I ignored the scenery around me as I drove back toward campus. My apartment complex sat just near the edge of the school, so it wasn’t too pricey but still within walking distance of pretty much everything. I had been in Georgia now for two years, and the beauty of the campus still distracted me—normally. It was a whole lot different from my hometown back in Michigan.
This time of year they could even be seeing snow, in fact, I think my mom mentioned something about a few flurries just a couple of days ago. Thinking about my mom made my body tense up once again. What was I going to do now that I didn’t have a job? I had been lucky when I first arrived on campus as a freshman, not knowing anyone or anything about the area, but still finding a job right away at the Honey Ham Sandwich Shop. It was close to campus, paid okay, and had no problem working around my school schedule—at least that’s what I thought. I knew jobs were hard to find, I had a few friends that had been searching for a while now, and no luck. I could honestly say that I had never found myself in this type of situation before.
I was the oldest child out of three. I was always the most responsible and mature one over my sister and brother. The always seemed to be getting into trouble, but I was the one who stayed home instead of going out with friends, choosing to study or read instead. The only extracurricular activity I participated in was ballet. I’ve always enjoyed dancing, kept up with it over the years, and even participated in a few dance competitions.
But like everything else in my life, I was just okay, only average.
So when I decided to go away to college, hours away from home, instead of sticking close by at the community college, I shocked the shit out of everyone that knew me. I didn’t have a scholarship because, yeah I got decent grades, but nothing spectacular—I just felt like I needed something different, to step away from the realm of what was expected from Monroe Hartley. I started working as soon as it was legal, so I had quite a bit put away in my savings, along with a decent car that I purchased on my own. I basically pointed at the map and my finger landed on Georgia. I was accepted soon after applying to the University of Georgia, which led me here to Athens. My parents couldn’t believe it, my mom bawled for days, and I almost gave in. Almost. But one of my strongest traits was that I was extremely stubborn. Once I had my mind set on something, it was extremely hard to change it.
My parents offered what little money they had put aside for my education, but it barely covered my gas out of Michigan. They didn’t have much money and I was okay with that. I got that they did their best for us. My siblings on the other hand, well, they weren’t as understanding. Just thinking about Holland and Jackson annoyed me. Apparently, I had inherited all of the responsibility and maturity in our family because neither one of them had any. They were still milking our parents for everything that they possibly could, not blinking an eyelash over the fact that our mom and dad could barely afford their own bills.
I shook my head as I pulled into the parking lot of my apartment complex. My dark mood was trying to stick around as long as possible, but it was pretty hard to let it once I saw my best friend. She popped out of her car, tapping on my window with one of her perfectly manicured, red fingernails, and gave me a sweet smile, her bright white teeth practically blinding me.
“What are you doing here, Amelia?”
“Monroe,” she scoffed, looping her arm through mine. “You’re having a crisis. Whenever there’s a crisis, a girl needs her best friend.” She flicked back a piece of her long, golden blonde hair, giving me one of those pageant smiles she was famous for. I was pretty sure ninety-percent of the student population knew Amelia Miller, and somehow, I ended up as her best friend. I still had no idea how. She was the quintessential southern belle; her makeup and clothes were always perfect, her manners were some of the best I had ever witnessed in my life, and she was friendly to everyone. The only time she tended to let her hair down just a little bit was when we were alone, out of the public eye. She wasn’t fake; she just didn’t know how to let go sometimes. I guess I couldn’t blame her. It had been drilled into her head to always be perfect, probably straight out of the womb.
“I told you on the phone that you didn’t need to come over.” I pushed open the door to my apartment and Amelia followed me in, immediately heading toward the kitchen like she did every time she came over, even though she knew there was hardly ever anything in there. She rolled her eyes when she opened the cupboard next to the fridge and at least five boxes of Milk Duds tumbled to the floor. She crossed her arms over her chest.