Chapter 13

    When Rebecca first made it to Stanford University she thought it must have been out of a dream. She had
seen the brochures but never did she imagine that she could actually live and learn and grow in a place so
beautiful. She fell in love with the campus the moment that she arrived. She felt like her heart was bursting with
joy at the new opportunities that this new campus could offer her. She even found herself spinning around and
jumping in the air and giggling. She knew that people must have been watching but she didn’t really care.   
 She just couldn’t wait to meet her new teachers and her dorm mate and to take her first class at a real
accredited university. When she had gone through her orientation they had given her a keycard and the room and
the dorm she would be staying in. When she actually saw the dorm room she was going to be staying in her jaw
almost dropped.  
 

   She couldn’t imagine that she would actually be staying in a dorm that looked that beautiful. When she
walked into the main courtyard she could see a large open field that was covered with a luscious green lawn with
different types of trees surrounding the perimeter. There was a pavement walkway interrupting the path, and the
buildings where constructed out of that old Spanish style architecture.   
There were large open spaces with stucco walls and orange tile roofs, and even a tower with stucco walls
and an orange rounded top. It almost looked like something out of a fairytale. When she got to her dorm room she
thought it might have been a little small but she figured that it would be worth it to get the chance to live on
campus.  

     Her roommate hadn’t moved in yet but she could see that there was an orange tinted door with white
walls and a orange wooded bunk bed with an orange wooded step on it. She could also see that there were two
orange wooded desks in the room as well. There was one sitting next to the bunk bed and one sitting in front if it.
There was also a small orange wooded dresser and a trash can on each side. The room she was on had a view of
the courtyard and she could see everyone else moving in too. 
 Rebecca wondered where they were all coming from and if they had come from as far away as she had.
She wanted to get to know them all, and prove that she could be a different person. Rebecca wanted very badly to
make her mark on this campus. She wanted people to know her as a strong, intelligent, and competent young
woman who could solve any problem in front of her.  

    She also was really looking forward to meeting her roommate. Rebecca was very sure that she would just
love her roommate and she would just love all of her classmates and all her teachers. She was very sure that
should do well in her studies as well. She was so busy looking outside and thinking about everything else that she
almost didn’t notice her roommate come in. 
 Her roommate practically fell into the room. She had so many different bags to try and carry in that she
was having difficulty getting them through the door. Rebecca went to go help her, but the girl smacked her hand
away and with an indignant smirk, asked,” Who are you? Are you supposed to be my roommate? You’re not exactly
what I had hoped, but I guess you will have to do. And this room is really small too. Do you really think we can
both fit in here? You think they could have actually tried to make these rooms bigger considering how much we are
paying for them.” Rebecca could already see that things weren’t going to go quite as she planned.  

    Her roommate was about Rebecca’s height, but quite a bit smaller and a lot more blonde. She had on a
plaid sweater jacket with a white t-shirt underneath and a plaid skirt with white knee high socks with plaid tennis
shoes to match. She had a Gucci bag and was trying to balance her bag while at the same time trying to balance
the rest of her luggage that she had carried along as well. 
 Rebecca had always secretly hated those types of girls growing up. She wasn’t really big but she wasn’t
slim either. Rebecca was what you would have called curvy. She was about 5’,8”and was about a size 14. She was
actually very pretty, but these types of girls had always made her feel like she wasn’t good enough. Now they had
to go and move her in with one of them. She almost wanted to curse the universe or God or whatever for her luck,
but she figured that she might as well make the best of it.  
 

   She tried to put on her most cordial southern smile and stuck out her hand and said,” My name is
Rebecca. How about you? When Rebecca stuck out her hand the girl almost looked at it like she had wiped her
nose on it first, “My name is Ashley. I really hope you don’t expect me to sleep on the bottom bunk, especially
considering a girl of your size. That would just be the end of me.” 
 Rebecca almost slapped the girl in the face but she knew her mom wouldn’t be happy if she got expelled
the very first day for assaulting her roommate. The girl must have seen the look on Rebecca’s face because she
quickly changed the subject. “So where is that accent from anyway?” I don’t think I’ve heard anyone with that
type of accent before. ”Rebecca was almost just as happy that Ashley had decided to change the subject as well.
“I’m from Texas.” Rebecca exclaimed. 

    Even though she had to deal with a lot of conservative people in Texas she was still very proud of coming
from Texas and growing up in Tyler. It wasn’t that she didn’t like living in Texas. It was just mostly the people that
she had wanted to get away from. The first remark out of Ashley’s mouth was,” Isn’t that where Bush is from? I
don’t like Bush. He’s an idiot. Do all you Texans act like him? I really hope not? I think I would have to kick you out
if you started acting as dumb as him.”  
 Rebecca’s mouth dropped. She almost didn’t know how to respond to that level of ignorance coming out
of someone’s mouth all at once. The first thing that came out of Rebecca’s mouth was, “Well us Texans might be a
little backward but at least we are not as stuck up and vapid as you seem to be.” I really hope all of you
Californians aren’t as ignorant as you or I might just have to kick myself out. ” 

   The girl was just about to get in Rebecca’s space when one of the other girls staying in the dorms
replied,” Hello, My name is Alice. We are trying to get a bunch of us girls together to go and have lunch together.
Do you guys want to come?” Rebecca was almost glad for the distraction and equally pleased to see that not all
Californians were as rude and stuck up as Ashley. Alice had a bright smile with bright green eyes with reddish
brownish hair. She was about 2 inches shorter than Rebecca, and you could tell that she also was very eager to be
there.