December 1st
December 1st
Christmas is the most joyous time of the year. It’s like there is magic everywhere. Lights, decorations, and families all gather together. The problem is that college students officially have three weeks to turn their grades around. Three weeks to cram a semester’s worth of knowledge just to take a two-hour long exam will make or break our semester. Lots of homework, studying, eating, crying, stressing, and just hating life.
On top of that, the need to still have to buy presents for families. It is mentally draining, and no human should have to go through it, yet college students do. If only there were some sort of motivation to allow this college student to survive through the end of the semester.
As I walked into my apartment, I realized all the lights were still off. This told me I was the first of my roommates to return from Thanksgiving break. I wasn’t that surprised, and at that moment, I just wanted to get all of my stuff out of my car and into the apartment because it was exhausting going back and forth. Plus, I’m lazy, so my legs get tired going up and down the stairs. No matter why I go home, I always bring back more stuff to school than I did home.
Once I got all my stuff into the apartment, I quickly put my Thanksgiving leftovers and soda in the fridge. Priority was the food because those were my next couple of meals, and I could not let them get spoiled. Free food was a staple for college students. Meals that I didn’t have to make from scratch or even spend money on were gold. All I had to do was microwave it.
After claiming a small portion of the fridge for my food, so my roomies had plenty of space for their stuff, I unlocked my bedroom door. This way, I would drag my backpack, laundry, and stuffed animals into my room. I quickly turned on some Christmas music to jam out to while I unpacked my stuff.
“Santa, tell me if you’re really there. Don’t make me fall in love again if he won’t be here next year. Santa, tell me if he really cares. ’Cause I can give it all away if he won’t be here next year,” I sang horribly off-key, and I am pretty sure the people in the apartments around me could hear my singing. Those poor people have to suffer listening to my singing.
I unpacked my clothes and shoved them into my drawers, not caring if they actually fit. Once I put all my clothes away, I started unpacking my backpack, which was full of school stuff I swore I would do. I obviously never worked on it. The break was for catching up with friends and oversleeping, not stressing about school. However, because I was a biology major, my professors didn’t understand that I wanted to enjoy my break just like they were. But since I didn’t do any homework over break, I would spend the rest of my evening doing it.
I heard the apartment open and closed in the middle of unpacking, telling me that at least one of my roomies was home. I paused my music and popped my head out to see which one of them returned. I saw that Layla was the first of my three roomies to return.
Layla is the shy one of us and, most of the time, keeps to herself. She has opened up a lot with the roomies over time and can be herself more. She studies accounting, which I don’t understand, but hey, I’m not the one who has to do it. Layla adores musicals, so we have bonded over that. Layla will usually hide out in her room or work at one of the on-campus offices if she isn’t at class.
“Hey,” I said when I saw Layla as she went to walk into her room. She smiled at me before entering her room to drop the stuff she was carrying before coming back to talk. “How was your Thanksgiving?”
“It was good. I spent my break catching up with family and friends. What about you?” She asked shyly.
“I did the same. Hung out with friends, watched my high school show choir’s rehearsal, babysat some of my demon cousins, and annoyed my mom.”
“Well, I still have more stuff in my car to grab and homework to do. I’ll see you sometime later?” She said quietly.
I smiled at her before retreating into my room, allowing Layla to do what she needed in peace. Once my door was closed, I headed to my desk and pulled up my homework on my laptop. Instead of working on it like I was supposed to, I just sat there scrolling on social media on my phone. I don’t have a good attention span when it comes to schoolwork. The voice in my head always tells me how it’s boring and that we could spend a few minutes on social media as a quick break. Except it was never a quick break. Stupid evil voice.
After a few hours of scrolling through social media and completing some homework, my stomach started grumbling. I was making my way to the kitchen to reheat some Thanksgiving leftovers when my other two roommates, Alice and Ronnie, walked in. They must have had really great timing if they both showed up at the same time. With their hands full, they dispersed to go to their rooms after giving me an acknowledging look. Like I said before, these three weeks are hell for college students, and it starts the second we leave home.
Alice and I were dorm roommates last year and haven’t hated one another enough to separate. She is the roommate that had her life together the most. She has a full class schedule for her chemistry major, works a couple of part-time jobs, and still has time to help me with my chemistry or talk to her family and boyfriend. She is always down to hang out, even with her busy schedule, as long as she doesn’t already have plans. On top of that, Alice is able to keep all A’s in her classes. I wish I had the motivation to be able to do that, but my procrastination doesn’t allow me to.
Veronica, Ronnie for short, is our extrovert to the three introverts. She absolutely adores being around people, which makes sense that she is an anthropology major. Ronnie is in a sorority and different clubs. When she can, she is out late with her friends. Ronnie is always talking to someone on the phone if she is at the apartment. Her social life makes me exhausted just thinking about it.
Each of my roommates are unique in their own way, and then there is me. The awkward dysfunctional one who has an unhealthy obsession with the Jonas Brothers, Disney, and baggy hoodies. I also love to live in chaos. I hated cleaning, and a slightly messy room has always kept me calm. Growing up, I’ve always had a messy room, so if it was clean, there was a good chance it would be destroyed in a day. All in all, I was comfortable with the hot mess I truly am.
Once my food was done, I went back to my room to finish up the homework I needed to get done for the night. My playlist looped to the beginning as I worked on my last assignment while munching on dinner.
“Santa, tell me if you’re really there (tell me, Santa, baby). Don’t make me fall in love again if he won’t be here next year (if he won’t be, if he won’t be here). Santa, tell me if he really cares (tell me, do you care?). ’Cause I can’t give it all away if he won’t be here next year,” Ariana Grande sang at the end of “Santa Tell Me.”
Now that all of the roommates were back, everything seemed as normal as it could be for the end of the fall semester. We were all waiting for the calm before the final storm lurked over us. Only the strongest survive. Let the games begin.
