When In Doubt - Freshman Year

Chapter 1

Matt

"Oh, look honey, there's the sign!"

19-year-old Matt Anderson's brown eyes had hesitantly looked up from his iPhone, and in his parent's backseat, he'd read a highway sign that'd read UW-Stout Exit 41, and felt his chest constrict and his heartbeat rapidly accelerate. So many thoughts and scenarios that'd plagued his mind over the summer had come rushing back all at once; the nerves jolted him awake better than a Starbucks iced caramel macchiato ever could've.

Matt was merely minutes away from starting his freshman year at the University of Wisconsin-Stout.

"Are you excited Matt? We're almost there!" his mom had gushed from the passenger side. She had been way too awake for him; she'd always been more of a morning person, unlike Matt and his father.

"Yeah, can't wait," Matt replied while he'd continued staring out his window.

He'd let his mind wander back to the many questions he had:

What was his roommate really going to be like?

Was he going to like his classes?

What major should he decide on?

How true was Stout's reputation for being a party school?

Was the food at the cafeteria decent?

Where was the nearest Chipotle?

Would anyone like him, or would he make any real friends?

He'd known starting over and making entirely new friends would've been his biggest challenge. No one from his hometown in Eagan, Minnesota had enrolled with him; it had been an opportunity for Matt to try and truly be who he'd wanted to be.

Back home, Matt hadn't necessarily been deemed a loser, but it wasn't like he'd been considered homecoming king material either. He'd always just blended in and was basically a background character to everyone else's high school center-stage experience. He'd had some friends that he'd go with to the movies with, or go grab half-off appetizers at Applebee's after the Eagan Wildcats Friday night football games, but he'd never felt like he'd been fully integrated into those groups; he was more just a loner on the outside looking in.

All that was about to change, Matt had assured himself. He'd just had to get over his nerves, and not care so much about what other people had thought of him. That should've been super easy right? Matt had taken a quiet deep breath to hide from to his parents how terrified he'd actually been.

His dad had driven up the exit off of Highway I-94 East, and they'd immediately parked at a Holiday gas station to stretch out and get a quick bathroom break in before they'd entered the actual campus.

"Hmmm...look at that, Tombstone pizzas, buy one get one sale going on," Matt's dad nodded towards a sign on the window as he'd filled up the car.

Matt rolled his eyes; his dad always pointed out sales like that without actually doing anything about it himself. He'd quickly learned his father merely wanted him to spend the money, so he hadn't had to.

"Oh yeah, look at that."

"Might be nice to have some in your dorm...you have a fridge in there, right?"

"Yep, a mini-fridge, a freezer, and a microwave attached on top."

They were both masters of small talk...Matt inwardly cringed.

The University of Wisconsin-Stout was located in a small town named Menomonie, Wisconsin. It had the stereotypical small Midwest town aesthetic: two main roads had made up the small downtown, and yes, one of them was called Main Street. They'd driven past multiple fast-food restaurants, and strip malls that lead to a bridge over the Red Cedar River that flowed into Lake Menomin, the main town could've been seen overlooking off in the distance.