001.

she was staring at the envelope, still a little confused. perhaps she has expected something bigger on one of the most important birthdays in her life? she was used to huge teddy bears or ipads, or dvd players - but an envelope? that was something very new, even for her parents’s taste. her eyes slowly ran from a small piece of paper in her hands, to her mother, then father and little sister - she could’ve sworn she saw a grin on her brother’s face, though - did he know what all of this was about? - and then back to the envelope. she knew she’ll have to open it now or later in time. but all of the tension she’s felt was a little.. odd and untypical for her family. she caught herself sighing slightly, which brought a worried look on her mothers face.

crap.

don’t make her upset, don’t make her upset, don’t make her upset, she told quietly to herself while opening the envelope. she had to make her happy. it was never a good day if the oldest woman in the house was upset. her mom’s face got normal again. phew, she thought, finally getting rid of the unnecessary paper from necessary one. then she looked at it closely. a few hundred words appeared in front of her eyes, and zoe did not even have to read the first statement to know where was it from. her eyes brightened a little, and eating word by word, there was a bigger and bigger smile on her face, which finally got rid of all of her mothers worries and made her smile too.

“i can’t wait to show this to dorothea,” was the first thing that came from her mouth after few moments of devouring what she’s just read. dorothea and her were inseparable even since elementary school and for a short while - until now - zoe thought they will separate because of the different colleges. she thought wrong, obviously. “she’s going to be soo thrilled.” she jumped into her mothers hug, smiling, danced around the kitchen and then hugged her father too. the tension was almost gone, her family got back to their old cheery selves, happy that the middle child was happy with her gift, “thank you, mom, dad,” she thanked with a smile, with one hand still holding her father and other holding the paper which had just told her that she was accepted to withmore’s institute of education.

002.

she was laying on the luxurious bed, staring at sketches that she could not and not get okay with. with a small sigh, she looked up to her best friend sitting by the desk, doing the same thing. “you know, sometimes i regret i did not take math,” she said with a sour smile “it makes me think i’d have less work than i have with this,” with a quick movement, she closed up the sketch book and jumped to desk where thea was sitting. she truly was a math expert, but she’s never really got into it too much. numbers bored her after sometime, and architecture seemed way more interesting than solving problems all the time. “these look beautiful, 'thea,” she smiled at her softly looking at the beautiful structure her friend just drew. she was talented, indeed. even zoe was sometimes jealous of her talents. she could basically do anything she would want to do - zoe could not do that. in a way, dorothea was so perfect she could not understand how could she stick to her for so long already. was that one lunch incident really so precious to her?

either way, she was happy to have someone she could rely on. thea was somebody that zoe would jump off the cliff for - that’s how much she’s trusted in their friendship. she could not actually believe that they will ever be apart from each other. coming to this institute together proved her, that they can be together wherever they go, if they only want that. she has only hoped that thea wanted the same thing she wanted.

they were accepted in and picked the same sorority - kappa xi alpha, the prestigious one and the one where all the riches and parties were revolving around. zoey had one goal this year - to work all the way up to the top of that sisterhood and become the leader of them all. maybe that’s how she could surpass her best friend in a way. not that they were competing, or anything - it was for her own happiness, to know she can do something on thea’s level.

even though she did not really have to.

003.

she could have said for herself, that she is extremely ambitious - in one year she truly became queen of her sorority. but she was afraid of how her leadership is going to be. she was afraid of what others would think of her. she wanted to be a mother and a leader in one, protective and open for suggestions when needed. she wasn’t like any other girl who was her sister, though.

in fact, the main difference between her and most of the girls was actually in kissing and having intimate relationships with guys. here’s where she just... well, let’s say froze. she did not know how to take the friendship to the next level without feeling pressured to do it or feeling like it should be done. so, for all the past year that all of the girls she was close with, knew almost every guy on the campus, she’s only really known one - her own brother, tyler. the leader of leading fraternity epsilon sigma phi. it was quite sad, if she would think of it.

yeah, you could say that she really was a lost case. she still is, but she is trying, or that’s what she’s said last year.

but she was trying to do most of the things and it did not end up with the results she’s wanted.

i’m wondering what’s the next chapter in her life, though.
this was just a few of them of her life before twenties.