Sydney King: Freshman Year { complete }

Welcome to Crummell University

"Here we are!" Aunt Joann announced as we pulled up to my dorm building. I smiled at the 360 Russell sign outside the building. "Wow, freshman dorms didn't look like this when your dad was in school." She mentioned as we started unloading the car. The dorm I was staying in was apartment style and I shared with one other girl.

"It's the athlete's dorm." I told her. It took a couple hours to unpack the major stuff.

"Knock, Knock." A winded voice called out from the front door.

"MOM!" I exclaimed and ran to my mother.

She pulled me into a tight hug. "I can't believe you're in college." She stated as she released me from the hug.

"Is daddy coming?" I asked slightly hopeful.

"No, he had to handle an emergency at the church. But he told me to tell you he loves you." She explained. It was the same line she had been feeding me since I first left to live with my Aunt almost two years ago. I have only seen my mother a total of four times since then, including today. I haven't seen my father, at all, since my sister passed. Neither of them showed up to watch me compete in a national championship, but my mom did show up to my graduation.

My mom and Aunt finished helping me set up my room, took me shopping for a few last minute items, and bought me to dinner. After giving me a speech about staying focused on school, they both departed. I returned to my room and found my roommate sitting in our living room.

"What's good Roomie." She greeted.

I smiled. "Hey, I'm Sydney King."

She pulled me into a hug. "I'm Morgan Woods. I'm from Connecticut. I'm on the basketball team." She introduced herself.

"I'm from California, cheerleading." I told her.

"Do you have plans for tonight?" She asked.

"Nah, we're practicing from five a.m. to five p.m. tomorrow. So I am chilling tonight." I answered.

"Please don't take this the wrong way, but why are you all doing all day practices?" She asked.

"I'm not offended. This year the cheerleading team is actually going to be competing, trying to win a national title." I explained.

"Like the competitions they show on ESPN?" She inquired.

"Exactly." I smiled.

"I'm excited to be sharing a room with another athlete." She smiled.

"I'm excited that you recognize that I'm an athlete." I laughed. We hung out in the living room for another hour before I retired to my room.

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I collapsed on the grass, grateful to finally hear my coach's whistle after she made us run five miles.

"Good Morning. Some of you are running like you haven't ran since camp." Coach stated displeased.

"Listen, each of you are here because I believed you could play a key role in making history for our HBCU. People say that it'll take a couple years for us to get our footing but I don't believe that. I personally recruited each and every one of you because you possess the championship skill set that we're gonna need. We have a week before the rest of the student body gets on campus. During this week your days are going to be long and practices are going to be hard. But I believe we can do this. Now, I purposely haven't selected the captains because this is a whole new team. I will select a captain and a co-captain by Friday based on your performance this week." Whispers erupted throughout the crowd.