Age of Ember

Chapter 3

Odrian, Sarah, and Victor were instructed to go to a 7-foot touch screen display around the auditorium's right corner, alongside 15 other students. They were escorted by the same student that had initially guided them in the auditorium.

"Follow me this way," her tone was far more inviting this time around. "By the way, I'm one of the school representatives. My name is Rina."

Odrian is walking not too far behind her and couldn't help but notice her short stature and brown hair in half a bun to one side. Victor placed his hand on Odrian's shoulder and leaned into him to speak softly as Sarah was close by. Odrian had an idea of what Victor would say.

"Here's your chance... Girl one, I'm praying for ya."

Sarah heard most of what he had said. She knew the type that Odrian liked, and the short one wasn't it. Feeling compelled, she chimed in with her own input:

"She's not even his type."

"And? Who cares? He needs to work on his confidence a bit more around the ladies."

"I suppose that's a good point."

Victor was adamant about seeing Odrian become more comfortable in talking to the opposite sex. For all his confidence in everything else, he came absolutely flat when it came to approaching women. It was a conundrum no one close to him quite understood. Although Odrian didn't really feel like talking to Rina, he knew his friend meant well. He felt the pressure from Sarah and Victor and decided to talk to Rina to see how things would go.

Already feeling nervous, his hands were balled up in a fist. He tried to maintain his composure as he calmed his mind to make sure he had a good game plan. Alright, let's get it, he thought to himself. Some small talk should do it, right? I'll go for the kill. This should work.

"How long have you been a school representative?" wondering to himself whether or not that was the best ice breaker.

Rina smirks and responds politely.

"Long enough for me to say that I'm not interested," Rina was forthcoming with her response, although her smirk was apparent about her amusement of what Odrian was trying to do. "I did that my first year and gained nothing from that experience, so trust me, I'm ok. Thank you!"

Rina quickly placed her hand over her mouth, realizing she likely hurt a new student's feelings.

"I didn't mean to sound so brash. I apologize."

Odrian fell back into the safe space that was Victor and Sara's company. He couldn't utter a word after such a blunt rejection. He realized that the students around them were commenting amongst themselves about his failed venture. The voices around Odrian had said the following:

"Wow."

"He never had a chance."

"She's so cold."

"He had some weak game goin' on there."

"Pfft, she needs a real man in her life, like me!"

Victor had made a mental note of everything that was said about Odrian and the people who said it. Sarah was upset that people thought it was ok to talk about her brother like that. It's not like they haven't faced rejection before this as kids... numerous times. She rested her head on his shoulder as they walked together.

"You were way too good for her anyway," she said reassuringly.

"Yo, that was definitely not apart of the plan. My bad, bro. "

Her comforting words almost brought Odrian back into a more neutral state of mind, but it just wasn't enough. It seemed as though his luck was pretty bad when it came to talking to women. Was his performance not enough? He wasn't impressive enough to make a mark. This flub was a highlight to what people thought of him at that moment, and people were already making jokes. Yet behind the trio was a student who had also passed the entrance exam who spoke under her breath.