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"Hi! Welcome to Woodhouse Hall! Is this your first semester here at Lacock State?" Holly asked me with full energy that I didn't feel at the moment. It was barely six o'clock in the morning.
"No," I said with a sigh.
I knew Holly slightly from Student Government Association (SGA), and I was surprised that she didn't remember me. She stood there in a cute university shirt (that I too had somewhere in my bags) and black shorts. Unlike me, her brown hair was pulled back in a perfectly smooth ponytail, not a single hair out of place. Having packed all my clothes, I wore leggings with a random t-shirt that I had found at the bottom of my dresser. My blond curly hair was pulled back in something between a bun and a ponytail, curls spilling out of it in a mess. Adam, a Resident Assistant (RA) in this dorm, drove with me at four in the morning. We wanted to get here on time for freshman moving day.
She riffled through some papers on the table.
"Oh, you're Amelia from SGA!" She said, finally showing signs of recognition. "Adam gave us the heads up that you'd be checking in with some of the freshmen today."
I smiled at her, trying to avoid looking exhausted.
"I bet you're tired from the early drive," she said, looking me up and down with a smile.
Clearly, I had failed. I didn't say anything as Holly scanned my ID card, typed a few details into her laptop, and handed it back to me with a packet of papers. Her smile never wavered, but mine was challenging to maintain. It took all of two minutes before I was on my way to my room.
Lacock State University, my university, was a well-oiled machine when it came to welcoming the freshmen. It had been doing it for hundreds of years. The arrival of freshmen was a big deal since this was a significant change in their lives. I remembered my own move-in day two years ago, which had been far more exciting than this morning had been. I remember being excited to start a new chapter of my life, my own anxiety about being on my own, and being ready to make new friends. Today was just another moving day for me.
Getting to the university is a twenty-minute drive off the highway, weaving through the insane roads of North Central Massachusetts. The jokes about the stupidity of roads in Massachusetts are true—all of them. Someone must have decided to suddenly give up when they designed these towns. Adam says there was no design, they merely paved the cow paths. Most people misjudge how long it will take to get here, even with your phone giving you an accurate schedule. Today would be a mess if people moved in when they wanted.
This has always been a popular public university for first-generation college students. I picked it because of this and their affordability. Now I was in the Honors Program and an SGA senator for the Business School. I loved it here because we were less than two hours away from Boston and could take a road trip to New York or Canada if we wanted. Not that we ever did.
Each year the freshman class seemed to get bigger. The move-in procedure was always the same, and I remembered it well. They had their own day as part of their freshmen orientation activities and were given specific times to arrive. It was done throughout the day, so they could get settled before orientation. We had seen the first cars on our way in, all parked in the largest campus lot. When they drove up to the dorm at their assigned time, volunteers would greet them before helping them unpack their car. Parents were sent to park elsewhere, they got the freshmen checked in, and made sure they were in their new room with all their stuff. This would be my job later in the afternoon, well after my roommate moved in. I needed a shower, a nap, and lunch. Adam would be working with me, so it would be fun.
It would soon be a cacophony of sounds; parents yelling at kids, kids yelling back, crying, laughter, anger, and every other emotion that college freshmen could possibly experience in the first 24 hours of dorm life. I expected to be one of the few juniors living in Woodhouse Hall, and the only one moving in today. If I was lucky, I could get in the shower and settle in the room before the chaos began. Jenna, my roommate, moved in at eight. I had sent her a text message when we pulled up to the dorm, and she had responded with her check-in time. Currently, she was sending me texts about her place in line, what she had for breakfast, a to-do list of things we need to buy, things her parents want to buy for us, and many emojis indicating how excited she is about starting college. It was infectious, and I was relieved that we were getting along already. I had this fantasy that we would be a duo, just like Gwen and I had been for two years. I might need to help her transition to life in college, but that could wait until after a shower. I smelled like fast-food.
***
"Woodhouse Hall isn't that popular, is it?" Jenna asked me.
She hadn't been in the room long; her unpacked bags were sitting on the floor, her bed was unmade, and her laptop was on the desk, still in the box. Her parents had left us alone while they moved the car to a parking lot. They planned to come back, help Jenna unpack, and then treat us to lunch. I already liked Jenna more than I expected and wanted to hang out with her.
"Not really, but it's cheap."
"I could only get a room here. I picked Lacock State practically at the last minute. Did you live here as a freshman?" Jenna said nodding.
"I was in the Honors Program Dorm."
"Why didn't you get a room there this year?"
I took my time answering this.
"I was going to get an apartment with my best friend Gwen, but she decided to move in with her boyfriend, Steve, before we picked a place. By then, Woodhouse was the only dorm left with an open bed."
That wasn't the complete story. I had set up Gwen and Steve a year ago because I knew they would be perfect together. Last May, when most people picked their dorms, she and I decided to share an apartment. We hadn't been in a rush, coming out during the summer to look at different options. I began to panic when she dropped the bomb. Steve had asked her to move in with him too, and they had found a one-bedroom apartment about a mile away from campus. This is my own fault for being so good at playing matchmaker. I couldn't be angry, but the woman in the housing office laughed at me when I called, desperate for a place to live. This was how Adam saved my butt. He got them to give me this room with Jenna since her original roommate had decided to go to another college. Adam knew exactly when the room opened as the floor's RA. He knew exactly who to be kind to in the Housing Office. He's charming when he wants to be.
"Amelia," I heard Adam say as he knocked on the open door a moment later.
"Was I supposed to decorate the doors?" He asked after I introduced him to Jenna.
Adam's strawberry blond hair was slicked back and still wet. He must have grabbed a shower and tried to relax. He had changed into a university t-shirt that accentuated his broad shoulders and lean arms. His brown eyes were red from lack of sleep, and I could see his anxiety in his shoulders.
"I don't know? Did other RAs do that?"
"Yes, on every other freaking floor! Nobody told me to do that."
I thought back to other move-in days and did remember decorated doors or, at the very least, name tags. I had suggested this to him a few weeks ago and been assured I was wrong.
"Do you want me to help you get up name tags?" I offered.
"Please," Adam said with a huge sigh.
"I have crafting supplies! I can help," Jenna said, looking even more excited than she already was—if that was even possible.
Jenna pulled out construction paper, decorative tape, scissors, markers, and stickers. Adam handed us a list of names and rooms. The three of us worked quickly, cutting out random shapes, writing names on them, and adding stickers. We were done before Jenna's parents got back to the room.
"I could do so much more if I had time and all my supplies," Jenna said while we worked.
She and I talked about her crafting supplies, and I learned she, like me, was into bullet journaling for organization. It was nice to discover that there was something we could bond over, though she was more into the decorations than me. Adam spent the whole time rolling his eyes. It wasn't that he was annoyed, he found my obsession over organizational systems amusing.
Once we were done, we split the list into thirds and ran through the halls putting up the name tags as quickly as we could. When we were done, we met in the center of the floor, where the lobby, Common Room, and Adam's room were located.
"Thank you for making this look better and saving me," he said, giving me a big hug.
I smiled as Jenna and I walked back to our room.
"Is Adam your boyfriend?" Jenna asked.
"What? No! We're just friends," I said with a laugh.
"Oh, okay," Jenna said with a look of confusion on her face.
***
Adam and I took the last shift of the day to check in the freshmen. I agreed to this to thank Adam for helping me find a room. Jenna's parents had taken her out shopping for room supplies and dinner. Adam and I had our own dinner at the table while we checked in students. It was our payment for taking the shift.
"Do you like Jenna?" Adam asked me as we took charge of the check-in desk.
"She's sweet," I said.
"She seems to like crafts as much as you."
"Maybe more than. I'm not that crafty, only knitting." I watched her put her stuff away; she likes all crafts. I saw watercolors, tie-dye, yarn, scrapbook paper, and stickers."
"It was cool of her to help me out."
"She wants to decorate our door each month. I told her to do whatever she wanted with it."
"Really? I was expecting you to dominate everything in the room."
I exaggerated rolling my eyes, making sure Adam noticed. This was not the first time he had said this to me. It felt like he always told me this when I made a new friend, including when we moved in as Freshmen and I met Gwen for the first time.
"Amelia, you're an alpha female. You tend to forget there are other people with their own desires."
"What does that even mean? What's an alpha female?"
Adam didn't get to answer as the next wave of freshmen came into the building.
"It's like an alpha male, but, you know, a woman," Adam said picking up the conversation again after the rush died down. "You're always the center of attention, you think you know what's best for everyone, and you push until people do what you want. Look at what you did to Gwen and Steve."
"I helped two people find love. You make that sound bad," I said, pretending to be confused but really irritated that he wouldn't understand.
"You got lucky."
"I know people, Adam. I know what makes them tick and what they want. Gwen and Steve would still be single and lonely without my intervention."
"I assure you, they would've gotten together on their own. Not everyone has to be a couple to be happy. Look at you, you're single, happy, and live the life you want."
"I just want to pick the right guy. I don't like men who want to be in charge."
"Right, you need to be in charge because you're an alpha female. You're happier being alone than with someone who wants to be in control."
"I want to be treated like a Princess. You want someone who will let you feel clever," I said smirking at Adam.
"No, Amelia, I have you for that! You already act like Princess Leia." Adam said and stuck out his tongue at me.
I threw a french fry from my dinner at him. He caught it and stuck it in his mouth. He looked satisfied with himself, and that irritated me.
"Is she the one with the buns?" I asked, knowing the Star Wars characters perfectly well and finding his annoyance delightful.
Adam declined to answer.
***
"So, you and Adam aren't, like, a couple at all?" Jenna asked as we poured ice into a cooler and added in sodas and water bottles.
"What? No! He's Adam. I've known him since I was in elementary school."
"But, like, he's hot, and you get along!"
We were helping Adam get ready for the floor's first meeting in our Common Room. We had joined him on a trip to the grocery store to buy snacks and drinks, and now we're helping him set up. Jenna and I had grown more comfortable with each other. I had made a point of inviting her to join us, not wanting her to feel left out. On our first night, we discussed how to deal with issues like too much noise, staying up late while the other wanted to sleep, and if we wanted to get a big television. We decided to use headphones, hang curtains across our beds to block light, and not get a TV for the room. We also agreed to address other problems as they came up. Thinking about what Adam said about my ability to steamroll people, I even told Jenna to feel free to call me out if she felt I wasn't considerate of her.
"Yes, I can see how women find him attractive," I said, looking at Adam. "But I only see the gangly kid I grew up with. He's my best friend, and it works for us. Plus, he has a girlfriend, Mel. She's an RA at the Honor's Dorm."
When her face fell in obvious disappointment, I assumed that she was interested in Adam. I assumed this meant she wanted to be introduced and set up with someone.
"I can find you someone better than Adam if you're looking for a boyfriend," I said.
"Really?"
"Totally, I know a lot of people on campus since I'm in student government."
"That would be awesome. Right now, you and Adam are, like, the only people I know."
It was the end of orientation for the freshmen, and all the other students had moved in through the day. Now the floor residents started trickling into the room in roommate pairs.
"It's like Noah's Ark," I said to Adam as the room began to fill up.
"Other than us, they're all freshmen and probably only know their roommate."
"Jenna's feeling that way. I told her I would set her up with someone if she wants a boyfriend."
Adam turned to me and narrowed his eyes.
"Amelia, don't do it. You don't know her that well yet."
"She wants me to!"
"She hasn't even started classes yet. She doesn't know what she wants. She needs time to make her own friends."
Before I could respond, Adam got up and began the floor meeting. I sat down on a couch with Jenna, who saved me a spot. The first thing we did was go around the room, introducing ourselves and saying the coolest thing we had learned that week. Everyone had different things to say. I heard popular campus legends like the library sinking because the architects hadn't considered the weight of the books to the ghost that haunted our dorm. One girl talked about the washing machines that seemed to rattle a specific song as they spun (Queen's Another One Bites the Dust—I've heard it!) and one boy mentioned the history of the World War II veterans who had lived in the dorm.
The last one was the only true story. The Woodhouse Family, who donated the money to build the dorm after World War II, did it for the men returning home from the war and who were going to attend the school. There was a plaque in the entrance explaining it.
"Um, I heard they want to knock this dorm down," one skinny boy said. He had floppy, nearly greasy brown hair that hid his eyes, and I would later learn that his name was Bobby.
Adam turned to me before answering.
"Amelia, do you feel comfortable talking about this?"
I hadn't yet introduced myself, but this felt like a good time.
"This isn't a rumor," I said after I explained who I was. "I'm involved in student government, and the university plans to tear down the dorm at the end of the year so they can build a new one."
I let everyone have a reaction.
"Let's focus, please," Adam said.
"Does that mean they're going to kick us out? This was all I could afford with my financial aid," one girl said.
"They're working out a plan to help people in that very situation. Student government is working to make sure everyone gets into a good dorm without forcing them to find more money. The campus administration wants a better dorm here and knows the campus needs more dorm space. This is the smallest and oldest dorm on campus, so everyone benefits in the end. If you want to give some input, I encourage you to come to the next student government meeting. We need new voices because we are struggling with the town and the alumni association."
This wasn't exactly true, but it sounded great and made people feel more confident in the administration. A buzz of whispers followed. Nobody was paying attention anymore, all they had heard was that the dorm would be closing.
"Amelia's point is that this isn't a problem we have to deal with right now," Adam said, getting everyone's attention again. "We can continue to discuss this throughout the year, but I assure you, you have a home for the entire school year."
The meeting continued without any further discussion about the dorm closing. Many people came up and asked me about the next SGA meeting. By the time Jenna and I got back to our room, we were both exhausted and ready for classes to start the next day.