Chapter 8:Out On My Own

California came and went, as the new semester at Ronkar had begun. The day after classes officially began, Ell started. Taking some challenging classes that she believed would help her receive her major quicker. This semester would not be like the others, something big was about to happen. Ell's life was about to change for the better.

About a month after classes began, Ell moved out on her own. Finally she was free! Momma Oranik really did not put up that much of a fit when Ell left, in fact, some may even have seen her as happy to have Ell leaving. Poppa Oranik was also seeming to be happy for Ell. "Maybe she will learn some responsibility and what it is truly like living in the real world."

Just three short days after moving in, Sirius came over to visit. Having a crash pad of her own, meant Ell and Sirius could do whatever their minds could fathom. Sirius had a huge surprise for Ell that day-he proposed to her, and she accepted! A month shy of their two year anniversary, Ell and Sirius made a commitment to each other that everyone expected.

Slowly things began changing for Ell and Sirius. They practically were living together, both at the apartment and in Crate State's dormitories. Sly, Opium, and Gwen all came and crashed at the apartment as well. Opium and Gwen really did not visit anyone much, as they had a child on the way. Also Sly was preparing for his military career, so he was not able to chill as much either.

For most of the semester, Ell and Sirius were the only two, who benefited from Ell's apartment. Sometimes one of Ell's old friends would stop by and visit but mostly Ell stayed in the apartment alone or with Sirius.

Focusing on her college career, Ell was forced to drop all but two classes due to poor attendance, sickness, and car issues. Ell began her Literary class in October, which at first it seemed she would fail that as well, but picked up the slack, and received straight A's. The apartment was in an ideal location, as well, for both Sirius and Ell. Fifteen minutes was the travel time to either campus.

During the semester, there were a few life changing events in Ell's life. A small church ministry called Exchange Your Life, had a trip to Penn. Ell signed up to win the free trip, which she won, and had one of the best weekends ever. She ran into some of the guys who waited in line with her at Crater Joint, and made a ton of new friends. Also she joined a small group, which was a Christian bible study, that met every Tuesday evening. Ell made a ton of new friends, and learned a ton of new things.

With the small group, Ell traveled to Indy, where they had a mission trip. Also the group invited Ell and the others over for dinners, line dancing at the Rusty Anteater, ice skating, and pizza parties. It was like Ell had a whole new family, and she loved it.

Toward the end of the semester, finals came up, and the Small Group faced off against other small groups, winning a spirit award and coming in forth. Also Ell knew that one of her classes would not end well. Preparing for the next semester, Ell changed her major to Biology, wanting to work with animals, and set up some awesome classes.

Ell believed that everything was happening for the better. Slowly though, things began to deteriorate even further. Ell was involved in an accident where her car went into a ditch and Papa Oranik had to pay for it to be towed out. The car was still in driving condition and Ell drove it home. Mama Oranik was not to pleased and grounded Ell for two weeks. When Ell finally was off grounding she drove to pick up Sly, Sirius, and Marie to go hang out and visit the airport. As Sly would be working with planes, he loved to go sit and watch planes at the airport. As they were heading home however, Ells car began acting weird and was overheating. She cut the power, put in anti-freeze after letting it cool and was headed out again. A few minutes later it began overheating again and Ell pulled to the side of the road, shut it off, and called her father. Her car was towed to where her uncle works, and sat there until the mechanic tried to temporarily fix it. It appeared that Ell would not have a car for a while.