Mom collapses to the floor, sobbing into her hands. It’s no secret he doesn’t want me, but the reminder always stings more than the last. With no sign of him coming back, I run over to her, rubbing her back as she continues to let years of pent up frustration, anger, and sadness pool in a puddle of wet tears. “Don’t cry, Momma. I love you.”

“S-Sophie,” she sobs.

I lay down next to her, holding her shaking body—comforting her any way I can. I’m responsible for his hatred and I’ll do anything to take her pain away. “Don’t cry, Momma. Please.”

“Sophie? Hey.”

“Sorry, what?” I look between Kipton and Cara. They both glance at me curiously, but don’t ask any questions. Even if they did, I’m not sure I’d have the guts to tell them about the darkness that haunts my past. It’s safer to push it away.

“What if I have you home early?” Kipton asks.

I shrug my shoulders, unsure with my decision at this point. The angel on my right shoulder is telling me to go to bed early and focus on my training. Of course the devil on the left has me picturing every inch of him naked. I have to stop this. My hormones have been in overdrive since he caught me in my towel. “I’ll think about it.” It’s a smart answer. This way, I leave my options open but don’t have to commit yet.

“I’m definitely in,” Cara adds with a clap of her hands and a shake of her ass. “And if I have any say in it, so are you, Sophie.”

Kipton rolls his eyes but waits until Cara turns around to hang more clothes in the closet. When she’s out of view, he mouths the word come and immediately I’m covered in goose bumps. I nod my head, accepting the invitation. My body answering before my brain has a chance to catch up. What did I agree too?

“Have a good night, ladies.” Before he closes the door completely, I let out the breath I’ve been holding. I throw myself onto my bed, realizing the earthy scent of his cologne has seeped into my bedding. If I close my eyes, it’s as if he’s still laying here with me. Inhaling deeply, I cuddle my pillow against my chest. Mid sniff, the door to our room swings open. Kipton grabs his keys off the top of the TV stand and winks at me. “Won’t get too far without these. See-ya tomorrow.”

“Bye, Kippy.” Cara practically sings from her closet. She’s on cloud nine about this party. I, on the other hand, am in serious trouble. Mortified, I roll over to face the window, hearing Kipton chuckle as the door closes.

He caught me sniffing my pillow.

CARA AND I ARE ON our way back from the dining hall, I’m lost in thought while she rambles on about the party tomorrow night. As she finishes telling me about all the hot guys that live with Kipton, I’m wondering how out of place I’ll feel around all these people. While the guys all sound like a lot of fun, an introvert like me is just hoping to blend in to the crowd. “Do you think I’ll fit in?”

“Anyone can fit in, Sophie. And you’re new here. You can be anyone you want to be. Nobody knows a thing about you yet. That’s the beauty of going away to college. Whatever stigma stuck to you in high school, you can shed it and break free. Believe it or not, I wasn’t super popular. I mean sure, I had my group of friends that I went to the country club with, but I was never in the clique. Those girls were too much like the plastics.

“The Plastics from Mean Girls?” My school had a few of those too. No matter what they did, they were worshipped by many and feared by most.

“Completely. Look, Sophie. We have our first love note of the semester.” Cara rips a taped memo off our door and we scan it together in the hallway. Our resident advisor isn’t wasting any time jumping into things. I know this is college life, but I was hoping to be asleep early tonight. Between driving and unpacking, I’m beat.

“A meeting already? I’m going to talk to the RA. Late night meetings aren’t going to work for my schedule.” All I want to do is crawl into my bed and get some rest before hell week begins in the gym tomorrow. Coaches love to start training camp off with a bang that will set the tone for the entire season. It’s never easy and fun wouldn’t be a word I’d use to describe it.

“If he’s hot tell him I’m single.”

“I will.” Laughing at her expression, I jog down the rest of the hallway to find Room 315. Walking by it the first time, I turn around and knock twice on the closed door. I hear laughter on the other side, but nobody answers. I knock again, a little louder this time.

The door finally swings open to reveal the only other familiar face I’ve seen on campus thus far. The guy who almost killed me with his skateboard. “Sophie! What’s up?”

“You get around, don’t you? I’m looking for Drew. Is he in there?” I try to peek around his shoulder, but can’t see anyone else inside the room.

“You’re looking at him,” he announces proudly.

This has to be a joke. “Say what?”

Chuckling, he opens the door wider. “Come on in. Make yourself at home. To the right we have the bed and to the left the couch. Don’t go getting lost.”

He’s humoring me, but I can’t get over him being the RA of the floor. I saw him moving in just this morning. “You’re serious?”

“Yes. I told you I was part of the welcoming committee.”

He did say that. “That explains how you knew my name. I thought you were a stalker with a door fetish.”

“Yeah. I usually don’t make it a point to assault my residents with skateboards or nearly knock them down the stairs. I apologize for the rocky start.”

“Apology accepted, but do you always act like a ten-year-old boy?” I pull my hair back into a ponytail and secure it with the tie I always keep around my wrist.

“Only on Mondays,” he says while cleaning the junk off his coffee table. He doesn’t need to clean on my account.

“Good to know.”

“So what’s up?” he asks. “Or did you just want to make nice with the RA?”

“Funny, but no. I can’t make it to your meeting tonight.”

Drew crosses his arms, taking on a defensive stance. This must be his I’m the boss pose. “Why not? It’s mandatory.”

“Because I have to be at the gym by six tomorrow morning. My bedtime is crazy early compared to most college students, but I have no choice. I’m not a morning person as it is. Plus, it’s been a long day. I drove all the way from Tennessee.”

“That’s right. You’re the gymnast. Well, maybe I can make an exception since you have special circumstances. Have a seat and I’ll go over the info with you.”

I walk over to the small black sofa lining the far wall. He’s lucky he has a room twice the size of mine. I’d love to have some extra space for furniture besides the beds. “Thanks. What year are you?”

“Junior.”

I laugh and he raises his eyebrows at me. “I thought you were a freshman.”

“Ouch!”

“Sorry.”

“It’s cool. I was only having fun today. I’ve been here for three days sitting through boring meetings and it’s been eerily quiet. I try to be approachable and meet the residents as they come inside. That wasn’t even my TV that took flight.”

“It’s okay. You were just doing your job.” He hands me a folder full of papers and goes over all the do’s and don’ts of the dorm. Some are comical and make me wonder what happened in the past to need a rule in the first place. When there can’t possibly be anything else to cover, he hands me one last piece of paper.

“This one usually gets the most grief,” he says.

The paper goes into detail about how we aren’t allowed to have guests of the opposite sex stay in our room during the week and if we have guests on the weekends, they have to be signed in and approved. It makes sense with the strict fire codes, but how they plan to keep guys out of girls rooms is beyond me. It’s a co-ed dorm. “Well this shouldn’t be a problem with me.” I sign it right away and hand it back to him without a second glance.