1.7 {Part I}

Kaylee stared down at the list of classes in front of her. With a groan she dropped her head into her hand and tapped her pencil against the edge of the notebook. She still didn't know what she wanted to take up. Rachael had told her that she could take her time and decide but Kaylee didn't want to waste time.
"Alright," she muttered to herself. She started to check off all the things that she had no interest in. That whittled the list down to over...she pursed her lips. There was still over two dozen options on her list.
"Great," she snapped, rubbing her forehead. Frowning she started to meticulously go over the list again. She wanted to declare a major before her first week in so that she could work towards it and finish it as fast as possible. She wasn't going to play around.
She glanced up when she heard laughter. All around her groups and people were milling around. Parents had come to send their kids off and friends were hanging around in groups talking about how much fun they had had over the summer. Shaking her head she turned back to her list.
"Biology," she whispered. It seemed as if it had suddenly jumped out at her. She had always enjoyed Bio in school and at one point in time she had wanted to work with animals. Maybe...gnawing on her lip for a moment Kaylee went over the list again but nothing else seemed right. Heaving a relieved sigh she went over to the computer and declared her major.

The next morning, her first day of college classes Kaylee thought with a small thrill, she stood in front of the mirror and studied herself.
"Okay, this is what you always wanted to do," she said, speaking to her reflection. Straightening her shoulders she pasted a smile on her face. "Now, instead of feeling as if you're going to vomit, go and make an impression on your professors! After all, there are seventeen thousand people on this campus."
Oh my god, Kaylee thought to herself putting hand on her stomach. Her little pep talk was so not helping! She was just one of the masses. What had she been thinking to-
"Hey, hey, HEEEEY!"
Kaylee had been so deep in her morbid thoughts that she hadn't heard the girl come up behind her. Startled, she jumped and spun around. A girl in a cheerleading outfit stood behind her.
"Umm..hi."
"It's a looovely morning! Oh my god were you just talking to yourself? 'Cause I do too when I'm trying to make up a cheer. I'm like, Jenna. I'm captain of the squad. Cheer captain, ya know?"
She did a little motion with her hands and slapped a smile on her face.
"Are you a freshman?"
"Yes," Kaylee replied bemused by the girl's, Jenna's, boundless energy.
"Ohhh...that's fabulous! You'll LOVE it here!"
"Riiight," Kaylee said as she started to edge away. To her dismay Jenna followed behind her chattering until she spotted a group of girls. With a quick wave to Kaylee she rushed over to them.


Kaylee soon found out that college was different from high school. She had a ton of homework. Between essays, term papers and projects her freshman year seemed to zip by her. Not saying that she enjoyed it. She loved being at Pleasantview State college. She didn't have a lot of friends but those she did have she enjoyed hanging out with. The one damper on her year was Ty.
They had promised to email each other, to keep in contact and at first, they did.
She'd open up her email and there would be a long email from Ty telling her all about his freshman year at Le Tour.
He was now the starting quarterback, a freshman quarterback was unprecedented in the history of the school and already he had scouts after him to drop out with promises of fat bonuses and NFL contracts. And he would call just to say goodnight. But halfway through the year his schedule became too hectic apparently, because emails became few and far between. She hated it but she knew he had dreams and she wasn't going to interfere.

She wasn't all about school though. She was for the most part but when a class was giving her trouble or she just needed to think she'd shoot some pool(it did help her with her trigonometry and physics as she tried to figure out angles). If she had an especially difficult problem she would head to the gym.

The steady hum of the machines, the rhythmic slapping of her feet, the thrumming of the blood in her ears all relaxed her. It was during her weekly workouts that she felt at peace. Maybe it was the repetitiveness of it all but whatever it was it just soothed her.

The gym was always a busy place. People were coming and go all the time and Kaylee rarely paid any attention. For some odd reason she glanced over when the door opened and there was a momentary stutter in her usually steady pace.

She couldn't see his face but...there was something about him that reminded her of someone she knew. She studied him for a moment then glanced over when she heard the girl on the treadmill next to her hum. The girl was looking past her and licking her lips.

"Yum, yum! I wouldn't mind someone breaking me off a piece of that! I'd come off my diet anytime for a piece of that chocolate!" She shot a quick grin at Kaylee. "You know what I'm saying?"

Making a noncommittal sound in the back of her throat Kaylee continued to run. But she was constantly aware of the guy moving. First he lifted some weights and then dropped down and started to do some push-ups. She stiffened when he moved out of her sight to work on the curls.

An annoying rang sounded and Kaylee looked in the reflection of the TV to see him scoot up and dig around in his pocket for his cell phone.

"Hello?"

Oh...my...god! That voice. She would recognize that voice anywhere!

"Hey babe. I'm at the gym. Yeah, I know you said you were going to come over but..."

Kaylee didn't even bother to warm down. Shutting off her treadmill she raced outside. Sucking in lung fulls of crisp, clean area she hurriedly walked back to her dorm.

Walking into her room she shut the door before digging underneath of her bed and pulling out her neglected journal. Nudging aside her textbooks and papers she sat cross legged on the floor and began to write.

The rest of the year zoomed by. Having made the dean's list Kaylee waited until everyone was fast asleep before having her own celebration. She didn't go home for the summer. With her scholarship money she took advantage of some summer classes so she was able to stay on in a campus house.

Her sophomore year started and just like before a check from Rachael arrived in the mail. Kaylee didn't know how it happened but word got around campus that she was pretty smart and soon she had people asking her to tutor them in various subjects. It provided her with some extra cash which she promptly sent to Rachael to try and make a dent in her loan.

Kaylee sat down at the computer to check and see if her Bio professor had graded her term paper. Craig and Dillian were horsing around in the commons area, as usual, before they started talking about football right behind her. Dillian was a running back for Pleasantview State and thought he was the best thing since...well since time began. She just didn't see what the other girls saw in him.
"We have a game against Le Tour in a couple of weeks. Man, that Jameson is awesome! Do you think we have a chance at winning?"
Dillian snorted. "Are you kidding me? There's no way PSC is going to win against ALT. For one thing they were undefeated last year and for another I heard Ty trained with some NFL players during the summer. Man, he's good. I hear he's been offered a sign on bonus but he turned it down because he wants to finish up school."
"Really?"
"Yeah, he's a pretty cool guy. We hang out sometimes ya know? And he even gives me pointers. He's supposed to be stopping by sometime in the next couple of weeks to..."
Kaylee's mouth went dry. Ty? Here at PSC?