Washington College University is both the starting point of Tessa Young’s new life and the setting where its unexpected turns repeatedly surface. She arrives expecting to concentrate on study and extracurricular activities; instead, campus becomes bound up with her relationship with Hardin Scott, her friendship with Landon Gibson, and later tensions involving Zed Evans.

Setting and Academic Expectations

Tessa recalls beginning her first semester with a strong sense of preparation. She expected to make a few friends, join the literary club and other extracurriculars, and spend much of her time in her dorm or the library preparing for the future. Her actual experience soon departed from that orderly plan: within a few months, she was living with Hardin rather than Noah. Looking back, she connects their relationship’s beginnings to campus encounters, including seeing Hardin there and noticing him in Literature class.

Classes and Student Routine

The university remains a place where Tessa’s academic interests are part of her everyday life. On the first day of a new semester, she and Landon arrive early for World Religion, sit in the empty front-center row, and take out their books. The crowded classroom grows noisy as students arrive, before Professor Soto begins the lesson. Tessa is glad to be back in her academic element and values having Landon share that interest, even as she worries that the class’s lack of structure may frustrate her.

Campus routines also include practical, less orderly details. After classes, Tessa makes her way to the athletic building, surprised by the distance and seeking the women’s locker room. Its thin red lockers show metal beneath chipped paint; when she asks another student which locker to use, she is told to choose one and use the lock she brought. Her first day ultimately goes well, including a yoga class that she finds amusing, with Hardin’s presence making the experience more enjoyable.

Campus Encounters and Conflict

The campus setting carries both ordinary student activity and the pressures of Tessa’s relationships. She recalls looking for Hardin during Literature and catching him watching her while the professor spoke, while he also eavesdropped on conversations between her and Landon. Those memories make the university a record of how their connection developed amid classes and shared routines, rather than apart from them.

Later, the science building and its greenhouse become part of the tension between Tessa and Hardin. After Hardin demands that she have no contact with Zed, Tessa wonders how he knew she had gone to the science building and remembers being there with Zed among glowing flowers. The campus thus links academic spaces to private conflict: a place of study and routine also becomes a setting where trust, jealousy, and Tessa’s independence are contested.