“And make sure you eat three meals a day. Don’t just study and forget to eat.”

“Okay, Bobby, okay. I get it. Now, get going before you’re late for work.”

Billie stood on the sidewalk with her two suitcases as Bobby stood out the door of his old car. He stared at her with the saddest look on his face, like a dad giving away his only daughter. Billie laughed at him.

“Go.”

“I’m worried about you. You always study, and if it wasn’t for me forcing you to eat, you’d starve,” Bobby says.

“I got it, Dad,” she jokes with him. “I’ll eat every meal, three times a day, and I’ll eat tons of snacks until I come home fat.”

“I’m leaving now… call me if you need anything. I’ll come right away.”

She nods and watches him get in his car and drive off. This was the first time in a long time that she’s been on her own. She secretly wanted to call him back over and stay with her, but she couldn’t do that. He’s worked so hard to take care of a kid that wasn’t his, and he was a kid himself. He deserved to only have to look after him. 

She turns around and pulls her suitcases towards where she thinks her dorm is, when suddenly a car pulls up loud behind her. One of those fancy sports cars that have loud engines. She looks at it for just a second before turning back around. But what she saw was even scarier. A lot of girls and a few boys were racing towards the car, and she was going to be in the middle of it. 

All she could hear through the screams and laughs were “Eight this” and “Eight that”. Whatever Eight was, she didn’t care, she just needed to make it through the crowd. 

She pushed and pushed, feeling like a salmon swimming upstream, and finally she got free. She rolled about one foot when four girls stopped her.

“What’s going on over there?”

“I don’t know,” she shrugs. “A really fancy car. Probably called an Eight or something—”

“The Eight!”

Billie only had a moment to brace herself as the girls pushed her out of the way to get to whatever it was. 

She huffed, looking at the enormous crowd of people before dusting herself off and heading back to where she was going. She moved over to the sidewalk, out of the way of any more rushing fans. She stopped and looked around, not sure of the buildings. She pulled out a map that she had gotten in the mail and tried to decipher.

“Need some help?”

Billie looked up to see a tall, lean man looking at her. His eyes looked like he was smiling, but he wore a black mask over his mouth.

“I’m looking for Rogers girl’s dorm but I have no clue where it is.”

“Rogers dorm? Why’d you get out on the central campus if you wanted to get all the way over there?” He points to a spot on the map, which is in fact on the other side of campus.

Before she could even feel upset, a scream came from the immense crowd behind them. They both look back, but Billie instantly looks back at the map, ignoring them.

“Oh, they must have heard that the Eight—”

“Shh,” Billie hushed him. “He-who-shall-not-be-named.”

“He-who-shall-not… you can’t say his name?”

“Apparently saying his name, whoever he is, leads to stampedes, and I do not want to be knocked over again. I want to make it to my dorm in one piece.”

He laughs at her and faces the map again. “Roger's dorm is all the way over here, right behind the cafeteria. At least you’re close to the food, but you’re far away from all the classes. Are you a freshman?” He asks. 

“Yeah,” she smiles. “Thank you for the help. Bye.” She waves to him and begins her trek to her new home for the year.