I had been in my new home for three days now and orientation was set to start tomorrow. I had eaten breakfast with Eric both mornings at his request. He was an interesting and witty companion, and I had enjoyed the places he had chosen to take me to. Inevitably he would want to do more, and the first day I had felt obligated to at least spend another hour with him walking around campus before making my excuses to leave. I had purchased a bed set for my room along with a new lamp, some workout clothes, and a few more tops. I felt like the luckiest girl in the world with my new things. My comforter was white and I had gotten an assortment of colorful pillows in pastel colors to further brighten it up.
Eric had shown up to Moxie the second night I worked with two of his football teammates. His first companion, Jared, was huge, at least 6’5, with a belly that resembled Santa Clause. He was an offensive lineman and kept me laughing the whole time Henry and I served the table with his outrageous over the top flirting and one-liners. Derek, Eric’s other teammate, was quiet and watchful. He had sandy blonde hair and dark, almost black eyes. He didn’t contribute much but seemed to watch me closely. Eric seemed unhappy with the attention I got from other tables and from his teammates and rushed through dinner, leaving after I promised him I would eat breakfast with him the following day as well. Henry and I again received tons of tips, and Henry continued to relax around me, even joking around some.
It was finally the first day of orientation and I was elated. That morning, Eric had been waiting outside of my dorm again to take me to breakfast after which I had gone to the first introductory session. Hearing about all of the classes and activities I could participate in had me so excited. I had no idea what I wanted to study. I was interested in so many things. One good thing about home schooling was that it gave me a lot of freedom to study things that were interesting to me instead of having to focus on strict guidelines like a normal school. I didn’t know how I would possibly decide what to major in now that I had to choose.
I was walking along the green looking at the course guide when I heard a shout. Looking around, a football appeared out of nowhere, hitting me in my forehead, and knocking me down to the ground. A crowd had gathered around me as I sat up and rubbed my head, trying to shake myself out of my stupor.
“Eva!” I heard a familiar voice.
Glancing up I saw Eric rushing towards me.
“I’m fine,” I stated softly, beginning to get a headache. Suddenly, a deep voice that I didn’t recognize, but that gave me chills (the good kind), caught my attention. I turned around to look for the source of the voice. The face that I had obsessed with for months filled my vision. It was Damon Pierce.