“That was fucking nuts!” I cried out as I shuffled through all the information on the stalls and decided that I’d signed up for one too many. The problem was, we got to the stalls and we were so busy signing up to stuff together, that we didn’t notice exactly how much we’d signed up for.

Rachel saw some girls that she met when she first arrived on campus and she pointed them out to me. She said that they were going to have a party in their dorm which seemed a little crazy to me, but she said we could go if I wanted to.

I looked at her, a little confused. We’d just got here, and they were already having a party? I wasn’t ready to be that sociable yet. In the space of five hours of being here, I’d already told my roommate may be a little too much and I hadn’t even called Mom yet, let alone Nan, to tell them that I’d arrived safely.

I held my hand up to Rachel as soon as the thought occurred to me and pulled my phone out of my back pocket.

“I have to call my mom,” I said as soon as the phone came on. She left with a wave of her hand and I absently waved too, absorbed in my phone for the moment.

It was the first phone that I’d ever owned, but I’d heard a couple of girls at the stalls complain about the fact that they needed a new phone because they wanted an upgrade. Before I came here, I didn’t own one. If Mom went to the diner, then she’d leave her phone at home and that we way we could communicate. Either I’d call her at the diner or vice-versa. Part of the money that I made during the summer was used to buy the phone I now had in my hand. I was proud of it and being able to call home all the time was the main reason that I bought it. Now, I’d given fifteen different societies my number. One that I’d thought only my mom, or my nan, would ever know.

“Celia, is that you?” Mom cried as soon as she answered, and I felt guilty about taking so long to call and tell her that I’d arrived safe and sound.

“Yeah, Mom, it’s me. Sorry, I took so long to call.”

She laughed, “The important thing is that you called and that you’re safe.”

Beep!

I had a message coming through, I assumed that it was one of the societies that I joined but thought that it would be crazy for them to send me messages so soon. Must be from the clubs I signed up with.

I ignored the beeps as I started talking to Mom about my new roommate, my long journey here, and more importantly signing up to the clubs.

“Shoot, mom I forgot to find out if I could work earlier than next week.”

“Celia, you just got there. One step at a time, get settled and have a little fun. You’re only young once and besides, I told you that I wanted you having fun for once in your life. That’s why I did the doubles, even those triple shifts to get the money together for you to do something more in life.”

I sighed, “Mom, don’t start. You’ll make me feel sad. I know how much you sacrificed for me to be here, which is why--”

“You don’t need to think about the past, but only the future.”

I was about to say something when I heard a voice in the background.

“Mom, are you alone?”

She cleared her throat, which meant that she was trying to figure out a way to answer me, which meant that I knew the answer to her question.

“Mom, it’s okay. I’m glad that you’re not alone. You work too hard.”

I could hear the smile in her voice as she said, “Go have some fun. And send some snaps too. You have your phone now so that you can send pictures. Okay?”

She was right, I had a phone so I could take photos and send them to my family, and I knew all of this was going to open a new door for me in my life. Something that everyone did regularly was all new to me.

I decided that I would send photos and I didn’t have to worry about anyone else seeing them, because this phone was mine.

“Mom, love ya. See you soon.”

“Big kiss and hug from me.”

Then she hung up, and before I knew it, I was lying down on my bed looking at my phone. I didn’t have any messages from boys yet, just the clubs I’d joined, but hoped I would soon. Rachel was out for the moment and I was bored.

I thought about all the sultry text messages my fantasy boy and I would exchange, and how hot it would make us both. I nearly had to fan myself as I thought about it, but then reality set in. I wasn’t nearly as hot as Rachel. I didn’t stand a chance when there were so many gorgeous women like her around.  

I jumped when I heard a knock at the door.

“Celia O'Donnell?” The person asked on the other side of the door.

It was weird hearing my name from the other side of the door and I rushed to it, wondering if this was a prank.  Maybe the person on the other side of the door was going to do something stupid, just to catch it on video and try to go viral with university pranks. I’d heard of stupid things happening to freshmen.

Maybe it would help if I wore sexier clothes and not the black jeans and matching shirt I had on.

I opened the door with some trepidation but as soon as I saw the boxes next to him, I knew that not only was it not a prank, but my things had arrived a couple of days earlier than expected. I was pleased to see that not all of them were from the trailer.

I smiled at him and said, “That’s me.”

They were things that my family had put together to buy me, like my laptop, new clothes that my Nan made me leave at her house, so Mom wouldn’t feel bad if she found out that someone else had bought me clothes. There were also other boxes that I wasn’t familiar with, but they had my name on them. I figured it was probably more stuff from the rest of the family.  

I felt like a real college girl now. I had only had a few things in the trailer, and I knew that the family was doing everything they could to make sure that I didn’t worry about a thing. I had to call them all, even if it did take my last dime. I could do with going on a diet and not eating for a while, to pay for all those calls. Besides a phone call of appreciation would make me sleep better at night.

I signed for my things as he wheeled the boxes in. I was impatient for him to leave because I wanted to see what was in the boxes. He soon left and I thanked him, but I didn’t tip him, I couldn’t even if I wanted to. I was a poor student, and I wouldn’t have enough money to buy any of these things if it wasn’t for my family.

I started to open my boxes. I was happy to see the laptop that I was promised and even more so, some of the books that I needed to buy.

How the heck did they manage to get these?

Clothes that I’d never seen before. Sweaters, pants, sneakers all new with the tags on them. That was something that we did all the time in my family, in case an item needed to be returned. I felt like a little kid on Christmas day, seeing clothes that I could never afford to buy and things that I never thought I would possess. As soon as I stopped feeling emotional about how lucky I was, I knew that I had to make those phone calls.

Number one on the to-do list would be to call them and let them know that not only did I appreciate them, but I loved them with all my heart.