It was Elyse's first semester at University of Maryland, and having just turned 18 she was fairly young for her graduating class. She was, however, excited to be away from her home in upstate New York.
Her parents sent her to an exclusive and protective private school, ostensibly trying to protect her from some of the influences that the lower social classes could create in a public setting. Needless to say, they were a little upset when she turned down admissions to Smith and Vassar to attend a state university. Finally they ceded and allowed her to go when she had a professor contact them to explain the merits of studying journalism in a school that was as close to Washington, DC, as Maryland is. The professor also told of the benefits that a diverse student population has on developing journalists.
At the end of high school, Elyse and her steady boyfriend Josh decided to break things off. They both had fun together, but since he was going to Southern California to study film they decided it was best to stay friends. Though they "fooled around" a lot, they had only had sex a handful of times. Elyse was surprised that while the sex didn't hurt, and that it wasn't as exciting as she'd expected it to be. Josh reminded her of her friend's dog humping her leg when she was little, he was at it fast and furious until after a few short minutes he tensed up and shot his condom full of cum. She couldn't help but think that she could secretly replace her vagina with an apple pie and her boyfriend wouldn't notice. Other than that, she'd kissed two other boys in her lifetime but never had any other experiences. Elyse was definitely attractive, but her protective parents rarely let her out of the house.
After a long drive south and a night's stay in a hotel, her parents helped her move into her dorm room. She found that her "double" room already was set up with the belongings of her roomate, whose name was Lauren. She'd emailed with Lauren prior to the start, and found that Lauren was an aloof sophomore who apparently was not pleased to have been placed in a Freshman dormitory. She saw from the pictures that Lauren was a dark-haired, dark complected girl with a cute white-toothed smile who was apparently from the pictures in a sorority on campus. Lauren had several items with Greek letters on them, and pictures from various "formals" with some well built attractive guys.
"Nice", Elyse thought cynically, "these hotties make Josh really look like a little boy". She looked at herself in Lauren's full length mirror, admiring her dark hair, and fit 5'7" body. Like her mom, Elyse valued her aerobics and running. She ran track and played hockey in high school, but swimming was her passion. She was proud of the lines of her body in a swimsuit, with a "C" cup and perfectly shaped breasts. Her legs were pretty toned, and her soft brown eyes matched her hair and smooth olive skin.
Late in the morning, with Dad anxious to get on the road, Elyse gave her tearful parents several goodbye hugs and kisses, promising to write and call at least once a week.
On the way back to her room, Elyse ran into her two next door neighbors. Jamie and Courtney were both from Northern Virginia, and had hit it off from the start as they'd played lacrosse against each other at competing high schools.
Courtney was a 5'9 brunette that was extremely slender with what appeared to be a push-up bra enhanced chest with her thin-strapped tank top and mesh lacrosse shorts. Her body was well-tanned, denoting her first Summer away from home living in Ocean City. She seemed really outgoing and had a noticeably loud voice with a bit of the surfer-girl attitude showing through.
Jamie was a 5'2 Blonde-haired curvy beauty, with a warm smile and soft blue eyes. Her breasts were the first thing Elyse noticed, as they hung over her thin flat tummy with it's pierced navel, displayed proudly by her high shirt-line. Jamie was also well-tanned, as she was a counselor at a Summer camp with her boyfriend Andy since graduation. Andy was a Sophomore at James Madison, and would be commuting to see her on weekends. They encouraged Elyse to join them at parties that night.
Elyse was not much of a partier.. In high school she'd hung out but not participated in many of the drinking events, though she and Josh had experimented one weekend when her parents were away. But, anxious to make new friends and see the sights, Elyse agreed to meet them at 5 and get an early start.
After unpacking for much of the afternoon, with still no sign of her errant roomate, Elyse changed and went next door to find Jamie and Courtney already drinking. They were making margaritas with tequila that Courtney's older brother supplied her with. Elyse had never had a margarita before, so she tried one and was surprised by how much she enjoyed it. One turned into three, and before long the girls were all giggly and ready to go to dinner.
On their way to the dining hall, the girls were walking by the basketball court where several tall, sweaty guys were battling to show each other and all passersby who the campus ballers were. The ball came flying toward them and Courtney moved quickly to catch it. Instead of passing the ball back to the guys, the well-buzzed Courtney took a jumpshot that fell from its perfect arc into the basket.
After the collective cheer from the players, two large black guys waiting to play accosted the girls.
"Nice shot, babe", said the first one, "are you going to play for the women's team?"
"No, I'm a lacrosse player", Courtney giggled.
"Too bad", said the other, "I'd rather watch you hit jumpers, but I guess swingin' sticks at other chicks ain't bad". All five of them laughed at the cheesy line.
Courtney offered her hand to the second sweaty baller and introduced herself.
"I'm Raheem, and this is my friend Lamar. We both ball here for the school. Are you guys Freshmen?"
The girls said yes, and Jamie said in a snooty tone "Nice meeting you boys, we're headed to the dining hall". When she abruptly turned and walked away, the other girls followed in suit and the surprised Lamar mumbled a mocking repeat of Jamie's snobby statement. Both boys turned back to the action on the court.
On the way to the dining hall, Elyse asked Jamie "Were you purposely being a bitch to those guys?"
Jamie replied, "I can't believe you guys would talk to black guys. They're so worthless". The conversation ended there...
Later that night, the girls went out to the fraternity row, where at every house something was going on. They went from house to house, meeting cute boys, getting all the free booze that they could, dancing, and then on to the next house. At one party, Courtney was "hooking up" with a hot frat boy on the dance floor and seemed pretty into it. Jamie was drunk and was actually smiling, but said she was going to head back. Elyse agreed to keep dancing and 'babysit' her friend Courtney as she'd heard about what frat boys do to girls. At around 1 a.m. they decided to head back.
On the way out of the party, a raucous crowd of about 7 big black guys was walking down the sidewalk. Courtney and Elyse stepped out of the way when one of them said "Hey, it's the jumpshot babe".
"Where's your bitchy blonde friend?", another said.
Elyse felt like the bigotry displayed by her friend was what was wrong with the world, so with the alcohol loosening her tongue she shared her feelings on the subject and apologized for her friend's ignorance. The guys all laughed at her and she didn't know why...
"I have a lot of black friends", said one of the strangers as the group erupted in laughter. Lamar stepped up and said his friend was joking and that even those who claim not to be racist sometimes still are, Elyse didn't quite get it though. Lamar continued and introduced two of the guys as starters on the basketball team, and that the rest were players too. They invited Courtney and Elyse back to their place to party.
"I think we're heading-", Elyse was interrupted...
"Let's go", Courtney said in her bubbly drunken voice. So they walked for several blocks away from the Row, to a house shaking with bass and loud rap lyrics. On the lawn and driveway were parked several luxury cars and SUV's with lots of chrome and tinted windows.
Inside, the girls found an active party going on. The dancing crowd was mostly black guys and girls, with a few white ballplayers and a handful of white girls. Unlike the polo shirts and khakis at the white fraternities, the basketball house was purely hip-hop.
With a cup of mostly rum and some coke, Elyse was getting into it. She'd never really been into the urban lifestyle, and this was what college was about- finding new undiscovered cultures and tapping into them. Courtney and Lamar were grinding on the dance floor and she looked into it. Raheem made small talk and invited her upstairs to a quieter area to talk.
When they got up to his room, Elyse was surprised to find poetry and black and white photos adorning the walls. She was impressed that maybe there was something to this Raheem. The only sports memorabilia on the wall was a certificate naming Raheem an All-American Basketball player. After looking around, she sat on the couch in front of the tv which had sportscenter on. Raheem opened a drawer, sat down and joined her.
"Wanna smoke?", he asked, pulling out a cigar.
"Ew, cigars are nasty", she replied.
"It's a blunt, Elyse. It's cored out and refilled with weed."
She was surprised. At concerts and private school parties she'd witnessed lots of pot-smoking, but never in a blunt. She'd always said no when Josh wanted to get her stoned, but this was college and this was a whole new experience. She might not really understand Raheem's background if she didn't partake.
When he offered her the huge blunt, she first took a small puff and coughed. Raheem laughed, took the blunt and showed her how to inhale. She tried again, no coughing this time. She held it in like he said to, then slowly blew it out. It was as if she was now in a hollow tube of a room with Raheem, and she started getting light-headed. He handed her the joint and got up to put some music on. She inhaled deeply on the big brown smelly blunt, and exhaled as the stereo emitted a drum beat, machine gun like lyrics and heavy bass that shook the room and overpowered the party downstairs.
Raheem sat down, took one last puff on the blunt, then put it out. Elyse knew she was really high, and felt relaxed though drunk. Raheem leaned in to kiss her, she was surprised and had been enjoying conversation and smoking, but this was his room.
