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Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.



1.
She gets the letter on the morning after her first graduation practice. All she reads is "We are pleased to" before she jumps up and down in the air, clutching the paper tightly in her fist like it's going to save her life. She calls her mother at work, screams that she got in before throwing the receiver down and running out the front door.

She runs a few laps in the front yard, which is a little awkward since she lives on one of the busiest streets in town, but today she doesn't care. She even shouts at some of the cars as they drive by.

"I got in!"

2.
Her parents and Roy help her move into the dorm and she can't stop smiling because she likes this new idea of freedom. Her parents leave and Roy stays to help her unpack some of the boxes. At five o'clock he kisses her cheek, promises to visit that weekend and goes home. Roy still lives at home because he's going to Lackawanna College and his father thinks it's stupid for Roy to get an apartment when living at home is free. Pam is glad that her parents think she deserves a little freedom, even if it would be cheaper for her to live at home.

Pam and her roommate Vanessa bond over a shared love of cheesy music and romantic comedies. They decide to go to the cafeteria for dinner together and over unhealthy chicken patties and fries Pam tells Vanessa all the cool places to go in Scranton. All five of them.

After dinner, they go back to the dorm and help each other hang up posters before their resident assistant drops in to remind them about the floor meeting.

They show up five minutes late, but the RA is pretty cool about it. They play some stupid ice breaker games that actually turn out to be pretty fun and Pam makes a bunch of new friends.

When she climbs into bed that night, Pam hopes that every day at Marywood will be as good as this first one.

3.
Pam declares Illustration as her major even though she knows her father wants her to do Business. She spends her first semester taking core classes and telling her dad that she doesn't care if she's going to end up "living in a cardboard box and eating beans out of a dented can." When the second semester rolls around, she registers for some classes related to her major.

She shows up ten minutes early to her first class that semester. It's a class about graphic design and she chooses a computer near the front. A tall boy with dark hair and glasses comes into the room after her and sits at a computer near the back.

"Pssst, hey."

She turns around and he points at her computer screen, smiles.

"That one's a piece of crap," he says. His voice is bright, happy. "I used it last year."

He pats the empty seat next to him. "If I were you, I'd move before other people get here and take all the good ones."

"Thanks for the tip," she says and smiles.

She gathers her things and thinks about sitting next to him, but she remembers Roy and only moves one seat over in the same row. She never learns the boy's name and doesn't get the chance to talk to him ever again, but she becomes pretty good friends with the girl that sits next to her.

4.
Cindy from her graphic design class invites her to a party at the soccer house. It costs five dollars to get in and one of the players hands her a green plastic cup before telling her the keg is in the basement. She follows Cindy downstairs. It's hot and smells like body odor, but this is her first big college party so she can't help but be excited. It's nothing like drinking in her dorm room with Vanessa and some of their friends.

Cindy curses when she finds out the keg has already been kicked. Pam doesn't mind much either way, but Cindy had a bad day and wants to get drunk. They decide to challenge the current beer pong champions and lose pretty spectacularly, but by the end they're both too tipsy to care about losing.

She and Cindy separate and she sees some people from her theatre class. She talks to them for a few minutes, but then one of the girls needs to throw up so Pam is left alone again. She leans against the wall and watches everyone around her. She can see Cindy by the beer pong table, talking to some of the people that are playing now. Wherever Cindy goes she seems to make at least three new friends, which is something Pam envies. She hasn't really made a new friend since she met Cindy and she's been trying not to be so shy this semester, but she can never seem to get the words out.

She doesn't talk to anyone else for the rest of the night and goes home when Cindy comes over to her, grabs her hand and leads her outside.

5.
She tries not to cry when she signs the withdrawal papers. She leaves the registrar's office, trying not to think about what that one little signature on that one little piece of paper means.

When she climbs into Roy's truck, she wipes her eyes. Roy pats her knee, trying to be comforting.

"Hey, it's no big deal, babe," he says.

She nods and he turns his attention to driving. As the truck pulls away, she stares out the side mirror and watches the college get smaller and smaller. She feels like it shouldn't be a big deal. She promises herself it's only a year off, so she can save money. In a year Cindy and Vanessa will still be there and they'll all pick up right where they left off. She makes herself a lot of promises on the ride back to her house - her parents' house, the one she's just moved back into.

She doesn't go back after a year. Not after two years. Eventually, her graduation date passes; all she does is try not to cry and sends Cindy and Vanessa some flowers.



carbondalien is the author of 25 other stories.



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