DEREK GETS REALLY EMBARRASSING AROUND PRETTY GIRLS.

Adeline Feldman hadn't broken a single sweat on the day she moved into her dorm room at Windsor College. Despite being dressed to work in leggings and a tank top with her blonde hair pulled back, she didn't do any actual heavy lifting. No, that was what her father and twin brother were for.

Derek did anything for Adeline so long as she pouted at him pleadingly.

The eighteen-year-old Freshman was up in her new room, pleased with how big it was as she hung up posters from magazines of Freddie Prince Jr. and Will Smith and the 'Saved by the Bell' cast on her side of the room while her family was busy bringing boxes from their van up to the second floor of her dorm, Ramsay Hall.

Her roommate, Cici Cooper hadn't shown up yet, but the college connected them via their emails, so they at least got to talk back and forth a bit. They planned things like color-schemes and found out that they were going to be sharing several classes together. They even had similar interests, so Adeline was hoping they'd be the best of friends in no time.

"Where do you want your mountain of shoes?" Derek asked as he let himself back into the room, a plastic bin full of shoes in his hands.

"Um, by the closet, please," Adeline said sweetly, looking at him over her shoulder. "Daddy is bringing the organizer up."

He nodded and sat it down before stretching his back. Then he glanced at the Spice Girls poster she was working on, frowning a bit. "Lower on the left. It's crooked."

Adelina hummed and did as her brother instructed, lowering the poster until he let out a noise of approval. Then she stuck the push pin in the wall, not really caring that they weren't supposed to be poking holes in the walls. After that was done, she jumped down from her unmade bed and smiled at Derek.

She looked around at all the unopened and neatly labeled boxes that were shoved on her side of the room, knowing she'd be unpacking for hours and settling in even after their parents left. "What else is there to bring up before we head to your room?"

No, Adeline wasn't going to help carry heavy boxes to Derek's room in Hewitt Hall either, but she'd help him unpack and decorate if he wasn't bothered by his younger-by-eleven-minutes sister hanging around him and his roommate — his name was Jackson or something.

"Just your garbage bag full of stuffed animals. Dad's already moving the van while Mom is talking with the RAs," he told her, both heading out the door. Derek was looking at his sister as he walked. "Speaking of, I don't know that you had to bring all of them—"

"Of course, I did! They'd all get lonely without each other," she said, thinking of all her stuffed animals. She'd crammed eight of them in a garbage bag with plans to fit them all on the small single bed she'd be sleeping on. It was certainly a downside from the huge queen-sized one she had at home.

Derek chuckled and shook his head, knowing how his sister was about her material possessions. Whatever the opposite of a minimalist was, she was unapologetically that. They were just lucky that the dorm rooms at Windsor were surprisingly big.

Then again, their parents had sprung for the nicest halls for them to live in each.

"I'm sure they'd have survived being home—"

As Derek was walking and talking without watching where he went, he walked right into a poor girl that had her arms full with a box full of desk supplies, causing the box to tumble from her grasp and send everything clattering to the floor.

Derek looked at her with wide, apologetic eyes. Adeline just cringed as he rattled off a hundred apologies while accidentally stepping on some sticky notes. She just took in the girl's lovely features — she had dark hair that was cut short and dark brown eyes. She also had a pretty smile on her lips, clearly not bothered by the accident.

"I should've - I mean, are you — that's my bad," Derek stuttered out as Adeline had already crouched down to start picking things up. As she glanced up, she noticed the nervous look in Derek's eyes, knowing it well.

He thought the girl was cute, which made his sister giggle.

"Der," she said softly. "Wanna go get those stuffed animals before you trample the rest of the stuff?"

"Right - sorry," he said while going toward the stairs, looking over his shoulder at the girl once more as he left.

The girl curled her lips around her teeth to keep from grinning as she knelt down by Adeline, helping her put everything back in the box.

"Sorry about him," Adeline said with a friendly smile. "Derek gets really embarrassing around pretty girls."

"That's okay," she said, smiling a real smile. "No harm done."

"Well, I'm Adeline," she introduced, offering her hand to shake. "I'm in room 234."

"233," the girl said brightly, realizing they were neighbors. "And I'm Sidney. It's nice to meet you."

"You too!" she said excitedly as they stood. "You're the first person me and my brother have met — even though he really just rammed into you and hasn't met you officially."

"Are you guys Freshmen too?" Sidney asked as they started toward her own room next to Adeline's.

She nodded in confirmation. "Yup. Really excited about it. Well, actually, really scared, kind of. But Derek's with me, so I'll be okay."

"I know how you feel," she said softly. "I brought my emotional support best friend all the way here with me."

"All the way from where?" she asked, tilting her head. And she wished some of her friends had come to college with her. But she'd be starting all over in the friend department.

Sidney hesitated for a moment, not that Adeline noticed. "California," she said simply.

Adeline's eyes went wide. "Wow. And you came to college in Ohio? That's such a big move," she told her. "You're braver than me. I don't even like being two and a half hours from home."

"So, you guys are from Ohio too?"

"Yeah, from Hunting Valley. Though you probably don't know where that is if you're from Cali," she said, chuckling. "Well, we don't have any sunny beaches here, but I hope you and your friend start to feel at home here."

"Us too," she murmured as they reached her room. She sat the box down on her desk and then nodded to the man who was busy on the floor putting together a desk chair. "This is my father. Daddy, this is Adeline. She lives in the room next door."

"Nice to meet you," Neil Prescott said, smiling up at the girl. "Settling in okay?"

"Perfectly," she beamed. "Got a big brother to do everything for me."

"Well, not everything," Derek said from the hallway, having overheard her as he returned with the bag of stuffed animals. Ever so polite, he didn't let himself into the stranger's room without being invited.

"Derek, this is Sidney," Adeline introduced finally. "Sidney, this is my brother, Derek, who so rudely bumped into you before."

Derek sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck and nodded to Sidney. "I'm still really sorry about that."

"It's okay," Sidney told him softly. "Really. And it's nice to meet you both."

"Maybe we'll see more of each other at the orientation events," Adeline said hopefully. "But we've gotta go get Derek moved in. I'll see you around, neighbor!"

"Bye, neighbor," Sidney said with a half-hearted smile. She wasn't used to talking to new people who weren't Randy or Dewey yet, and Adeline was quite perky despite move in day being so exhausting. Then again, she hadn't been doing much of the moving in.

As the twins walked out and toward the stairs so that they could head to Derek's dorm room, both looked at Sidney's room with small smiles on their faces.

"She was really nice," Adeline told her brother. Then she elbowed him teasingly. "And cute."

Derek rolled his eyes and nudged her back, making her nearly stumble as she laughed. "Yeah, yeah. I don't wanna hear it."

☆︎

Sidney wasn't the only new person that Adeline met on move in day. When she inevitably got bored of helping Derek get settled into his room, she wandered around his dorm. And as she walked further down his hallway, nosily peeking her head in open doorways, she heard a movie already playing in a room.

And given that it was one of her favorites — 'Empire Records' — she had to poke her head in, watching the end concert sequence.

Inside was a boy with brown, almost red hair, who was going back and forth between unpacking clothes from a trash bag into his dresser and paying attention to the movie.

"Isn't Liv Tyler just the best?" Adeline asked, not wanting him to be unaware of her presence, as that was creepy.

The boy looked up at her over his shoulder with wide, surprised eyes. It wasn't every day a pretty blonde girl just knocked on his door, showing interest in the movie he was watching.

"Hi," he said, his mouth hanging open a little bit.

"Hi," she said, beaming. "I'm Adeline."

"I'm Randy," he murmured, scrambling to his feet.

"Sorry for snooping. Got bored of helping my brother move in," she said with a sheepish smile. "And I love this movie."

"Me too. I can, uh, rewind it if you want me to," he offered.

"Oh, you don't have to," she said, shaking her head quickly. "I'll probably head back to my dorm soon. But still, wanted to say hi since I was watching through the door. And sorry for being a creeper, I guess."

"It's okay," he chuckled. "Movies are always worth standing in stranger's doorways for."

As he said so, he gestured to the bookshelf behind him that was full of VHS tapes instead of books. Her eyes went wide, unable to believe someone owned so many movies and brought them to college as well.

"Woah, and I thought I liked movies," she said with a grin.

"You're, um, you're always welcome to check my collection out," he offered. "Name a movie, and I probably have it — if not here, then back home."

"'Twister'?"

In response, Randy rushed to his shelf and pulled out the movie that came out the year before, showing it off proudly.

"'Dead Poets Society'?"

"You know it," he said while reaching for the movie.

She thought hard, trying to think of something that a college boy like him wouldn't own. "'Tammy and the T-Rex'?"

Randy let out a hearty laugh before crouching down, searching the very bottom of the shelf. Then he pulled out the tape, making her laugh as well.

"Well, you're better than a Blockbuster," she grinned. "Are you a Freshman too?"

"Yeah—"

"Addy!" Derek called from down the hallway. "We're heading out to get some stuff from Wal-Mart. Come on."

"Well, maybe I'll see you at the orientation stuff," she said hopefully to Randy. Already, she had met two people she could see herself befriending. "Bye, Randy."

He smiled to himself, feeling like maybe he'd made a friend too — he'd been pretty light on those after what happened the year before. "See you around, Adeline."

☆︎

Finally, after getting back from the store, Adeline got to meet her roommate. Cici Cooper was there and organizing her makeup collection at her desk. Already, she'd made more progress than Adelina had when it came to unpacking.

"Hi, Cici!" Adeline greeted brightly while coming inside.

"Hey, Addy!" Cici greeted with a big grin. Both were excited to meet after emailing back and forth for the last few weeks. "It's so great to meet you."

"You too," Adeline said while going to her bed. She still had to unpack her comforter covered in pink flowers and make her bed. But for now, she just perched on the cheap mattress. "Need help doing anything? My brother went back to his dorm, but I can call him."

"I think I'm good. My parents did a lot of work before they left," she said. But then she turned around on her desk chair to face her. "So, are you excited for orientation this weekend?"

"I am. I met two people already who will be around," she told her while drawing her knees up to her chest. "Our neighbor, Sidney, and a boy named Randy. I'll be looking for them to hang out, hopefully. They were super nice."

Cici raised an eyebrow. "You mean the Sidney and Randy from California? I heard about them."

Adeline frowned. "I mean, I don't know where Randy is from. How'd you know where Sidney is from? Did you meet her too?"

"No, Addy, it's all anyone can talk about," she explained. "They're here from Woodsboro, California."

"What's Woodsboro?" she asked cluelessly, tilting her head.

Cici looked at her, surprised. "Don't you watch the news? It was all any channel was talking about last October."

"News is boring and sad," she said with a shrug. Then she leaned forward curiously. "But what happened? Are they famous or something?"

"An understatement. You know that movie coming out in April? 'Stab'?"

"I've heard about it, but I'm not really a scary movie person," she said with a frown. "It's based on a book or something."

"It's based on their lives."

"No way!"

"Way!" Cici insisted. "Grab a stuffed animal, because have I got a story for you!"

Adelina nodded and dutifully grabbed the stuffed bunny rabbit at the top of her pile of animals, whose name was Bentley, and cuddled him close to her chest. "It's not a scary story, is it?"

"The movie is called 'Stab'," she said with a teasing smile. "It is most definitely scary."