The Middle Child: Next Level

3: Julia

"Ohh I can explain that. See, growing up my mom was really spoiled because my grandpa was a really rich judge, but in college he cut her off because of her bad spending habits and her life was never really the same after that, especially after her first marriage to my sister's dad. So please, don't take it personally. She probably just had a flashback and became triggered. You can take the pearls from the girl, but you can never take the pearls out of the girl," I explained.

"Ahh, ok that makes a lot of sense. And I didn't take it personally at all, from our conversation she would always start off brash but then she would mellow out a bit. Trust me, I've dealt with worse people," she assured me.

"Well I'm glad that she didn't scare you at first. She tends to do that to a lot of people and it leaves a lasting impression on their image of her."

She waved me off, "It takes a lot to scare me, your mom is just really dedicated to her job, and I can respect that."

I nodded, deciding to switch the subject a bit, "Was it as hard to say goodbye to your family as it was for me to say goodbye to my dad?"

She looked in thought for a moment before answering, almost like she was trying to choose her words carefully, "Yeah, it was, my mom took it really hard. Cried like a baby."

"Understandable, you seem like you're not from around here. I think my mom would've cried like a baby too if she wasn't the dean. And well, I know my dad is pretty crushed that I won't be over his house any more since after this summer he's going back to the Big Apple,"

She shook her head, "No, I'm originally from LA. It's always been my dream to come to Howard, and now I can't believe I'm finally here! I'm so excited!" she said happily, but her tone sounded a little unsure. Sasha seems kind of mysterious, like one big mystery waiting to be unraveled. I know it's wrong, but I want to unravel her mystery...

"Are you originally from here?" she asked.

"Well I was born in Richmond but when my mom got this job we moved to DC. so I guess I'm technically not from here but I kind of am," I glanced around the room again and noticed the multitudes of boxes. As I looked back at Sasha I noticed my reflection in the full length mirror behind her. Wait a second, I forgot to bring my mirror from dad's house. "Hey Sash, wait is it okay that I call you that?"

She nodded, "That's fine!"

"Okay cool! Anyways, I realized that I forgot my mirror at my dad's spot. Do you wanna maybe go shopping with me since now I have to buy one?" If she says no this might be kind of awkward. "And since I've noticed you have AMAZING taste, maybe you could help me pick one out!"

She lit up a bit, "Sure! That sounds like fun, plus I'm sure there's a few things I forgot as well, and it looks like we have everything for our room, but not for our living area. I'm sure if we put our heads together we can come up with a dope theme that will fit the both of us and make this place feel more like home, well at least for the year," she said with a shrug," I have a pretty big SUV that will fit everything, if you want to ride with me?"

"Yea sure! Plus it would be better for us to plan if we rode together."

"Cool, sounds like a plan," she said before looking at her phone, "We have some hours to kill before the dorm meeting tonight, we can just go now and do that. Besides, I'd much rather wait until after the meeting to start unpacking, especially if we're about to get more stuff. Do you have everything you need?" she asked as she reached into her purse, taking out a pair of dark sunglasses and putting them on. It's pretty bright outside, but those are some really dark sunglasses.

"Yup, I didn't really take anything out of my purse when I got here so I'm all good!"

She grabbed her keys, "Alright, let's go!"