My dad and I walk back down to the car after unpacking all of the things for my room.

"Bye, Bell, I will miss you so much my girl." My dad has tears forming in his eyes, which makes me want to cry too.

"Dad, I love you so much."

"I love you more. You be safe and don't get into too much trouble."

After we say our goodbyes, I watch him drive away.

It's strange to think that I'm actually on my own for the first time in eighteen years. It's always been me and my dad. Sure, growing up I had friends, but I was always the closest to my dad. I guess that has something to do with the fact that mom left when I was five.

My dad was miserable when mom left, more than he let me see. One day I remember coming home from school and finding him crying in the garage. When I say he was crying, I mean he was full on sobbing. I'd never seen him like that, so it was a lot to process. My mom did that to him. Well, not my mom. It was more so the drugs that she had been taking forever.

The sound of a door interrupts my thoughts. I look up to see a girl walk in with a few bags. She's pretty, with short, sleek black hair. Once she notices me, she smiles and begins to speak.

"Hey, I'm Hannah!" she smiles.

"Bella," I smile back, "I guess you've already moved in."

"Yeah, I came a week ago to help with the new freshmen moving in."

"Oh, are you not a freshman then?" I'm confused as to why the school placed me with somebody who is not a freshman like me.

"No, I'm actually a junior here. I requested a freshman roomie because I wanted to take somebody under my wing!"

Okay, she seems nice, so I guess this is a good thing. It'll make it easier for me to branch out and get to know more people.

I smile at Hannah, and respond, "Okay, cool. I'm glad."

"So, do yo-"

Hannah is interrupted by her phone ringing. She answers the call, and I do my best to not listen to the conversation. I hear bits and pieces because I am very nosey.

"Luke, I don't know if Tate would like that or not. You know he doesn't like having that many people over," Hannah says into the phone.

My ears perk up at the sound of Tate's name. Is it the same Tate from earlier? The very attractive Tate. I hope it is. I need to figure out how I know him. My thoughts are interrupted because Hannah starts talking to me again.

"Soooooooo," she drags out, "My boyfriend Luke is wanting to have a back-to-school party at his apartment. Do you want to come with me?"

I ponder the idea for a moment, then I shake my head no. I don't do well at parties. A party is where the worst moment of my life happened. Besides, when my mom left me. Of course, I'm not telling a stranger that.

Hannah looks confused, so she asks, "Why not? It'll be fun, and I promise they're all nice."

"I just don't really go to parties, and I don't know any of them."

"Okay, but it would be a great way to get to know people, and I will take care of you, I promise," she begs.

I mean, what's the worst that could happen? Hannah really wants me to come, and I promised my dad I would try to make friends this year.

I look at Hannah and smile, "Why not?"

A few hours later, Hannah peaks her head in my room and tells me that it's time to go. We walk downstairs and get in a cab.

After about ten minutes, we reach our destination. As I step out of the cab, I am shocked to find hardly anybody. I guess we're early.

Hannah leads the way up to her boyfriend's apartment. That's when I hear the music blasting and see more people.

"Hey baby," Hannah says to a guy, who I'm assuming is her boyfriend.

"Hey, is this the roomie?" He nods to me.

"Yep, this is Bella," Hannah says.

"Hi," I say to him. This is when I finally notice his features. He has blonde hair and smoldering blue eyes, which go along perfectly with his perfect body.

"My names Luke," he says, "I hope Han here hasn't been too mean to you just yet." We all laugh. Then, Hannah playfully hits Luke.

"I'm going to go mingle and find Tate," Luke says and kisses Hannah's forehead. Ah, love. Who am I kidding? Love is not for me. Never has been. Never will be.

Hannah notices a couple of people, who I'm assuming she knows. She leads me over to them.

"Alli!" she shrieks. I look at a girl who has wavy red hair and too many freckles to count.

"Hey Han, I missed you," Alli says. They have a quick embrace. Then Alli whispers something in Hannah's ear. I follow their gaze to a boy and a girl making out on the other side of the room.

"What the fuck?" Hannah says.

Alli rolls her eyes. "Yeah, he ditched me for some supermodel looking freshman," she scoffs, "Texted me two hours ago and said we should see other people."

"Fuck him," Hannah looks over at me, "Oh yeah, Alli, this is my new roomie Bella."

Alli turns to me and pulls me in for a hug. "Sorry, I'm a hugger."

"So what's the story?" I point to the guy with his new "supermodel freshman."

Alli and Hannah pull me to a couch, and Alli starts to tell me her story.

"His name is Chris, and I'm not sure of the girl's name. We dated on and off for the past two years, but I really thought things were getting serious finally. This summer he took me home with him, and I met his family. His mom even told me he was going to propose when we got back to school."

I hear Hannah let out a chuckle. "Sorry," she says.

"Anyways, summer went so well, and I thought his mom was right. Then, I went back home for a week and Chris moved in for football. The girl was here early too because she's a cheerleader, and they moved in early. So, I came back a day earlier than I was supposed to because I wanted to surprise him. Well, I walked in his apartment and saw a girl's clothes on the floor. So, I walked in the bedroom and see him butt ass naked with that girl."

"Oh my god, what'd you do after that?" I'm very intrigued by her story because I don't know what I'd do in that situation.

"Well, I obviously didn't know what to do or say, so I picked up his shirt off the floor and slung it at him. Then I ran out. He followed me out in the hall and was begging for me to not be mad. He was saying how he didn't mean it and had to do something since I wasn't here. I told him to go fuck himself and ran out. Then he texted me tonight acting like he was the one who wanted to end things."

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. Men are so stupid.

"What the fuck is wrong with him?"

Hannah and Alli laugh a little. Then, Chris notices us and starts walking our way.

"Are you kidding me," I hear Alli mutter under her breath.

Chris nods to me and Hannah. He walks closer to Alli and smiles.

"Hey Al, let me know when you want to go back to my place and make up."

"Chris, she doesn't want to speak to you, buddy," Hannah interrupts.

"Was I talking to you Hannah?" he scoffs.

Hannah rolls her eyes. When Alli doesn't respond, Chris laughs and walks away.

"I actually hate that prick," Alli says to us.

"Let's go get a drink guys," Hannah points to the beer in the cooler that's in the corner of the room.

Once we reach the cooler, I wait for Hannah and Alli to grab their drinks. As I reach to grab one, I feel another hand on mine.

I look up to see the owner of the hand that is touching mine. It's Tate.

"Damn, he is hot."

He's looking at me and laughing. "I knew that already, but thanks."

Oh shit, did I say that out loud?

A/N: Yes, I'm updating again because I got really into writing today for some reason. I will be updating tomorrow as well, and I'm gonna figure out a release schedule. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!