West took a deep breath, in through the nose and out through the mouth, just like his mother had taught him and took a step inside. The world exploded into life, people moving this way and that carrying bags, crying parents saying goodbye to their children for the last time as they begin their voyage into the big, bad world. West walked by himself, a bag strung over his shoulder, looking at his feet as to avoid eye contact. As he walked, he remembered his mother's farewell as she stood at the terminal at Edinburgh, saying,
"Apply yourself sweetie. Everything will be okay. Have fun." The exact same three things she had been telling him for as long as he could remember. He had tried each item on the list hundreds of times each, none of them seemed to bring him anything that even slightly resembled happiness. Now, here he was in America, the latest stop on his quest for happiness. He had been everywhere in Scotland, traveled to every town, visited every bar and club, screwed so many guys and girls that he had lost count and none of it had made the world any brighter. America, that's where they all went in the films, there had to be something here that would make life worth living again.

By some miracle, West made it up to his room without making eye contact with anyone else in the building. He was up on the top floor, which was perfect for him. Being at the top of a building like this means no-one is just 'passing through'. People would only come up here if they had a reason to be there, which suited him just fine. At this exact instance, he wanted to be alone. He opened the door to his room clumsily, almost dropping his bag in the process and opened it to find exactly what he had expected. The room was bland and resembled a prison cell, just with a little more room. There was a pair of beds, a couple of cupboards and desks and not much else. It was pretty much exactly what West expected, given his prior experiences with university accommodations. He took a seat on one of the beds and stared vacantly at the other. He was supposed to have had a roommate, but the poor guy got into a car accident two weeks prior to moving in and was in some sort of coma like state, meaning West had the room to himself. Part of him felt bad for the guy, but no more sad than when you read about a tragedy in the news that ultimately doesn't concern you. He didn't let himself linger on it, instead he put his bag on the spare bed in his room and began to unpack.

It took only half an hour for West to unpack his things. A laptop, a couple of handfuls of clothed, a scattering of books and a few posters for TV shows and games that were popular but West had no interest in. When he was finished, he simply collapsed on his bed and closed his eyes. Classes didn't start for a week, which meant he needed to find a way to keep himself sane and occupied until then. Of course there were events on at the university, clubs to check out and people to meet, but West planned to avoid as much of that as possible. Unless he was roped into them somehow, those were the sorts of events he would rather be blissfully ignorant of. No matter what it was, he had tried it and it hadn't interested him then so it probably wouldn't interest him now. Instead, he chose to open up one of the books he was going to be studying as an English major.
"It's going to be different this year" He whispered to himself as he turned the first page, already despising what he was reading "You'll find it West, I promise."

"Sophie, that man who passed by, his cologne. Was he hot?" Luz asked as the two walked calmly in the chaotic crowd of new and returning students at the front garden of the university. The two chuckled to one another as Sophie turned her head in search for the male she was referring to, seeing that he was the only swift one to slither through the crowd and into the dorms for males, admiring his dark hair color which glistened in the summer sun.

"I couldn't see his face, buuuut," she turned back to Luz who was anticipating for a yes. "He totally is." Luz squealed with excitement as she asked what kind of outfit he was wearing which Sophie added that he had very foreign features to his eyes but could be wrong.

One of the best parts about returning to UCSD was being around Luz. Sophie had a plethora of friends from different social niches and she treated everyone as a person strictly loyal and faithful to The Golden Rule but Luz was a lot like her Spanish-Mexican named defined which was "light". Even though she was blind enough to need help, it didn't change what Luz described her personality to be before the unfortunate downfall; witty, flirtatious despite deeming herself a five or six on the "Sex Appeal" scale, and radiant. Sophie felt blessed to have such a positive influence around her to make her forget of the dread of her past that she had yearned to open up to Luz about but Sophie couldn't and didn't plan to. She would just have to stick to spending a lot of time, siting in the shower and thinking about her beloved and deceased father to soothe her thoughts.

"Wait, you said he looked foreign, right?" she corrected as Sophie returned from her zoning out.

"Yep, but I'm not entirely sure, I just... you know, got 'that vibe'. Oh, you're so clever, Lulu. Now, I know where you're going with this. You're thinking he's the new guy you showed pictures to me on the UCSD forum. Remember when we were on there? I hated seeing my face in the 'Welcome Your New Tritons!' tab. I had a terrible hair day."

"Oh, come on, you're always bella, Sophie. Stop it, you're making me upset," she chuckled. "Let's head go to the cafeteria, I feel like eating some pizza and salad."

"I'm right with you, buddy," she hugged Luz tighter as they walked fiercely.

West managed around fifty pages of the book before he surrendured, tossing the book to the floor and rolling onto his back. Everything about it was so... Sad, boring and dry. Why couldn't they study something full of rainbows and kittens, something that didn't make West want to jump out of a nearby window?
"It's easy to suffer." West mumbled to himself "Harder to actually enjoy yourself."

West lay still for a good half an hour, keeping his mind active by counting roof tiles, or milling over way in which this year would be different for him. He probably would have spent another hour doing similar things if there hadn't been a knock on his door. He didn't get a chance to answer before the door swung open and a girl, maybe just a little younger than he was pranced into his room.
"Yoo-hoo!" She cooed, like the two of them had been friends for years and this was a normal occurrence for the pair of them "Pleased to meet'cha neighbor, I'm Emily Dick, kinda like Emily Dickinson but I mean, there can only really be one right?" She laughed at her own 'joke', a shrill noise that made West recall old cartoon witches he had seen on television as a child. "I'm the door to your right with my roommate Alice, she's sooo nice the two of you will get on like a house on fire! So anyway, apparently there's this big party tonight for all of the freshers and I just know I'll see you there! It's not a party without you!" And, with a little bounce, Miss Emily Dick bounced out of West's room, leaving West sitting there with his jaw slightly agape.

West's first thought was of that girl's roommate and how sorry he was for her. The second thought was that he was going to have to remember to lock his door regularly, otherwise risk intrusion on a day by day basis. As he walked over to the door, turning the lock and double checking the door was secure, his mind drifted towards the party Emily had spoke about and for a brief moment, he considered it. He was no stranger to those sorts of events, but more often than not they left him feeling more hollow than anything else. Whether this was from the party itself or from the combination of alcohol and other drugs he would pump into his system remained to be seen to, but West decided there and then that unless he had good reason to, he would not attend. He was here, at this University, to find something different and if he fell into the same routines, he would never manage it.

The second this though crossed his mind, his stomach growled violently. Honestly, he couldn't remember the last time he had eaten anything other than tic-tacs. WWOWD? He thought What would old West Do? The answer was pretty simple, food normally tasted like nothing and served as no more than a way of preventing oblivion in West's eyes. So, he stood up and made his way to the door and it wasn't until his hand was on the handle he realized something. He had no idea where to get food around here. Still, he opened the door and stepped out into the corridor, planning to merely meander until he found something. No sooner had his foot met the carpet, he heard a familiar voice calling out
"Yoo-hoo!" Emily cawed from a couple of feet away, apparently still on her mission to deafen everyone on the floor "Where do you think you're going?" She asked, bounding over to West like a puppy. West knew what the correct thing to do in this particular circumstance was, but he also knew he would regret it instantly.
"You wouldn't happen to know where the cafeteria is, would you?" He asked.
"Of course silly! Come ooon, I'll show you." She grabbed West by the arm and began to drag him down the corridor, to West's surprise she was a lot stronger than he had expected. The wobbled through corridors, Emily talking constantly about the people she had met already and the reasons she came to the university. The wandered through corridors for a good few minutes before West sighed and mumbled
"West."
"No silly, we're going east." Emily beamed, dragging him further into the labyrinth of a building
"That's my name." He practically sighed "I never mentioned it before." Emily looked confused for a second, looking upwards like she was trying to remember something important, then simply shrugged and continued bouncing through the halls.
"Pleased to meet you West!" She rounded one last corner and all of a sudden they were standing in the mouth of a large room, bustling with awkward looking people "Ta-da! Welcome to the cafeteria!"