Shots - Frat!l.h.

One: Nora

My father, on the other hand, was struggling to pay for everything. Since my mother had stopped working because the cancer had gotten so bad, my father took it upon himself to pay for everything. My brother and I had obviously helped out, him taking extra shifts at the surf shop he worked at and me working down at the ice cream shop a few miles down from the house. Ronan and I had started walking to work instead of driving to save money on gas, and we walked to school so that our parents wouldn't have to pay for bus fees.

Kailee's mother had leant us her car whenever we needed to go far, or when my dad had wanted to take us all out to a restaurant when he had some spare cash. It wasn't anything extremely fancy --usually something low-key and cafè-ish-- but still. It counted.

It was funny, really. Kailee, my best friend, drove a Range Rover, while our family was struggling to pay the bills. Her family was golden, though. They weren't like any of the snobby rich people from California that I had encountered when I was working shifts at the ice cream counter, who had barely tipped over five cents, but I still thought it was ironic.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," I responded to Kailee's statement.

Kailee took her hand off the wheel, keeping her eyes on the road as she ran her fingers through my long brown hair, ruffling my hair at my scalp.

"Stop worrying so much, babe. It's all gonna end up fine."

"I hope you're right," I yawned.

"Tired?" She smiled.

"Hmm," I hummed, my eyelids fluttering as I rested my head against the window and she retreated her hand from my hair.

"Sleep. I'll wake you up when we get there."

"M'kay," I nodded, my eyelids drooping shut.

I didn't know why I was so tired --it was midday, after all-- but I suspected the fact that moving everything into the car had helped tire me out. Plus, the fact that we woke up at four in the morning to start driving to college was a little extreme.

*

A few hours later, I found myself being shaken awake. I slowly opened my eyes, met with bright sunlight.

"Nora," My brother said, one of his palms on my shoulder as he rattled my body. "Nora, we're here."

I slowly undid my seatbelt, feeling my body slowly gather it's surroundings.

All around me were students, bustling around the grassy campus.

Some looked panicked --most likely freshman, like Kailee, my brother, and I-- and others were hugging each other. They were probably older students who had made friends over the year. I even saw some people chatting with teachers and laughing along with them.

I suddenly felt my body fill with excitement. I shot out of my seat and jumped around.

"We're here! Oh, my God, we're finally college students!" I said, joyful hysteria lacing every word that slipped from my mouth.

"Shh!" Kailee said, covering my mouth with her hand and stopping my jumping. "People are gonna look at us weirdly. You don't want to be the weird freshman, do you?"

I shook my head, my eyes wide as she removed her hand from my face. She picked up the box that she had put on top of her car to momentarily shake me out of my excitement, and grinned when she turned back to me.

I knew, though, that as soon as we were out of the public eye, she would be jumping right alongside me.

"Alright, ladies," Ronan said, wrapping his arms around both of our shoulders. "Enough of that. I believe it's time for us to make it to our dorms."