On My Own

Chapter 2

Two weeks later, I found myself on the sidewalk outside of the airport saying goodbye to my mom and sisters. Tears rolled down all four of our cheeks and I felt instantly guilty for leaving them. Of course, I didn't want to, but I knew this is what I needed to do. 

"Are you sure?" I asked my mom feeling guiltier than ever. 

My mom nodded pulling away from our hug and wiped a tear from my face. "Don't you ever let anyone stop you from being successful." She said handing me the handle to my suitcase. 

"We are all so proud of you." My mom said as my younger sisters smiled at me. "We will be fine, don't worry about us." She finally said pulling me in for a final hug.

I grabbed my bags and watched the car pull away from inside the entrance of the airport. After letting my emotions fade away, I finally began to become excited for this new chapter that was about to begin. It took me forever to navigate my way through the airport and all of the security checkpoints. I was never a big traveler, so this was all new to me, especially being alone.

Finally, I arrived at the gate greeted by Liv running up to me. 

"Thank God!" She yelled grabbing me and pulling me towards the entrance. "I thought you were going to miss the flight, they already started boarding." 

We gave our tickets and made our way through the plane finding our seats towards the back of the plane. The plane took off and I drifted away thinking of what was to come. I fell into a deep sleep which led me to have a nightmare of that awful night, that seemed like so long ago. The events played through my mind like it was yesterday. Remembering the rain, thunder, lighting, cry's and screams, I woke up to Liv shaking me.

"You okay?" Liv asked looking at me concerned.

I ran my hands through my hair. "Yeah, just a weird dream," I said as she sat back. 

I was grateful she didn't ask any further questions. Although she already was aware of my history of these dreams, I didn't want her worrying about me or calling my mom to have her worry about me. We still had over 4 hours left until we arrived. I stayed awake the rest of the time, afraid to relive that nightmare again. I haven't had one of them since we moved. This is the first time in months. It seemed like years before the ground outside the small plane window finally began to get closer and closer. As I looked out the window, I knew that something good was to come of this trip.

After getting our luggage, Liv and I waited for a Taxi outside of the airport to take us to our hotel that we would be living at for the next 4 months. 

"Do you think the other students have already arrived?" I asked Liv while staring out of the Taxi windows, watching the towns pass by.

"I imagine a few other flights have landed but probably not everyone." She said as the driver pulled up to a small tower-like building. 

I looked around, taking in all of my surroundings. This is it. I thought to myself as I felt someone wrap their hands around my eyes from behind me. I immediately started screaming and kicking. I have only been here an hour and already I was getting kidnapped.

"Shhh" I heard a familiar voice say as they let their hands go. "Surprise." 

I turned around to see my oldest friends Cody and Dylan standing behind me, each with a small suitcase and duffel bag. "Oh my god!" I yelled playfully hitting Cody's arm. "You scared the shit out of me!"

The boys laughed as Liv joined in. "Wait, what are you guys doing here?" I said shocked to see them. 

"We got accepted as well," Dylan said, wrapping his arm around me as I gave them a small hug.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I said feeling upset. I was so excited about myself and Liv getting this opportunity, it didn't even occur to me to ask my other friends if they had decided to apply.

"Dylan didn't want to come at first, and my mom tried hiding my acceptance from me," Cody said as we all grabbed our bags and began walking into the hotel. 

I know Dylan wasn't really interested because he has no intentions on going to college at the end of the year, but his parents forced him to apply anyways. I immediately felt sorry for Cody, knowing how unsupportive his mom has been in recent years since his parents split up. We checked in and headed to our rooms. We planned on settling our stuff and then meeting back up before our entire group meets later tonight. 

"We aren't rooming together?" I asked Liv as she stopped at a door which was not the same as the number written on my key. I guess I just assumed we would be together considering we came from the same high school. 

"It's okay," Liv said giving me a comforting smile. "See you in a bit." She said going into her room as I walked further down the skinny hallway to find my room.

As I opened the door, I was shocked to see the beautiful "hotel" I would be living in. I don't even know how it is considered a hotel room. In America, we would consider this to be a small apartment. As I placed my bags down there was a small but modern kitchen in the front of the room, connected to a small living room with a small loveseat, chair, and coffee table. The far end of the room was large windows that led out into a small balcony.  I walked out onto the small balcony to observe the view. 

"The view's great! Isn't it?" I hear a voice yell.

I turned my head and saw Cody's dark brown hair from several balconies over from mine. I gave him a small smile. I am extremely happy that I have not only Olivia but also Cody and Dylan here. Cody has been one of my closest friends since I could remember. Our moms met in college, and have been best friends ever since, so being that they both got pregnant around the same time, it was inevitable that Cody and I would become friends. 

I headed back inside to put some of my things away. Off of the living room, there were two doors,  one leading into a decent sized bathroom, and one leading into a bedroom with two queen size beds. I have never had to live with a roommate, let alone share a bedroom with a stranger before. I place my things on the bed closest to the door, leaving the one closer to the window for my roommate. 

I began hanging some of my clothes in the small closet when I heard someone come through the door in the main room.

"Hi, you must be my roommate," I said walking into the small front room. "I'm Adria."

"Lauren." The girl said placing her very expensive looking bags on the small counter in the kitchen.

After a few minutes of small talk, learning she went to school a few towns away from me, we put away most of our belongings, which filled most of the space in the small rooms. We definitely are very different from each other, but she seems nice enough and I think we will be able to get along.