“C’mon! We gotta go! Mike is gonna be here soon!” She shouted, loud enough so that I could here even though I was inside. The crisp air of the early November morning slapped my cheeks as I hurried out the door. After successfully getting outside, I glanced across the old cracked sidewalk to see my sister, Allie. Even though she is eight years my senior, we are almost the same person in personality. We both share the slightly ADD twitches, the “If you don’t quit that right now I’ll make you”, and most of all, we share the humor. Although we were very similar in personalities, we look nothing alike. We both stand around the same height; however she has shoulder length caramel colored hair, green eyes, and tanned skin.

I was tired and slightly crabby, but who could blame me? I had just spent three hours in the car just to get here. A smile crept up onto my breeze chilled face. I was still glad to be here, despite the fact it was six in the morning and we were about to go to her Calculus class at The University Of Minnesota-Duluth.

“Sam, this is Mike,” Wow. I silently appreciated his last name with an amused expression.

“Mike, this is my little sister Sam.” I smiled at him, taking him in with an inconspicuous upward glance. He was a twenty-something college kid with a slightly upturned nose, expressive almond shaped eyes, and maybe a hint of chubbiness. Regardless of all of that, he was about five inches taller than Allie and me. I was beginning to make sense of what Allie had told me earlier; I had been too drowsy to actually make sense of her words. Apparently, since one of Allie’s friends was using her car, we were left to ride with Mike. At first, I was slightly annoyed. I was not about to share my sister with some guy after a three hour car ride and I haven’t seen her in what felt like forever! Disregarding my grievances, the three of us drove through dreary, arctic Duluth.

Duluth. To me Duluth seemed like an adult; it got along fine all by itself, not needing help from anyone else. Or maybe it was because more people visited than actually lived here. I can definitely imagine the reason for that. I mean, why would you want to lived in such a frigid, cloudy city? Basically all of the streets in Duluth were on a hill, twisting and winding around the aged buildings. They boasted cement entrances and old brass knobs. None of the buildings seemed to interest me except one. The University. It slid into view through my window and I gaped at it. It was so much bigger than I remembered. I hadn’t been here since my dad and I were dropping Allie off for her Freshman year three years ago. The brown brick buildings towered over me. Each separated by a sliver of sidewalk and a patches of grass that were supposed to be green, but due to the weather they were more brown than anything.

“Well. Here we are.” Mike said in a soft tone, glancing to my sister and then to me.

“Thank you so much for the ride.” Allie replied in an equally warm tone.

“Yeah. Thanks.” I muttered, unable to help the bitterness when it seeped into my words. Allie gave me a poisonous look when he drove off. We walked into the Science Building.

“Allie, he definitely likes you.” I couldn’t help myself but tease her when he was out of earshot driving the other direction. Allie turned her amused green eyes to me and laughed.

“What? Mike? No.” She decided in one sentence.

“Sure, Allie, deny it all you want, but I would think about that next you’re all alone in the car with that boy.”

“You’re stupid.” Allie smoothly replied with rolled eyes and a smirk. I walked beside her with an entertained look on my face. Walking awe, I looked around everywhere. Where did all of these people come from? I had never seen that many people around the same age in one hallway before. They all looked different. Some expressed themselves through an interesting amount of makeup and spike. Some were clad in sweats. Others wore outfits that looked as if they were painstakingly picked out the previous night. Yet, despite what they all looked like, they looked happy. “So, where to?” I asked, scanning to the halls.

“Well, my first class in Calculus.” she said and I laughed at her.

“This is going to be an interesting time. You may have forgotten, but I’m only in Geometry.” Despite my uneasiness, Allie shrugged off my dismay with a smile.

“It’s not like you actually have to do anything, Sam. And besides, I did warn you that you were going to come with me.” She draped her arm over me and gave me a quick squeeze before we drifted back into our meaningless small talk.

College Calculus. Allie led me to a seat beside hers, already busy chatting with her friends about some upcoming test. I took a moment to take in the “classroom”. It looked more like an auditorium. The glossy brown wood in nearly every seat was covered with a student, but from the seats I could see, they appeared to be chipped and old. We sat in the middle, towards the front, so I wasn’t able to see much of what was behind me. I just assumed it was more tired-looking college kids like my sister. The classroom had an interesting scent. Aromatic perfumes and colognes were mixing with the people who hadn’t bothered to put any on… or deodorant for that matter. I could feel a smile spread onto my face as the smell of coffee wafted into the room. My head immediately shot to the professor as I heard words come out of her mouth that I couldn’t quite make out. Groans erupted from the crowd of students as she wrote the key points to each chapter on the board. What’s the big deal? I heard the furious scribbles of pens on paper, replicating what was on the board to their papers. I looked at the board and my eyes widened as I actually read what was written. I miss Geometry. I thought shamelessly, thankful for still being middle school; the math wasn’t too hard.

As I looked around, I inwardly smiled to myself. Soon enough, I would be here. A college student. A big part of me was excited, though I still that small voice shouting at me. The small voice wanted to be a kid forever: stay little, live with my family. I glanced down again at my notebook. It was covered in meaningless scribbles. I looked over to Allie’s, noticing the sophisticated equations and numbers. Yet again I found myself smiling. The purple notebook laid on my desk seemed to remind me of my youth. My eyes were brought back to Allie. I should probably enjoy it before I find myself in my sister’s position: a young college student still trying to find herself.

She looked to me, a sweet smile on her face. She and all of the student were beginning to gather their things and exit the room.

“C’mon. Now let’s take a Nutrition test.”