2

As I uncover my eyes from underneath the covers, I heard the gentle tapping of raindrops against my dorm window. These were my favourite kind of days. I get up and rub my knuckles onto my eyes. Seeing the drops trickle down my window brought a sense of calmness within me. This was the time I could be alone and be myself back at home, only now I wasn't at home. Instead, I was in a dorm room with Hanna, who I might say snores very loudly.

7:28 A.M

My alarm clock read, at least that mean I still have an hour to get ready for my first class. Was I nervous? Hell yes, I was. But maybe I was nervous for all the wrong reasons. Maybe today won't be as bad as I think it will be.

All my life I had been excited for this day, the day where I could finally say I was a young woman who was on her way to success. But now, it's finally kicking in that every decision I make from this day onwards will impact the rest of my life. And boy was I about to make the biggest but best mistake of my life.

I walked over to my chest of drawers and decided to wear a plain white t-shirt and some blue jeans. Nothing too special for the first day. But who was I making an effort for? Luckily, Hanna and I had a dorm room with its own bathroom so I didn't have to worry about my clothes being stolen or getting wet. I made my way to the shower and started getting ready for my day.

-

An hour later and I was on my way to my first Biology class. Ever since I was younger I had always had an interest in the biological side of things, but more specifically the human body. So because of this, I decided to major in biology and then go on to applying to Med school to finally become a doctor.

Having been the only one in my family to apply for college my mother was already beaming with pride but with my choice to become a doctor, she was even more happy.

Luckily, I was able to find my way in time for class and get the back seat.

I was in my own world when I hear a sudden loud thud on my table. I looked up, heart still racing & slightly shaking from the shock and saw a tall blonde muscular boy with a smirk on his face.

"Sorry, did I scare you?" He asked whilst he chuckled lightly. To say he was ugly would be a lie. He was a very good looking boy. Weirdly, he reminded me of Jason in a lot of ways.

"No..." I dragged on and smiled at him.

"I'm Chase Hudson, and you are?" He asked whilst holding his hand out for me to shake.

"Arden Tate. Nice to meet you." I said and shook his hand.

"Looks like we're lab partners, Arden." Chase smiled and pointed to the board which said: 'Whoever you are sat next to, will be your partner for the rest of the year. Choose wisely!'

"Well how about that, I hope you know what your doing." I said whilst looking at him.

"Trust me, I do."

It turns out that Chase was actually a nice person, he was funny and wasn't lying when he said he knew what he was doing. Chase was majoring in biology like me but instead he was going to become a sports therapist. He was trying out for the university's football team as well.

"Hey Arden, wait up!" I looked behind my shoulder and saw Chase slow jogging behind me, with his bag on one shoulder and notepad in one hand. I slowed my walking and let him catch up to me.

"Miss me already?" I asked grinning at the 6'3 giant.

"You know I did, baby–" we both started laughing and he continued, "so anyways, I was just wondering if you wanna come to this party tonight? You'd get to meet some more new friends and I could even introduce you to mine if you'd like, plus, I think you and my girlfriend would get along well." The first day of college and I was already being asked to go to parties. I've been to a few of them back in Oregon with Jason. Being the girlfriend of the schools most popular boy, I felt obligated to do so, even though I didn't enjoy them. But, maybe going to this one tonight wouldn't be such a bad idea. I do need to meet new people.

"Erm sure, I would actually like that." I smiled.

"Cool, I'll text you tonight!" He beamed and walked the opposite direction to me.

I looked to my left and saw him talking to a boy slightly taller than him and with brown hair. They looked like they were arguing but I could only see Chase's facial expressions, which did look a bit angry. I wonder what got him so heated. I shook it off and headed to my next class.

-

I was exhausted by the time I got back to my room, I wanted to take a nap but I had some homework to do and also had to get ready for the party. I opened the door and saw Hanna sitting on her bed on her phone.

"Hey." I said to her and plopped my butt down on the mattress.

"Hey, how was your first day?" She asked and looked up from her phone placing it on the bed.

I sighed, "very tiring, you?"

"Same old, same old. You get used to it though babes." She said as she stretched her arms.

"Are you going to that party tonight?"

She smirked, "hell yes I am! Are you?"

"Yeah I think so, this boy invited me so I thought why not." Hanna jumped up and sat down quickly next to me, "and who is this boy mmm?"

I shook my head, "he's called Chase, AND, he had a girlfriend." I emphasised on the 'and' and laid back, Hanna did too.

"He probably said that to make you jealous, I bet he doesn't even have one." I looked at her and we both started laughing.

I had dreaded my roommate being horrible, too weird, or just boring. Luckily, Hanna, was the opposite and I knew we'd become really good friends. Without even thinking, my eyes began to shut, completely forgetting about my homework and Unconsciousness quickly took over my sleepy state.

-

"WAKE UP!" A high pitch voice basically screamed, startling me and making me fall of the bed.

"Ow! Why would you scream like that? What time is it?" I said whilst rubbing my forehead. Hanna was struggling to catch a breath at this point and had a smile so big I thought it might stay.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean for you to hurt yourself–" she said still laughing, "but hey, get up lazy bones, we need to start getting ready. I took the liberty of choosing your outfit." She pointed to a cute high waisted denim mini skirt alongside a white long sleeved crop top. At least she picked something nice. Without complaining I thanked her and headed over to the bathroom to start on my makeup. I decided to go with something plain but cute and tied my hair up into a messy ponytail.

By the time I was done, it was already 8:30 p.m.

Unknown: Hi Arden it's Chase. The address is 213 Hollow drive. See you soon ;)

Thankfully, Hanna had a car so we didn't have to walk anywhere. On the way there, Hanna and I sang along to some music and started enjoying the night.

The house was beautiful. It had wooden looking panels and glass windows everywhere. If it weren't for the drunken kids on the front drive, this house would look like it was supposed to be in a fairy tail.

"Let's go!" Hanna shouted and skipped happily inside. I followed her and found Chase in the front room talking to some guys.

"Hey Arden, you made it!" He said whilst giving me a small shoulder hug, "let me introduce you to everyone." He guided me by the shoulders and took me to a room where a group of people were sat down laughing.

"Guys, this is Arden. We met in biology today." The group people waved and smiled, they seemed friendly. "So, over there is Dane, then there's Kole next to him, that's Taylor, and then there's Jake, Lily, and last but not least, my girlfriend Grace." He pointed at a beautiful girl with strawberry blonde hair with a kind smile.

Grace got up and welcomed me into a warm hug and whispered in my ear, just enough so Chase could hear it too, "I hope you're kicking his ass in class." She chuckled.

"Hey! I heard that." Chase pretended to sulk and wrapped his arm round his girlfriends shoulder.

"Nice to meet you all." I smiled and took a seat next to Dane.

"Arden. That's a lovely name for a lovely girl like yourself." He said whilst looking into my grey eyes with his brown ones. My cheeks flushed and a slight giggle erupted from me.

"Thank you. Dane is a lovely name too." I said returning the compliment.

"Dane, leave the poor girl alone, she's not been here five minutes and your already trying to seduce her." Lily said whilst rolling her eyes. In return, Dane showed her the finger and stuck his tongue out.

After a few hours, I could honestly say I felt comfortable around them all, not one of them was mean or horrible, and I enjoyed getting to know them, Dane was the 'womaniser' of the group and the most talkative one. Kole was the more reserved one but still talked a lot and was really kind. Taylor was the most hyperactive and the joker of the group. Jake was the angry (but sweet) one and Lily, his girlfriend, was the overprotective one.

"How are you liking being here so far?" Grace asked me whilst plopping herself in the empty spot next to me.

"It's been good so far, I've enjoyed it." I smiled and continued with the small talk.

All of a sudden, over the loud music, you could hear arguing in the next room. A deep voice erupted and made everyone go quiet.

"What the fuck did you just say?!" It shouted, followed by a loud bang of something falling over. I looked at Grace and she gave me a calm smile and squeezed my thigh.

"That's Blake. He loves to make an entrance."

"Who's Blake?" I asked curiously.

Getting up, Chase turned to me and sighed, "my twin brother. I'll be back guys." He shook his head and made his way to the room where the banging was still going on and where other people had started chanting 'fight fight fight.'

"You guys seemed so relaxed considering there's a fight going on." I said furrowing my eyebrows.

"Wherever Blake goes there's a fight, if not a fight then there's some sort of argument. It's normal, it'd be unusual if there wasn't." Jake said and sipped his drink, the rest of the group nodded. I shrugged and at back, also taking a sip of my drink.

A few moments later, Chase arrived, but he wasn't alone.

It was the same boy he was talking to earlier, the same messy hair and he was wearing the same clothing. A black t-shirt, black jeans and black shoes. Only this time I saw he had tattoos all over his right arm. Just like his brother, he was well muscled, only Chase had slightly bigger muscles. And unlike Chase, instead of having green eyes, he had the most bluest eyes I've ever seen. They reminded me of the winter. My heart stopped as soon as he looked at me, realising that I had been staring he smirked.

"Who's this then?" He eyed me up and down with his eyes stopping at my chest briefly. I crossed my arms and glared at him for looking at me like that.

"Blake, this is Arden. Be nice." Chase huffed and sat back down. Blake nodded and without a word, he turned back round and left the room.

Why did I feel so nervous?

Why was my heart beating so fast?

Why did he have to be so damn gorgeous for?

"You okay, Arden?" Dane asked.

"Oh, erm yes I'm fine. I'm just going to go and find the bathroom." I replied giving a nervous smile. He nodded and started talking to Lily and Jake.

Finally, I had found the bathroom. I opened the door and to my surprise found Blake in there smoking a cigarette.

"Shit, sorry." I said and began making my way back out, but before I could he started speaking.

"Are you scared or something? I don't bite, you can come in." He said whilst inhaling the tobacco and raising his eyebrows. "Come on, Arden. You're friends with all my friends, so now we have to get to know each other. We don't want any drama in the group now do we?" Jesus, his voice was sexy.

My breath hitched and like an idiot, I walked back towards him. But it was like my brain wasn't in control, I barely knew him and something deep inside me is saying 'him.' But what about him was so special?

"Fucking hell, your tiny." He laughed whilst he stood over my small frame.

"I'm not that small." I said quietly and looked at my shoes.

"My eyes are up here." He said whilst taking a strand of my hair and placing it behind my ear. My heart started racing and I could feel my cheeks turn red. "What's wrong?"

"N-nothing." I stuttered. Well done Arden, you couldn't have made yourself look anymore stupid than you are now. Blake nodded and threw his cigarette out of the open window and blew the smoke in my face ever so slightly.

"Enjoy the bathroom Arden." He winked and walked out without another word.

What the fuck just happened?