New Beginning

He walked on to the campus, the huge, enormous, gigantic campus. He felt miniscule as he surveyed the entire campus. This would be his home for the next four years. Why had he chosen somewhere so far from home? Oh yeah, because he has boasted of being a man. Of not needing to be near his family. Scoff. Now look at him. He was practically in tears; he had never been this far from his family before.
He remembered standing at the airport, his heart pounding. His father was standing off to the side, leaning against a wall. His mother was always nearby, just wanting to touch him, keep her baby in sight for as long as she could. His siblings were in their own little worlds. He was the oldest and now he had to set an example. He had to be strong as he left home for college. Thousands of miles away. Literally, worlds away.
He had cried on the plane. The old woman beside him had offered words of comfort as she regaled him with stories of her own grandchildren going off to college. "You'll be fine, dear," she had said, as she patted his hand. He had tried to smile and hoped he had. He didn't want to offend the nice lady. The remaining half of his trip, he had started blankly into the clouds. The sunset was beautiful. He just realized this now. He hadn't appreciated its beauty then.
He scanned the other freshmen entering the room. They were all here for orientation. His heart fell when he saw that many of them were already bunched into groups. He missed his friends. He missed knowing his place among them. Here, he was just another face in the crowd. Again, tears threatened to fall. He walked to an empty table and sat down. He pretended to be engrossed in his orientation pamphlet.
"Hey, is this seat taken?" He looked up. It was a scrawny boy wearing a red Naruto t-shirt. He shook his head. The other boy sat down and introduced himself. They began to talk about Naruto, which, fortunately was a shared interest. He smiled as he listened to the other boy talk. Maybe college wouldn't be so bad after all.