Chapter 1
Kayleigh
I stood on the sidewalk staring at one of the dorms of Bay State University. I still had a hard time believing it was going to be my home for the next four years.
“Are you going to stand there all day, or are you going to help me?” Karma said, as she nudged me.
“Don’t get your panties in a twist. I was just looking,” I shot back.
“Kayleigh, we have all day to do that. I just want to get our stuff and find our room,” she sighed.
“Fine.”
I’d known Karma since first grade, and we’d been best friends ever since. Sure, she was bossy sometimes. Well, a lot of the time truthfully, but I still loved her to death.
I got two boxes out of the car and followed Karma to the dorm entrance. The doors were propped open, so we didn’t have to fumble to get inside. Our room was 565. We got on the elevator and pressed the button for the fifth floor. I was glad we were on the top floor. I’d always loved being somewhere high and looking out the window. We found our room, left our boxes, and went back for a second trip. Two more trips later and we had everything in the room.
I’d never been in a dorm room before, so I wasn’t really sure if this was a typical one or not. The room consisted of two bedrooms, complete with desks, a bathroom, and a small living area. The walls were a light grey but the highlight of the room for me was the view. When I looked out the window, I was sure I could see the whole campus.
“Kayleigh, which bedroom do you want?” Karma asked, pulling me away from the window.
“It doesn’t matter, you pick,” I told her.
“I’ll take that one,” she said, pointing to the one on the right.
That made me smile, because it meant I had the one with the bigger window.
“Thank you,” I said, “You’re the best.”
“I know,” she said grinning at me. “Now let’s go find some hot college guys.”
I had to smile at that. Even though we were best friends, we were almost total opposites. Karma had bright red hair and fair skin, to my light brown hair and skin that tanned easily. One of the few things we had in common was that we both had athletic bodies. Our personalities were even more different. Karma was very social and outgoing, and I, well… I wasn’t. I’d rather curl up with a good book than go to a party. How we’d managed to stay such good friends was beyond me, but I was grateful for her every day.
We decided on a compromise; we got our rooms in order then we went out to explore the campus. Orientation wasn’t until tomorrow, so we had the rest of the day to do what we wanted. Bay State University sat in between San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean so it was quite a change from our home in Tulsa. It was a beautiful campus. There was a mix of old and new everywhere we looked. But the best thing was the palm trees. That’s not something we saw on a daily basis and I loved it.
We’d been wandering the campus for a while and had already seen our fair share of cute college boys. Karma was sure to wave at all of them.
“I’m so looking forward to college,” Karma said, winking at a tall, blond guy we passed.
“You’re terrible,” I said with a laugh.
“What? I have a healthy sexual appetite and by the looks of it, I’ll be able to have my fill here.”
“I’m so glad our dorm room has two separate bedrooms,” I said. “At least the sounds of your sexual conquests will be muffled.”
Karma just laughed at me. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t a prude. I just didn’t sleep around. I had a serious boyfriend in high school who I’d lost my virginity to. I thought he was in love with me, but when I got the scholarship to Bay State, he decided that a long distance relationship wasn’t for him and he broke up with me. Karma was ready to claw his eyes out, but I decided he wasn’t worth it.
We finally found the building we were really looking for, the Davenport Swim Complex.
“Let’s see if the doors are open,” I said. “I’d love to have a look around.”
Karma agreed and tried the door. It was open. We walked in and I smiled at the smell of the chlorine radiating off the pool. It was my second home, and the place I truly felt like me.
“This place is great,” Karma said as we walked in.
The main pool was the one I was most interested in. It was a standard Olympic size, great for competing. Karma had her eye on the other one. With its 3m springboard and 10m platform, it was strictly for diving.
“Can I help you, ladies?” A male voice said, and we turned around.
“We’re just admiring the facilities,” Karma said.
“I’m sorry, but this is for our competitive swimmers and divers only. The recreational pool is in the Phys Ed building,” he told us.
“Then we’re in the right place,” Karma said. “I’m Karma Webster and this is Kayleigh Mills.”
“How nice to meet you in person,” he said shaking their hands. “I’m Coach Cross, the coach for the women’s swim team, so I guess that makes me your coach, Kayleigh. Karma, Coach Everett is in her office if you’d like to meet her.”
“Sure,” Karma told him.
We followed him to a hallway that held the change rooms and four offices. Coach Cross took Karma to her coach, and then he took me on a tour of the facility. It was state of the art. It had been built with Olympic trials in mind, so it had everything I could have asked for in a pool. I was ready to jump right in and start practicing. The pool was the one place I stopped thinking and just felt alive.
After only knowing Coach Cross for twenty minutes, I already liked him. I could tell he was the kind of coach I could go to for anything, but that would still push me hard to do better. I was really looking forward to the start of the season.
I met up with Karma and we left the swim complex. I could tell she was just as excited as I was. We had plenty of daylight left, so we decided to drive to the beach. With the help of GPS, we found our way to the nearest one. We left our shoes in the car and walked to the water.
“This is great,” I said, when the first wave hit my feet.
“Yep,” Karma agreed. “We definitely made the right decision in coming here.”
We stood there for a few minutes, then walked up the beach a little ways and sat in the sand. It was blue as far as I could see. The light blue of the sky and the darker blue of the ocean went on forever. The sun on my face made me smile. The smell of the sea air was new, but I think I liked it. I found it very relaxing to listen to the waves on the shore.
“Look over there,” I said, pointing out to the water. “Surfers.”
“Cool. I wonder if they’re hot,” Karma said with a grin.
Sitting on the beach we watched a group of four guys swim out and surf on the waves. I’d never seen anyone surf before and I thought it looked like fun, but then again, I loved everything to do with water. I know if I lived closer to the ocean, I would be surfing too.
The guys we’d been watching made their way to the edge of the water and picked up their boards. They were laughing and joking with each other. It looked like they were picking on each other and that made me smile. I guessed that they were good friends.
Karma was elbowing me to get my attention, like I didn’t see them walking right toward us.