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“Be safe, dear. And please tell Noel and Sirius I say hi.”“Of course grandma. I love you!”“I love you too.” Dorothy says, opening her arms for a hug. With a smile, Claire returns the hug, before pulling away and grabbing her bags before turning to the docking area of the plane. “And remember, claire. You will do fine and you are always welcome home.“Thank you grandma.” Claire says with a smile, holding her head high as she walks to the place where she places her luggage. Turning to look at her grandma, she gives one final wave before going through the metal detector to her new life.This was it. She was going to college. It was a relatively small college, but college nonetheless.Honestly, Claire didn't know what she wanted to do in life. But Claire was excited. She had her whole life to figure out what she wanted to do, and she planned to make the most of her college experience.She wanted to try various things in the first two years of college, when she officially had to pick her major.Until that point, she's going to have fun. To make things better, her two childhood friends that she hasn't been able to spend a lot of time with after they moved, Noel and Sirius, was going to the same college!Thus was something they had planned for a long time. They even did the math on if it would be cheaper to live off campus or on campus, and came to the decision together to live off campus.While Claire would have loved to live on campus for the entire college experience, she respected Noel's and Sirius's opinions to not live on campus.Besides, because of circumstances (something about not having any open apartments to fit only 3 people, but having an apartment that could fit 5 that was filled with two), she was going to get 2 new friends anyway!Well, Claire hoped they would be friends.“Passengers, we are taking off, please put on your seatbelts, turn off any electronic devices, amd enjoy the ride.” Doing as the flight attendant said, she waited for the flight to take off.“Alright, you may take off your seatbelts.”With a smile, Claire takes out her laptop and, after unlocking her computer and opening the appropriate program, requests to start a video call with Noel and Sirius. It took a bit, but soon enough, Noel answered.“Hello Claire.”“Hey Noel!” From the sounds of it, he was on a train.“You on the plane?”“Yup! You almost there?”“Yea. Once I get off this train I'll take the uber to that Starbucks nearby.”“Alright! Have you talked to Sirius?”“Yea. From the sounds of it he's almost off his plane but still has a second plane.”“Alright. When will he get off that plane?”“Its expected that he'll get off the plane at about 12.”“So then we'll likely get to the apartment at about 2! Alright, thanks Noel.”“Of course.” Noel says with a smile.“So, how's your grandmother been?” And with that, Claire and Noel spent the rest of the time Noel had on his train talking.”“The train is about to stop, I'll see you soon Claire.”“Yup! See you soon Noel!” - “Fresh off the plane, huh?” Claire's uber driver comments as she puts her luggage in the car.“Yup!”“On vacation?”“No I'm here for college.” Claire says as the car starts.“Which college you going to?”“Heart College.”“What do you want to major in?”“I… don't know.”“Heart college has a very good cooking and floral arrangement program since you seem like the type to like those things.”“Well… flowers ARE pretty and I do enjoy cooking, but… I want to do something that helps people.”“You make people happy with flowers and you are making food for people though.”“I know. What I mean is that I want to do something like be a police officer. Or even a therapist!”“Ah, alright.” As they got closer to the Starbucks, Claire saw Noel waiting outside for her. “Well, names Zizel. I go to Heart College as well. I'm a junior there. If you need any help, here's my number.” Zizel smiles, writing her number on a napkin and handing it to Claire.“Thank you, Zizel!”“No problem.” Zizel stopped the car, and Claire grabbed her luggage and stepped out.“Goodbye Zizel!”“Goodbye.” And with that, Zizel drove off. Turning towards the Starbucks, Claire runs up to Noel.“Noel! It's been so long since!” Claire practically yells as she stops in front of said person. Noel gives a small laugh.“Yea. It really has been.”“I know I say this a lot, but it really does suck that we all live so far apart now.”“Well now we're going to live together again.” Noel says with a smile.“Yea. And we got two other friends!”“Ugh. Can we go inside already? It's freaking hot out here.” A new voice says. “Sirius!” Claire exclaims, turning around and throwing her arms around Sirius.“If I wanted a hug I would have said so!” Sirius exclaims. With a smile, Claire pulls away from the hug.“Your sooner than we expected.” Noel comments.“I'm just glad to be out of that plane.” Sirius sighs.“Well, now that we're all here, lets get some coffee.” Noel suggests.“Alright!” Claire smiles, leading the way into the Starbucks. There wasn't much of a line, surprisingly for a Saturday, though there was still a line.“So uh. Are we all going to pay for our own?” Noel asks.“Don't worry! I can pay for all of us!”“Alright.” Upon getting to the front of the line, Claire orders a hot chocolate (despite it being freaking hot outside. They were going to be there for a while okay?), Noel orders a simple coffee with 2 sugar lumps, while Sirius orders…“A cotton candy frap.” “Huh? You do know that's very sweet, right?” Noel asks.“What? I want something sweet. What's wrong with that?”“There's nothing wrong with it!” Claire says, paying for the drinks, telling the cashier their names, and walking to a table to await their order.“So does anyone know anything about our roommates?” Noel asks, in which Claire nods to.“Yea. As you know their names are Ashe and Wilardo. I sent them both an email introducing us, and Ashe gave me his phone number. We've been talking through text. Figuring out plans and stuff, y'know?” Claire explains.“What about Wilardo?” Sirius asks.“He just responded “cool” to my first email and hadn't responded to any future email. He didn't even make the cool capitalized. From the sounds of it, he's moving in the day before the first day of college.”“Claire, Sirius, and Noel, your orders are ready.” The cashier announced.“I'll go get out drinks.” Noel says, standing up and walking to the counter.“So, what have you planned with Ashe?” Sirius asks.“From the sounds of it, Ashe brought enough pillows, blankets, sheets, silverware, and all that for us. For the house care stuff we'll figure it out once Wilardo is settled. Ashe also said that he's fine with doing the cooking and taxes as long as we did our part.”“I got out drinks.” Noel announces with a tray, handing each person their drink.“Thank you!” Claire says with a bright smile.“Thanks.” Sirius says, taking a sip of his drink.“Well, anyway…” From there, Claire explained to Noel and Sirius what she and Ashe had planned, and after that they stayed in the Starbucks despite finishing their drinks and just talking. - “So, this is the apartments we'll be staying at?” Sirius asks, looking skeptically at the building. It didn't look run down or sketchy or anything, but it didn't look like the picture from the website.“Well, it's the cheapest building that's closest to school.” Noel says.“I know, but the website made it look better than this! Are you sure this isn't some cash grab?!”“Well, it's kind of too late now. Come on! Lets go!” Claire announces, walking into the lobby with her two friends behind her. The group of three walked to the counter, getting the key to their room, room 313, and walking to the elevator.“Well at least we're not at the top.” Sirius says, pressing the corresponding button after the three walked in. Soon enough, the elevator stopped and the door open. The group of three exited the elevator and walking down the hall to find room 313.“Ah. Here.” Noel says, pointing at said door.“Alright!” Claire says, opening the unlocked door.“Uh Claire?! Shouldn't we knock first?”“Relax, Ashe knows we're coming.” Claire says, walking inside their new apartment. It was relatively small inside, or at least smaller than Claire was used to. There was a couch with a matching chair, and a table with chairs, to the side. To the side there was a small kitchen, and near it a hallway with 3 doors.“Well at least the rooms are as they were advertised.” Sirius says under his breath. “Oh! Hello.” A new voice says from behind them. Turning around, there was a young man, a little older than the three, behind them. He had bright blue hair, tied in a small ponytail with a black bow. He also had a dark blue shirt with a white undershirt. He was a paper bag as well. “Are you Claire, Noel, and Sirius?”“Yup! I’m going to guess you’re Ashe?”“Yup! Sorry for not being here when you guys came, my sister needed something, and I decided to pick up some groceries on the way back.”“No it's perfectly fine. Families important!” “Well it’s good to finally meet you three! I hope we get along!”“Yea, me too!”“Well, we are living together for the next year, so it’d be hard if we didn’t get along.” Noel says.“True, true. Well, let me go put away these groceries, and then… Uuh…” Ashe says, rubbing the back of his head.“We could play 20 questions!” Claire suggests.“I'm going to unpack.” Sirius days, walking off with his luggage and opening the first door he came across.“Ah! There's only 3 doors! We should probably talk about who gets which room!” Ashe calls.“Don't care!”“Ah. Alright.”“Perhaps Claire should get a room to herself, since she's the only girl here.”“Of course! The room with one bed is at the end on the left.” Ashe says, pointing to said door. “Alright! Thanks! But what about the 20 questions?”“It is probably a better idea to unpack than play 20 questions right now.” Noel says.“I guess.”“Sorry for disappointing you.”“No it's fine!” Claire says, waving her hands in front of her and grabbing her luggage. “I'll go unpack then.”“Alright! By the way, uh. What's your name?” Ashe asks, looking at Noel.“I'm Noel.”“Thank you! Do you want to share a room, Noel?”“Alright.” Noel says. He picks up his luggage and follows Ashe to their shared room. With a smile, Claire follows and enters her own room.The room was as basic as expected: a bed, a desk, and there was a window. With a sigh, Claire puts her luggage on her bed and sits on it.This was it. The next chapter of her life. Surrounded by people she loves, and people she doesn't know. Taking out a picture frame from her luggage and putting it on her desk, she stares at it.“Would you be proud of me, mom and dad?” Claire whispers to herself.