Everything Changes

Chapter Seven: Cassie Mendez

Unlike Juliana's smooth move-in, Cassie's went terribly wrong.

For starters, her father dropped a box on the way up to her room, shattering more than half of her decor. Now, her desk and bedside table sat empty without the fake plants that she bought to fit her earthy theme.

Second, her parents couldn't figure out how to hang anything on the wall without it immediately falling. Her mother blamed the command strips for not working, but Cassie blamed her parents for being incapable. It was definitely because of her father's shaking hands, which was thanks to the three cups of coffee, and her mother's lack of patience and shouting out curse words in Spanish every time something fell off the wall.

Third, saying her goodbyes were incredibly difficult. She had been crying for the entire week leading up to move-in, and as she was in her father's arms, she couldn't help but cry again. Saying goodbye made her really really not want to go to college.

But it didn't matter what she wanted. She knew she had to go to college. Not only were her parents forcing her, but that was the only way she could continue to play soccer.

She was eighteen now. An adult. She wasn't sure why she was having such difficulties accepting that she was growing up.

Mentally, she didn't feel eighteen years old. She felt much younger than that. She felt like she needed more life experience before going to college, instead of being thrown into it like she was right now. Her father kept assuring her that he was once in the same position, and learning on his own helped him become more mature. Cassie just felt like she was going to become more mentally ill.

She had been through so much. She had dealt with so much trauma in her life. She wasn't sure she could handle much more - and on her own without her parents by her side? It would absolutely break her.

Home was so important to her. It was her safe space. Home meant her family, which was her everything. Even after her older siblings moved into their own apartments, they still visited home frequently. It was like they never left.

She was lucky she was only an hour away from home... but Miami didn't feel like home, nor did she want to make it her new home. She wished she could stay in West Coral for the rest of her life and take over her family's business.

On top of her shitty move-in, she had been having the worst two weeks at college. The first week was freshman orientation and soccer pre-season. She was extremely homesick and hated the dining hall food. The second week was much worse. Classes started and she was already swamped with work. She still was having trouble finding things on campus and dreaded walking everywhere. Getting into a routine was extremely difficult. Her planner was a scattered mess! It was safe to say that she was miserable.

She felt relieved that week two was over. She had just finished her last Friday class and there was no soccer practice that evening. She planned to celebrate over a tub of ice cream and a Netflix show.

She was minding her own business as she browsed around the convenience store on campus. She was arguing back and forth with herself whether or not she wanted the strawberry or vanilla ice cream. When she finally decided on the strawberry ice cream, she heard someone holler from behind her.

"Mendez!"

She turned around with furrowed eyebrows, meeting eyes with Jake. He waved from behind the register. She was quick to put the ice cream back in the refrigerator before walking towards him with widened eyes.