Michigan- Luke Hughes

1

"Thank you for moving me in mom." I smile as I hug her.

"Of course honey. Make sure to call dad or me when you have your first class, we want to hear all about it!" She laughs pulling me in for another hug. "Well I better go. Have fun, and make friends!" I hug her one last time as she backs away blowing air kisses at me. She drove me all the way from Tennessee to Michigan. I literally don't know what I would do without her, she is my best friend.

Watching her close the door my heart sank. When I went to University of Tennessee the drive to see my family was only 4 hours and now it's 10. I'm from Alabama, which surprised most of my family when I chose to go to Tennessee. I leave my thoughts when I hear the door open. Maybe my mom came back because she forgot something, or she misses me. Nope. I was wrong. It's a girl who looks around my age.

"Oh my... are you my new roommate? You are gorgeous! I'm Daphne!" She says brightly pulling me into a hug.

"Hi, I'm Georgia." I tell her pulling away from the hug.

"When my roommate transferred schools I thought I was going to be alone. And I hate being alone! So, when the school told me I would be getting a roommate I was thrilled! You literally made my year!"

"Where did your roommate transfer to?" I ask sitting down on my bed, and she does the same sitting down on her bed that is right across from mine.

"Stanford. She was a swimmer, and I guess they have a better swimming program than we do." She laughs through a breath.

"I thought we were good at swimming though?"

"We are!" She says through agony, "But they're better." She mumbles.

I go on my phone and look up the best swimming colleges and Stanford pops up at number 1. I turn my phone to Daphne leaning forward a little since we are at least six feet away from each other, "She must be really good if she got into the number 1 swimming school in America."

"She was insane. She placed first at the Junior Olympics." She says leaning back.

"Wow. Do you play any sports?" I turn my phone back around and lay it beside me.

"I used to. In high school I ran track. I was the state champion for the 400 and hurdles for 3 years in a row." She simply says like it's no big deal.

"You're acting like that is nothing! Why didn't you play in college?"

"My high school coach was a dick. I guess I just lost my spark, and didn't want to play in college. I had offers but decided to focus on academics."

"Offers from where?" I ask scooting back until I hit the wall.

"Florida, Yale, Virginia, Duke, and a couple other schools," she pauses for a moment before motioning around her, "Oh and Michigan."

"Wow." Is all I can mutter.

"How about you? Are you here for any sports?" She asks turning the topic towards me.

"I'm not playing here. But in high school I played volleyball."

"Were you any good?" She asks.

"I made varsity freshman year, and my team won states every year."

"Did you get any offers?" She asks leaning forward, intrigued.

"Yea, I got offers from Stanford, Louisville, Kentucky, Penn State, Alabama, Wisconsin, Georgia Tech," I take a short breath before finishing, "I played at Tennessee last year. But it just got so stressful and draining so I quit, and transferred schools."

"Why'd you transfer?"

"I was worried to face all my teammates. I thought they would judge me."

"I'm sure they would have been fine. But I'm glad you did transfer, because if you didn't I would not have met you!" She hops down from her bed and I do the same. I send her a smile and before I know it, instead of six feet apart we are three. "Want to go get some food? I can show you around campus?" She asks.