I never expected to see Juliet last night, or for her to see me in a dress! Dressing up was Calinida’s idea, she thought that maybe it would help with my self esteem, but I just felt like I was overdressed. Wearing dresses, makeup, and high heels was certainly not my scene, so a part of me knew that I was just appeasing my cousin…

Calinida had convinced me to wear her dress, and tried to convince me to wear her heels that night as well, but I refused to wear the heels. Instead, I wore my own pair of black flats that I kept for special occasions. I didn't think the dress was going to fit since my cousin was a few sizes smaller, but the material of the dress was stretchy. Once I put it on, I knew right away that it barely fit.

The dress hugged my curves tightly, but Calinida swore that was a good thing. She told me I looked “hella sexy”, but when I checked myself out in the mirror, all I saw was a girl trying to squeeze herself into a dress that was clearly too small for her. However, I went out of my comfort zone—way out—and wore her dress.

It wasn't only the two of us, a few of Calinida’s new friends came along as well. Trish, Deedra, and Sloan; they were gorgeous! On top of that, I found out that they were supernatural beings, and their abilities were pretty awesome if I was being honest. Trish was a mage, Deedra was able to become invisible, and Sloan was a shifter like me and Calinida, but her animal was a cheetah—a CHEETAH!

Why had I agreed to go again? Oh yeah, trying to change my social habits, that seemed almost impossible to change! But it was too late now, the five of us were already headed for the university’s gym. It was like my body was on autopilot. The five of us entered, there weren't a lot of students there at all, and I had to admit, I was happy about that. However, Calinida and her friends were totally disappointed.

“I wore my new heels for nothing?!” Trish whined.

“I told you this would be a bust,” Sloan sighed.

“We can fix this! We HAVE to…! I didn't wear this dress, just to take it back off!” Deedra exclaimed.

"Just chill," my cousin told them. "Keep your heels and dresses on, ladies. I just got a text from Kev, the boys are on their way."

The boys...?! Who were "the boys"?! At this point I was annoyed with Calinida. First, she doesn't tell me we're going with her friends, and now THIS! I hugged myself and looked around the room, seeing faces I didn't recognize, until my eyes laid on a familiar face. She was standing by the food table, her cheeks were puffed out, and it seemed as if she was in mid-chew.

Was that...Juliet…?! But who was that guy she was with? Could he be her...boyfriend...?! I mean it's only been two weeks…! I shook my head, trying to clear my mind. It wasn't any of my business, she and I weren't even friends… And yet, the idea of her being with someone else bothered me.

I wanted to go over there, of course I wanted to, but it felt like my feet were glued to the floor. As we gazed at each other, it seemed like she also wanted to interact, and my heart pounded. Suddenly the lights dimmed, multi-colored spotlights started flashing from above, and the music got louder. Before I knew it, a steady flow of students came into the gym, including the boys Calinida had mentioned.

Four guys came toward us, they were also gorgeous, like models, and Trish, Sloan, and Deedra squealed with joy. Everyone exchanged hugs, except for me, before they all started to mingle. Calinida turned to me.

"Stay close, okay? The crowd is getting pretty big now," she told me, her voice loud so I could hear her over the music.

I nodded. I tried to stay close to her, but once the mass of students started dancing, along with my cousin and her group of friends, I got moved around. I was bumped and shoved, until I ended up on the outside of the crowd. I couldn't see my cousin or her friends anywhere! I gave up and decided to scan the room for Juliet. No luck either… Had she left?

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It was Saturday morning, and I woke up feeling moody. Last night was a total shit storm, if I was being completely honest. I decided to leave early after realizing I was too anxious to force my way through the mass of bodies in order to get back to Calinida. I also realized calling her wouldn't work because of how loud the music was...after calling her twice.

Today, I'd get to see my parents, and I was looking forward to some sense of normalcy, especially when this would be the last time I'd see them for a few months. Calinida and I started getting ready at the same time—terrible idea! She took way too long in the shower, so halfway through my own shower, the water got cold. Then she took up most of the bathroom counter space with her makeup; good thing I was a low-maintenance-kind-of-girl.

I decided to do my hair up in two ponytails, and let them hang low, reaching the bottom of my neck. I chose to dress in a pair of black jeans, a tank top, and a button down to add my own flare. I slid the long-sleeve shirt on and left it unbuttoned, then put on my sneakers. My cousin was fluffing up her hair as she came out of the bathroom.

"Finally, I can brush my teeth!" I said.

Calinida shrugged, "Hey, you can't rush perfection, Lovebug."

I rolled my eyes, and promptly went to brush my teeth. Just as I returned to our bedroom, both of our cell phones sounded. I picked mine up from the bed and saw that my dad had texted me.

On our way. See you soon! 🙂

It was already ten-forty-five, which meant they would probably get here after the "Welcome Back" events had started.

"Mom said they're on the way now, typical," Calinida said and clicked her tongue.

"Yeah I know…my Dad said the same thing. It takes about an hour-and-a-half to drive to campus," I noted. "What should we do while we wait?"

"No clue," she replied.

I admit, I was surprised she didn't offer to hang with her friends. Were her group of friends not going to the event?

"No friends this time?" I asked.

She gave me a weird look before averting her eyes.

"Apparently, I'm the only one out of all of us who's having their family visit today."

That seemed pretty harsh… Their parents didn't care to see them? I couldn't imagine a life where my parents didn't want to be around me…

"Speaking of my friends, what happened to you last night?" Calinida questioned. Now she was staring at me like I was some kind of suspect.

"I told you, I went back to the room," I countered.

"Yeah, but...why?! All you had to do was shove a little and you would have found us," she told me.

I stared at her, and blinked a few times. Had she forgotten who she was talking to?

"Ugh, fine! You're right! That never would have happened," Calinida relented. "I just really wanted you to have a good time."

"I know...it's fine. I swear," I told her, trying to sound convincing. It didn't work though.

She sighed, "Well at least you went."

We couldn't think of anything to do, so we decided to just wait in the room. I had almost fallen asleep when my phone started ringing. I was startled, but quickly answered the call.

"Hello?"

"Hey! We're here! All of us," my mom declared and laughed a little.

"Oh! Okay! Cali and I will be right down!" I told her as I sat up abruptly.

"Sounds good," my mom said and hung up.

My cousin did fall asleep and I had to wake her. She jumped up from the bed, and had a look of terror on her face.

"Oh no!" she exclaimed.

I thought it was something serious, my heart was pounding.

"What?! What is it?!"

"My face—did I smudge my makeup?!"

Relief washed over me, but I frowned at Calinida.

"Just go look in the mirror! And hurry up!" I huffed.

Thankfully, her makeup was fine, so we left the room, and I locked the door behind us. We made our way to the parking lot, where we were greeted by Calinida's twin siblings. Each sibling latched onto her and I, and then the four of us went over to our parents.

My cousins, my aunt, and my uncle shared a group hug, while I embraced my mom and dad. After everyone exchanged hugs, we all walked to the back of the university, where the sports fields were located. Everyone chatted along the way, and it was a bit awkward for me. I didn't have friends, so there wasn't much for me to talk about. But as always, my dad tried to make it easier on me.

"Are you thinking about joining any clubs?" my dad asked me.

"Yeah, hopefully," I answered. That was true, I hadn't heard much about what kind of clubs Sutlow offered. Although, I hadn't taken the time to do any research on them either.

"I'm just hoping they have a decent selection of free food," he said with a big grin.

I grinned back. Food was the one thing my entire family could bond over, and now I was hungry

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Sutlow University really upped their game for today's events. It was more attractive appearance wise, and the sports fields seemed to be completely filled with people. I noticed that there were a lot of vendors set up. Some were selling merchandise with the University's logo on it, and some were set up with games, the kind of games you'd see at a small fair.

The twins squealed with excitement as they looked around, and they quickly started nagging their parents to do multiple activities at once. My parents wanted to see the school merchandise that was being sold, they asked if I wanted to go with them, but I declined. I could tell they were hesitant about leaving me by myself, and I didn't blame them, however Calinida stepped in.

"We'll just go see what clubs are offered," Calinida announced. She grabbed my wrist and started tugging me away.

Just a few yards away were tons of tables, each with different flyers advertising a certain organization. Every table had two or three students behind it, and each student was doing their best to convince the freshman to join. I presumed the students behind the tables were upperclassmen. My cousin and I lingered around the tables, peeking at the flyers, but I didn't see any club I was interested in.

We bobbed and weaved through the crowd for a while, still not finding anything we were interested in, until I saw two tables that were side by side. One was a club for video games, which was a no brainer, I was definitely joining that, and the other club was for anime. I couldn't draw to save my life, but I was a huge fan. I filled out the paperwork for the video gaming club, and then decided I wanted to join the anime club too. So, I started filling out the paperwork for that when I felt a tap on my shoulder.

I turned to find a pink piece of paper in my face, and Calinida was squealing with excitement. I took it from her, and brought it away from my face so I could actually read it.

"You're joining a sorority?!" I implored.