The bus trip lasted a long two hours. Soni enjoyed every moment of it. The bus stopped at a small city outside of Las Vegas to pick up other travelers headed in the same direction. He caught a small glimpse of the city and knew from that moment that he was a small pebble in a very big world. There was so much waiting for him but knew he would have to build up the courage to leave Nevada and his past behind him.

The bus stopped at the county Nevada state was located. Soni departed taking in the new surroundings. The area held an old but calm scenery that reminded Soni of movies made back in the late sixties and seventies. The old structure of the buildings and cobblestone streets had Soni looking around for the cowboys riding around on their horses. There were none.

He stepped back as the bus started its engine and sputtered as it started to leave kicking up dirt. He looked around at the other passengers and smiled when he made eye contact with a few. Seven people with different destinations started walking off in different directions. Soni searched up and down the street looking for a phone booth. When he saw none he started walking to a café he had spotted.

"Hey! Hey kid," someone called from behind.

Sony turned to see one of the passengers that rode on the bus with him. He looked a little older than Sony. Sony estimated nineteen or twenty. His dirty blonde hair and tanned complexion reminded Sony of a beach boy that rode surfboards for a living.

Sony smiled showing that he was a friend until offended. He took notice of the kid wearing shades. He's hiding the insecure side of himself, the psychologist side of Soni said. He was also carrying suitcases. "How can I help you?” Soni asked politely. He would make a wisecrack back to the guy, but Soni didn't need enemies in a place he was new to.

“You on your way to the school too?" the guy asked stopping next to Soni.

"Yeah," Soni said surprised that he didn't think of that being the destination of the guy’s too. "I'm just about to go call a cab," Soni added.

"Don't worry," the guy quickly added. "I have some friends on their way right now. They said to give them ten minutes." The guy reached out a hand to Soni. "I'm Dexter," he said.

Soni shook his head. "Soni."

"Soni?" The Dexter said raising an eyebrow. "You mean, like the appliance..?"

" No. Same sound, spelled with an "I" instead of a "Y."

Dexter nodded. “Ohhh... Okay. Cool name dude."

Soni smiled harder, definitely a surfer. While they waited Soni asked a few curious questions of his own. He wondered how he had friends in college, and found out that Dexter was a grade behind them when they graduated. He smiled again almost laughing in Dexter's face but held back. He was also correct on his being older than him.

What Soni didn't expect was for the old-school convertible mustang full of girls to stop in front of them. Only one guy was in the mix of women. He looked at Dexter. "Hey enjoy yourself. I'll call the cab."

Dexter laughed throwing an arm around Soni's shoulder. "C' mon Soni don't be a pooper. There's plenty of room." Dexter turned toward the car, “Rachel sit in my friend Soni's lap will ya?" he said in the way of an order.

She smiled sheepishly stepping from the car, as Dexter and the driver tossed their belongings in the trunk. The ride to the college campus was eventful. Racheal that sat on Soni's lap making light conversation, but Soni noticed how she was flirting with her body.

In the first five minutes of the ride, she sat innocently in his lap making no sudden movements or gestures. She made the suggestion that the roof of the convertible should be raised to keep the campus security from harassing them for being overcrowded in the car as they were.

Soni had to admit that it was a good idea. The automatic roof closed concealing everybody in the car from the public's view. That's when he noticed a different side of Rachel come to life. She shifted herself in his lap searching for something. Soni tried to hold his manhood down but it didn't take long before the other head-on him made the final judgment to rise.

She turned to him and grinned. "What are you, Korean, Asian or mixed?" She asked gyrating her hips on his lap.

"Native American," he answered.

"Full-blooded?"

Soni nodded confirming her suspicion. He never thought of himself as looking like any other race.

"You're cute," she added running a hand through Soni's hair.

"Leave him alone," Dexter said coming to Soni's defense. "Give him the chance to make it to his room. Jesus."

"Shut up Deck. Soni likes me already." Rachel said leaning towards Soni's ear, flicking a tongue in a spot Soni only read about in the romance novels back at the orphanage.

"Sheesh," Dexter said laughing as he said it. He had his arm around the only girl in the backseat. She must be his girlfriend Soni thought admiring how the girl calmly rested her head on his shoulder.

They reach the campus grounds and road slowly over the speed bumps designed to keep the eager students, labeled speedsters down to fifteen miles per hour. This also kept the kids who did secretly drink behind closed doors from continuously getting hit by cars. This policy gave everybody the chance to get out of the way.

Soni had read the brochure thoroughly from the front to the back. He knew there were the underground rules that students lived by that he will find out soon enough. He read the book eager to get away from the orphanage. He let his imagination run wild thinking about college waiting for him.

They stopped in front of the administration building stepping from the car. Rachel wiggles her butt in Soni's lap one last time before getting out. He waited a moment before he got out. He had to collect his nerves.

The driver pushed the button allowing the red Mustang to become of convertible again. Soni stepped from the car stretching. He noticed Rachel writing something on a piece of paper. She looked alright to Soni. She had blonde hair and an oval face that showed energy. She had told Soni that she is on the track team. Rachel is a wild girl. Soni knew that if they had a relationship it wouldn't last long.

She gave Soni the paper and she hugged him whispering in his ear. "I've gotta go. Here's my cell phone number, my dorm, and room number." She released Soni and started walking off on the campus sidewalk with the girl Dexter had by his side.

The driver parked the car in the parking lot and turned the pop music they listened to up in the car. "C' mon Soni. Let's find out where we're going to live."

Soni was assigned a two-man room in a dorm besides Dexter's. Dexter was trying to persuade the administration to switch and put Soni in the same room since they were freshmen in their first year of college.

The older woman looked from Dexter to Soni. Soni stood behind Dexter shaking his day. Hell, I just met this guy not even thirty minutes ago, he thought to himself. He didn't want to hurt Dexter's feelings and say it to his face. The woman lied, saying that they would have to speak to another person who could authorize the change. Soni smiled, saying a silent thank you to the woman. She smiled back.

Dexter pressed that he wanted to speak to the person in charge. Soni stepped in and told Dexter that he didn't want to aggravate these people his first day here. When Dexter turned to Soni, he spotted the look of insecurity in Dexter’s eyes. Soni felt sorry for him. He probably couldn't get a room with his friends, Soni thought as they went their separate ways.

Soni's roommate was home until the semester started the following week. Soni was shocked at how spacious the room is. For two men the room was almost the size of the rooms at the orphanage he had just left. He threw his suitcases on the bed that wasn't made walked around the room talking in the pictures of his roommate.

Soni picked up one picture and examined his roommate hugged up with a woman. He could tell that the picture was taken off the campus grounds. He could see the two-story homes alongside a street in the background. His roommate older, but Soni knew that pictures had a way of doing that to a person's facial features.

Soni knew that he was older than his seventeen years of age because the woman at the administrator office said he was assigned a room with a roommate starting his junior year in college. Soni didn't see a problem with it.

He took in the picture, couldn't tell how tall his roommate is because half their bodies were cut off. He could tell that he is or was muscular at one time. Broad shoulders strong chin. The blue T-shirt he wore and dark brown hair made the picture stand out. The woman in the picture was also attractive.

Soni heard a rumbling sound in the hall and stood still. He heard a bunch of deep voices chanting an unintelligible sound he couldn't understand. He walked to the door and rested his hands on the doorknob turning it slowly as the voices got louder.

He paused when he heard them yell, "Fresh meat-freshman get em. Fresh meat-freshman get em" That's what they're saying, Soni's mind screamed as he heard the rumbling of footsteps on the outside of the door. He released the doorknob and turned the latch locking his door.

"Get 'em!!!" a voice screamed just outside of his door.

They can't possibly know I'm in here already. Would they kick the door down? He wondered as he stepped back from the door. His suspicions were answered when the sound of somebody screaming pierced the air. "Let me go! Help! Somebody help me!" His voice was drowned out by the sounds of the boys chanting. He heard them pass by his door again.

He walked to the window to see the group of boys wearing football jerseys carrying the blonde-haired white kid over their heads. They tossed him into a man-made puddle of mud they organized earlier, Soni found out later.

The kid tossed and turned as the group of twenty boys threw water balloons at him and hit him with the latest model super soakers.

Soni shook his head but he couldn't help but smile. He even chuckled lightly at the thought that it could've been him down there also. He made a mental note to quickly get in the room and stay away from the jerseys or anybody that had a click.

He turned away from the window chuckling lightly. He surveyed the room once again, walk to his suitcase, and started hanging his clothing in the closet. He hung his clothes, turning to walk back to his bed when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. On the desk in the corner of the room was a laptop computer closed. Soni walked over to it curiously and lifted the screen. Taped to the screen was a letter staring at him. He squints reading it.

"To whom it may concern. If you're a thief reading this, you don't have to read any further. The rest does not concern you. Just remember you're stealing from the great Mark Reynolds. A soon to be a great defense attorney. But my career can turn to prosecute to the fullest (death penalty)if my baby turns up missing. But if this is my new freshman roommate, hey little buddy! Make yourself at home. Oh wait you're reading this, so you're a step ahead of me. I won't be back until the day before the new semester starts. Try not to erase any of the programs I have stored. You may have to take some of these courses one day. It'll help you. I don't like writing so I'll end it here. Enjoying yourself and keep the parties down. Mark. PS watch out for the frats." Somebody gives them a list informing them of...

Soni heard a scream coming from outside. He walked to the window to see a young girl being trashed by a series of balloons that women all wearing red shirts were throwing at her. Soni saw the crowd around them laughing and even saw the flashes of a camera. He couldn't help it. He bellowed with laughter. Once he got control of himself he finished the rest of the letter.

“Watch out for the frats. Somebody gives them a list informing them of the newly arrived freshmen.”

Soni wasn't smiling as he read off the next line.

"They check the names as they get y' all. Haha! Once again, Mark. PSS: Nobody has ever gone their entire freshman year without getting snatched up.”

Soni glanced at the window startled now when he heard another scream. He stood from the bed. The voice sounded familiar. He looked down to see Dexter being slammed into the puddle now. The girls wearing red shirts were no longer there. This is a different group Soni thought to himself. The boys all wore black T-shirts. Soni glanced at the letter again.

“Keep the doors locked because if it is open they will come in. Take care little buddy.”

Soni small slightly folding the letter up. He watches as Dexter climbed weaken from the growing puddle. Maybe I should just give up early, Soni thought to himself. He shook his head. Nope! Not me. They'll have to catch me first.

The rest of the week went by without any trouble from the frats in their eager pursuits to punish all of the freshmen on the compound. At one point Soni wondered if they were grabbing kids in alphabetical order. There was no way of telling. His week was full of tours and finding his classes. He bought the books he needed to be held back from buying his own laptop. He would have to find a job and manage his money properly before he could buy one.

His roommate returned that Sunday and kicked it off great with Soni. Mark had his own car that he drove home to the suburbs on the outskirts of Las Vegas, whenever a break came along. He invited Soni out to dinner, his treat, to get acquainted. Mark was shocked that Soni was only seventeen, and even more, surprised when he found out that the frats haven’t snatched him up yet. They're still freshmen the frats hadn't snatched up yet.

"You're still fresh meat," he said laughing. They talked about each other's past. Soni spoke about his past honestly to him. He felt that Mark was a lot more mature than most of the people he had met his life. He had never told anybody about his past until now. Mark showed sympathy saying that he was sorry to hear that. The next day as the semester started and everything kicked off, Soni felt good to have made a friend.