A white Corolla pulls into my driveway, the bass of the radio rattling the car, despite it being seven in the morning. And as if my neighbors couldn't hate my noisy best friend enough this early in the morning, she honks the horn.

Delilah pokes her curly head out of the driver's side window, smiling brightly. "Happy last first day of undergrad!"

I stand from my sitting position on the front porch steps, throwing my arms out at my sides. "Really? I'm right here, ready to go."

"I know," she states simply before a devious smile graces her lips. She honks the horn again for emphasis.

I sigh, rolling my eyes.

Taking the last two bites of my apple, I throw the core away in the trashcan before hopping into the passenger seat and buckling up.

Delilah grabs my arm, shaking me excitedly. "It's our senior year, Liv!" she exclaims, her face glowing with senior status bliss.

A mix of emotions swirl around in my belly. "I know," I say, not sure if my voice comes off as excited or nervous.

Either way, Delilah's smile stays firmly in place as she turns back to the wheel and begins backing out of the driveway.

It's both exciting and unnerving to think that this is our last year of undergraduate classes. Dee and I are both in the pre-med program at Garton University and plan on getting into medical school next year. I'm hoping to go into cardiac surgery one day and she's more than determined to become a neurosurgeon. I just hope both of our dreams pan out and I'm able to stay local for med school.

While Georgia isn't the place I was born, nor the place I spent the first half of my childhood, it's my home. It's the first place I've ever felt stable, secure, safe. I can't imagine ever moving away, but I know medical schools are selective and you have to take what you can get sometimes. I'm just hoping wherever I end up is in Georgia. The ultimate dream would be if I got into the program here at Garton University.

Fingers crossed.

Dee drives the short distance to campus, cursing at all the cars parked without a student parking sticker. "Dumbass freshman," she seethes, her hands strangling the steering wheel, eyes narrowed behind her big glasses, on the hunt for any available parking space. "I hope they all get parking tickets."

I chuckle as she crawls along in the parking lot traffic, everyone else seeming to have difficulty finding a place to park on the first day of classes. Eventually, Dee gives in, following the masses to the next available parking lot that's about a five minute walk from the science building where our first class is.

She swings the Corolla into the first available parking spot, throwing it in park. Her hands still white knuckled around the steering wheel, an odd silence and stillness consumes the car. It's like that moment before a big storm, where the sky grows dark and the temperature suddenly drops about ten degrees, birds flying away, knowing to seek shelter.

And then the storm comes.

Dee lets out a scream. A long, frustrated scream.

I flinch at the sudden, unexpected noise.

After her outburst, she takes in some calming breaths, chanting the mantra, "We're fine. We're cool. We're zen."

Once those words seem to be true, she turns to me, plastering a huge smile on her face. "Senior year is going to be awesome," she states, oozing with fake optimism.

I laugh, shaking my head. "Well, I guess it's a good thing you always pick me up an hour before class starts. You know, because what if there's a zombie apocalypse?" I mock her.

Delilah has always been a fan of arriving to places early, hence why she always picks me up from my house an hour before class even starts, despite campus being less than fifteen minutes away from my house. But she always manages to fill that extra time with buying a coffee and studying.

She scowls at me. "Zombie apocalypse, dumbass freshman that take up all the parking spots," she says, holding both her hands out palms up, teetering them next to each other until they're level. "Same thing. But lucky for you we still have twenty minutes before class starts instead of being late, so you're welcome."

I roll my eyes, unbuckling my seatbelt and grabbing my backpack from the floorboard before exiting the car.

"Wait for me, I have little legs you giraffe!" Delilah yells after me as I start walking towards the science building without her.

I hear her car door slam shut, her keys jingling in her hand as she jogs up behind me, hooking her arm through mine. I nearly trip over my own two feet when she jerks me in the opposite direction of the science building.

"Uh, Dee? I know it's been about three months since we last had classes, but the science building is that way," I remind her, pointing in its general direction.

She gives me an exasperated look, still yanking me in the opposite direction. "I recall," she says dryly. "But as I stated, we still have twenty minutes until class starts so you know what that means," she singsongs, perking up, and I realize it's because she's dragging me towards the campus coffee shop.

I shake my head, exasperated yet amused by her coffee addiction. She's been to the campus coffee shop every day since freshman year, and at this point it would be just downright blasphemous if a day went by where she didn't.

"I don't even want to know how much money you've given this place over the years," I mutter under my breath as we walk in, the strong smell of coffee immediately invading my nostrils.

We get in line and she hums in thought. "Probably at least a semesters tuition worth," she admits, making me choke out a surprised laugh.

Delilah orders her coffee and as we're waiting for the barista to make it I feel my phone buzz in my pocket. I pull it out, sighing as I read the text.

Quinton: Hey, where are you? Class is about to start soon and seats are filling up. Don't worry though, I'm saving one for you.

Its thoughtful of him to do that, it really, really is, but I can't help the feeling of dread trickling into my belly.

Quinton has been my friend for as long as Delilah has. The three of us have been inseparable since freshman year when we were all paired as biology lab partners. Quinton is also a pre-med major, meaning we all have the same classes, and the three of us always study together and work on homework, but things between us lately have been... strained.

Before winter break last year, Quinton admitted he has feeling for me, but the problem is that I don't feel the same way about him. He's my friend, and he's nice enough, but I'm just not romantically attracted to him whatsoever.

Quinton took it hard when I said I just wanted to be friends, and I feel it's put a wedge between our friendship ever since. Eventually he came around, but I can tell a part of him still wants to be more than friends, and that lingering fact almost feels suffocating sometimes. There have been days when I've debated dropping him as a friend altogether, but I think it would be almost cruel considering Dee and I are the only friends he has here.

Since the day I met him, Quinton has always been quiet and standoffish to others. He was that way with Delilah and me in the very beginning but then he warmed up to us. He hasn't seemed to warm up to anyone else though, sticking with Delilah and I these past three years.

Never the one for subtlety, Dee looks over my shoulder at the text, frowning. "He didn't send me a text," she says, pouting and feigning offense. "He better save me a seat, too."

I throw her a glare and she gives me an apologetic, sympathetic look in return for trying to lighten things up by teasing me. She knows how much I've been struggling with Quinton, and she's tried to get me to cut him off more than once, but I just can't bring myself to tell him I don't want to be friends. I know what it's like to not have friends, and I can't let someone else feel that way. It's too lonely, too heartbreaking, and it's not like his residual feelings for me are actually hurting anything, they just make things a little awkward, that's all.

I type him back a quick text.

Me: Be there soon. Dee had to get her coffee. lol

Quinton: Of course.

Bubbles appear right after the first text comes through.

Quinton: Can't wait to see you. I missed you over the summer.

I audibly groan.

And it's this. Situations like this that really make me uncomfortable and almost guilty for still being his friend, knowing I can't give him more than my friendship, even though he wants more.

Dee grabs her coffee from the barista, looking over my shoulder once more, cringing at the message. "Yikes."

"I know," I whine, shoving my phone back into my pocket, not bothering to respond.

Delilah frowns, eyes soft, sympathetic behind her thick rimmed glasses perched on top of her thin nose, looking big on her narrow face. Her Indian features are strong despite only her mother being Indian—her father is American.

"He needs to stop saying shit like that." She shakes her head, frown deepening. "He knows you just want to be friends. Do you want me to talk to him?" she offers.

I sigh, shaking my head. "No." I have a feeling that would only make matters worse and even more awkward. "It's only one more year," I admit optimistically, feeling anything but.

"Not unless he follows you to med school," she mutters under her breath.

I shoot her a glare. "Not funny."

She raises her eyebrows. "Oh I wasn't kidding, Liv," she says honestly, making my stomach twist.

I blow out a slow breath, feeling a headache coming on. "I know."

Not only is it senior year and I have to worry about getting into med school, taking the MCAT one last time, and acing my classes to maintain my 4.0 GPA, but now I also have to continue to navigate my friendship with Quinton on top of it.

Delilah gives me a gentle smile, patting me on the shoulder. "Hey, senior year is going to be awesome, okay?" she assures, a lot more genuine than when she said it ten minutes ago.

I force myself to smile back at her, filled with doubt.

Sensing my unease, she loops her arm through mine once more, leading us to the science building and into our senior year with utter confidence despite all the unknowns that lie ahead.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hi friends! I hope you liked this bonus chapter of what the first day of senior year looked like for Liv!

I've gotten MULTIPLE comments throughout the story wishing/asking for Olivia's pov and I've been toying with the idea for quite some time now to write the story solely in her pov. Is that something you would be interested in or would I just be beating a dead horse with a stick? lol

OBVIOUSLY there would be all new twist and turns (I'd have to keep you on your toes and interested somehow) but the overall plot would stay the same.

Is this something you would be genuinely interested in? If the interest is high enough I may just consider it. Lmk in the comments! :)

All the best,

Nicole