Another Chance by that's the beauty of it (Alex)

College never agreed with Sophie Hunter, but for James Carson, it was a walk in the park. Can he convince her that college is truly the best four years of her life?

Chapter 1: A New Beginning

The room had an odd smell to it.

Sort of like moldy pizza and a hint of corn on the cob, which, if you asked me, was a rather odd combination, especially since it was the middle of winter and corn had long gone out of season.

It was also anything but neat. Plates and cups were left about the floor; newspapers and napkins spread over the tables, and random articles of clothing were draped over the couches and chairs. Its inhabitants were clearly not concerned with cleanliness especially since no one had stepped foot in the room in just over a month and they hadn’t bothered to clean before leaving for break.

First time I went shopping I would have to invest in an air freshener.

I glanced to my left at a figure whose lips were moving at an unearthly speed. I had tuned them out hours ago.

I could help but focus on the fact that this was my seventh room at my third school. I’ve only been in college for a year and a half.

I pleaded with my parents to let me live at home and take classes at the community college, but they told me I was better then that. They said that I had to give it another chance.

Seven rooms and three schools. You’d think I’d be a troublemaker with a long track record, however, in my defense, it was always them.

They were the ones who constantly stole my clothes when I was in the shower. They were the ones who purposely set their alarms on days when they weren’t around. They were the ones who sexiled me every goddamn weekend.

And unfortunately, that was not the worst of it but I digress.

When I transferred schools at the end of my freshman year, I thought things would get better. A new school, a new group of people, things just had to be different. Yet the very type of people that I was trying to escape seemed to follow me and I was miserable once again.

After this, I begged my parents to let me attend Bakersfield Community College, a mere ten-minute drive from the house that I grew up in. Instead of agreeing, Jane and Zach Hunter proposed a compromise.

“Hey, have you been listening to a word I’ve said?” my brother called out, finally jarring me from my thoughts. My eyes snapped up to his as my face flushed. I was caught.

For the last hour or so, he had been showing me around campus, telling me every detail that he thought would be essential. I however could have gone my entire life without knowing the history of the dinning hall and the renovations that occurred five years ago.

“Not really,” I sheepishly grinned, hoping that he would just accept my answer. After all, I was his baby sister and that alone automatically made it so he could never be mad at me for an extended period of time.

In true Tyler fashion, he just rolled his eyes and muttered something under his breath that I couldn’t quite catch. “Your room is to the left,” he nodded down the hall. “I cleared out as much of my stuff as I could but I still have some clothes in the closet that won’t fit in my suitcase. I don’t care what you do with them, just don’t throw them out or give them to charity.”

The compromise my parents and I reached was that I would attend USC for the spring semester and if things didn’t turn around, then I could move back home and attend the local college. USC was five thousand miles away from my house, however my brother had called the school home for the past three years. He was studying abroad in Australia for the semester and I was to get his room an in off campus apartment.

Their rationale was that USC was different from the other schools I attended and if Tyler found a home here, I should do the same. And from the depths of the tour, Tyler was doing just that.

Not only was I living in his old room, but I would be meeting all of his friends, including his two roommates who would be keeping a close eye on me. The only downside was that both of his roommates were male.

Honestly I didn’t understand why two college guys would willingly live with a female, especially the sister of their best friend. From the flyers I saw posted around campus, there was no shortage of roommates. Roommates who were male and haven’t been through everything I had. They didn’t know what they were getting themselves into.

“Just stick with me for a few more minutes. I’m almost done Soph,” Tyler continued trying to catch my attention once again. “James and Ryan are moving in tomorrow, either before or after the game. I’m guessing after though since those lazy bastards sleep in whenever they have the chance.”

“What game?” I asked since I didn’t follow the sporting world at all.

I glanced back at Tyler only to see him staring at me as if I was from another planet. “Football? What other game is there?” He shook his head in embarrassment, “Anyway, I have to catch a plane home in a little bit, I just came to get you settled and pick up a few things but my flight for Australia leaves from Boston early Monday morning. Dad will kill me if I’m not all packed by Sunday night.”

“Have you started?”

“Er,” he grinned. “I found my suitcases?”

I couldn’t help but laugh. True Tyler fashion was doing everything last minute and packing was no exception. “At least it’s a start,” I shrugged.

Tyler leaned over a ruffled my hair. “That’s what I thought, however, enough of that. Let me help you bring you suitcases to my, er well I guess your room now before I have to leave.”

He spun on his heels and headed out to the living room where we left my suitcases earlier on that day. We had decided to fit the tour in first before I settled into my new home.

I slowly followed him down the hall. “Just leave it, I’ll get to it later,” I mumbled behind him. In all honestly, I just didn’t want to go through the hassle of unpacking everything and organizing Tyler’s old room to my liking just to pack everything up again when things didn’t work out.

That’s right, I was not optimistic about USC. Despite the fact that Ty seemed to have a good group of friends, I had a gut feeling that it wasn’t going to work out. Within a few weeks I would be moving back into my house and enrolling at Bakersfield so unpacking would just be a waste.

Tyler turned around and gently placed his hands on my shoulders. He also had this annoying ability to see right through me. “Sophie, this is going to work. They are good guys and they are going to take care of you. Granted you might need to put up with some burping and some funny smells, but I promise you that they aren’t going to mess with you,” he told me sincerely.

I wanted to believe him.

Over the past few years, he has talked nonstop about his roommates. He has lived with James since freshmen year and Spencer since junior year. I knew that James was allergic to nuts and that Ryan only drunk Budweiser beer. James was a fantastic cook where as Ryan tended to burn water.

But despite all that, I was still nervous. “Do you promise?”

Tyler’s eyes softened. “I do.”

Shifting gears, I shook off Ty’s hands and glanced around the messy room once again. “What did you tell them?”

“Just the basics. You’re annoying, you like picking on me and you take way too long in the shower.” My jaw dropped open. “Relax Soph. I told them that you are amazing. This is going to work.”

“Yeah yeah.”

“It hurts me that you don’t trust your own brother,” he protested before lifting up my suitcase and dragging it down the hall. “Geez, did you bring a dead body with you as well?”

I choose to ignore that comment. “Seriously what did you tell them?”

“Just that you’ve had crappy roommates in the past so they better treat you with respect. I figured that I’d leave the rest up to you,” he shrugged as he dropped the suitcase on the bed and opened the zipper. He started to unpack it before he caught a glimpse of his clock on the nightstand. “Shit, it’s five already.”

I followed his line of vision and saw it was indeed 5:09. His flight was in two hours.

“I hate to do this too you but I have to run,” he turned back towards me, “I’m sure there’s gonna be traffic.”

“It’s fine.”

Deciding to be polite, I walked him out to the car he rented for the day. He had a truck that he kept in California, rather putting miles on it by driving home every break, but since he would be leaving the country, he was leaving it under my care. I have a feeling he didn’t really think that idea through since I was a horrible driver, especially with bigger cars.

He tossed me the keys before pulling me in for a tight hug and after a few words of assurance; he slid into the seat, closed the door, and started the car. He was gone within seconds.

I slowly turned on my feet and looked at the tall building in front of me. The residents were mostly college students who had enough of dealing with residential life and security. There were a few families and young couple in the building, but the students had been doing a pretty good job of driving every one else out, at least according to Tyler.

I walked back inside and made my way back up to the apartment. With Tyler in toe, it seemed more welcoming and homey, however, on my own, the room scared me. All around me were objects that belonged to its inhabitants, inhabitants who I have never met before.

Getting the urge to be around something familiar, I quickly made my way to Tyler’s room and shut the door behind me. The room was empty like he said with the exception of my luggage spread out on his bed. I was tempted to just shove the suitcases on the floor and live out of them for the next few weeks, however, I knew that I owed it to Tyler to at least give it a try.

I had promised him in the beginning that I would come into this situation with a clear mind and a clear conscious. He was reaching out to me and allowing me to live in his home, so the least I could do was to give it a chance.

With a sigh, I pulled myself together and started the long progress of unpacking.

This is probably a bad idea but I decided to post another story. I've been toying around with this idea for a while and for the most part I already have most of the plot worked out. This chapter is also a lot shorter then my normal chapters, but I just didn't feel the need to stretch it out any further. Next chapter we will meet the two roommates (or maybe just one of them) but I felt that deserved it's own chapter.

For those who follow my work, I've done quite a bit of writing today. The second chapter of OTI is almost complete, I just need to polish up the ending, and JT I have a lot of the dialogue done for chapter 5. On top of this, I'm also working on another story but I might not be posting this one up for a while.

But ya, please feel free to contact me or let me know what you think.

Thanks,

Alex

ps..check out my blog: .com/