I was the last of five children, but far younger than my siblings. My father’s first wife had died in a car accident when the youngest of his four children was ten and the oldest, sixteen. About a year after she was gone, he married my mother who twenty years younger than him. She hadn’t anticipated how hard it would be raising four kids, so she told my dad she did not want to have any of her own. My dad was a farmer, so we really had no close neighbors. Once the crops were in, he drove a truck over the road and was gone for weeks at a time. As the kids got older and headed off to college or started their own families I guess my mom got lonely. She told my dad she had changed her mind and about a year later, I was born.
Mom had a teaching degree, but had had a hard time finding a full time job as a teacher, just subbing from time to time. She had finally gotten a job as an administrative assistant several years before she met and married my dad. She had quit her job to become a full time wife and mother. When I was little, she doted on me, reading me book after book. I learned to read by the time I was three, and quickly progressed from children’s books to much more advanced reading. Since the nearest school was over fifteen miles away, and driving conditions often quite bad in the winter, mom decided to home school me.
Dad had always refused to get satellite TV, so we just got the local channels, and since there were no kids around on a regular basis, books became my refuge. I took a keen interest in science and was soon surpassing mom’s ability to teach me. She finally convinced dad to upgrade our dial-up computer to high speed internet so I could enroll in online classes that would be able to keep pace with my abilities and interests. I excelled and by the time I was fourteen, I was already enrolling in some college courses. When I was sixteen, I got accepted to Stanford University as a second year student, beginning in the fall. By the second term, I would be a junior, and I hoped to get my undergraduate degree before I turned eighteen.
I was totally unprepared for the new environment. At first having so many people around was disconcerting and I kept to myself a lot. I spent much of my time either in the library or the labs. My classmates were at least three or four years older than me. Add to that, the fact that I was on the petite side, did not use makeup and wore my hair in a long ponytail, the age difference was even more pronounced. The school paired ne up with a freshman roommate who was only two years older than me. She did her best to bring me out of my shell.
First, we went for a makeover of my hairstyle, shorter and with a more sophisticated look. She did what she could with my wardrobe, taking me to a couple of resale shops for accessories and a few new items of clothing. We also scored a brand new pair of boots that could be worn with jeans or a dress. It took some doing on her part, but she finally convinced me to socialize with her a few times. By spring break, I was much more social than I was when I arrived. With summer coming up, I was looking for an internship, while taking a couple of summer courses, hoping I could stay on campus
Mom and dad really wanted me to come home, but even though I had a partial scholarship, the portion that wasn’t covered, plus other expenses still amounted to a fair amount of money. They were able to cover it without the need for a student loan, but it did not leave much to send me for spending money. An internship would give me a chance to save up some money I could use during the school year. My roommate had come up with a different plan. There were a number of companies near where she lived that did bio research, which was the field I was majoring in. They did hire interns and a good friend of her dad’s worked at one of them.
If I could land a job there, I could spend the summer working, and live with her and her family. She had already cleared it with her folks and her dad said he would discuss it with his friend and try to set up an interview. My parents felt much better when they found out I would not be living on my own if I got the job, so they gave me their blessing. I sent on my credentials and a phone interview was scheduled. I was called back for a face to face interview and after a couple of tense weeks was notified I got the internship.
I was hoping to be able to get home for a week when school let out, but the company wanted me to start right away. Janice and I packed up our room and loaded it into the trailer her dad had towed down behind his SUV to bring us home. We threw our suitcases into the back of the car and then climbed in. While I was a bit apprehensive, I was also looking forward to this new experience. Janice had an older sister who had recently married and was off on her honeymoon, so I would be staying in her old room. She had two younger brothers, and her grandma lived in a mother-in-law setup in the rear of the home.
After arriving at her home, and being greeted with open arms, we unpacked and I got settled in. Her sister had been living at home before the wedding, so there were still a few things she had left behind. Janice’s mom told me just to throw it all in one of the drawers and move the stuff in the closet off to the side. When she returned from the honeymoon, she would be picking up the rest of her stuff and moving in with her new hubby. As I went through the drawers I moved some clothing, magazines and a couple of books and a stack of DVD cases. I threw everything in a bottom drawer, moved her hanging clothes to one side, and unpacked my stuff. I made some room on the desk for my laptop and books, and headed down to dinner.
I was due to start work the next day, and Janice was going to the bus stop and make sure I got on the right bus. She would ride in with me, and show me where to catch the bus home. The online summer classes I signed up for could be started at anytime, so I was just waiting to get the textbooks I had ordered to arrive. Everything was coming along according to plan. My parents had insisted I pay something to my hosts for room and board, even though they had said it was not necessary; that they were glad to have me.
We had finally settled on a small weekly amount and that I would assume the chores Janice’s older sister did. Even allowing additional money for my personal expenses, lunches and bus fare, I should be able to save a decent amount of my salary, which would ease the burden on my parents. I worked out a schedule for everything, including class and study time. Janice took one look at it and immediately crossed several items off the list.
“You are NOT going to spend all your time working and studying, Alicia. This is our summer break and we are gonna have some fun! Didn’t you enjoy getting out and meeting new people?”
“Yes.”
“Good! I am getting a job as well. The store I worked in during high school hired me every time I came home on school breaks. Usually just a few hours as a fill in, but they told me they need a full time person over the summer. One of the employees just had a baby and will be on maternity leave, so I lucked out. But I intend to have some fun too, and so will you.”
I did have to admit to myself that although I had felt quite awkward at first I had come to enjoy socializing. It really had been a new experience for me. Janice wasn’t quite a “party girl”, but she did make new friends easily and enjoyed hanging out with other students. She had belonged to a number of clubs in high school, but she and her parents had agreed that her first year in college should concentrate on studies and acclimating to being responsible for her time without supervision of parents.