The sun beat against my face as it beamed through the passenger side window. My eyes were closed as I soaked in the warm feeling it left through the reflecting glass, and I was most definitely high. It was a warm September day, you know the kind of day where the sun is just the right height in the sky, where the temperature is just right, not to hot not too cold just right. I’m what they call fresh meat on campus, a young freshman. Oh yeah, I am also a basketball player. Typical right, another tall black kid who plays basketball. Fuck it, how else was I supposed to get to college? I’ve never had much in life but the love my mother gave me and the brains and penis my father left behind nineteen years ago. “Father,” it still sounds strange to say even at nineteen.
      We pulled into the campus’s north side where the dorms are located. Everyone was moving into their respective dorms, and the first thing I noticed was that there was not a lot of color moving in. Well, that was nothing new to me since I went to Prep school for a few years. I had transferred to prep school from public school during my sophomore year of high school. Basically, seeing tons of white faces was a typical day for me. My boys back home would’ve tripped if they saw what I was seeing, so I knew Ike was losing his mind at the wheel. The campus was like something out of a movie; the lawn was perfectly green, trees were everywhere, birds were flying, and not one soul was arguing or talking shit. The yuppies were outside on the grass with their bare feet playing volleyball. Now that was something new, and as for the Frisbee shit I just don’t get how they can play it all day.
      This place is like another world when you take a good look at it all. Ike’s my boy more like a cousin to be exact; he found a way to rent a jeep strictly to drop me off. We pulled into the parking spot and he helped me unload my bags from the back.
      “Aight man, I’m about to do this school thing again.” I stated while gripping the handles of my luggage. “NBA, I’m banking on you” he replied while he reached into his back pocket. He then handed me a white envelope. I knew exactly what was inside as I slid it into my jacket pocket without hesitation. “All day everyday” I replied. We immediately exchanged pounds and parted ways.
      I grabbed my two rollaway bags and made my way to where I knew I would be staying for the year. It’s an upperclassman dorm but when you play ball certain rules just don’t apply to you. Well, that’s if you’re any damn good at it. Well, I guess if your not any good at it, you wouldn’t be in my situation.
      When I reached my room, I saw that my roommate had already arrived, but was nowhere to be found. I assumed he must have left to buy more things for the place. He made sure to leave his stuff on the bed he had already declared his. This was not a problem in my eyes because it was a first come first serve situation, and he was first. I decided to take a nap before getting to all the unpacking I had ahead of me. There was no TV, but I had the next best thing. I turned my mini stereo on and slid in some Capone n Noreaga. It’s funny how their first album ‘The War Report’ can rock me to sleep to this very day. About thirty minutes later I was awakened by a loud slam of a closing door. I jumped up as if someone was trying to rob the place, startling a short light skinned woman in her late thirties and a short stocky dude of similar complexion. “Excuse me” I said, “Sorry for scaring you ma’am I had no idea who was coming through the door.” She smiled and said it wasn’t a problem, but I could see that they weren’t sure what to make of me just yet. I hopped down from one of the top bunks of the three beds that were in our room and introduced myself.
      “Kelly Price ma’am.” I gave my roommate a pound as we exchanged laughs and brief introductions. His name was Justin Brown and he was from Atlanta Georgia. I told him I was from Queens since that’s where I was born and had been living by myself over the past three years. I later explained that I grew up on Long Island. While unpacking and setting up his stereo and television, we went on back and forth explaining to each other how we got where we are now. After several hours of heart to heart conversation, I turned to him and said “Fuck all the chit chat, there’s pussy out there and we need to dabble in a bit of it!” Of course, his aunt was long gone before all this male bonding took place. I could tell we were going make good partners being that we had more than a few things in common.
      The thing that immediately brought us together was that one common denominator; yes, the black mans liquor, that fire, piff, greenery, she goes by many names weed is what she’s typically called. He told me how good the weed was in Atlanta when you can find it. I told him the only thing I would smoke back home was and still is Purple Haze. It’s just what I prefer. Not that Jimmy Hendrix PCP laced version either. We decided to head straight to the freshman side of campus to see what kind of talent we were going to be working with for the next two semesters. It didn’t take long to see that there were plenty of snow bunnies to go around, and that was not a problem for either one of us. With a pound, we exchanged smiles at the very sight of all the girls. We continued to walk around hoping to bump into a friendly face; this didn’t take long at all.
      Her name was Lilly. Fucking Lilly, she is about five foot eight, has long brown hair and white as the driven snow. The thing is, she seems to have grown up around a lot of underprivileged people or at least spoke like she did. I have to say she had a nice little body on her from what I could see. She wore a pare of tight low rise dark blue denim hip huggers with a white Baby Phat tube top and white low top Air Force ones. When she saw us she immediately introduced herself and wasn’t shy about it at all. She spoke with that ghetto attitude; you know, the one with the slight toughness in her voice to show she ain’t no push over. “Whatever” I thought. She knew what time it was and you could see it in her eyes she’s been around, no stranger to guys or dick for that matter. I quickly came to understand that she’s a rare breed around these parts. The white girl from a predominately black and Hispanic neighborhood isn’t something you see everyday in a college such as Big State. Shit that aint something you see everyday period! Of course Jus was instantly attracted to her. This dude is southern as shit if you know what I mean. He was working his magic with that deep southern drawl he has, and I could tell he was ready to lay her down right then and there. All he needs is a phat ass, a smile and that country boy is set. Me, I was going to wait on the next piece that straggled by and hoped she had a better swagger than Lilly. Lilly had ass and a cute face but something just wasn’t right. Sure enough, my patients had paid-off, instant dividends!
      She was about five seven, long black hair, brown skin and a Colgate smile. In short, this girl was bad. I immediately walked over to her, walked shit I ran and introduced myself. The intro is the most important part of meeting a girl. If that shit is shaky, you might be fucked. “Keep it cool Kells” I thought out loud before approaching her.
      “Excuse me do you mind if I walk with you” she turned slowly and the first thing I noticed were her eyes, they were light brown and I was sold. “No it’s a free world you can walk wherever you like” she answered while batting her eyes. “Correction it’s a free country the whole world ain’t free.” She smiled and I knew I was in.
      “My name is Kelly, Kelly Price” I reached out to shake her hand and as they met I felt a rush of excitement hit me.
      “Eva Jackson, nice to meet you Kelly” she replied with a simple smile.
      “I saw you were heading in the same direction so I decided to keep you company and give you a chance to get to know me.”
      “Is that right, so you’re doing me a favor then huh?”
      “Basically, but don’t think anything of it I’m cool.”
      “Ok I see. So where you headed Kelly Price?”
      “You know, over there by the track.”
      The campus was huge, and I had some what of a clue as to where I was but she already knew that. Her playing along was a way of showing interest and I was very much interested in her.
      “Over to the gym?” she questioned and her southern slang caught my ears grappled tightly and I instantly turned me on. I told her I was from New York. She was from Texas, Houston to be exact. I then asked what she was doing all the way out here in Jersey simply to continue the conversation and found out that she has a scholarship to play basketball as well. That made things even more interesting to me. She was black, fine, and athletic almost a mirror image of me. Now all I needed was for her to be on the same page, because we all know what was on my mind. I had to take a second to catch myself before I fucked things up. My enthusiasm almost overwhelmed me. I asked her where she was staying on campus and she pointed in a complete opposite direction than the freshman dorms, and that’s when I knew I had a live one. She was older, possibly more experienced and down like four flat tires on a Monte Carlo. She retaliated with some questions of her own; the first was if I was a freshman or a transfer, so I answered truthfully “Yea, I’m a freshman.”
      “Ahh you’re a baby” she teased. I was automatically offended but I once again kept my cool and answered quickly on my feet.
      “If that’s what you wanna think sure, but you know what happens when you assume right”
      “No, what?”
      “It makes an ass out of you and me, but mainly you.” She laughed before replying.
      “That was cute.”
      “I know” I said softly while staring at her. With all the talking and flirting we did the time passed quickly and we were at the back entrance of the gym in no time. “This is where I get off.” I didn’t want be too aggressive, so I kept it simple. “It was nice talking to you I hope I see you around Eva.” She smiled and said “Yeah, hope.” We left off with departing smiles and eye contact; it was a wrap I thought, “I’m definitely in.” You have to excuse my confidence it sometimes gets confused with being arrogant, but I know when I have an open shot and you best believe I am going to take it. Before I could get ten yards away she hollered out “You should come to the welcome back party in the State Center tonight.” My reply was as sarcastic as her last one.
      “I should” and she smiled once more. Shit I didn’t even know there was a welcome back party. Now that I knew, I was there. I made my way back to the spot where I left Jus and of course he was still there kicking it with that bird Lilly. I really shouldn’t hit her so hard with the derogatory names but she just rubs me the wrong way. I know a bird when I see one and she flew the coop. Something wasn’t right but Jus doesn’t give a fuck he’s still down, and if there’s one thing you’ll learn about Jus it’s that pussy ain’t got a face or personality. I told him we should roll out and meet up with some of the dudes from the team. Lilly gave him her number and told him to use it, and I didn’t think he would be wasting any time either. We parted ways with her and headed over to the old heads’ dorms. They said they wanted to see us when we arrived on campus, plus coach wanted everybody to get acquainted with each other right off the bat.
      On our way over we saw a slew of chicks boppin around the court yard. Damn, to be honest I had never seen so many bunnies in one place and I thought I was used to seeing them by now. By the time we got to the apartment we had seen most of the campus and like I said the shit was beautiful. Let’s just say I was quite excited about the year to come.
      The first person we met at the door was Carl. I chilled with him during the summer, and Jus had met him on his recruitment visit. I called him Mr. Anything because the motherfucka can get you anything you want from shoelaces to coke, if you need it he could get it. Real smooth brother too. His mannerisms were like that of a pimp; he talked the talk and walked it. I was surprised when he told me he was from Jersey. You normally don’t meet dudes that smooth from the dirty Jers. As soon as we walked in his spot my nose tingled and I smelled that old familiar smell. It was that dro, as in Hydro. It was masked with burning incense but I could smell right through that shit, and so did Jus. We aren’t drug addicts, but we simply do what makes us feel good. Some people tend to drink, others use prescription pain killers or blow, we like to smoke. It’s as simple as that. The feeling was unbearable so I came right out and asked if he had any left, and sure enough he walked to the back and re-appeared pulling out a cigar box full of that sweet stuff, and that’s all she wrote.
      I proceeded to roll up a blunt he had right in the living room and in walked Travis Hall, the leading scorer and captain of the team. Trav is real cool. He’s a real laid back kind of guy from DC. Even he was excited to see me rolling up and he never shows too much emotion, but I guess good weed will do that to you. It sure does for me. I finished the job and began to light up. The first pull is always the smoothest. After that I choked and coughed like a lung cancer patient. All eyes were on me, waiting for me to pass. The “L” went around about twice before everyone started to feel the effects of the THC. That’s when I asked Carl about Eva. He paused before he and Travis began to laugh. “Eva” he said, as a slow grin formed with his top and bottom lips.
      “Well where do I start, Eva is what we call a free spirit she’s real cool she also plays for both teams, feel me.”
      “Shit I ain’t looking for a wife just something to chill with from time to time.”
      “Well you met the right girl for that, did she talk to you more than five minutes?”
      “Hell yeah!”
      “Then you’re in, she only messed with Jamal while she’s been up here and I’m pretty sure that’s over since he’s in the league now. But if she spoke to you for more than five minutes you should be in.” I didn’t need him to tell me that, I knew I was good when I left her at the gym but now that I knew what I was dealing with my confidence had just stepped up another level. They asked Jus if he met anyone yet.
      “Just this one bitch, she ready.” (“She ready” means she’s down to fuck basically.) They dug a little deeper.
      “Anyone we know or fresh meat?” Travis replied.
      “Nah, she fresh.” Jus isn’t the most articulate person when speaking to people, unless he’s talking to a girl he could potentially have sex with then son becomes Langston mothafucking Hughes. He pretty much has a one track mind, but he’s straight up and that’s what I like about him. Well the session came to an end and we decided to head back to our dorm. On our way out I noticed that our senior center Brooks wasn’t in the apartment yet so I turned to Carl, “Where’s Brooks?”
      “Oh Brooks is always late for everything you’ll see that shit this year. The good thing is coach knows this and doesn’t punish everyone for his slow ass; thank God for that.”
      “Aight I’ll see y’all later.”
      I usually don’t smoke and bounce but we still had to unpack and meet our final suite mate. He would be staying next door to us and sharing our bathroom after all. He was supposed to be from outside of Philly, and everyone said he’s a monster down low. I just hoped that this dude was cool and not a dickhead. About two hours passed. Jus and I were almost finished arranging when we heard a knock on our bathroom door.
“Come in.” The door cracked open and in pops the head of this tall ass goofy looking brother with a friendly ass face and smile to match. “What’s cracking y’all, names Brad Miller.” His introduction was funny as hell; you had to see dude to understand what I mean. The gaps in his mouth alone would make a mute laugh out loud.
“I’m Kelly and that’s Jus” I replied giving him a pound as he pulled out a zip lock bag half full of weed. “I hope y’all blaze some” he stated as he swung the half full bag back and forth, and all I could think was that this was the beginning of a beautiful friendship and the start of an interesting journey.
      We automatically dropped everything we were doing and got down to business. It is always a process just to smoke one L in the dorms. We first stuff the door with a towel, then we set a fan in the window to blow the smoke into, and finally we spray Lysol around the door and in the hall to mask the smell just in case someone gets nosy. This takes all of five minutes, but when you wanna get down to business the shit seems like an eternity. Brad is real fucking cool. He was talking about how ain’t shit to do where he is from but ball and smoke, and we pretty much agreed with him. Shit, the only reason why we made it and other dudes didn’t was because we decided to let ball out weigh smoking, chilling, and the allure of the streets. We talked about how there were other guys all around us that were way more talented but were not as smart as we were to recognize right from wrong. Most of the time a player who made it out playing ball and into college isn’t the best player from his neighborhood; he was just the smartest one in the batch. Simply put, we didn’t completely give into the sex, drugs, or all the bullshit in our surrounding environment.
      I then broke the conversation to tell them that there was a welcome back dance in the state center tonight and we were all in agreement that it was going down. After we finished our little session, we continued to settle in but left the bathroom doors open to relay messages to the bunnies that passed by our windows. Thank god Jus bought a real stereo. We placed one of the speakers in our window while blasting “Young Joc.” Every girl who passed seemed to yell the chorus. I never heard so many “It’s going down” in my life. Jus was in the corner folding his clothes and simulating riding a motorcycle while singing. Being on the first floor of the dorms has its perks especially when you’re in an upperclassmen dorm and you’re a freshman. Our rooms have plenty of space to maneuver compared to the freshman dorms we are supposed to be in.
      “B, who’s your roommate for the year” I shouted.
      “I don’t know, they stuck me with some dude from Jersey. I spoke with him over the phone and he sounded white, but then again you can’t tell because I sound white over the phone and in person!” Damn, I hoped this dude was cool and not some anal retentive asshole. If he wasn’t, he was guaranteed to have three dudes each with a foot up his ass all year long. Time passes quickly when you’re high. I glanced at the clock which read 7:30pm. “It’s almost time to get ready for that party!” Brad yelled through the passage way from his door to ours.
      “Oh yeah, you know what that means, Reefer and Beer!” Jus shouted and we all laughed. Now all we had to do was get some drinks, and I knew exactly who to call, Mr. Anything. We called him up and of course he said yes, we just had to pay for it and he would drop it off. We tallied up our money and told him to get us a bottle of absolute and a six pack of Corona. He was at our door in 20 minutes and we were in business. We began what everyone here calls “pre-gaming.” We call it “getting right.” The party started at 10 and by 9:30 we were gone, straight faded. Man I ain’t been bent like that ever and it was the first day on campus. We chilled for another hour, playing Jus’ Xbox and listening to music.
      At around 10:30 we decided to roll up another L before heading over to the dance. On our way over we saw flocks and flocks of girls strutting in formation like wild geese. I wanted to pluck every one of them one by one. I get like that every time I drink. Jus on the other hand apparently not only gets nasty, he gets violent. This little bastard was starting shit with every dude that looked at him too long. I think he has a little man complex. He’s only bout five foot eight and in the basketball world that constitutes as very little. Brad is mister sensible. He diffused every situation before it got carried away. Plus he is big as shit so dudes want no part of him.
     We arrived at the party around quarter to 12:00 and the shit was terrible, and to be honest it was mostly the DJ’s fault, he was the worst. About 25 minutes passed and things still weren’t poppin. The girls were dancing by themselves, some with their crew of newly formed friends. It definitely wasn’t like it was supposed to be. So I rolled over to this cornball DJ and told him to put a little jam on and the beginning of the song did it all. “Out in the street they call it murder!”
      Before you knew it we were all grinding on something, and things were starting to look a whole lot better. Guys started to let the tank tops out and the girls got loose. Of course Lilly was in the spot working her ass, but I hadn’t seen Eva all night. Fuck it, I wasn’t gonna sweat it; there was plenty of tail swinging around anyways. I must have danced with like 7 different girls but this one girl had me ready; we danced for about five straight songs. I wasn’t about to leave without getting her name and hopefully her draws.
The night started to wind down and I was still a little buzzed. But after taking shots of Absolut from the bottle we had snuck in, I felt it was time to find my mission for the night. After scanning the room from side to side I spotted her in the corner cooling off in front of a fan. I strolled over and told her “That ain’t gonna be enough.” She smiled and said, “It’s getting the job done.” I then introduced myself and she told me her name was Cathy. I asked her where she was from and her reply was Florida. I then asked her if everybody from Florida knew how to dance like she did.
      “I was a dancer for 7 years.”
      “So why did you quit?”
      “No specific reason.”
      We went on like this for about 15 more minutes before the DJ announced the last dance, and that’s when I offered to walk her back to her dorm. She said sure and we slid off without anyone noticing. She was real cool about the situation, she seemed more relaxed than I was and the funny thing is that it turned me on more than I would’ve expected.
      The walk back to her place gave us more time to talk a little. The one thing I learned was that southern girls are nothing like New York chicks. For one thing they are way easier to talk to, no attitudes, no expectations, and the last thing on their mind is money. Or at least that’s what it seems like. Don’t get me wrong you meet the right shorty in New York, and aint nothing better, it just seems like they’re harder to come by back home. She tells me all about her family and her terrible relationship with her father. I nodded my head as if I truly cared, it sounds cold but we only knew each other for about three hours, I’ll be damned if I tell her anything personal about me right now all I’m telling her is what I want her to know such as where I’m from and some minor shit that I’ve been through.
      We approached her dorm and I reached for her hand. Our fingers invited each other and interlocked without hesitation. I pulled her close and looked dead in her eyes as I moved in for a kiss. Our lips met followed by our tongues. Slow and soft was how I’ve kissed a girl for as long as I can remember and it still worked because she pulled me closer and squeezed me just hard enough to give me that unspoken yes. I then pulled away slowly reestablishing eye contact while I told her “Let’s go upstairs.” She smiled and nodded her head. A woman of few words, aint nothing better I thought.
     We head inside through the double doors and straight to the second floor and into room 2B. On the door there were five other names of females I planned on getting acquainted with soon enough. “Damn, you got enough people up in here?” She replied “yeah we’re a little cramped in here but my girls are cool.” ‘My girls?’ I thought. I wanted to say “Bitch you only knew these chicks for half a day I give y’all three weeks before you can’t stand each other.” Females make the worst of friends, I should know I grew up with five of them and they went through friends like pocket books. One day they love each other the next day is ‘I can’t stand that bitch’. But I didn’t really give a fuck I was only concerned with getting it done with Cathy.
      We head past three doors in the suite straight to her room and I got right down to business. The kisses weren’t soft anymore; they were hard, passionate and at times sloppy. I started by caressing her breast as we kissed; my hands moved over her entire body in order to get familiar with each smooth curve. She was soft and warm. My hands then moved between her legs where the temperature seemed to be even warmer. I gently rubbed my middle and index fingers over her as she let out a moan, signaling for more.
      She began her own exploration of my body, but wasted no time and went straight for my crotch giving me a slight squeeze and a gentle rub. She quickly un-strapped my belt and reached down my boxers to slowly jerk me off. I paused from kissing her to enjoy the touch of her hands massaging me. That’s when she completely let loose and pulled my pants to the floor and began sucking me off like she was nursing on a bottle. I slowly put my head back and closed my eyes. Her mouth was warm, and man could she blow. I reopened my eyes to see her roommate staring at us from under her covers. I was shocked and surprised that she didn’t let us know she was in the room. We caught eye contact for what seemed like an eternity, I could barely make out her face in the dark but she smiled and so did I. I figured if she didn’t mind then neither did I, plus I wouldn’t dare stop Cathy from doing what she was so damn good at.
      I was ready for more so I brought her up off her knees and stripped her completely naked. I pulled out my golden wrapper, slid on a rubber and wasted no time going to work. She refused to be quiet, so I stuck my finger in her mouth for her to suck hoping it would muffle the sound but it only made for more yelps and moans bouncing off the walls of her cramped and hot dorm room. Her legs were cocked in the air in a V shape as I repeatedly pushed my way back and forth inside her trying to go as deep as I possibly could. The yelps seized as she tensed up clinching me as tight as she possibly could alerting me that she’s just been satisfied. She came first but I wasn’t finished yet.
      I slowly pulled out and told her to turn around putting her in my favorite position. She was then on all fours and I began to slide in from the back. I love doggy style because I knew she could feel me in her stomach plus the waves that a girl’s ass makes when it’s bouncing off my pelvis gets me excited. I glanced over to see her roommate was still up, but this time she seemed to be enjoying the show just as much as we were. Her hand was moving back and forth underneath her white linen sheets right between her legs, ‘What a freak!’ I started to feel my little soldiers racing from my balls up through my penis. I was about to come and Cathy could feel it too. My thrusts went from hard and steady to fast and aggressive; she couldn’t bury her face in her pillow any deeper as I gripped her shoulders firmly during my release. I let out a sigh and grunt of relief as Cathy slowly emerged from the depths of her pillow to take in a deep breath of fresh air.
      She moaned softly with every breath and so did her peeping tom roommate who seemed to have finished the same time we did with the same exasperating sigh. Her sound of satisfaction alerted Cathy; she immediately apologized and covered herself from head to toe with her comforter. I guess she felt ashamed, but we were both cool with the situation as I laughed and began to gather my clothing from around the room. I then laid on her bed looking at the ceiling for about twenty minutes as Cathy slowly fell asleep. I got dressed and was ready to make my way back to my dorm, but not before I told Cathy good night. She was damn near passed out by then and from the looks of it so was her roommate.
      My watch read 5:30 in the morning as I made my way past each dorm. It was weird seeing other students walking at the same time this early in the morning. I got back to my dorm just in time to see Brads goofy ass sitting outside on the bench smoking an L in the open like the shit aint illegal. But I guess nobody gives a fuck at five in the morning plus the campus police were nowhere to be found. So I walked up and sat down next to him, he was half way finished with it when he passed it to me.
      “Why you still up?”
      “I just got in from some Frat house party couple blocks away.”
      Brad is a real adventurous dude you can tell by how friendly he is. He can talk to anyone anywhere no matter who they were. I asked if it was good or not and he replied “It was alright nothing special except that I met this connect with some decent weed, but I’m out, you can finish that. See you tomorrow or later today I guess.” I sat and smoked the rest of the L he gave me and zoned out to watch the sunrise. I couldn’t help but feel good about my position in life as I said to myself out loud “This is it Kells, the beginning of a new life for you, you’ve arrived!”