-girlfriend, woman-to-woman, talk.

As stress inducing as it may have appeared, I didn't have too much to worry about.

Talking points easily flowed in and out. I was both surprised and relieved that it never delved into the specifics or details of Jimmy and mine's relationship. As much respect as I have for Mrs. Neutron, that's not the kind of conversation I feel the slightest bit comfortable having. I don't think I'm in the wrong for thinking that either.

After a while however, there was one thing I was curious about that I knew we were likely never going to discuss unless I brought it up.

By the time I got down to asking, it almost felt as if I'm the one that called for this get-together.

"Did he seem like, excited…sad…nervous…?" I asked, almost desperately, regarding how Jimmy looked about being dropped off at move-in day.

As much of a show as he put on for me, there's nothing that can hide how he felt once he arrived at Cambridge and was surrounded by the people and the environment he would be spending the next four years with. Seeing as how only two other people in the world, his parents, knew about it, it brought up quite a challenge to truly know. But, of course, there's really no better person to depend on for the truth than his own mother. And now that I have the chance, I'd be foolish to pass it up.

With a small smile, probably because she suspected why I was asking, she answered.

"He seemed very happy, Cindy. We all know how much he's been looking forward to going to college. And even though he knows it might have hurt him to leave come people and places behind, he knows it's for the best. He's going to excel and he's just ready to show it."

At the response, I nodded and gave a light smile, feeling a little silly for even asking, as if it were really going to give me any new information about him.

Thankfully, I was able to let go of the thought enough for me to enjoy my first night of college.

It didn't seem to end after the mixer though, since there was talk spreading around of a party going on in one of the neighboring residence halls.

While I was at first a little hesitant to attend, Sonya was quickly able to talk me into going. And to be completely honest, I didn't want to be that girl that starts missing out on things just because she's missing her boyfriend.

That being said, I still did want to call Jimmy. I said that I would do so once I was settled in and since he did call me as soon as he got the chance when he arrived at his school, it was only the fair thing to do.

Since I wasn't doing as an elaborate job of preparing for the party as Sonya was, I took the chance to call him while she was still doing so. Walking out into the hallway, I gave us both some privacy.

I smiled as I pressed his speed dial number and then the "send" key, so happy that I would be hearing his voice in just a few seconds. I leaned against the wall as I waited for the call to go through and him to pick up.

Nearly a minute passed as I held the phone up to my ear. The voice that I finally heard was a recording asking me to leave a message, instead of his real one greeting me.

The request was something I haven't had to do in years. So I was not at all ready when I heard the beep.

"Hey. It's me," I began despite not knowing how exactly I should. "Err.… Sorry, I haven't had to leave a voicemail for you in forever so I'm not sure what to say. I'm all settled here… at school. I can't wait to start classes. It's all just really exciting. I'm sure you get how it feels. Hmm. Well, I just wanted to call and talk to you for a bit, see how you're doing. But I guess you're busy or something so that's fine. Call me when you can. Umm..I'll talk to you later then. Bye. I love you."

I've got to admit, this chapter turned out a lot differently than planned but I really like it. I had to omit some things because they would not fit in here well but I will definitely be including them chapters to come. I hope you enjoyed and that you are not as worried as Cindy appears to be. Reviews?