FREEDOM

Chapter 1

"Alright, see you around" said the blond guy which name I've already forgotten.

My French class just ended with the teacher assigning us a group project about some lame 18th century writers, I appreciate my teacher he seems very educated on the subject he teaches. My problem was with the actual subject. Learning about the history of French literature is a pain in the ass, especially doing researches about it.

So I tried my best to seem caught up on scribbling in my note book so that my teacher doesn't designate me, but I knew that my act failed when he said "Ray, would you like to team up with Edwards for this?", so I just agreed to do it, as if I had a choice.

I've never took part in group project since my freshman year and I didn't do it voluntarily either. I'm a senior now and next year will be the start of a new chapter in my life so I need to boost my communication skills and get over my social anxiety.

My teammate came up to me after class and started talking about what each one of us should work on, he seemed very interested in the subject and even suggested that we should also add a comparison between the ancient style of writing and the current one, which to me looked like a tone of sites and books to search in, while for him it was certainly a joyful and a pleasurable activity to do.

"It would be best if we exchange our phone numbers so that if we have any new idea we'd share it with each other, don't you think?" he asked hesitantly, he certainly was one of the very few respectful boys in our class.

"Yeah good idea, here's mine" I answered showing him my phone number, which he quickly typed in his phone then asked "What's your name again?"

"Ash, Ash Ray"

"Nice to meet you Ash, we did share the same class before this year right? Cause, I think I've noticed you before, and I'm Henry Edwards by the way"

"It's nice meeting you too, and to be honest I don't really remember if we were classmates before"

"Yeah me too, I could've just seen you around here" he said gesturing to the school hallway, "Anyway, I let you go now, I'll keep you updated on my work"

"Okay, I'll do the same"

"Alright, see you around"

*********

Well look at where I am now, no more boring group projects about French literature.

I took a sip of my coffee as I thought about my time in high school and damn it was so boring, not that my college life was exciting or fun. Well to me it was great but to others it was boring for sure. I was majoring in mechanical engineering, it wasn't something I dreamed of doing, in fact, to this day, I still don't know what I'm really destined to do, I just made that choice because the mechanical field was something I'm familiar with, so I wasn't going to encounter something I've never seen before.

I've always been interested in cars, it's an obsession I share with my father. He loved assisting to races and if he had the chance to go to one he would take me with him. It was our father-daughter bonding subject. He was more interested in admiring the beauty of cars and their speed; I was more interested in how these machines were actually made and how they internally work. So I made it a hobby of mine to search and learn about this subject. I started reading and watching some car reviews on the internet until I found myself reading about Newton's first law of motion. And that's how I was introduced to this field that I'm currently trying to get a degree on.

As I was washing my cup in the sink, I heard the sound of keys giggling at the other side of the apartment's door. It was my roommate. I quickly finished washing my cup, then I left it on the kitchen counter to dry and walked to my room as the door opened loudly.

"Yes, I told you I'm coming tomorrow" I heard her say in an annoyed tone, as I locked the door of my room.

"No, I'm not coming back" she said loudly, "Oh my god!! Can you let me have a peaceful evening?!"

Since I only have 2 morning classes during Fridays, I spend the evening in the apartment; I usually sit in the little dining table, which is between the kitchen and the small balcony, until 5pm because it's when I start revising my lessons. Right now, it's 4pm, I always hear my roommate come back until 6, she might've been tired and decided to miss her last class, or something like that.

"Dude, Are you deaf? I told you I'm coming tomorrow, 8pm, at Steph's" I heard her say, she was probably on the phone with her friend who invited her to some kind of party since the semester is coming to an end and soon it's going to be summer. Usually the campus becomes empty during summer, most students either go on trips, or they visit their families. I'm, unfortunately, going to spend my summer here. My parents have been out of town for 2months now, and they're not coming back until August maybe, if they come back early on I'll definitely pay them a visit because I haven't seen them since last summer when I left for college.

"Alright, bye" I heard her say quietly then before, even though we rarely see each other because of how busy we are sometimes and also due to the fact that we are literal strangers who know just each other's names, I never fail to hear her conversations from my room, not because I'm trying to hear what she's talking about but because she was quite loud but it didn't disturb me that much since I have noise cancelling headphones, so I usually put those on and listen to Cigarettes After Sex which is, weirdly, my favorite band to listen to while I'm working.

I decided to start reviewing my notes early today, since I didn't want to bother my roommate in the dining table and promised myself to take a walk outside after I finish.