“Can I help you?” An older lady with short, curly graying hair welcomed us as we walked into the front office.

“I’m trying to find out if it’s too late for this young lady to register for this upcoming semester. She’s new to the area and would like to start school immediately.”

The older lady looked down at the calendar on her desk and pointed to a date that was circled in red. “It looks as though the cut-off for registration was last Wednesday.”

“But she wasn’t here last week. She was accepted at another school, but a change of plans made her come to North Carolina from Alabama.” Joshua was trying anything to help me get into starting school this fall. He played with the student ID card that was strung around his neck. It had his picture and the notation that he was a member of the Lacrosse team. It seemed as though he was trying to use this as persuasion to get her to rethink the decision once again. 
I remembered seeing pictures all along the hallway back at the house, ones that showed Joshua in his team uniform and then a few with him holding a great big trophy that said State Champs on it. 

“You were accepted at another school and had to move?” The registration secretary peered over the rim of her glasses. Probably in her past hundred years at this school and job, she’d heard every reason under the sun why someone had to move from another place.  

I nodded. “Yes, ma’am,” I spoke for myself before Joshua had the chance.

The older woman glanced at the clock and then to the door at the back of the room. “I think the guidance counselor and Freshman Admissions Counselor are still in for the moment, hold on.” She got off her extra-large swivel chair and walked back to the next office. She knocked once and then let herself in. 

“Hopefully, they can see you today.” I nodded again to Joshua's comment and twisted my hands together out of nervousness. 

The opening of the office door jerked my head back over to where the secretary was coming out.  She motioned for me to come back. “They both have a few minutes if you’d like to come to speak with them.” 

I looked over at Joshua and he told me he would wait outside.  I went back to where the secretary was waiting and followed her into the room where the other two individuals were waiting. 

It had been almost an hour since Joshua had left me in the registration office. I walked out of the building and found him half asleep listening to the radio in his car. I had a whole stack of papers that I placed on the backseat and then got myself situated in the front. 

“How did it go?” Joshua backed the car out of the parking space and began the drive out of the campus. 

I watched everything pass me by once again, this time looking at it in a different light. “Not too bad.” I held up one of the papers that the registration office had given to me. “They called the school I was supposed to attend, had them send all my info over. They got all my student loans and federal grants that I was getting and had them transferred over to a North Carolina status. I still have to wait and see if I am able to get any state grants since I have a new address for here.” I couldn’t help the big grin that spread across my face. I was truly moving on and making something of myself. “And then they allowed me to sign up for classes on a provisional acceptance.”

Joshua patted my knee. “That’s awesome.” I think his smile was even bigger than mine. 

“Yep.” My head was still spinning from all that had happened over the past month. So much had changed, I just hoped that it was all for the better.

The drive back to the house went quick as it seemed both of us had a lot on our minds. My concentration was on the big step that I’d just taken in being accepted into a new school, but that all changed when Joshua pulled his car into the driveway.

“Wonder why he’s home so early?” Joshua seemed irritated that Hunter’s truck was parked where their mother had supposedly told them not to park a hundred times over. 

“Is he supposed to be at work or something?” I followed Joshua into the house to see what the issue was with Hunter being home at this time. I heard Crystal laughing and the sound of Hunter’s voice telling some sort of story.

“Hey, guys. How’d it go over at the college?” Crystal acknowledged Joshua and me when we entered the kitchen. We both sat down at the table with her and Hunter.

“It went well.” Joshua watched his brother with the eyes of an eagle. He always seemed to be so tense and ready to pounce whenever he was around Hunter. “We all need to celebrate Alabama getting accepted into school for the fall semester.” 

A loud squeal came from Crystal. She got up and wrapped me in a tight hug. “That’s awesome. I’m so happy for you!”

“Thank you.” I gave her a small hug back. My eyes darted over to Hunter, but he wasn’t even paying attention to either of us. 

“Did you pick what you wanted to study or are you just taking regular courses for now?” Crystal sat back down and poured herself another glass of sweet tea. She filled glasses for both me and Joshua, then pushed them towards us.

“I haven’t decided yet.” I took a long swallow of the cold drink then continued, “So, I’m just taking the basic courses right now.” 

“Well, we can all celebrate this Saturday. Hunter and his band have a concert down at ‘The Mix’.” 

“The Mix.” It seemed Joshua was surprised that Hunter’s band would be playing there. 

“Yeah. We submitted a recording to them and the owners liked what they heard,” This time, it was Hunter that actually spoke up. “They invited us to play on the biggest night of the year. The weekend that all the students move into the residency halls.” He seemed excited about what was going on with his band. 

As much as I wanted to look over at him, I kept my cool and focused only on Joshua and his mom. After being wrapped up in my own thoughts, I was only able to hear the final part of what Hunter had said. He said something along the lines that maybe we all shouldn’t go since it was going to be really packed. 

“Yeah, I don’t think I can go.” Now, I had everyone’s attention after interrupting Hunter speaking. “I really never went to a club before. Plus, I’m like sort of underage and really don’t like the taste of alcohol.” It’s not that I didn’t like the taste of alcohol, I’ve never tried any of it. I saw how my momma acted when she was high on the stuff and said I would never…ever be like that.  

“You can. A lot of the students from the college will be there.” Joshua seemed overly eager for me to go. “They don’t check IDs because they know college kids are going to sneak in if they try to keep them out. But we can always get you a fake ID, a lot of the kids I know have them just in case they start to card people at the door.” His eyes seemed to be pleading with me to change my mind. 

Crystal hadn’t said anything about this whole alcohol and underage thing, so I’m guessing she was okay with it. There wasn’t much she could probably do since it wasn’t like they were little boys who she had to keep an eye on twenty-four hours a day. 

“The cops around here keep an eye on things to make sure nothing gets out of hand, but they aren’t really looking for underage drinkers.” Joshua was making one last-ditch effort to get me to change my mind.

“Um, I really don’t know. I don’t want to be the party pooper of the group. Y’all can go and have fun without me.” I was trying to be adamant about not going, but the sad faces Joshua kept giving me were wearing me down. Part of me wanted to say okay, but then the looks I was getting from Hunter made me want to crawl away and hide in a hole. He was quite intimidating with his stares. As much as I wanted to dislike him as much as he disliked me, I found myself becoming even more attracted to him. His longish brown hair, with a little bit of curl at the ends, made me want to run my fingers through it. His brown eyes, unlike Joshua’s blue friendly eyes, were full of mystery and secrecy.      

“That’s good, dear.” Crystal patted my hand. “You and I will drink soda and watch all the others act foolishly.” 

Now that I had Crystal egging me to go, how could I say no? I nodded in agreement with her proposal. 

The look that Hunter gave me for agreeing to go was one that made my hair stand up on end. It seemed that wasn’t the answer that he was looking for regarding us going to the club. “I gotta get going.” Hunter pushed his chair out and stood up to leave. “I have to be at practice in ten.” 

“I have a great idea.” Crystal tugged on his arm before he got any further away from her. “Why don’t you let Alabama tag along with you? I’m sure she would like to get out of the house for a while.” 

“Mom, maybe she doesn’t want to go.” Joshua sounded irritated that his mom even brought up such a suggestion. 

“I—uh—couldn’t intrude like that.” I finally spoke up about the situation. I glanced over Hunter’s way and he looked pissed off about the thought of me being there.   

“It’s a private session.” Hunter gave one final reason why I couldn’t go. 

This caused Joshua to show a big smile and Crystal to shake her head.  I knew I should just stand up and walk out. It was obvious that this guy didn’t want anything to do with me. And as much as I wish I could feel the same towards him, I felt this pull towards him.  I’m becoming as bad as my momma with guys. 
When I should just get away as fast as I can, I stick around for more.   

“Oh, I’m sure your band members won’t mind.” Crystal was being more insistent with Hunter and looked like she wasn’t giving up until she got her own way. “Joshua will even go along too.” 

A look of shock crossed over Joshua’s face after that comment. “Mom, I don’t wanna go.” Joshua was moaning and groaning about having to go to the band practice. He looked like a little kid with his pouty lips and pleading eyes. He acted like she just told him he was going to see an opera for three hours and not going to listen to a rock band. 

“Joshua quit whining. Your brother used to go to your lacrosse practices, now it’s time for you to do the same and support him.” This time, Crystal used her motherly tone. 

It seemed that’s all it took for both guys to straighten up and stop their fussing about the rehearsal.  “Whatever.” Both Joshua and Hunter had the same response at the same time. They looked at each other and scowled.  

“You know how to get there.” Hunter slammed his chair against the wall. He didn’t look back as he exited the kitchen. Thirty seconds later, we all heard the sound of his truck starting up and the spinning of gravel as he backed out of the driveway. Guess he wasn’t too happy about his momma putting her foot down. 
Crystal didn’t look too joyful either as she shook her head and glared in the direction of the driveway.  My guess that spinning of tires was directed towards her and her plants that she took pride in.     

“Do we really—” 

Joshua’s words were cut off by his momma’s hand over his mouth. “Yes.” Then Crystal removed her hand. “Now, get your things together and go have fun for a while.” She turned to look at me.  I was still sitting at the table watching and soaking in the whole atmosphere of having a family around.  “Both of you.” She pointed to the hallway, indicating that we needed to go.  I heard her laugh to herself as both Joshua and I scampered away. The last thing I needed was another member of this family angry at me for being here. It seemed Hunter covered that aspect for all of them.