The first day of college always feels like a beginning. But for Y/n, it felt like a collision — the past and present slamming together in the fluorescent-lit hallway of Berkeley College's freshman dorm.
She'd spent the whole summer preparing for this. New city, new campus, new chapter. The one constant? Jake Sim. Her childhood best friend, who'd somehow ended up at the same college, in the same building, two floors above her.
The hallway buzzed with move-in chaos — parents hauling boxes, freshmen introducing themselves too loudly, doors propped open with textbooks and suitcases. Y/n stood in the middle of it all, clutching a box of bedding, a little overwhelmed.
emerging from the stairwell, slightly breathless, carrying a heavy-looking box labeled "FRAGILE" in your mom's handwriting Y/n! There you are.
grinning, his hair messier than usual, wearing an old Berkeley Football t-shirt I've been looking everywhere. Your mom texted me like five times asking if you got here okay.
Same old Jake. Always checking in, always making sure she was okay. It was comforting — and maybe a little annoying, in the way only someone who's known you your whole life can be.
sets the box down with a dramatic exhale She also sent you, like, a million snacks. I think half this box is just kimchi and rice cakes.