Page 1

Fallon

T his year was going to be different. I could feel it.

That’s what I told myself while getting ready for my first class as a sophomore at Willow Bay University–a prestigious university attended by the richest of the rich, or the luckiest scholarship winners. Last year was such a whirlwind with Kelly and I was finally finding my footing.

I stayed to myself, mostly. Starting a new school in my new house was a big change, but I was grateful for my best friend turned sister. She was the social butterfly and I was the homebody with a far too large inheritance with depression.

The campus I arrived at last year was so large it was considered its own city in a sense. Willow Bay was known for its vibrant campus life and strong community spirit. At least online it was. The mascot was a shark–whatever that was supposed to mean. I’d assumed it was because we were close to the ocean.

How shark-like life could be...

Kelly popped her wild and wavy brown-haired head into the bathroom, breaking me out of my thoughts. Her honey brown eyes were always perfectly lined with sharp, black wings–she mastered the art of makeup. “Hey Fal, you excited for the fall semester? Oh. My. God. What are you doing?”

I leaned away suspiciously. “Uh, getting ready?”

She narrowed her–perfectly smokey–eyes at me. “Who are you and what the hell did you do with Fallon?” She came into the bathroom fully to pick at my hair–getting far too close to my face for an inspection–and inspecting my face with her eyes wide in disbelief.

I looked back at my reflection hesitantly, applying some lip gloss as a finisher. “It’s sophomore year and I feel like I can experiment a bit. Considering we have online classes and I only need to get ready three days a week, I didn’t think it was too hard to get ready and dolled up.”

We both looked at my reflection in the mirror, my blonde beach waves were straightened and I applied makeup from a tutorial I found online. I looked back at her, kind of worried.

“Do I look bad?” I asked.

She let out a laugh. “No! I think you look fucking hot! I think sophomore year and a boyfriend looks good on you. It gives me a good feeling about things–they’re finally looking up!” She gave a quick smack to my ass, giggling as she left me to my devices.

“Me too,” I sighed “With some online classes, a house with my bestie close to campus, and a new look, this year is sure to be our best yet.”

I placed my makeup in my to-go bag that I planned to keep on me. My research on makeup had been silly, but it made me feel better about being the weird, sheltered rich girl.

Unlike all the other nepo babies at school, I grew up with a mother who wanted to keep me down to earth and normal despite her immense wealth–she never let me know just how immense it was.

Kelly and I linked arms as we marched into the kitchen, excited for breakfast and the big first day. She whipped up a wonderful first-day-of-school spread that included pancakes and a lot of bacon. When she cooked, it was always breakfast food.

I loaded my plate with a pile of each choice from the smorgasbord of breakfast options. “Geez, you went all out this morning, Kel.”

She beamed. “Only the best for my best!”

“Love you, dude,” I giggled.

“Love you too, Fal. Oh! I totally forgot–well, almost forgot–to mention that there is a giant back-to-school bash on Friday. It’s Greek Row shit, but I figured free drinks, dancing, and a good night out could do us some good. Make our debut as hot sophomores with hunky men to do our bidding.”

I almost choked on my orange juice at the mention of hunky men. “Do our bidding? What are we, mafia leaders?”

She threw me an evil grin. “We could be!” Her wild and wavy brown hair bounced as she emphatically nodded along with her train of thought. “I really want a boyfriend, Fal. I haven’t dated anyone since high school. You have Garrett now and I want to go on cute double dates!”

“Mhm,” I raised an eyebrow. “Except for Jake, Ryan, Xavier, Trent... Shall I go on?” I counted out the names on my fingers while she glared sternly. “Those aren’t boyfriends,” she huffed. “I want a real boyfriend. You know the type: he doesn’t cheat, likes to talk to me, doesn’t just want sex, doesn’t lead you on, talks to you in public, doesn’t only text you at three in the morning...” she trailed off, listing many of the red flags from her previous hopefuls.

“I’m only teasing,” I said, poking her in the side.

She perked right back up. “Well, in that case... I get to tease you about still being a virgin.”

I rolled my eyes, toying with the eggs on my plate. “Don’t even. For one, I’m only twenty. Two, boys weren’t on my mind with my mom being sick for so long. Then there’s the issue of Sylvia being terrible.”

“Somehow you always get an out whenever I want to tease you.” She shoved a forkful of pancake into her mouth, mumbling about how good it was.

“Sorry, my dead mom gives me an out.”

Kelly shook her head. “Yeah, but you and Garrett haven’t done anything yet?”

I looked down at my plate. “We aren’t exclusive, and I don’t know that I want to have sex with him so soon. We literally just met.”

“Fine, fine. You win.” She waved me off with a hand and went about finishing her breakfast.

After breakfast we decided to head to campus a bit early to take in the sights. I never got over how big the campus was; it was its own town with a shopping center to boot. Buildings scattered everywhere, a mix of modern buildings surrounding classic architecture adorned the original campus built in the late 1800s. Just north of the campus buildings was downtown Willow Bay where anyone over twenty-one went to party if they weren’t on Greek Row.

And then there was Greek Row. That could be a town all in itself if it wanted to be. Each fraternity or sorority house was situated on acres–yes acres–of land, allowing each house to do whatever they saw fit with the property. They were all located to the south of campus, boasting forty houses, and were evenly split between the guys and the girls.

I read that they shared somewhere around six hundred acres of land between all of the houses. There was a lot of money in Willow Bay.

A lot of legacies too.

The original architecture spoke to the times–and money–of the past. Founding families, new money families, and secret millionaires were among the students and faculty.

Money was no object here.

Kelly and I meandered into the science sect of campus as we browsed our schedules. Since we both needed the initial two years of base credits, we were able to take a few classes together. She was hoping to declare her major this year, and I already declared Exercise Science.

I wasn’t sure if I wanted to declare a minor or not.

Dance called to me, but I wanted to explore all my interests. My mother always encouraged me to do so, and I wanted to honor her memory by continuing to pursue my passions even if I was going to take over her company, the Montgomery Group.

She never told me many details before she died, and I assumed it was to keep me normal and down to earth. I only found out via the will that I was to take over a luxury real estate firm after I was cut a check for my initial inheritance money.

I refocused on my schedule, pointing out a smaller building to the left of the main science building. “Looks like that’s the building for our bio class.”

She checked her phone and looked around. “We’re crazy early. What should we do?”

“No idea.” I shrugged.

Before we could make a decision, a girl with an all-pink outfit approached us with a bright smile and a stack of pamphlets. “Hiya, gals! Are you two rushing this year?”

I considered it last year, much to Kelly’s displeasure. She hated Greek life and wanted nothing to do with it. I told her it could be fun, but she said she’d rather me stay a hermit.

I took a pamphlet, ignoring the glare I got from Kelly. “I thought about it. Do you admit sophomores?”

Her smile widened. “Of course we do! Just between us, there are only two houses that don’t. Beta Kappa Pi and Theta Nu. We try to avoid their Debby Downer attitudes.”

With a look from Kelly, that said how the hell am I supposed to remember that? I tried to take mental note of the names.

Looking over the pamphlet, I searched for dates and deadlines. “Is there a date on here?”

Pink Girl pointed out the date on the back. “Yes ma’am! Phi Beta Lambda at your service! Please consider rushing us this year! We will also be at the big back-to-school bash, so come say hi if you see me. Happy first day!”

We watched her as she happily skipped away to another group of girls arriving on campus, probably giving them the same spiel she just gave us.

“Ugh,” Kelly rolled her eyes. “You aren’t still on the sorority thing, are you?”

I shrugged. “It could be fun. I want to have a normal college experience with you. If we joined, we could make some new friends. You might even find yourself that hunky man you were talking about earlier and start your little mafia side gig.”

She shook her head as I followed her inside, pushing past the large double doors. “If you want to check that out, go ahead. Personally, I have no interest. No major yet, and I prefer to play things by ear. Be a little spontaneous before settling into big decisions, yeah?”

Meandering down the hallways, we had plenty of time to kill. With me being the forever early bird and Kelly being fashionably late, we settled on an hour early to campus. It was nice to take in the sights before everyone else rushed into the building–it helped me keep calm.

“Look,” Kelly pointed down the hallway. “I wonder what kinds of sugary goodness awaits in that vending machine.”

“There better be sour gummy worms,” I mumbled, hoping for my comfort snacks to ease my anxiety.

With our horde of snacks in hand, we found our classroom and made ourselves comfortable while we waited for biology to start. It didn’t take long for students to slowly trickle in looking upset that school started back up, while we entertained ourselves in the back of the room. The dynamics of the school seemed to reveal themselves as the classroom filled up.

People separated themselves based on their respective cliques. Greek Row students grouped together, what I assumed were scholarship kids sat together, and the ones who deemed themselves popular had their own section too. It made me wonder where I would fit in– if I would fit in.

The professor walked in with three minutes to spare. “Good morning, and welcome to your Fall semester. We will cover cellular biology to include but not limited to membrane structure, cellular energetics, cell cycle and growth control, and cellular organization. I know, fun stuff. If you are a science major, these will be important. If you are not a science major, congratulations, your only task is to pass the tests and then forget everything you learn directly after the final exam.

Now, let’s get to your first introductions. You will section yourselves into groups for next week’s assignments and will need to complete your project together as a group unit. Before you create your groups of five to seven students, we will be going around the room. Please state your name, your major, and something about yourself. This can be where you are from, your hobbies, a fun fact, et cetra.”

He pointed to a guy in the front row to kick us off.

The guy turned and waved. “I’m Shane. My major is I have no idea. I’m from Houston and I’m on the soccer team. Go Sharks!”

The intros continued until they reached Kelly and me. Kelly went first.

“Hey everyone, my name is Kelly, and I haven’t decided on a major yet but I like skateboarding.” Ever the extrovert, she was beaming through her entire introduction.

I shifted in my seat. “I’m Fallon and I declared Exercise Science and am considering a minor. My favorite snack is sour gummy worms.” Stupid. So. Stupid.

After the last guy in our row introduced himself, everyone stood and formed their lab groups. I looked to Kelly, hoping she would take the lead and get us a half-decent group.

“You two need partners?” A voice behind me answered my silent prayers.

Kelly stuck her hand out over my head. “Hi there, Shane! We would absolutely love to add you to our awesome lab group. Did you come alone or with friends?” She looked down at me with a covert wink.

He chuckled at her outspokenness. “There are three of us if you want to make it a solid five.”

“Deal,” she said, still holding onto his hand.