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With a groan, I set another box down on the bed that was on the right side of my new college dorm room. Leaning backwards just some I pushed both fists into my back, getting my spine to pop in more places than just one.

I laughed aloud then, and twisted my arms before letting out a huff of a breath. I had brought up the eighth and final box from my mother and fathers car on the new University campus that I was about to get settled into, and I turned then to look around the room. The walls were painted an off white color, with accented baseboards of a more solid white. The ceiling with its solid color of tan seemed to match the walls to an extent, even if said extent was a slim one. I moved my eyes to look out the window then, looking through the open blinds. I could see across a parking lot that lead up to a courtyard where the rest of the North campus was. The South campus was behind the dorms I was set up in, and each campus was shorter than a seven minute walk, according to my best friend Eddie Todd.

My bed was against the far right wall, with a nightstand in front of the beds metal frame, which seemed to act as the headboard. Against the wall and at the foot of the bed was a wardrobe, which was empty of most of my clothes yet, save for the black t-shirt and jeans I wore.

As if on cue of me thinking of my clothes, I heard my fathers voice swear from the hallway as he came into view of my room, pulling m suitcase behind him.

"Thomas Orroro!" my mothers voice was heard next, "watch your mouth!"

"Sorry! Sorry, Jesus," my father looked into my room now.

"Hey, dad I was coming to get that, you didn't have to..." I stopped talking to scamper up to the doorway.

"Ah, relax son, it's no trouble," my Opossum father looked at me, beady black eyes matching my own.

"Yeah, thanks then," I smiled at him.

Now my father left my suitcase at the doorway, then stepped into my room, tucking his paws into the light grey slacks he wore. His white dress shirt was buttoned up to the neck, and a black tie with yellow pawprints was hiding the buttons of his shirt. My father trailed a few steps into the room, looking around before he looked at the window.

"Man, this takes me back," he said, "you know you could have gone to any other college in the state, right? Monticello University, New California U, even. Your grades and recommendation letters were definitely good enough to get you in."

"Yeah, I know," I nodded, "but something about this place just felt right. I know you went here when you were my age, so maybe that's the reason."

"And I think you made a great choice sweetheart!" my mothers voice made me turn around.

She was much closer than I had thought, however, and she thew her arms around me, planting a wet kiss on the side of my face. I moaned and tired pulling away from her, but her paws were locked around my own as she hugged me tight.

"Oh my little boy, all grown up and going to college already! I could cry!"

"Please don't!" I grunted.

My mother didn't cry, and the snow leopard only let me go, smoothing out the olive green dress shirt she was wearing. A pair of black pants hugged her waist and legs, and smart black heels had her standing even taller than she normally did. My father was only 5' 6" and I had stopped growing at about the same height. My mother was taller at 5' 10" almost six feet.

Now my mother turned to look around my room a moment, before walking back to the doorway of my dorm to pull my suitcase into the room. She paused as she stepped into the hallway, however to call out,

"Janice! Hi!" then set left my suitcase at the door to disappear down the hallway.

"God what a firecracker," my father muttered loudly.

"Dad, I'm standing right here," I pinched the bridge of my longer nose.

"Ah, relax," my father put a hand on my shoulder, "you'll have plenty of time to chase after girls around here. I know I did before I met your mother and feel in love with her."

"Yeah, sure," I turned to look at my bed, surveying the boxes.

Now I walked up to my bed to pick a box at random, labeled "Computer stuff" and pulled up the lid. I was almost ninety percent sure I had labeled more than one box wrong when I was packing up, but as I looked into the box and saw my computers monitor, I had labeled at least this box right.

"Nick," my father said behind me.

I turned around then, box lid in hand, then waved it out to silently say "what's up?"

"Are you worried about eating, up here?" my father twirled a finger around the air.

"Oh..." I twirled the box lid in my hands, thinking now, "nah, I don't think It'll be a problem."

"Good," my father nodded as he tucked his hands into his pants pockets, "I know you and Eddie both kind of went "free range" over the summer, but now with school pickings will be slimmer. Not as much time and freedom to eat how you like, you know?"

"Dad, I'm good, been eating for like, twenty-eight years now," I let myself smirk.

Now I heard my mothers heels coming back down the carpet of the hallway now. I turned to look at the doorway, and saw Eddie Todd come zipping into the room, in what looked like a last ditch effort to not get smothered into a hug by my mother.

"yo," I threw my box lid at him.

"Huh?" Eddie looked at me, but caught the lid with an outstretched paw, the wolf looking confused, "oh, that was like, testing my reflexes, right?"

"Sure dude," I shrugged, smiling.

Now Eddie let himself laugh as he frisbeed the lid back over to me, and I caught it. Eddie pulled a duffel bag off of his back, and dropped it onto the bed across from mine, then dropped himself onto the bed to lay down with a groan.

"Well I'll bet that flight and drive in wore both you boys out," my father looked at me with a smile, "I'm sure you guys can handle it from here, right?"'

"Sure thing Mr. O," Eddie held up a thumbs up.

"Yeah, I think we're just gonna check out the campus and figure out schedules before the week like actually starts," I nodded to my father.

"Well then," he nodded back to me, "sounds good. Relina! Come say goodbye to the boys!"

My mother, who had been talking to Anji and Janice Todd in the hallway, now whipped her head into the room, looking at my father as she stopped mid-sentence.

"They don't need us to walk the grounds with them? You know I remember where everything is, except for all of the new buildings they have," her tone was insistent.

"I think," my father was walking over to my mother now, "that the boys are both twenty-eight and very well set up young..." he paused, "well, men at this point."

Now my mother put her hands on her hips, narrowing her eyes at my father. In response my father only walked up to my mother, planting a swift kiss on her cheek before disappearing, where he said,

"Anji! Good to see you!" before he stepped out of view.

Now I was walking across the dorm room as Eddie was sitting up on his bed, pulling at the jacket he was wearing. My own coat was tossed on my bed already, and I reached out to snag it before I walked up to my mom, and reached out my arms to hug her. She sniffled as I embraced her, but only put her arms around my head, cradling me against her full breasts. She took a deep breath, then planted a kiss on the top of my head, sighing.

"Are you going to be ok here?" she asked me.

"I'm good," I nodded into her chest.

I pulled my head back then, looking at her. She smiled at me, her green eyes shinning and full of what I assumed was a mix of happiness and maybe some sadness. I had spent the summer and fall after my graduation of high school at home, getting everything set up to head out to Green Pine University at the start of the winter season. Now that I was here, however, I was a bit more nervous than I had been two weeks earlier.

As Eddie was shuffling his wolf feet over to me, my mother stepped backwards and down the hallway a few feet, where she stopped at my father shoulder. My father was talking to a wolf who looked like Eddie did, but with a taller build and leaner frame than my best friend had. Anji Todd, my fathers best friend. They had known each other since they were kids in middle school and now years later, they were still as tight as two metal sheets wielded together.

Anji looked past where he leaned against the hallway wall, where other students of all races were heading to and from their own dorms, carrying boxes or chattering excitedly about the new school year.

"Oh, where's Chelsea? Where's your sister?" my mother turned to face me.

As I was holding up my arms to shrug, I heard a squeal come from further down the hallway. My father moved his head as Anji turned his own, and I saw my sister coming to embrace another girl, the pair hugging as they both giggled. Chelsea Orroro, my sister.

Now Eddie was walking down the hallway to put an arm around his mother, who pulled her son in close and planted a audible kiss on her only sons cheek.

"Oh I'm so proud of you honey," she held Eddie's face, "and you, Nick! Come here!"

She held her arms out to me then, and I sheepishly walked down the hallway, and allowed myself to be pulled into a tight hug by Eddie's mother. As she let both Eddie and myself go, I looked at Anji as he held out a paw to me.

"Best of luck to you, Nick," he said with a growling voice.

"Thanks Mr. Todd," I nodded as we shook hands.

Anji looked at his son then, and used his still outreached hand to grab the front of Eddie's jacket, and pulled his son into an embrace.

"And you son. I'm so proud of you. Both of you deserve this," he rested his head on Eddie's.

I let myself smile then as I began to pull on my jacket. As Anji let Eddie go, my mother was walking back up to all of us with Chelsea in tow, my sisters short black hair cut off on one side as the rest of her hair swept over her head. Shiny ear rings of half moons dangled in her ears, and the dark red dress top and brown pants she wore seemed to suit her. My sister was pretty, and don't take my meaning out of context. She had her future in the palm of her hand, just like Eddie and I did.

Now my parents both gave Chelsea a hug, and Eddie hit my arm.

"You got all you stuff?" he asked me.

As I looked at him he winked at me, and I let my eye lower, confused by the wink. He only winked again with more of an eye motion this time, and I let my brain draw it's own conclusion. Eddie wants to have a cigarette before we tour the grounds.

"No, I did not," I snapped my fingers then pointed at him, "man, Eddie your so smart. My other bags in your car isn't it?"

"Yeah, better go grab it," he nodded me, smirking.

"Yeah," I nodded as I tucked my paws into my coat pockets.

Eddie turned to walk past his father and my father then, and as we started to walk I patted my own father on the back.

"I left a bag," I put emphasis on the word, "out in Eddie's car, were gonna go grab the rest of our stuff."

"Mmm, gotcha," my father nodded to me, "we love you boys!" he called as we walked.

"Love you dad!" I held up a paw.

Bye mon and dad!" Eddie said.

We were walking down the hallway then, but not before Eddie and I were assaulted with a final hug and a kiss from my mother. I hugged her back, and Eddie and I were then walking back down the hallway we'd come up when we first got into the dorm. Now Eddie and I wove our way through the light sea of other new students, and some older students who were probably coming back to the dorm for a new term.

At the end of the hall we went left, past the laundry room. It had eight dryers and eight washers in it, and ate quarters. Eddie and I had both stockpiled quarters from our respectful jobs over the fall, preparing as best we could for this day.

"Oh dude! Schedule check!" Eddie was tapping on my arm.

"Yo, right!" I dove a paw into an inside coat pocket.

We both hauled out our schedules that were printed on a couple sheets of paper, and started to go over them as we both were coming up to the front doors of the dorm room. The boys dormitory sat on the right side of the divide between campuses, and the girls was across the campus street on the other side.

"Ok Schaffer at 8:00 on Tuesday," I said looking at the top of the list.

"Ok, same. Good start," Eddie's voice was full of hope.

"Then I've got Professor Engles at 9:30 on Wednesday."

"Again, same," Eddie nodded as we stepped outside.

Overhead the sky was cloudy and grey, with no sunlight in sight. It was cold however, and I reached up to pull up my hood, covering my head.

"I've got no class on Thursday and Saturday," Eddie said.

"Ah, I got a class on Saturday. Studies of Ancient Cultures."

"The fuck? Who takes class on the weekend?" Eddie scoffed.

"Your boy Nick does," I pointed to myself with a smirk, "I still want to go into the history field when we get done with college and this is how I'll do it."

"you have your whole life to go to college, you know?" Eddie suggested.

"Man moving on," looked back at my schedule, "I have Jones at 11:00 on Monday... wait, eleven A.M?"

"Huh? no way show me," Eddie was leaning over my papers now.

I looked at the paper in my hand, and it did in fact show that I had a daytime class on Monday. I had planned on having classes at night, as did Eddie, so the two of us could sleep during the day like we had over the summer.

"Shit, I'll have to talk to someone about that," I frowned, "but for the most part our schedules are lined up, which is good."

"Yeah means we can still get some part time work in if we wanted too. I know our parents covered all the bases, but we still have books to think about."

"Yeah," I nodded.

Eddie and I walked from the dorms out to the parking lot that hugged around both of the dorms, walking to where we had parked my motorcycle and his Toyota. As we came to walk from the tan stone path and across some of the bright green grass, we entered the parking lot. Overhead the sky rumbled with a light warning of thunder, and the chilly air made itself known. I shivered some, pulling my jacket closer around me.

As Eddie and I walked across the parking lot, where other students were taking bags and boxes from their own cars, Eddie and I both dipped paws into our jackets, pulling out packs of cigarettes. I hadn't ever intended to start smoking, but when I hit twenty-three and was really thinking about college, I figured it wouldn't hurt. I knew all the dangers and warnings of smoking and lung cancer, but you only get one life, so live it how you want to is what I say.

Now as Eddie and myself were getting to his car, he fumbled his keys out of his coat pocket, then swore when he dropped them. I heard giggling at the drop of his keys, and looked up as my cigarette lit, and I took a pull.

A group of girls were walking past the row of cars that was in front of where I was parked, one of them hiding her laughter behind her hand.

"Hey, don't look stupid. Local hotties at like..." I paused to think of a hand clock, "your eight thirty."

"Eight thrity!?" Eddie sprang up, keys in paw, "that's so specific man! Thank you!" his voice was louder than normal, on purpose I hoped.

Now I let myself laugh as I stepped away, and the girls kept laughing, walking past us now. There were three foxes and a brown bat, the bat had a swept haircut like my sister did.

"Evening ladies," Eddie made to lean against his car.

"Not your car," I snickered at him.

"What?" he looked at me, then at the car. A Lexus, at least a 2019 model.

"Oh, yeah, not mine," Eddie shook his head and pointed a thumb at the car, "nah my colors not dark blue," he was talking to the girls.

"That cars green bro," I was about to start laughing again.

"Well shit!" Eddie hung his head and let himself burst out laughing.

Now I let myself laugh with my best friend as I turned around to walked up to my bike. The girls were heading up the parking lot to the dormitories, and Eddie was watching them go. A light wind blew through the parked cars and paved asphalt, and the bat huddled in closer to one of the foxes.

"God I love women," Eddie said wistfully, "their so pretty, and smart, and have a good sense of humor, and love to laugh at idiots who drop keys in college parking lots."

"I was rooting for to get one of their numbers, honestly," I said as I was picking up my bike helmet.

Now Eddie only snorted as he took a drag from his cigarette, and I flipped up one of the compartments on the back of my bikes passenger seat. Inside was my wallet, and a spare bike key that was attached a keychain with a bright yellow rubber ball; it was brightly colored so I didn't lose it.

I took my wallet and left the spare key, snapping the compartment shut. Eddie was in the trunk of his car now, and pulled out a black backpack and a green messenger bag with a few patches sown into it. I was very into metal and rock bands, so the patches on my bag made sense, given my personality. Eddie was more a country music fan, but we respected each others tastes. I liked some country, and he liked some metal. He was more of a rock guy if you really pressed him about it, but he liked country music above all other genres.

Now Eddie tossed me by bag which I caught, and he slammed the lid of his trunk shut. He winced at the slam, then slug his bag over his back before he walked past the cars to come and stand next to me. I stood still a moment, taking in the dorm buildings, and one main college building that you could see from the parking lot. I let myself sigh then, and Eddie put an arm around my shoulder, hugging me.

"Not to sound weird," he said, "but I love you, man."

"I love you too, bro," I responded without much thought.

Eddie smiled at himself then, and as he let my shoulders go he patted my back, and we started walking up the parking lot, joining the other students who were still taking stuff to their dorms.

"at least were on the first floor," I said looking at the dorm.

"Yeah, I'd had to have to face my arch nemesis the stairs every day," Eddie was shaking his head, "tragedy, really."

I snickered as we were coming through the parking lot, and pulled my bag over back, resting the strap on my right shoulder. I was tossing my cigarette to the ground as someone passed me, then stopped to ask for a smoke. I looked at a collie girl who had cute brown ears and was dressed in jeans and thick sweater that had "GPU" on the front. I handed her a smoke, and as she borrowed my lighter and handed it back to me she said,

"Cool Metallica patch man. You catch them when they were in Texas like two weeks ago?"

I did," I nodded then, pausing my walk, "show was killer good."

"I'm Janny," the girl smiled at me, "short for Janet, but nobody really calls me that."

"I'm Nick, this is Eddie," I turned to point, and saw Eddie was a few feet ahead of me, "and this is EDDIE!" I shouted his name.

"Who!?" the wolf spun around, looking at me, "oh shit, sorry! Hi!" he waved at the collie.

The collie laughed in response and waved back, then said,

"Sorry, don't let me keep you. Thanks for the smoke," she held up her cigarette.

"No sweat," I waved a hand at her, turning back around.

I jogged to catch back up to Eddie, my pink tail coiling to not drag the ground behind me. I panted as I was back at Eddie's side, and as we both came to leave the parking lot Eddie tossed his cigarette butt behind him, squishing the lit end with a paw. I had always wondered how that didn't hurt to do that, and Eddie seemed impervious to the burning cherries he crushed in his paw on a daily basis.

As we came back up to the sidewalk, Eddie and discussed a plan to walk around the grounds before it got dark. We had both snacked on the flight to Monticello, but I was still hungry, so I suggested we walk the grounds after we found something to eat.

Eddie agreed with me, and asked what sounded good.

"Anything," I licked my lips then, smacking them, "we passed plenty of eats on the way here. We can figure something out and then take a walk around."

"Cool by me man," Eddie nodded, pulling the strap on his backpack up.

We were on the sidewalk and headed back up to the dorm now. I looked past the dorm, however and looked over the walkway that lead up to the main campus building. Behind the building was the rest of the campus, though there were more trees here than last time, according to my father. The campus Eddie and I would have the same classes on was also the one that had the running track and smaller football practice field. I was eager to find the batting cages which were rumored to be on the South campus, where I had my Saturday history class.

As I looked over the main building, the brown bat that had shared a laugh at Eddie's expense earlier was standing close to the girls dormitory, talking with the other three foxes. They all had gym bags with them, and I wondered what sports they would be practicing in the start of winter. I set the thought aside though as I kept walking with Eddie, the pair of us headed back inisde. It was cold out, and I was planning on warming up before it was time for dinner.

I was, after all, fucking starving.