When In Doubt - Freshman Year

Chapter 11

Madison

Just as a red Dodge minivan left the parking lot across the street from all of the freshman dorms, Mandy's Mercedes pulled in. It was always impossible to find a closer spot, so they'd really lucked out.

"Mads, are you sure you want to stay in tonight?" Ali asked as the four of them walked through the lobby of HKMC. "You have the rest of the weekend to worry about homework."

"Yeah, just do it tomorrow and Sunday so you can come out with us," Lindsay agreed. Mandy's boyfriend, Charles, had messaged her there was a party at Sig Tau that night, so of course she'd promised that the four of them would be there.

"You guys know by now that I cannot do anything when I'm hungover," Madison reminded them. "Maybe if you guys told me your big secret to how you get your work done so quickly, I'd be tempted."

It bugged her that they still kept their secret from her, which told her two things: That whatever they were doing could be illegal, and they didn't trust her knowing whatever it was. She knew she was more bookish than the rest of them, but that didn't mean she was some goody-two-shoes who'd narc on them. She'd thought they had become better friends than that.

"Come out with us tonight, and we'll tell you," Mandy fired back at her.

Madison scoffed as they'd entered their floor and scattered towards their rooms. Madison opened her door and fully expected Eden's party still in full swing, but the room was empty, and everything put back in order like it never even happened, much to her surprise.

She was touched at how Eden seemed to have been taking the room situation seriously, and then felt a stab of guilt over how she'd ditched to go shopping with the girls.

Before her long night of homework would begin, Madison decided to shoot her mom a quick text. She missed home and had never been away for so long, but her and her mom had been sending little messages every week to stay updated on their lives. Her mom sent a picture of Dante, her little brother who'd turned eight that week, as he celebrated with his friends with a big cake and an even bigger smile on his.

Madison had smiled down at the image, but it'd been a sad smile. Staying on task with all the schoolwork she got, along with Track practices, and keeping up with the girls, Madison had begun to feel the pull of everything around her. It was only going to get harder once the season started in January, and she'd have a meet every Saturday. She found herself wishing she could be Dante's younger age again, and wished she could've been there to celebrate with him on his big day.

College was a lot harder than high school: There was twice as much work to be done outside of class, the classes were much more difficult, instructors were twice as harsh, and even skipping one day could push someone behind for over a week.

She checked Facebook afterwards, but her newsfeed was pretty dull. She hadn't posted in a while, so she'd quickly decided to put something out there to show everyone she was still alive and thriving:

Working hard and being a good girl tonight; staying in and getting my homework done on a Friday night! 🤓

She'd added a selfie she'd taken off her laptop camera, retook it only seven times until it was to her satisfaction, and was just about ready to leave when there was a knock on her door. She'd opened it to see the girls once again; they all crowded her doorway and dressed in their sexy party-attire.

"Ok, I know you guys don't need hearing aids or for me to repeat myself," Madison jutted out a hip with a warning tone in her voice.

"No, we know what you said earlier, but listen," Mandy smiled. "Charles said that his friend Darren asked about you and seemed to be really interested if you were going tonight," Mandy actually looked excited, and she'd never shown much emotion, so the fact that she practically glowed in front of her made Madison think twice.