Finding Her Own Way

Chapter 2 - Thriving or Surviving?

Three Months Later...

Mid-terms were kicking all of our asses, mine especially. I had officially declared my major in psychology, but also a minor in visual arts. I loved video games and was interested in potentially using games as a type of therapy. I noticed in my own personal life how I would be more open to difficult conversations if I was focusing on something else. It was like a barrier we put up could be brought down. I discussed this with my professors, who thought it was an interesting concept and one they were willing to help me research eventually.

College wasn't as I was initially expecting. The transition was rough, but once I got here, I jumped in headfirst. Being away from my family and Lee, I threw myself into the opportunities here. A welcomed distraction from the 6'5 guy I had tried so hard to avoid. Not with too much luck I'd add, we both somehow ended up in the same dorm, but the floors weren't co-ed, thank God. I'd see him around every once in a while, we'd smile at each other, well more like he'd stare and I'd acknowledge and ignore. The only time we would really run into each other was at the athletic center. I'd been given some money to join the soccer team, which practiced right across from the football field. 

Being here with him, but not with him was hard, but luckily I had made some really amazing friends. I'd gotten lucky with my roommate, Gia. She was a ball of energy, full of spunk and sass. She held confidence I could only hope to one day possess. She was a journalism major and on the soccer team. We hit off extremely fast, you'd think we'd get tired of each other, but we became best friends. My Harvard Lee, but crazier. 

Riley was in all my classes this semester, both of us being psych majors with a concentration in pediatrics, we'd become fast friends. She was a bit more reserved, a bit shy, but when I finally cracked her shell, she came to life. She was easy to talk to and her being from Santa Monica just gave us something else in common.

Lucas was in a few of my classes too, he wanted to be a neurologist so after a group project in our intro to psychology class, Riley and I became friends with him too. He was fun, he loved video games too, being almost as good as me. Almost.

Madison was another friend on the soccer team, she was our goalie and was ready for some new people, she was a sophomore, and introduced us to a lot of people, my personal favorite being Danny. 

Danny was a freshman on the guy's soccer team, a friend of Maddie's from high school. They were from Maryland, and their accents were interesting. It was both southern and northern just due to their location, but it was funny to pick out the dialectical differences between the people in our friend groups. He was tall, about 6'2, and so funny. I found myself hanging out with him a lot, he always put a smile on my face. He was goofy but so smart and passionate, he wanted to be a software engineer, so we talked about maybe taking a class together next semester within my minor.

Today was Friday, which meant I had no classes. Thank God, this week seemed to be never-ending. I had mid-terms all next week to study for, so, I stretched out on the lawn, my favorite study space. It was cold for late October, well, I guess that's normal here. It was beautiful though, it was high fifties with the warm sun, making it feel a bit better. Being from California, I, of course, was bundled up in my Harvard hoodie with a beach blanket draped over my legs. Textbooks sprawled about.

"Boo!" A familiar voice said, breaking me from my trance and tackling me.

"Danny!" I cried. "You messed up my system!"

He scoffed, "Yeah, because we know you're so organized."

"Excuse me, I am very organized, it's called organized chaos for a reason."

"Whatever you say miss L.A."

"I may be from L.A. but at least our baseball team is actually good."