That weekend was one of the best weekends ever, but also the busiest. I woke up Saturday morning. I ate a quick breakfast and I saw Luis still sleeping. I walked over to his bed and woke him up. I showered, got dressed, and walked with Luis to meet the others. They had a whole day planned, wanting to show me the fun part of college. I agreed to go for a few hours.
We met the others on the edge of campus. All six of others went out to watch a comedy. After that, we nearby stores and looked around. Becky and Emily bought lots of clothes, Zach got a football, Brady needed a flash drive, and Luis wanted another poster. I didn't get anything and the others teased me.
Luis complained about being hungry, so we went to nearest restaurant and got some food. We talked, laughed, and told about our dreams. Things were going great until families got mentioned.
"That reminds me of when I was little and my brother thought it would be funny to put gum in my hair." Becky glared at Zach.
"Well, you drew a horrible mustache on my face. With permanent marker!" Zach retorted.
"Really. I used permanent markers to make me look like a fairy. I was a fairy for about a week." Emily laughed.
"A week! I would love to see that." Brady asked. "I wore a Spiderman suit for a month."
They all laughed and then it went quiet.
"Do you have any good childhood memories?" Luis turned to me.
"Sure." I shrugged. "Nothing too exciting."
"Come on! We would love to hear about it." Luis pressed.
"Once on the 4th of July, my brother and I set off fireworks and burned down a whole field." I told them, smiling sadly at the memory.
"Fireworks! That's awesome." Luis exclaimed.
"Yeah. My brother and I never did anything that awesome." Becky said. "Your brother is cool!"
"I am cool!" Zach told.
That sparked a conversation about Zach and Becky's childhood. Everyone laughed and talked. My mind drifted and I thought about my brother, Dad, and my childhood. The hunting, being left at motels, and the wounds. I thought about the time Dad handed me a .45 instead of telling it was okay. He was never a father. He was…
"Sam? You okay?" I heard Luis ask.
I looked up shocked.
"Yeah. Just thinking about the homework." I lied smoothly.
"Really?" Luis rolled my eyes. "You have homework!"
This started a discussion on homework, school, and classes. It was interesting to hear about all of it. Emily talked about her theater class. That reminded of the time I was in a play. Zach and Brady talked about football and I talked about soccer. Becky talked about being a cheerleader for a year, but got dropped on the pyramid. Her breaking her arm started her passion for the human body and how to heal it.
We left the restaurant and I declared that I was going home. They protested, but I told them I had a lot of homework. That was somewhat true. I had homework, but I also wanted some time to think alone.
I tried to do my homework, but I couldn't relax or stop thinking about it all. I sighed in frustration and slammed the book down. I took deep breaths before attempting it again. I eventually finished it.
I woke up the next morning and decided I needed to do something to distract me. I went over to wake up Luis, who just groaned. He was probably hung over or something from last night. I rolled my eyes and got ready to leave. I looked at the clock and wondered what I could do at 7 in the morning on a Sunday. I decided to just go running.
After that it was around nine thirty. I went back to my apartment and found Luis up. He looked pretty happy. I asked him about it. Apparently, last night he found a girlfriend. He asked me about my dating life. Luis was disappointed when I didn't give me much. He was hard to date when you were a hunter.
"We will worry about that on a later date." Luis said.
"I don't know…" I trailed off.
"Oh. It will be fine." He waved me off.
"What do you plan on doing today?" I asked.
"Probably hanging out with my lady. You could call Brady if you want." Luis suggested.
"Okay."
I did call Brady. He answered sounding very tired. He had partied with Luis, then stayed up doing homework. I pitied the poor kid. The two of us went out for coffee and thought of what to do. We ended up sitting there for hours talking about medical stuff. Brady seemed surprised I knew anything. Guess having a crazy dad was good for something.
We all met up with the rest of the gang later. I even got to meet Luis' girl, Tiffany. I didn't really see what he saw in her. She was all fake tans, too much makeup, small clothes, and dyed hair. I knew that the relationship wasn't based on emotional interest, therefore it wouldn't last too long. The only upside is that both would be fine.
The evening was great. I got to watch Becky and Zach bicker again. Brady told funny stories. The night only got awkward when Luis and Tiffany started to kiss and seemed to forget that they weren't alone. I glared at them. They stopped and decided to leave. I shook my head at Luis' wink.
I sat back quietly as I watched them. Stanford was great in many ways. One was that now I had friends. I had friends that I didn't have to worry about leaving. I had found something great here and I didn't plan on losing it. I would fight for this.