Days as a Freshman: 69
Mood: nervous

“We’ve got a few minutes before class is over, if anyone has any questions about anything…” Professor Mullen looked around the room, taking her glasses off her face and leaning against the board.

English 205 was one of the harder Freshman English classes, but word of mouth had made it one of the most popular, especially with guys. Professor Mullen was around 35, tall, blond, and aggressively smart. She had a good sense of humor but wasn’t afraid to put people in her place, and most guys had a thing for being “reprimanded by Ms. Mullen”.

“What about the soccer scandal?” A girl in the front of the class raised her hand, a bunch of pink bracelets clanking together on her arm. “Don’t you think the school should be doing more to find out what really happened?”

People who had been dozing during the lecture suddenly perked up, and my notebook doodling grinded to a halt. Next to me, Rebecca stiffened, and I could feel her eyes slide over to my face. Read More »

Having a tough day? Stressed about that impending Calculus midterm? Still freaking out about that horribly embarrassing drunk dial fiasco this past weekend?

Grab a sandwich from the cafeteria and check out the “History of the Drunk Dial”!
You’re not alone!

Days as a Freshman: 50
Mood: Nervous

“Grace! Hey, come here! Have you heard?”

Sitting down next to Crystal and Naima, I set my plate of salad, tuna, and french fries on the table and pretended that I hadn’t eaten the same thing yesterday, the day before, and the day before that.

“I thought maybe you would have heard something…” Naima stirred her bowl of chocolate ice cream and chocolate sprinkles forcefully, whipping the whole thing into a soupy mess. Somehow, Naima could eat ice cream with every meal and never gain a stray pound.

“Heard what?” I looked down at my water glass before taking a swallow. Inspecting before drinking became a habit after finding a stray piece of someone else’s hair a few weeks before.

“The whole soccer team thing, idiot!” Crystal looked at me like I had two heads, and both of them were being stupid. “Last night, at their Thirsy Thursday party? People are saying a girl was assaulted.”

I stopped eating, my fork poised with nowhere to go. “At the soccer house?”

“Who knows what’s really true,” her appetite still in tact, Naima scooped a watery glob of ice cream into her mouth before continuing, “but people are totally talking about how this freshman maybe got rufied and woke up naked in one of the guys’s beds.” Read More »

Remember when you used to come home from high school, exhausted and starving? Lunch had been at like 10:30 that morning, and so by the time the afternoon bell rang, your stomach was growling so loudly you had to sit hunched over to dull the gurgles.

Home meant snacks. It might refueling yourself for sports or theater club or smoking stolen cigarettes under a tree while sneering at all organized things. Afternoon snack was an event I looked forward to from kindergarten to twelfth grade.

Hell, I still look forward to it!

Sadly, today’s teenage girls aren’t allowing themselves the joy of snack time – or any meal – at all. A report from the UK’s Independent Online showed that over “a third of 13 to 18-year-old girls” polled for a study indicated they had been on a diet or were currently dieting, and “45 per cent [ate] less than 1,200 calories per day”, which is below the healthy amount for growing women.

About a quarter of the boys in the survey admitted to eating less calories than the daily recommended amount, but girls were the ones worrying researchers most of all. Read More »

Welcome to Thursday! Last week I was channeling Grandma, and while some of those habits have carried over from last week (I still can’t get enough of crosswords!), there’s a whole new crop of cool that’s just waiting to be unveiled to you all.

This week is about being healthy and happy. It’s not as hard as you think…

Fashion Obsession: Navy Blue

Everyone’s abuzz with the news that navy is back! Well, did it ever really go anywhere? Not to me! It’s been a long standing fashion no-no to pair navy blue and black, but not anymore, and I couldn’t be more excited. What’s even better is that it’s so easy to hop on the blue bandwagon that there’s no excuse not to give it a shot!

Check out this adorable little frock from TopShop (love the collar) or this navy raincoat from Forever 21 that is cute as a button! Read More »