Shay twisted the ring around her thumb nervously as the car wound its way up the driveway to Hampshire College.

“There’s sheep on the front lawn? Sheep?” she asked incredulously, turning to face Karen sitting in the driver’s seat. Karen laughed and glanced sideways at Shay fiddling next to her in the over-packed car.

“Yup,” she smiled. “This is not your everyday place, Shay. Relax, you’re going to love it here. You’ve just got the ‘first day of college jitters’.”

Shay chewed on her lower lip as they moved closer to the school. Before they had actually hit campus she had been nothing but excited, exclaiming how gorgeous the Amherst area was, laughing at the huge oak tree with the circle cut in it’s leaves to allow the phone lines to pass through, eyeing the numerous good-looking men in town from all of the colleges nearby. Now ... well, now she was terrified. Shay’s stomach was in knots and all she wanted to do was scream and cry for Karen to turn the car back around to go home. Karen had been at Hampshire for 2 years already, a friend of Shay’s older sister, and had offered to drive her up for orientation on Wednesday. It was only Karen’s relaxed demeanor that kept Shay from making a fool out of herself and acting like a homesick child. Shay sat on her hands, leaning forward as they approached the dorms and mentally kicked herself.

‘Look,’ she said to herself sternly, ‘you wanted to come here, you loved the idea, you can’t stay at home forever ... so get over it!’

The place was teeming with people and Shay could pick out the first year students easily in the throng; they were either pale and clutching their belongings or with their parents. Shay took a deep breath a relaxed a bit, thinking she was pretty damn lucky to have someone she knew here, who was willing to help her out and get her settled in. They pulled the car as close to the building as they could and Karen popped the trunk.

“C’mon,” she said to Shay cheerfully. Let’s get you settled into your room, then you can help me bring my stuff over to my Mod.”

The next few hours were a blur of moving, unpacking, meeting dozens of people whose names Shay would never remember. Finally around 4pm Shay found herself alone in her dorm room, sitting on her bed and looking around. It hadn’t turned out half bad, she thought to herself, glad she’d brought so many pictures and personal items to brighten up the beige walls. The noises of people moving around outside made her feel a little lonely -- had she ever really thought that everyone having a single room was a great idea? Shay would have loved to have a roommate at that moment, someone who was new as well to commiserate with. Shay stared at the mirror hanging on the back of her door and stood up purposefully, bravely leaving it open to the din in the hallway, then turning to finish unpacking her books and other odds and ends. She caught a shape out of the corner of her eye and looked up and she stood with an armload of books.

“Oh, hell!”, she cried as she jumped at the sight of someone standing in the doorway, the books crashing to the floor.

Kath laughed as she came into Shay’s room, bending down to help the blushing girl pick up the scattered books.

“Sorry about that,” the pretty blonde grinned, “Didn’t mean to scare you!”

Shay tucked her curly brown hair behind her ears, and smiled back.

“It’s ok, that was kinda dumb of me,” she said as Kath helped load the books back into her arms.

Kath then flopped on Shay’s bed on her stomach, kicking her legs up in the air. Kath was a striking girl, her blonde hair almost white, cut short and straight over her ears, which she had a habit of constantly running her hands through and letting it fall back into place. Shay noticed Kath wore no makeup and could see the slightest dusting of freckles on her nose; as Kath turned over onto her side, her hand holding up her head, Shay could also swear that she saw the faintest outline of silver rings on Kath’s nipples, small, high breasts showing through her white t-shirt. Shay averted her eyes quickly back to her books as Kath began to talk again.

“I live across the hall, 407,” Kath started, taking in Shay’s form in her faded Levi’s as she bent to put the books into the bookcase. “This is my first semester, too. I have a friend of mine here, though, Terry, he’s Div II. He’s cool. We went to high school together. I’m trying to see if people want to have some sort of get-together in the lounge Friday night, once everyone’s settled in. Whaddya say?”

Shay slid the last book into place on the shelf and then folded herself into the ugly plastic chair provided by the school, sitting indian-style.

“Ummmm, sure!” Shay said, resting her chin in her hands, elbows on her knees and peering at Kath, her long, curly hair framing her face. “Anyone else from the hall say they’d come?”

Kath flipped over and sat with her back on the wall, legs dangling over the side of the bed, and began ticking off names on her fingers, her blue eyes bright. “I dunno if you’ve met everyone yet, but ... Josh from the end room, Sarah, Mina, Toby, my friend Terry, Shayla across the hall from you, and David, he’s one of the guys in the double. Including you and me, that’ll be 8 out of 14, not too shabby,” Kath grinned. “And give me time, I’ll work on the rest of ‘em! Terry will pick up the beer and stuff, they’re pretty cool about that here. Don’t walk your bong across the Quad out in the open and they pretty much leave you alone. And, God, I LOVE the co-ed floors!”

Shay grinned, feeling at home at here for the first time all day with this pretty, friendly girl.

“Ok, deal, I’ll be there,” Shay smiled at Kath, as she pulled her hair into a ponytail with a band from her desk.

“Good!” said Kath, hopping off of the bed and walking towards the door. Grinning at Shay, she leaned forward and whispered into her ear, “And yeah, they’re pierced!” as she strode out the door, laughing over her shoulder, disappearing into the crowd outside. Shay was stunned for a minute then laughed out loud, tossing her head back over the chair as she dissolved into giggles before getting back to straightening up her room.

...

Shay spent the next two days in a blur of activity, waving to Kath when she saw her across the campus, always getting a bright smile. Shay met more people than she had ever thought possible, eating in the caf with a whole crew of crazy folks, finally feeling as though she could settle in here at college. Shay hadn’t even seen Karen since they’d driven up together and was glad she hadn’t needed to bother the older girl. Friday afternoon she was organizing things at her desk when Kath popped into her room.

“Ok, you all set for tonight? We still on?” Kath asked as she sat on Shay’s bed, bouncing up and down.

“Yup,” smiled Shay, stretching, her shirt rising up from her jeans showing her taut stomach. “I’m just going to take a nap and then be ready for anything!”

Kath raised an eyebrow at Shay as she stood up and swept in a bow, her arm pointing toward the bed, headed for the door.

“I’ll let you sleep, then,” she winked, “Lord knows we want you ready for anything!”

Shay giggled as she shut the door behind Kath, slipping off her jeans and crawling into bed.

Shay awoke several hours later to the THUMP THUMP THUMP of music; the bass turned way up. Groggy, she sat up in bed and ran her hands through her hair. DAMN, she thought, I’m missing the party! She stretched and glanced at the clock... 10pm ... Ok, not TOO bad, she thought, tossing back the covers and standing before the mirror. The party really wasn’t supposed to start until 11, someone must just be getting a head start. Shay pulled her shirt over her head and slid her blue panties off, kicking them across the floor. Pulling a towel from the shelf she wrapped it around her and grabbed her basket of soap, shampoo, and other supplies. Shay opened the door and the music got louder, but she noticed there wasn’t too much activity yet. Padding barefoot through the hallway, she saw Kath’s door partially open and peeked her head in, opening her mouth to say hello before noticing the room was empty. Shrugging, Shay went back down the hallway to the shower, steeling herself a bit before she pushed open the swinging door. The bathrooms on this floor were co-ed like the hall and she was still trying to get used to running into men in towels in there. Shay heard the sound of a shower running and hoped there was still one free. The air in the bathroom was moist and heavy and she was relieved to see only one of the showers was occupied. Shay stepped into the curtain in front of the shower and hung her towel on the hook, then stepped into the second curtain, turning the shower on and stepping into the warm water as she placed her wire basket on the floor.

Shay leaned back in the shower, wetting her hair and then lathering it when a noise caught her attention. The hiss of the two showers was loud against the marble walls and Shay stopped for a moment, wiping shampoo lather from her forehead with the back of her arm. There it was again. Shay couldn’t be sure, but it sounded like a moan and a giggle coming from the other shower. Shay pressed close to the wall separating her shower from the other stall, the coldness of the marble a bit of a shock on her warm skin, her nipples hardening. Listening closely, trying to keep her breathing quiet, she KNEW now it was voices, and more than one. Shay grinned to herself listening to whispered snatches of conversation -- there were two people over there! A female voice moaned softly and Shay caught, “ ... it slow ... easy...” and then a murmured male voice, almost soothing. Then Shay heard the unmistakable slow ‘scrrrrape’ of a razor against skin and lather, followed by another soft female moan. Cheeks reddening, Shay almost tripped over her basket stepping back to the water to get the shampoo out of her hair. Raising her arms to squeeze the lather out, Shay felt her heart pounding. She wasn’t quite sure what was going on in the other stall, but she sure as hell guessed that it wasn’t legs getting shaved and someone certainly seemed to be enjoying it.

Shay rushed to finish her shower, feeling like an intruder now, and turned the knob off, wringing as much water from her hair as she could and grabbing her towel. The water in the other stall was still running and Shay could hear the sounds of other people walking in and out of the bathroom. Shay grabbed her basket and, dripping wet, carefully stepped out of the shower onto the tile floor, looking down, and slammed right into a wet body stepping out of the other shower. Shay grabbed for her towel as her basket and its’ contents went skittering across the damp floor with a loud crash. Shay looked up at the brown-haired guy in the towel standing next to her and clutched her towel tighter as she tried to grab her rolling bottles.

“Hey?” Kath’s voice came from the running shower, “What happened?”

Shay bit her lip as she finished placing her bottles in her basket and stood, seeing the stranger leaning bare-chested against the shower, a blue towel wrapped around his waist. Shay turned and fled through the door, catching the grin on his face before hearing him reply, “Nothing, some girl dropped h...”

Shay made it back to her room and quickly shut the door, then leaned against it. Half aroused, half completely humiliated, Shay put her basket on the floor and dropped her towel, bringing it up to dry her hair roughly. Turning, Shay stood naked in front of the mirror on the back of the door. Slowly walking toward it as she rubbed the towel in her long hair, Shay looked critically at her body. Nice breasts, she thought to herself, a little big but not so much that it’s an issue. Flat stomach, nice legs from years of running, decent arms although they could use some work. Shay’s eyes were then drawn to her fluffy patch of pubic hair, still slightly damp from the shower. Shay ran her fingers through it absentmindedly, thick but soft curls against her fingers. In 18 years she had never really thought about it, but she knew some people shaved all the time from things she’d read. Shay took her towel and rubbed the soft hair dry, eyeing it critically even as the contact sent a shiver through her. Moving toward the desk she grabbed her new scissors, and laid her towel on the floor, sitting on it in front of the mirror.

Shay flinched a little at the cold metal touching her skin as she laid the scissors flat against her pubic bone and began snipping slowly, ever careful not to nick herself. Ten minutes later, with a small pile of fluffy curls on the towel, Shay stood again before the mirror, brushing the extra hair clinging to her with another towel. Well, it wasn’t exactly bare, she thought, but it was an improvement. She had trimmed her pussy down as close to the skin as possible, even across the lips which had been a struggle. Shay ran her fingers across them, relieved that the remaining hair was still soft to the touch, appearing to be the faintest dusting to her critical eye. Shay closed her eyes for a minute as her fingers brushed against all of this newly exposed skin, then startled a bit as she heard hollering in the hallway. Damnit, the party was starting without her.

Shay pulled on a pair of white, low-cut panties and a clean pair of faded Levis that sat just below her belly button. Hooking a white lace bra behind her back, Shay reached for a tight, white shirt which barely ended where the jeans began. Turning back toward the mirror, Shay ran her hands through her slightly damp hair when she saw her nipples were hard and noticeable through her shirt. Groaning, Shay cupped her hands to her breasts, silently willing them to go down. Shay counted to 15, running through her class schedule in her head before dropping her hands and checking again. Well, they hadn’t gone down completely, but it was an improvement. Shay fluffed her curly hair, letting it fall down her back, and quickly slid on some light lipstick and a little mascara before opening her door.