Bad Things To Love (Book One)

                                                                                      Samantha             Today was the first day of freshman year in my new college. I was beyond ready to start the long journey of my career. I had two major goals, to graduate with a masters to become a veterinarian and to have an associate degree in business. The plan was to own a clinic by the time I was twenty-five. My whole focus in life has been to achieve this goal and though it was finally starting to come true, I knew this journey would be full of challenges that would test how ready I was for this.             "Samantha! Snap out of it, we are almost there."             That is my best friend Emily Stroupe. We have been best friends since we were in middle school together. She was the opposite of who I was which I think is why we got along so well. She was adventurous and wild while I was calmer and more prepared. I never did anything that would jeopardize my chances at seeing my dream come true. Emily though was the kind who like to live life dangerously. As she always said, you only live once, and you must make the most of it.             "Sorry Emily. I spaced out again." Which I did quite often.             We were on our way to the University of Arizona where we could both live our dreams of becoming two of the most successful business owners all before we were twenty-five. Emily and I were both eighteen and just finished high school. We didn't want to waste a second before heading off to college. The moment we graduated, we waited only two days before packing our bags and making the trip here.             "Well snap out of it because we are here!" Emily screamed slightly jumping from the driver’s side of her Mustang GT.             It was beautiful here. Much prettier than the pictures we saw gave it credit for. The fountain that sat in front of the main school building was my favorite so far. I have always had a fascination with water fountains that I never did understand.             Emily quickly found the student parking in front of the building we would be calling home for the next five years. I had to pull some strings but since we were both going for the same thing, I successfully managed to make us roommates. One of the benefits of having me as a friend I suppose. It was always perfect A's throughout school and that helped me in the real world from time to time.             Emily got out stretching her arms and legs before walking over to my door basically dragging me out of it. She was always a beauty. The blonde hair, blue eyes, perfect slim body that I always secretly was jealous of. I was pretty but I could care less about impressing anyone. I would much rather just be myself, which was no makeup, baggie clothes that hid all my woman parts, and my burgundy hair always pinned up in a ponytail. Emily always seemed to enjoy the stares she got from boys but I on the other hand liked being unseen.             We made our way up to the steps and found our dorm easily enough. It took only about an hour and we had all our things arranged just how we liked them.             "Are you ready to go out and get familiar with our surroundings?"             "I think I will stay in tonight and maybe read a couple chapters of my book." I was a sucker for a good book. In my spare time, which was rare to have, you could always find me in a corner snuggled up reading a good book.             "Classes don't even start until Monday. We have the whole weekend to sit around and be lazy. Today we have a chance to get out and see what this school is all about. We need to mingle because if we don’t, we will never get into the best parties and you know how much I love to party." Emily sure did love a good party with lots and lots of booze.             She could talk me in to just about anything with that innocent pouty look she would always give. "Fine," I said laughing. "Let's go." I grabbed my hoodie before walking out the door behind her.             Night had fallen and it made the scenery even more beautiful than it was in the daytime. Loud music blared in every building as we walked by. I took notes at where the library was and the small coffee shop that sat in front of it. Now that was something I could get used to. We even walked past the college and on to see what kind of food joints that were around along with fun activities we could possibly do in our free time, not that I would have much.             There was this ice cream shop just past the college that seemed to still be open. Emily held the door as we walked inside. It was a decent size inside and not too crowded. There did seem to be some college students already inside and Emily wasted no time pulling me over in their direction.             "Sorry to bother you but do you guys go to that college." She pointed across the street.             My eyes scanned over each one of them taking mental notes. Not my kind of group but neither was Emily and we became best friends. There was three girls and three guys. They reminded me of a mix between emo and gothic clique that I saw a lot of in my high school. Those kinds of groups would always pick on me, finding me an easy target for their tricks.             One of the guys smiled and spoke up. "Yeah, you two freshman or something?"             "That obvious?" Emily chuckled turning on her flirtatious self which she always did when she was attracted to someone.             "Don't sweat it. We are all second years. This here is Robbie." He pointed to the right of him at a boy dressed in jeans and a plaid shirt with piercings all over his face. He had dark brown hair with brown eyes to match.             "Nice to meet you ladies," he said as a smirk set across his lips.             "This here is Jazmine, but we like to call her Jaz." He then pointed directly across the table from him. She had green hair with her eyebrow pierced and tattoos along her right shoulder. Her blue eyes reminded me of Emily's.             Jazmine didn't say anything, so he moved onto the next. "This is Mila." Mila was the most stunning out of the three girls. She wore long golden curly locks with big thick black eyelashes that brought out her green eyes. She too had a tattoo that sat on her wrist. It looked to be some kind of bird, though I could not be sure.             "Hey," is all she said.             "Then there is Zoey, Levi, and I am Caleb." Zoey had her black hair pinned into a bun, all black makeup on that made her eyes seem black in color too. Caleb had short brown hair that you could barely run your fingers through, with brown eyes. Levi stood out to me the most though he never even looked in our direction. He seemed cold almost, like he did not care that we were there at all. He had ear length black hair. A little strand even seemed to hang down in the front of his face that did not seem to bother him at all. He had tattoos covering both of his arms but no piercings on his face. He gave off that bad boy vibe immediately. I made a mental note to stay clear of that one.             Emily decided to introduce us. "My name is Emily, and this here is Samantha, but you can call her Sam."             Caleb already seemed captivated by Emily as he looked over her body examining it piece by piece. "Nice to meet you."             Levi stood. "Can you assholes move," he said speaking to Caleb and Robbie. They stood up letting him out of the small booth they were sitting in. Once he was clear of the table, his shoulder grazed mine as he passed by. That is when he looked over and mumbled something to himself while rolling his eyes. What a prick.             "I think me, and Emily should go for a walk. Get to know each other a little better. What do you say Emily?" Caleb already knew the answer before she even spoke.             She turned me to me, her eyes pleading for me to say it was okay. "Um, yeah. I got to go back to the dorm anyway. Have a good time." Emily looked over at me and mouthed 'thank you' before walking out of the shop with Caleb.             Then there I was left out in the dark walking back to the dorm alone on our first night here. Emily always did this though. She would find one cute guy to focus her energy on since I used most of my time preparing for the future. I wanted her to have fun but sometimes it left me feeling lonely. I however, never even dated. I did not have time. I had a future to plan for and boys were not a part of that equation. Emily never understood saying we were young and we had needs to fulfill just like anyone else did.             No, I was no virgin, but s*x was not something I felt I needed. Emily says that is why I am always so cranky, but I don't think that is the case. I am just driven, hardworking, and I know what I want.             One summer Emily introduced me to this boy that was her brothers’ best friend. We hit it off. I fell for him hard. I would not say I was in love with him but the more time I spent with him the more feelings I seemed to develop. After two months into our relationship I gave it up to him without so much as a second thought but after the deed was done, I regretted it. He broke up with me after that, having got what he wanted from the start. Emily never forgave herself after that. Weirdly, I was thankful for what happened to me. It turned me into who I am today and that is why I am so focused on my future, having no time for anything but that.             I was so in my own head that I bumped right into Levi. “Damn. Watch where you are walking!” He spat at me.             Nervously I said, “I’m sorry. I wasn’t even paying attention.” I tried to walk right past him, but he grabbed my arm pulling me around to face him.             “You need to be a little more careful when walking all alone around here.”             I scoffed at him. “Says the guy walking all alone in the middle of the night himself. Thanks for the concern but I don’t need it.” I started to walk away holding my head high. Though I seemed like a scared little girl, that was not the case. My mouth would usually always speak up before my brain managed to register what I really wanted to say.             As I turned back to look at him, he was glancing in my direction smiling from ear to ear shaking his head as he took off in the opposite direction.