Sam’s Mom arrives at Coyote University to help her daughter Vicky move into her freshman dorm. Vicky, who was hoping to go to college somewhere much further away from her family members, is not exactly thrilled at the prospect of once again spending the next four years of her life as “Sam’s Little Sister.”
Her worst fear is immediately confirmed when she goes to pick up her room keys. A set of blonde twins wearing lanyards around their necks are running the check-in table.
“Hi there! Welcome to the dorms! First and last name, please.”
“Vicky Shepherd.”
“Oh, are you Sam’s little sister?”
“Yeah,” Vicky says dryly. She frowns at her Mom. The twins look at each other and giggle.
“Yeah… we know Shep.”
Sam’s Mom raises her eyebrow. The twins hand Vicky her keys and start giggling again. They smile brightly at her.
“Welcome to the dorms!” they say in unison.
When they go upstairs, Vicky meets her new RA.
“Are you Sam’s little sister?” she asks excitedly.
“I sure am,” Vicky says, rolling her eyes. “Let me guess… you know him too.”
“Yeah, I know Shep,” she says with a laugh. “I know Shep very well. I see him around here all the time.”
Sam’s Mom’s mouth drops open.
“Welcome to the floor!” the RA says, showing Vicky to her room.
Sometime later, they go over to pick up Vicky’s class schedule. To the surprise of absolutely no one, the secretary recognizes her last name immediately.
“Are you Sam’s little sister?” she asks with a smile on her face.
“I see you’ve met him before too.”
“Yeah,” she sighs, flipping her hair back. “I know Shep.”
Sam’s Mom shakes her head in disbelief.
“Welcome to Coyote University!”
Vicky storms out of the office angrily. When they go to the book store to pick up Vicky’s books, the same thing happens all over again.
“Are you Sam’s little sister?” asks the girl behind the counter.
“Maybe,” Vicky snaps.
“Yeah, I know Shep,” she says with a sneaky little smile. “We study together in the library.”
“Study?” asks Sam’s Mom.
“Yeah,” she sighs dreamily. “Study…”
Finally, they decide to stop at the student center for a coffee.
“Oh! You’re not Sam’s little sister, are you?”
Vicky is so upset she can’t even respond at this point.
“Yeah, I know Shep too,” says the barista, crossing her arms and frowning. “All the girls around here know who he is.”
Vicky and her Mom walk back to Vicky’s dorm together.
“What’s my son been doing that all these girls know who he is?” their Mom wonders aloud.
“Come on, Mom,” Vicky says, rolling her eyes. “It’s pretty obvious what he’s been doing.”
All of a sudden, Sam walks in carrying a box of Vicky’s stuff. His shirt is notably absent. All of the women in the hallway stop what they’re doing to watch him walk by.
“Hey Vicky,” he says. “I brought in the last of your stuff for ya.”
All of the women’s eyes shift to Vicky. She looks around the hall nervously.
“Can’t wait to have my little sis at school with me again!” Sam says cheerfully.
Vicky scowls at him.
“Yeah.”
“So,” Sam says just loud enough so everyone can hear. “We’re having a party over at the Basketball House tonight. You can come if you want to. Maybe you can even bring some of your new friends.”
All of the freshman girls let out a collective gasp. Vicky’s scowl turns into a glare.
“We’ll see.”
“Yeah, just let me know whenever.”
Vicky turns around and goes back into her room in a huff. A moment later, Sam’s Mom calls out to him.
“Sam, can you come in here for a minute, please?”
“Yeah, sure. Just let me put my shirt back on.”
When Sam walks into Vicky’s dorm room, their Mom is standing there with her arms crossed.
“What?” he asks innocently. “It was hot outside.”
“It’s her first day of college,” she says in a low voice. “She wants to make her own friends. Can you just… cool it down, please?”
“Sorry, Mom.”
“Can I have my car keys back now, please?”
“Sure,” Sam says, tossing her the keys. “I parked it right out front for ya.”
“Thanks, honey.”
“See you later, Vicky!”
Sam winks at her and saunters off down the hall.
“I can’t do this,” Vicky says. “I want to go home right now.”
Her Mom shakes her head.
“Just look on the bright side, sweetie,” she says. “At least you’ll never have any shortage of new friends.”
Sometime later, after their Mom has finally left, Vicky hears a knock at the door. When she opens it, a group of girls is standing outside in the hall.
“Hey,” says the leader girl. “Your name is Vicky, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Was that guy who was here earlier your older brother?”
“Maybe. Who wants to know?”
“Well, we heard him mention something about a party later, and we were just wondering if you were still planning on going. We wouldn’t want you to go alone or anything. It’s better if a group of girls all go together. You know, for safety reasons.”
“Yeah,” pipes up a second girl. “Safety reasons.”
Vicky looks at the girls hesitantly.
“I don’t know…” she says half-heartedly.
“Come on,” says the leader girl. “I bet it will be fun! It’s our first big college party! We can all go down to the dining hall first and then get ready in our rooms later. Then we can all go together.”
“Well…”
“Please?” all the girls say in unison.
Vicky lets out a heavy sigh.
“Okay. We can go to the stupid basketball party, but don’t ask me to introduce you to my brother. I’m sure he’ll be more than happy to take care of that himself.”
All the girls smile together. As they walk down to the dining hall, Vicky decides to take her Mom’s advice. Maybe it’s better to look on the bright side after all.
The End