kay_brooke (
kay_brooke) wrote in
rainbowfic2012-03-28 01:55 pm
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Brown #1, Snow White #4, Tyrian Purple #17
Name:
kay_brooke
Story: Unusual Florida
Colors: Brown #1 (brown nose), Snow White #4 (glass slipper), Tyrian Purple #17 (chariot of the sun god)
Styles/Supplies: Canvas
Word Count: 680
Rating/Warnings: PG-13; no standard warnings apply
Summary: A scene from Amy's college orientation
Note: A rewrite from something I posted previously in my writing journal. Also, my tenth Canvas.
"Welcome to UF!"
"Um, thanks." Amy took the proffered flier from the grinning brunette and glanced it over. It was for some sort of sorority. Amy glanced up and looked around, realizing that she had somehow stumbled into the Greek row of student activity booths. "Oh, I'm not really interested in sororities."
The girl grinned even wider. "We do great philanthropic work, and the networking opportunities after graduation are--"
"Thanks, but I don't feel like paying for my friends," said Amy. She tried to give the flier back, but the girl waved her away.
"Keep it. Think about it." The girl's smile hadn't faded.
Amy, deciding to be gracious, smiled back, nodded, and walked away.
She threw the flier into the first garbage can she came to.
Truth was, Amy hadn't wanted to go to the activities fair. After four days of ongoing and unending student orientation, she was exhausted. The entire week she had been treated to lunches and campus tours and professor presentations. She just wanted to go back to her dorm room and set everything up; she hadn't had time to even put her clothes away yet. She wanted to spend the little of the weekend she had left mentally preparing herself for the first day of classes. Her roommate, a fellow freshman named Tanya, had already checked out of the orientation. But Amy knew she couldn't miss the activities fair. Extracurriculars were important.
She stopped by a table that claimed it was for the university's chemistry club. Two men and a woman were sitting at it, and they perked up as she neared.
"Hi!" said one of the men. He was scruffy-faced and wearing a knit cap despite it being 90 degrees and humid. "Are you interested in chemistry?"
"I'm pre-med, actually," said Amy.
The woman grinned. "I'd call that interest."
Amy picked through a pile of pens with the club's name on the side. "Are you affiliated with any professional organizations? The American Chemical Society?"
The three students looked at each other. "No," admitted the one in the hat. "We have some literature, though."
"Do you have any professional development opportunities?" Amy looked up and away from the table, out across the student commons and the riot of bodies and student tables, each one with their own colorful sign. She wasn't interested in piddly clubs. She needed organizations that could actually help her.
The woman pushed a piece of paper toward her. "Sign-up sheet?"
"When's your first meeting?" asked Amy.
"We'll e-mail you." The woman tapped the paper.
"Thanks anyway," said Amy, walking away.
She felt rude, but she had made a promise to herself. Years she'd spent in a little town in Maine, watching over her mostly miserable family and hoping that one day it would all get better. They had made something of a life for themselves out of misery, but she had waited for years to get back to Florida. Her aunt and uncle were disappointed that she hadn't gone to an Ivy League. She thought maybe her dad would have been disappointed, too, but he had changed. He had gotten better, but there still seemed to be something missing from how she remembered him from when she was younger.
Or maybe she was remembering wrong. She had only been eleven when everything changed.
She had needed more than anything to get back to Florida. It was almost a physical ache, she missed it so much. Her family was moving back, finally, but by the time that happened she had already been accepted to the University of Florida.
It was a good school, despite what her aunt and uncle said. Ivy League wasn't everything. But she still felt she had to prove something, to them and to herself. She couldn't mess around, not with her future. She felt like she had wasted so much time in misery, and now her life had to begin.
She took one last look around the commons, then headed back toward the dorms. She had textbooks to read before her first class tomorrow.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Story: Unusual Florida
Colors: Brown #1 (brown nose), Snow White #4 (glass slipper), Tyrian Purple #17 (chariot of the sun god)
Styles/Supplies: Canvas
Word Count: 680
Rating/Warnings: PG-13; no standard warnings apply
Summary: A scene from Amy's college orientation
Note: A rewrite from something I posted previously in my writing journal. Also, my tenth Canvas.
"Welcome to UF!"
"Um, thanks." Amy took the proffered flier from the grinning brunette and glanced it over. It was for some sort of sorority. Amy glanced up and looked around, realizing that she had somehow stumbled into the Greek row of student activity booths. "Oh, I'm not really interested in sororities."
The girl grinned even wider. "We do great philanthropic work, and the networking opportunities after graduation are--"
"Thanks, but I don't feel like paying for my friends," said Amy. She tried to give the flier back, but the girl waved her away.
"Keep it. Think about it." The girl's smile hadn't faded.
Amy, deciding to be gracious, smiled back, nodded, and walked away.
She threw the flier into the first garbage can she came to.
Truth was, Amy hadn't wanted to go to the activities fair. After four days of ongoing and unending student orientation, she was exhausted. The entire week she had been treated to lunches and campus tours and professor presentations. She just wanted to go back to her dorm room and set everything up; she hadn't had time to even put her clothes away yet. She wanted to spend the little of the weekend she had left mentally preparing herself for the first day of classes. Her roommate, a fellow freshman named Tanya, had already checked out of the orientation. But Amy knew she couldn't miss the activities fair. Extracurriculars were important.
She stopped by a table that claimed it was for the university's chemistry club. Two men and a woman were sitting at it, and they perked up as she neared.
"Hi!" said one of the men. He was scruffy-faced and wearing a knit cap despite it being 90 degrees and humid. "Are you interested in chemistry?"
"I'm pre-med, actually," said Amy.
The woman grinned. "I'd call that interest."
Amy picked through a pile of pens with the club's name on the side. "Are you affiliated with any professional organizations? The American Chemical Society?"
The three students looked at each other. "No," admitted the one in the hat. "We have some literature, though."
"Do you have any professional development opportunities?" Amy looked up and away from the table, out across the student commons and the riot of bodies and student tables, each one with their own colorful sign. She wasn't interested in piddly clubs. She needed organizations that could actually help her.
The woman pushed a piece of paper toward her. "Sign-up sheet?"
"When's your first meeting?" asked Amy.
"We'll e-mail you." The woman tapped the paper.
"Thanks anyway," said Amy, walking away.
She felt rude, but she had made a promise to herself. Years she'd spent in a little town in Maine, watching over her mostly miserable family and hoping that one day it would all get better. They had made something of a life for themselves out of misery, but she had waited for years to get back to Florida. Her aunt and uncle were disappointed that she hadn't gone to an Ivy League. She thought maybe her dad would have been disappointed, too, but he had changed. He had gotten better, but there still seemed to be something missing from how she remembered him from when she was younger.
Or maybe she was remembering wrong. She had only been eleven when everything changed.
She had needed more than anything to get back to Florida. It was almost a physical ache, she missed it so much. Her family was moving back, finally, but by the time that happened she had already been accepted to the University of Florida.
It was a good school, despite what her aunt and uncle said. Ivy League wasn't everything. But she still felt she had to prove something, to them and to herself. She couldn't mess around, not with her future. She felt like she had wasted so much time in misery, and now her life had to begin.
She took one last look around the commons, then headed back toward the dorms. She had textbooks to read before her first class tomorrow.