[Playlist]
Where Does the Good Go by Tegan and Sara
Dear Jamie ... Sincerely Me by Hellogoodbye
Fall for You by Secondhand Serenade


tw: mention of death by cancer


The bass guitar plucked the melody with the sun already risen, before I would ever want to. I wanted to groan in agony but my tiredness prevented me. The two voices began to chime together, "Where do you go with your broken heart in tow..." With the first verse, I pulled myself off my bed, brain finally in motion when my body thumped on the floor.

"Wakey wakey, first day of school and you've already hurt yourself." The distant voice said next to me. Still with eyes resisting morning, I recognize the voice as Rachel, my roommate for the course of this year. "I personally love this song but early Tegan and Sara is probably my last choice on a morning alarm." Luckily, Rachel and I had similar taste in shit music. "What do you do with the left over you, And how do you know, when to let go..."

"Anything faster just gets me in a pissed off mood." My voice finally registering, as well as my eyes. I lift the top half of my body upwards, looking at Rachel, already dressed for the day. "I have a 7 AM class and three hours between my next classes. Good for you that I don't like the food court and the library is too far, just don't make me turn into your mom, okay?" She was laying on her already made twin bed, holding up a textbook with her arms straightened. I was sure if her hands failed her, the textbook would smack her in the face. "Where does the good go..." I grabbed my phone, configured the phone, walked over to my wardrobe, letting my silence answer her. It was already 8am and I had an hour to get ready, or thirty minutes to get ready and another thirty to try to find my class without getting lost. I glared at my shirt shelf, wondering what proclamation I should be stating today. I end up picking my lucky "Hellogoodbye" v-neck shirt, with grey skinny jeans. I shoved my feet into flip flops and grabbed my bathroom bag.

"I've got class back to back until 2. Then I've got work until 6." I tell Rachel as I stomped my way out the dorm.

"You got a job already?" She asks, glancing at me from her book.

"My aunt has a coffee shop, I'm helping her get it going." I tell her before closing the door behind me. I head to the public bathrooms, getting ready for the noticeable always "clean" stench, hearing a chaos of females, and then seeing them waiting in line for the shower. Someone complaining about how she's going to be late for class but HAS to take a shower. I maneuver around the line to get the same girl screaming about me cutting the line. I ignore her, and feel the intense feeling of eyes following me. The line stopped at the door but one taller girl blocked the entrance but there was enough room to see no one near the sinks.

"Um," I tried to sound polite enough, "I'm just brushing my teeth, can I get through?" The girl standing as a human door stopper turned to me, letting her bitch face soften with a smile.

"Sure," the girl stepped aside, "I'm just here to regulate." I nod and proceeded, rushing to the sinks and pulled out my toothbrush. "YOU GUYS HAVE ONE MINUTE LEFT!" Her voice echoed from the door. A groan or two came from the shower stalls. I wanted to snicker but there was no real time to enjoy the situation. I brushed my teeth, glaring at my face, noticing the complete mess of hair around it. The showers then stopped and each girl exited, either fully clothed or towel around them but all not in the mood to be judged. With that, I began to brush my hair, noticing a blue haired girl in a towel exit the most visible shower from the mirror and approach the sink next to me. By this time, I've managed my shit blonde hair and applied the first layer of foundation onto my skin.

"You know, if you went to a salon, your hair wouldn't be so damaged, right?" The girl, basically towering me with her curves said. I first didn't register that she was talking to me but from the silence, and her head leaning towards me, I finally replied.

"I just wanted to see how I'd look like as a blonde." I said, a bit defensively, maybe a bit ready to run. I made real eye contact with the girl, realizing she was almost an entire foot taller than me. She laughed in response, now with her blue hair pinned up like the iconic 50s.

"I'm Sa- Xena. Just changed my name so I'm still getting used to it." She was more cheerful than most people in here at this hour. "Freshman. Drama education major."

"Olivia. Same, and English education major." I reply.
"Same?" She looked at me with her wild blue eyes, "Tumblr lingo, yeah? Anyways, I assume you've got class soon so I'll talk to you later. Room 213, if you're up for making friends." With that, she grabbed her things and went out without another word. Showers were already onto their next human, someone whining about how cold the water is, and I made that my cue to leave. I grabbed my bag, looked at myself one more time, accepted genetics, and walked towards the door.

"Most girls take longer than you, I'm impressed." The door stopper acknowledged me again, this time I smiled at her but said nothing. I was getting irritated with the overload of noise and didn't want to make an enemy with someone at the moment. I walked down the hallway again, noticing no blue haired Xena, guessed her room was on the opposite side of the dorm complex, and reached my own dorm's room open. I enter, not closing the door behind me, and threw my bathroom bag onto my bed.

"I hear someone got murdered in the showers." Rachel says, unenthusiastically, still reading her textbook.

"No-" I pulled on socks and shoved my feet into my high top beige converse.

"Well, expect it eventually. You saw that line." She says now with more gusto. I could hear a smile appear on her face from the way she said it but I didn't look. I grabbed my backpack and headed back out.

"I'll see you later today then! We'll talk later!" She yells as I step out.

It was 8:40 in the morning and I was in panic mode. English 15 was in twenty minutes and I still had no clue where it was. All I knew was it wasn't close enough and there were stairs involved. 9 in the morning and I had to deal with stairs. I don't know what past me was thinking when I arranged my schedule but I had to deal with it now. As I unlocked my bike and placed the lock the wire framed basket, I pulled out my camps map, locating the building. Lincoln Smith Building was across campus. I threw myself onto my bike and raced to the building, trying not to trample pedestrians on the way.

It took me five minutes to get the the building, three minutes to lock up my bike properly, three minutes to climb one flight of stairs, and six minutes to find the room. Whoever decided to make this building have diagonals and dead ends must have hated college students because there was at least three other lost students looking for their classes with me. Luckily, I was there earlier than expected and got to pick a seat in the dead middle, while others were all over the place. Some sat in the front and some at the back. I didn't really care, I just wanted the class to start so I can get the day over with. I pulled out a highlighter and mechanical pencil, getting ready for the instructor to come it.

"Olivia!" A familiar voice said at the door. I turned to see blue haired Xena put her messenger bag down. Instead of a towel around her, she wore brown moccasin loafers and a dress, fitting with the 50s hairdo.

"Hey..." My voice lingered a bit longer than I wanted.

"Guess we've got the same morning class. We should compare scheds, see if we're matching anywhere else." Xena was louder than anyone else in the room, and attracted a few eyes from the males in class. I nodded and pulled of my "safety schedule". She glanced at it for a bit before talking again, "Damn, you got into History with Evans? Heard Evans is way more relax. We've also got Art History together at 1 and I've got Drama an hour before that in Hillary R. Flannery building so save me a spot kay?"

"Sure. I'm-" I saw cut off from a loud cough from the front of the class. Xena and I both looked up to see the professor at his desk.

"Sorry, just making friends." Xena said to him before sitting down next to me. I feel my face go hot but face the professor with a serious face. He excuses us and begins to pass out the syllubus. He introduces himself as "Just Jonah" and stammers through the class objective. He's a younger man, black short hair with stubble. He also wasn't too bad to look at.

"There is your tentative schedule in the back. I assume you all can read the rest later." He gives up reading his own syllabus, "Now, I'd like you all to form a circle with your desk. We'll introduce ourselves to each other in a non-formal way." With that, the desks move. Lazy assholes drag the desk, making screeches from the friction with the floor, but eventually, we get into some coherent circle type shape.

"Name, major, one facts about yourself, and last book you read, trying to keep this English related and all." Just Jonah instructs, “I’ll go first. Hey, I'm Jonah. I majored in English. I've been volunteering in the local animal shelter for ten years, and the last book I read was 50 Shades of Grey - recommended by my younger sister."

"Did you like it?" A redhead girl in a button up plaid shirt blurted out at him from across the circle.

"Like I said, my younger sister recommended it. How would you feel if your younger sister told you to read badly written smut?" The class laughs, including me, all except the boy across the circle from me. It looked like he was going to say something but he didn't. The next person was up and she identified herself as Carla. Freshman. Some science major. Next person. Stephen, but just Steve. Freshman. Computer Engineering. The circle went on as I pretended to listen. Xena had gone quiet as well, probably thinking of a cool way to introduce herself.

"I'm Liam." The boy's turn was up. "I'm a freshman as well. I'm not really sure what I want to do yet so I guess Undecided. Fun fact about me is that I worked at Disneyland this summer. The last book I read was The Fault in Our Stars."

"Did you like it?" The same redhead asked him.

"No not really." He brushed it off, now declaring himself asshole of the class. The class kept going with introductions and I tried to keep my interest.

"Hey guys." Xena's voice was lightening up the room at this point, "I'm Xena, Drama Education major. Fun fact about me is that I'm from Ohio and the book I'm reading currently is Game of Thrones." The book name drop led to a full on discussion on the television show but settled down when Xena explained that she didn't want any spoilers. My turn was up.

"Hi, I'm Olivia. English Education major," I spoke up. Just Jonah practically jumped off his chair now that he has an English major in his class, "Um, fun fact about me is that I like a broad spectrum of music and the last book I read was Deathly Hallows."

"What do you mean by a broad spectrum of music?" Liam asked, giving me a glare of judgment.

"What?" I said dumbly.

"Pop? Punk? Rap? Rock? R&B? Indie? You like all of them?" He pressed.

"No," I reply, stronger than before, "I like some artist in each category. There's too many artists and bands to remember them all."

"Favorite Beatles song?" He was starting to quiz me.

"I Wanna Hold Your Hand." I spat with no thought. He huffed in detest, leaning back into his hair. "What? I Wanna Hold Your Hand was the single that got them big. Without it, their careers wouldn't have gotten as big as it was. Judge me all you want, Liam, but you can't overlook the first album because they pulled Sgt. Peppers out of their ass." He opened his mouth to speak but Just Jonah cut him off.

"Alright, looks like that's all the time we have today. Wednesday, we'll finish introductions."
With that, the class began to disappear, leaving the circle shape desks intact. Xena and I left the room without touching the desks.

"I'm pretty sure the name 'Liam' is destined to all douchebags, I swear, Olivia." Xena started talking normally as we climbed down the staircase. "Anyways, where you headed?"


"Plath Building." I say simply. "You?"

"Flannery. Intro to Drama and then Voice Acting. Then we meet again!" She says excitedly. I nodded as we both struggle with the bike lock.

"Yeah. I've got awful Introduction to Math-"

"Introduction to Math?" She yells in protest. I nod again, now with shame on my face.

"It's general ed." We walk along side each other, holding out bikes by the handlebars.

"What are you going to be doing in there? Learn to count again?"

"Hopefully. I hear the professor is a snore. After that I have History with Evans."

"Damn. I've got History tomorrow." She peeps. We then walk in silence, now out of things to talk about. Now enjoying our simple friendship.

"Godspeed, child! This is my building." Xena proclaims the moment we cross the miniature street. We say our goodbyes and I mount my bike. I pulled out my phone to check the time as I slowly rode through the path. 8:45am. The instructor let us out ten minutes early. I sigh as I almost hit a stray cat crossing the pathway and brushed past a short Hispanic woman going the opposite direction.

"Perdon!" I say in my best accent. She glared at me more. The wave of embarrassment washed ashore. Maybe she wasn't Hispanic. I didn't look at her once more, as a new wave of pedestrians arrived on cue.

Luckily, Introduction to Math was on the first floor, and the professor was boring to death. History from American Colonization to the Civil War was in the same building, just in the lecture hall. I sat closer to the exit this time around. Crowds always made me a bit antsy. Evans was an old man, with an English accent, and a lisp. As if learning American history -again- wasn't hard enough. In Art History, I saved Xena a spot like she asked. She was a minute late, only because she got lost. The professor was a younger man that my Math instructor but had a "not here" American accent, with a bigger lisp.

"My voice acting instructor is definitely fuckable." Xena started up a conversation when Art History was declared over.

"Fuckable, the ability to fuck." I reiterate for her. She laughs.

"I mean, I'm attracted to his face and hope his dick can live up to the hype." She reiterates as well, "Not that I would fuck him. I'm not that kind of girl, Olivia." I chuckle, seeing her panic.

"I've got to go the opposite direction. Work." I explain.

"Cool," She replies, "I'll head to dining hall." I wave a goodbye to her as we ride in different directions.

The cafe was called "Ashburn", or known on campus as the hotspot to be, if you weren't a fan of the three Starbucks in walking distance. My aunt and uncle started the cafe five years ago but after Uncle Patrick died of cancer, Aunt Edith poured her soul in perfecting the cafe rather than getting over his death. My mom's words, not mine.

"My favorite niece!" Aunty Edith screamed as she rushed to me, giving me a hug.

"I'm your only niece." I state, looking around the cafe.The cafe use to be small, with only a kitchen, employee room, waiting room, and a crammed space with tables and chairs stuck like a maze. Now it seemed big enough to hold wedding receptions, divided into four areas. Two rooms dedicated for eating, the bar and, looks like, karaoke combo, and a space closed off.

"So?" She smiled wide, pulling me farther in, "How do you like it? I've expanded the place this summer." I walk farther in, pass the wood podium. The place still had elements of Uncle Pat, exposed brick, panel wood, and fireplace. "We installed a bar, too! We got our alcohol license so now we're Ashburn Cafe and Bar!" My aunt's voice was echoing the empty cafe.

"It's empty in here." I state the obvious, looking past the tables, still glaring at the mystery space.

"Duh," She squirms, "It's only 3. The cafe opens back up at 4 and doesn't close until 1 in the morning."

"Then why did you tell me to get here as soon as possible?" I didn't mean to sound rude but I probably did.

"Well, I just wanted you to get the feel of the place. Tell you your duties, that sort of stuff."

"Oh." I coo with the last of my extroverted willpower.

Notes

Hi there. I know a lot of people doesn't like reading these author's note but since it's the beginning of this book, I just want to get all this formal junk out of the way. First of all, thanks so much for being interested in my story. Please always leave a comment or give the chapter a vote, in every story that you like, whether it's mine or someone else's. It gives authors a lot of motivation when they find that readers like their stuff. I'll probably add a "Please comment and vote to support this writer" at the end of each chapter but I just wanted to explain why here. I'll try my best to reply to your comment as well. I made up this story because I really want to get back into writing in general and try to finish a story for once. The length of each chapter has a minimum of 2,000 words and a maximum cap of 8,000. I don't think I'll get to 8k per chapter so don't worry too much about length. This story is also not edited at the moment so please ignore simple grammatical and spelling errors. My philosophy on grammar and spell is just "If I can read it, I'll ignore it" so hopefully my writing isn't too terrible to the point that you can't read it.
This story is totally a work of fiction, fanfiction to be exact. It's a college/coffeeshop/punk AU with characters based of the members of One Direction. There will definately be foul language and sexual scenes. I don't recommend anyone under the age of 15 to read this story just because it's not "kid friendly" or whatever, but then again I did start reading ffs on Quizilla at the age of 11. So I guess, just know your boundaries, your triggers, and what you're getting into. There probably will be drug use at one point but I'd like to give you guys a heads up. I will also be putting t(rigger) w(arnings) in the beginning of chapters that have them. I personally don't like reading ffs that trigger me so I don't want any of my readers to go through the same. If I accidentally forget to warn you, please message me about it and I'll fix it.
The uploading schedule for this story will start January 2015, every Monday. The first two chapters will be uploaded mid-December. I want to get a consistency going so hence why I'm posting this here so if I don't post that day, you guys can chew me out on it. (if you want) I will be uploading this story to three different sites: Wattpad, whatever Mibba's 1D side site is called, and Archive of our Own. My username for Mibba's side site is "californication" and for Achieve of Our Own, my usename is "ahoy". I will mostly be active on my Wattpad account so if I don't update on the two other sites, my Wattpad username is "VocalCords".
Please do not take my story and credit yourself, it's really rude and honestly, it feel a lot better when you're writing your own. I'm completely open to read a chapter or two of your own story so don't be afraid to ask me.
I think that's about it. If I ever add or change things around, I'll put them after this message in bold so you know. Thanks so much for reading my story and this really long spiel.
~ californication