Chapter 24: Our Goodbyes End Here
Tomorrow I officially go to Duke. Then two days after that I officially start Duke. And I'll be honest I've never been so scared in my life. I'll know nobody here and I'll be away from my two best friends and my boyfriend. Of course my family to, but just my friends more. I've been wanting to cry all day but I've stayed strong for the sake of my mom who has been bawling since graduation. We dropped off Max about two weeks ago at NC A&T University and it was horrible, there was to much crying because two best friends were being split up. Now Henry and Jake are here at Duke with me to help. Today will not be a good day, Henry and I will be split up. He'll be across the country in Wisconsin and I'll be here at Duke. I know he didn't want to go to Wisconsin because he wanted to stay with me, but that was his dream college and I would not let me get in the way of his dream. Plus I don't remember him applying for Duke anyways.
"I never thought I'd be on the Duke University campus" Henry scrunches his nose, did I mention he's not the biggest fan of Duke?
We pulled through the campus and I stared out my window in awe. I was finally here. My dream college. I did it. Jake turned down a road and I saw a couple of apartment buildings. The one that caught my eye most was a big blue apartment building with the Blue Devil logo on the front. I stared as we went by.
"That's where the football team stays" Henry says staring at it to
Just down the street was a smaller, beige apartment building which was my dorm it was on the West side of campus. There were quite a few people on campus moving in and stuff. Jake parked the car and we all got out, I stood there and stared at the large building. A whole bunch of mixed emotions hit me and my stomach started to feel weird. I was knocked out of my thoughts when someone appeared next to me and took my hand.
"Are you ok?" Henry asks
"Yea, just nervous" I answer not looking at him
He leans in and kisses my cheek "come on, let's get your stuff to your room so you can go explore"
I follow him to the trunk of the car and start getting boxes out. I didn't have a lot but it was still quite a bit. We walked down the hallways seeing a bunch of people and then we found it. Room 128. I unlock my door and walk in, the empty room was nicely made and untouched. There were two beds on each side of the room with mattresses on them. Next to the beds were dressers for our clothes and a very small closet and there was a window seat! The walls were a light brown color and the carpet was a white and rigid. They put the boxes on the right side of the room and went back for more while I stayed back. I looked out the window as I heard a knock at the door. I turn to see a girl with light red hair smiling nervously, she gives a small wave before speaking up.
"You must be Alex, I'm Cassidy but people call me Cassie. I'm your roommate" she says
I smile "Hi, yes I'm Alex" I say as we shake hands
She looks around the room before walking over to her side of the room and putting down the bag she was carrying. Just then Henry and Jake walk in with more boxes, they set them down on the floor before Jake plops down on the mattress.
"Those. Are. Frickin. Heavy." Jake says out of breathe
Henry and I laugh, out of the corner of my eye I see Cassie smiling while opening a box.
"Oh and guys this is Cassie, my roommate and Cassie this is my brother Jake and my boyfriend Henry" I say
Cassie smiles and shakes both of their hands. She talks a little more before going back to unpack her stuff. Henry and Jake follow me outside to explore the huge campus.
"Hey, I wanna go check out that house. The one where the football players stay" Jake says excitedly
We walk down the street to the big blue house, a bunch of guys were going in and out moving their stuff. I noticed Nick, from school was there waving at Jake and Henry. We walked over and took a better look at the building, there was a big banner that read 'Congratulations Blue Devils' and had a bunch of names that were signed on it. Nick was talking with Henry and Jake so I went over to look at it, reading all the names on it. I noticed a few from school but not many, not a lot of people liked Duke but I'm not sure why. One name caught my eye and I had to read it a couple times to make sure I was reading the right name 'Henry Wilson'.
'Henry Wilson'
I turn around to point it out to Henry but instead I found him standing in the middle of the parking lot with my favorite flowers and a huge smile. A smile spread across my face.
"Henry, are you?.....did you?" I couldn't even speak
"No, I didn't take the Wisconsin scholarship. Duke was a last minute thing but thanks to Nick their football coach liked my skills and they gave me half a scholarship." he smiles
"Henry why did you not take the full scholarship, it was your dream college."
"I don't care about my dream college or scholarships or anything. Forget that. I only care about you, I couldn't stand being 14 hours away from you everyday, my heart wouldn't allow that." he walks closer to me and gently puts his hand on my cheek, tears start forming in my eyes "I love you Alex Cortez, that will never change."
A tear slipped from my eye and he wiped it away with his thumb "I love you to Henry Wilson"
He smiles and leans in to kiss me, I kiss him back and I hear people cheering. When we pull away I jump into this arms and hug him, wrapping my arms around his neck. He wrapped his arms around my waist and hugged me tightly kissing my cheek. When we pull away he hands me the flowers and takes my hand as we walk over to Nick and Jake.
"Thanks Nick, again for telling coach about me" Henry says wrapping his arm around me
"Yes, thank you Nick" I smile
He laughs "No problem, anything for the middle/high school sweethearts"
Just then behind him I see Max and Justin walking up.
"Surprise!" they yell
"What are y'all doing here?" I smile
"We came to make sure Henry's plan worked" Max smiled
Max and Justin gave me hugs and we all walked around some more. Justin, Jake and Max were talking about something in front of us and Henry walked back with me. He took my hand and looked at me.
"So are you already moved in then?" I ask
"Yea, that week I was in football camp it was Duke's football camp" he smiles, wrapping his arm around my waist as we walked
I take a deep breath and look around. This is it. High school is over and I'm an adult now. No more kid things, my list of responsibilities just grew. But I look at everyone around me and see that I'll be ok, these people love me and they care. Life couldn't be better; my best friends got into their dream colleges, my brother finally gets to have a bigger room, I got accepted to my dream college and my boyfriend is here with me. I couldn't ask for anything more. I closed my eyes just as Henry snapped me out of my thoughts.
"It's true. I fell in love with the farmer's daughter"
**The End**
(continue to next page for important news)
