When In Doubt - Freshman Year

Chapter 2

Heather

At around two in the afternoon, everyone had moved in on the third floor of Milnes-Chinnock, so both the RA's had made their rounds to introduce themselves to all their new freshman.

The girl's RA was named Olivia: a short, curvy, bubbly girl with shoulder length auburn hair a high bun, and decked out head-to-toe in UW-Stout apparel. She'd gathered all the girls to meet in their study lounge that divided their side from the boys.

Heather sat down at one of the worktables, and had been joined by Lindsay and another girl who'd she'd been introduced to as Ali Devereux. She was also blond, but Ali's more layered hair only went to the tips of her shoulders, and she'd seemed edgier that Heather would've expected. With cutoff denim shorts, an old concert tee she'd probably worn a thousand times, and leopard print ankle boots, Heather wondered how Ali and Lindsay were best friends.

"Hello girls, and welcome to our first-floor meeting for third floor Milnes!" Olivia gushed as she'd stood over their group. "Now, the point of this meeting is to start getting you all ready to be able to start off your year here at Stout with a bang!"

"Amen to that," Ali winked. A few girls snickered under their breath.

Olivia continued, undisturbed. "So, while I've gone around and met each of you individually, you guys have yet to meet each other, so I wanted to take the time to have us all sit together. That way there can be familiar faces to put names to in case you're lost around campus, or want to find someone to sit with in the commons."

Olivia turned towards Heather. "So, we'll start with Heather over here, and go around in a circle until we get back to me. Just tell us your name, hometown, major and what your favorite food is."

Heather flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder and gave the room a casual smile as she introduced herself. "I'm from Prior Lake, Minnesota, my major is Entertainment Design concentrating in Digital Cinema, and my favorite food is pizza."

A couple of the girls smiled and nodded, but Heather noticed one girl in particular who'd narrowed her eyes across the circle. Heather's impression was that she was definitely one of those girls that knew how gorgeous she was, so she acted like she could say or do anything because of it. Her silky-smooth brunette hair cascaded in perfect waves halfway down her back, her nails looked freshly manicured, makeup contoured to perfection, and not a single wrinkle could've been found on her white sundress.

Heather immediately knew to be cautious of her, and decided to pay no more attention to the girl as she'd listened to the others go around when it was their turn.

"Hi everyone, my name is Lindsay Erickson! I'm from Edina, Minnesota, my major is going to be Professional Communications and Emerging Media, and I'd say veggie wraps or spring rolls for food; I made the decision to stop eating meat after watching these horrendous YouTube videos of poor little animals being tortured and, like, I believe that—"

"—My name is Allison Devereaux." Ali smirked as Lindsay pouted in her seat. "I'm also from Edina, and Linds and I have been tight since second grade. Our moms met at Stout, so we thought it'd be cool to continue that legacy. My major is Industrial Design, and I'm obsessed with anything sweet or chocolatey or both."

Some of these girls were more shy and introverted while others seemed pretty chill; Heather learned the one girl was named Mandy Reinhardt who was from Madison, her major was Interior Design, and her favorite food was a 12-ounce cut Wagyu steak from some restaurant she'd gone to in Manhattan, but her late-night craving was always grilled cheese on whole wheat.

Yeah, okay...Heather resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Was this girl for real?

She was way more interested in the artsy, bohemian chick who'd worn a rosy-pink maxi skirt with a floral short sleeve crochet top. Heather noticed a small circular tattoo on the girl's left wrist when she'd waved and introduced herself as Eden Harrington.