I slump into a chair at our usual table while Joel and Wes get drinks. I can’t afford to buy my own beer and for the first time, I don’t give a shit if they cover me. This was their idea. If they want me to drink with them and pretend this is just another day hanging with friends, they’re gonna have to pony up.

Wes drops a pitcher in the middle of the table and divvies out the mugs. Joel’s three steps behind carrying six shots precariously in his hands.

“Dude, we have the athletic mixer tonight.” Wes raises both brows and his tone is all serious and adult-y. He’s become a total bore since he graduated and became an assistant coach.

“It’s barely noon. Lots of time to sober up before then.” Joel lifts a shot glass and reluctantly, Wes and I do the same. “Bottoms up.”

2

CHLOE

Cracking open your textbooks a week before classes start has to be some sort of warning sign. Caution: fragile emotional state or Caution: bored completely out of her mind.

Maybe I’d been that eager freshman year but definitely not since then. Senior year starting over at a new school… not how I planned it.

I flip the page in my new Applied Communications book and skim a couple of paragraphs before I give up and toss it aside and resign myself to death by boredom. Caution: prone to dramatics.

The last one isn’t strictly true, but it’s another side effect of being cooped up with no one to talk to. I’m all in my head with no outlet. Volleyball practices don’t even start for a few more days, so I have nothing to occupy my time.

I could call my bestie back home, Camila, but admitting how worried I am that I made a huge mistake in coming here will only make her feel sorry for me. Besides, she’s probably off having fun with our friends and teammates back at Golden U soaking up the sun on the beach. I guess former teammates now.

My current teammates, three of them anyway, are in the common room of our suite. I can hear them through the wall that separates it from our bedroom. That’s another thing I never thought I’d do again—dorm living.

I grab another textbook and flip through it without even looking to see which class it’s for. Bri’s voice gets louder and more animated and then there’s laughter.

I miss laughing. I miss talking. I miss that feeling in your chest when you’re so in the moment everything inside expands and tightens and somehow makes you feel light, too. Good conversation, I definitely miss that.