Rose Lloyd sat on the bed, looking at her reflection in the mirror. At the age of twenty, she stood five feet eight ten tall, somewhat plump but still pretty, with short hair, dark brown skin and pale bronze eyes. This gal was seriously bored out of her mind. Recently, she had been in a slump. All work and no play can give a black girl the blues. Life in college wasn't all that it was cracked up to be.
There were about two thousand females and one thousand eight hundred male students at Cadmus College. All the cute guys were taken. Those who weren't seeing campus girls went out with babes from other colleges. Rose came from a small town in Idaho. She wasn't as wild and outgoing as the city girls on campus. Shy and somewhat insecure about her looks, this gal was lonely.
Not far from her, lying in bed was her pal Steven Harold. How to describe Steve? A tall young black man from Idaho. He was nice and friendly, very handsome but unfortunately for Rose and every other hopeful girl on campus, Steve liked men. He didn't hide it either. This tall, gorgeous young black man with a model's face and the body of an NBA Superstar liked men. Such a waste. Especially since Steve was brilliant, athletic and funny. All the things a girl could want in a man. Unfortunately, only men could claim his heart.
Rose and Steve hailed from the same small town. In high school, Steve had been so different. He was going out with a girl named Ashley. Ashley was a gorgeous black babe whom all the girls at their old high school envied and hated. Ashley had the body all the girls wished they had, and the boyfriend they all wanted. Unfortunately, things weren't perfect with this seemingly perfect couple. Steve secretly felt attracted to men. When Ashley found out, she was mad. In fact, she told everyone about him. Steve was queer. The news hit the high school like a ton of bricks. Steve, once a star athlete, suddenly found himself alienated at the school which once championed him.
The young black man watched his life fall apart. His parents, Antoine and Jennifer Harold definitely weren't pleased to discover that their son was queer. In fact, they disowned him. Steve left right after graduation. He had won himself an academic scholarship to Cadmus, a small New England college. He turned his back on the town which rejected him. The only person who stood by him in the time of crisis was Rose Lloyd, the self-described pudgy black girl next door.