Halfway There | COMPLETE ✔ + Sequel

Chapter 02 - First Encounter

Just as Will had promised, as soon as we finished eating – well, most of us, Kendall insisted on only eating a salad in case Nova were to come over – we walked a block up the street to a small ice cream shop where Will graciously bought us all two scoops of any flavor we wanted.

"Will's parents own like 8 chain restaurants back in Maine. They're loaded." Bella explained as we all walked back to campus, happily eating our ice cream. I looked up at Will, who was up ahead talking to Liam, to notice that he never would have struck me as someone who is wealthy.

"I never would have guessed." I thought out loud as I took another lick of my ice cream.

Bella nodded as she licked her lips before speaking again, "Oh yeah. His dad went to Duke, his mom went to Harvard and his sister is about to graduate this year at Princeton." It was such a long line of prestigious college educations, I couldn't imagine the pressure to succeed.

"His parents were pretty pissed when he decided to come here for school." She started to answer the question to my thoughts, "I asked him why he would ever choose to come here if he had the option of going anywhere he wanted. All he said was that he wanted to be close to his grandparents, I guess they live here or something."

"How long have you guys all known each other?" My question had only been intended for Bella but it seemed that I had developed an audience.

"Liam and I grew up together." Will answered, throwing a playful punch into Liam's shoulder. Will was so large I was afraid for a moment that he might have broken Liam but he didn't seem at all fazed by the blow, in fact he was smiling.

"Ali and I have been friends since we were in the womb, huh Ali?" Bella asked, locking her elbow with Alison's. It had been the first time that I saw Alison genuinely smile. They were such an odd pair. Their personalities were far from similar (their looks even more so) but they clearly made it work.

"Ali, Bella and I went to the same camp for almost 4 years straight until I told Momma that the woods was no place for a lady." Everyone either chuckled or laughed at Kendall, "We all knew we were going to apply for the same college but it was a complete coincidence that Bella and I got roomed together."

Bella finished by saying, "And we all met at orientation a couple of months ago and they just couldn't get enough of us!" She cooed at Liam and William. Both of them rolled their eyes while smirking.

They had a different kind of friendship. They all had their deep connection with someone in the group but somehow they all found happiness within each other and I had never felt more left out.

There were always fall outs in large friend groups, right? That's what I remember from all the movies at least, so when that happened usually everyone had someone to lean on. They wouldn't fall out alone. Alison, Kendall and Bella had each other and so did Will and Liam. I was just the random roommate who was tagging along so that it wasn't awkward anytime Bella and Kendall came home laughing about whatever crazy antics Will and Liam might have done that night.

My ice cream didn't taste as good after that thought.

The sun was fully set by the time we made it back to our dorm and the canopy of trees above us blocked out any light from the moon, so it was eerily darker than I would have liked. I could hear my mother in the back of my head warning me about all the potential hazards that lay ahead of me.

I half expected Will and Liam to turn back towards their own dorm after walking us back to ours but was surprised to find them right behind us as we walked through the front door and into the lobby. Kendall and Bella turned the corner in the complete opposite direction that took us back to our room, and disappeared down a flight of steps.