**A/N: Welcome to the Theo chapters! These will probably be much shorter than Ellie's just because you all know what's already happened. And because Theo's more of a guy of few words...that said, the language might be a little spicier than Ellie's, so expect some more cursing.**
I tried not to view it as an omen when I found my usual parking spot occupied by a silver BMW. The tearful mother wrapped her tiny freshman of a son in a hug, while the father checked his phone and tapped his leather loafer.
I snorted. Mothers didn't give that much of a crap about their kids. Not unless someone else was watching. Only the spot beneath the oak trees was free, so I swung my car into it and hoped it wouldn't get splattered by too many bird blessings before the move-in crowds vanished back to the expensive homes they'd come from.
I managed to dodge the droppings as I hauled my bag and ball from the trunk, but that was as far as my luck took me. Halfway through the dormitory doors, I had no choice but to shift into auto-pilot.
Because there she was. After an entire damned summer of silence, there she was. Throwing her arms around my brother, even though I knew full-well he'd barely responded to her texts. It took every ounce of willpower not to hurl my soccer ball at the pair of them. But there were parents around, and suspension meant bye bye soccer scholarship.
So I restrained myself. Barely.
"Who shat in your cheerios?" Connor asked, smacking my back in greeting. As usual, he had an inordinate amount of bags for a guy who "didn't give a damn" about his clothes.
"The freshie family that took my parking spot," I said, falling into step beside him and forcing my eyes away from where Madeleine and William were mutually impersonating heart-eyes emojis.
"Uh huh," Connor drawled, leaning forward to stare right across me to Mads and Will. "Sure. The freshie family."
I debated telling him to fuck off. Instead, I opted for a sneer. Equal parts disgust and disappointment. He rolled his eyes while we climbed the boys' dorm stairs.
"Fine, Tee. Point taken. Don't think this gives your first dibs on beds though."
I huffed a laugh. More of a grunt, really. Connor pushed open the dorm room door, a floor up from where we'd been last year, and when the smell of old wooden furniture and stagnant, ancient building hit me, I was right back where I'd been three months ago.
Purgatory. For yet another year.