Author's Note: Thank you for the reviews. This is still a work in progress and I'm open to suggestions.
"I still don't see why you had to come Gable." Her older brother grinned widely at her as he carried her trunk towards her dorm room.
"'Cause I wanted to see where my baby sister is going to be living for the next six months." He replied enthusiastically, ruffling her brown pixie cut. "Why couldn't you do this when I was still living at home?" Harlow nudged his shoulder as she dodged his hand.
"Shut up."
"Don't say that." Claudia snapped edgily. The three other Tully's shared a look. Mother Tully was not taking her daughter moving out well. George reached over to give his wife's shoulder a squeeze and reassuring smile – not that it made a difference.
"What room are you in again?" Her dad asked, deciding a subject change was in order. Harlow glanced at the scrap of paper in her hand.
"Um 4." She replied. They had just passed room 3; room 4 was at the end of the hall and across from the bathroom. "There it is." The group of four stopped at the closed door.
"Well?" Gable prompted when Harlow didn't move. Tentatively, Harlow knocked. Gable rolled his eyes. "Jesus, Harlow, it's your room too. You don't have to knock." He shouldered his way past her and into the room. It was empty. Gable sent his sister a look to which she blushed and rushed further into the room to avoid his taunting eyes.
It was a decent sized room with two windows overlooking a small grass field before another building blocked further view. There were three twin sized beds: one against the wall near the door, the other across from it and the third was on the other end of the room, near the closet. There were three desks: one next to an old arm chair on the wall that housed the windows while the other two were on the same side as the room with a mini-fridge resting between them. As her dad flicked on the light, Harlow made out one final detail – a huge duffle bag on the floor next to the bed that was near the door. One of her roommates was already there. This made Harlow both excited and terrified.
"It's nice." George commented politely.
"It's small." Claudia sniffed.
"Oh, hello." All four Tully's turned to the door where a girl around Harlow's age now stood, a back pack slung over her shoulders. "You must be our new roommate." This was directed at Harlow who nodded.
"That would be me. I'm Harlow Tully." The two girls met halfway and shook hands.
"Connie Moreau." Connie's eyes flickered towards her family and Harlow quickly introduced all of them. "Nice to meet you." A slightly awkward silence descended over the room.
"Well, your stuff's all here." Gable announced loudly. "So we should get going." George was quick to nod in agreement, but Claudia was less enthusiastic.
"But we only just arrived. She isn't even settled in yet." She whined. Connie and Harlow shared an eye roll and smile which helped Harlow to relax. They were getting along!
"Mom, I'll be fine. Look, I'm not even alone. So you can go knowing I'm in good hands."
"She'll be fine." Connie agreed. "I promise I'll keep an eye on her."
"See?" George said as he began leading Claudia towards the door. "She's got a friend already."
"She's going to be fine, mom." Gable concurred.
"Well if you're sure you'll be okay…"
"I'm sure." Harlow confirmed swiftly.
"Well okay." Claudia was still reluctant and having to be pushed out the door by George.
"Call us later Harley girl. Nice meeting you Connie."
"Bye dad." Harlow moved to the door, more than ready to close it on her family, but Gable lingered in the doorway, surveying the room and its occupants one final time. When he was done, he reached out and ruffled his sister's short hair again.
"Have fun kiddo and don't do anything I wouldn't do."
"That's an awfully short list, Gabe." Harlow remarked dryly.
"This is true. Never mind, forget that. Just steer clear of boys."
"That's going to be kind of hard since I'll be going to school with them every day." Gable sent her a look.
"You know what I mean. Nice meeting you Connie. Later." Connie and Harlow both waved good bye as he left, closing the door behind him.
"He's interesting." Connie commented lightly. Harlow knew that 'interesting' really meant 'charmingly cute'. Every girl thought Gable was cute up until they got to know him; then they realized what an idiot he was. They still liked hanging around him, but he stopped being cute and started being more like a brother.
"Yeah, he's a ham." Connie started to go through her backpack that was now resting on her bed.
"So you're here on a sports scholarship aren't you?"
"How'd you guess?" Harlow asked as she started to go through her trunk which Gable had dropped at the foot of her chosen bed (the one near the closet).
"This is what the other girls in the dorm call Spoship room because apparently only girls on sports scholarships get put in here." At the look on Harlow's face, Connie rolled her eyes. "I know, Spoship is a dumb name, but it's been around for awhile so we're stuck with it."
"Ahhh."
"So what's your game? Basketball? Volleyball? I know it's not hockey."
"No," Harlow laughed, "Not hockey. Ballet." Connie raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"Wow, a ballerina. I didn't see that coming at all."
"In a good or bad way?"
"Oh good way for sure." Connie sent her a smile. Harlow let out the breath she'd been holding.
"How'd you know I wasn't here on a hockey scholarship?" Harlow asked as she hung up her dresses in the small closet.
"Because I'm on the hockey team. I would've heard about it." Suddenly it occurred to Harlow who this 'Connie' was.
"You must be the Connie my friend Penny told me about." Connie frowned.
"Penny?"
"Ferguson? You had English with her last year?"
"Oh yeah, Penny Ferguson. You're friends with her?" Harlow nodded, turning from the closet. She was glad that she had only brought three dresses. The closet wasn't very big and she didn't want to hog the space.
"Yeah, we've been best friends since first grade."
"That's a long time."
"Yeah. So you play hockey?"
"Yeah."
"Aren't you scared of getting hurt?" Connie shrugged.
"Not really. Anyway I have the guys to look out for me. Plus I'm tougher than I look." They shared a laugh. "You'll get to meet everyone because they're always randomly dropping by – usually for help on their homework. You'll definitely get to meet Julie and soon. She's our other roommate." Harlow worried at her lower lip.
"Would that be Julie the 'Cat'?" Connie 'mmhmmed'. "Oh." Connie sent her a funny look; Harlow flushed. "Sorry, it's just that Penny said the 'Cat' was…" She searched for the right word. "…intimidating." Connie laughed at that.
"Penny's just scared of her because they had a run in in the lunch line. Julie was having a really bad day so she was grumpy and snapped at Penny when Penny spilled her water on Julie's sleeve. And no offense, but Penny's kind of jumpy." Now it was Harlow's turn to laugh. Penny was easily scared. "I promise, Julie's really nice."
"Unless she's had a rough day."
"Unless she's had a rough day." Connie repeated; they laughed. "So, I have to ask, do you have a boyfriend?" Harlow shook her head as she dug through her trunk for her practice clothes and slippers.
"No. You?"
"Yeah. His name is Guy."
"Does he play hockey too?" Connie nodded.
"We're on the same team."
"Is that allowed?"
"We don't really care." Harlow couldn't think of anything to say to that so she remained silent. Finally finding her practice clothes, she excused herself to the bathroom to change.
When she came back, Connie was putting on some rollerblades.
"I'm supposed to meet the guys at the park. You can tag along if you want." But Harlow shook her head.
"No thanks. I want to check out where I'm going to be studying ballet for the next three years of my life and get in some barre time."
"I have no idea what that is, but okay." Connie stood up. "Have fun. See you later."
"Bye." Harlow watched her skate off. She herself had never skated a day in her life – either on ice or concrete. She was always scared that she'd fall, twist an ankle, and never be able to do ballet again. Silly? Maybe, but it was a fear that had stuck with her. Slinging her bag over her shoulder, Harlow left the room in search of her new ballet studio.
Author's Note: Definitely starting to get more involved with the Ducks now! Hope you enjoyed! Reviews always welcome as is constructive criticism.