<b><u>June</u></b><br/><br/><a class="link link--external" href="https://i.pinimg.com/736x/f2/48/a3/f248a34720b593b6be5142ddeab0e0bc--funky-hairstyles-short-haircuts.jpg" rel="nofollow ugc noopener" target="_blank">Tikva David</a>chewed on her hair, as she often did when nervous. She’d just turned 18 that May, graduated from Cumberland Prep High School, which had felt like an eternity away when she started as a scared middle schooler, and now she was going to college at American University in Washington DC.<br/><br/>Coll. Ege. She couldn’t stop making it sound like an alien word in her head. In her mind, that place was for grown ups and she didn’t feel 18, or grown up, or like much of a woman.<br/><br/>Everyone she’d invited had agreed to arrive, yet she didn’t know why that was and was torn between thinking some of them would flake, and secretly (something she was admonishing herself for) hoping some of them would flake so she wouldn’t have to deal with all the complicated shit that had happened surrounding them.<br/><br/>Her father would normally write it off as “Jewish guilt” with a joking smile, but the Israeli descendant also couldn’t help but blame herself for all that had transpired. First, she’d rejected both Aaron and Zeke, two dark, tall, smart, muscular, wonderful student athletes who were both crazy about her for some unfathomable reason, a move that made her want to bang her head against the wall for being so fucking stupid.<br/><br/>Then she’d<i>really</i>dipped her pen in the company ink by falling in love with her best friend Shaniece. She’d given her virginity to the bright, sensitive, caring black girl when they were both 16, only for them to break up eight months in at age 17 after Shaniece’s parents caught them in the act and her pastor father tried to accuse Tikva of statutory rape.<br/><br/>And to put another poor choice feather in her cap, two weeks after breaking up, Tikva got high like an eagle with her other closest girl friend, Gia, and got<i>fucked</i>to the moon and back by the Greek girl. It had been a fun, one time thing (or rather a whole weekend thing). What scared Tikva was that she wasn’t sure she<i>didn’t </i>want it to be more, (or at least hook up with her more often, since she knew Gia wasn’t one for relationships.)<br/><br/>The only person she had a semi-normal friendship with at this point, the only one she didn’t manage to ruin, was Mylan. He was well put together and gave her some epic trips with weed joints and gummies, but he felt more like a cousin from another uncle.<br/><br/>Boy, she sure could use one of his products right now for her crippling anxiety. Tikva gulped as she waited for her friends and the pizzas, wings, and Cinnabons from Pizza Hut hoping the food wouldn’t get here first so she wouldn’t start stress eating.