The Heart of the Silent

Chapter One

            January 27th was the date. I remember it well. My fellow Jersey native Asme and I were getting dressed in our dorm rooms prepping for the cold Virginia air. I threw my anime hoodie over my burgundy faux locs along with my gray boot-cut yoga pants. I stepped up to my mirror and finalized my look with some eyeliner and mascara. Once I perfected my face to my liking, I took a step back and admired the magic a little eyeliner could do. This was a boomerang moment and I had to show off my cute outfit for the day. I opened Instagram on my phone and began my mini hunt for the perfect angle. Before I could capture the moment I heard a knock on my room door.

                 "Yea!" I shouted letting Asme know I was fully clothed.

                 "You ready?" she asked.

            I nodded my head as I grabbed my beige leather jacket and my keys. Asme stood in the hallway as I turned my room light off and locked the door. We began our walk side-by-side heading down the back stairway to the basement door. As we began our walk to the cafe to get lunch, I felt a sudden buzz in my jacket pocket. I pulled out my phone seeing an Instagram notification displayed on my screen. I lifted my phone and pulled my mask down slightly to unlock my phone. Once unlocked, I noticed an unfamiliar username texting me.

                 "Imma pay you to do some assignments for me."

                  I replied, "okay."

           I had no clue who the person was but they had obviously come across my flyer that I had posted all across the school's social platform.

           Doing homework assignments was my side hustle. Being a college student wasn't easy so any new opportunities to make extra money that presented itself, I took. Depending on the job of course. I didn't take the initiative to browse the person's account because all I wanted to focus on was getting my food.

         We walked into the pretty empty cafe and greeted the service lady at the door. She kindly took our trojan cards and swiped them on her computer before handing them back to us. We made our way around the self service bar picking up fruits and whatever other desert sides we wanted. Today they had spaghetti, meatballs, vegetables and other assortments to compliment the dish. Off to the side, they had a heated pizza deck with different toppings. I'm not a very picky eater but sometimes I just want to just eat simple. I gladly only got two slices of cheese pizza along with a foam cup of cranberry juice before making my way out of the cafe. I waited patiently outside for Asme to come out due to the fact that she was a picky eater.

          After a trillion years she finally decided to make her way out the door with another girl who lived in our building. Her name was Yani. They walked down the cafe stairs side-by-side giggling about who knows what. Yani greeted me with a warm hug before we began our journey back to our dorm rooms.

           "There's a party tonight; y'all wanna go?", I announced.

           "YES!" Yani squealed.

          We shifted our gaze to Asme signaling that we were awaiting her response.

            "I don't know, we'll see.", she stated dryly.

            "You're going, I don't care if you're shy or not, we have to start our freshman year right!", I exclaimed.

            "How are we getting there?" Asme asked, giving in.

            "We could ask Marcus to give us a ride."

         We all nodded our heads in agreement that Marcus would be our ride. The rest of the walk was silent as everybody was too occupied looking at their phones. We finally arrived back at our dorm and took the stairs to the third floor where we all resided. Yani's room was first.

             "See y'all at 8.", she said with a smile on her face before closing her room door.

           Asme and I continued down the hall to our rooms which were directly across from each other. We said nothing before going inside our rooms knowing one was going to be bothering the other within the next few minutes. I sat my food down on my bed and walked over to my closet looking for the outfit I was going to wear. It's my freshman year and I have to start it right. I want to catch eyes but not too many eyes. I finally landed my eyes on the camouflage cargo pants I ordered from Fashion Nova last year. Then I tried to locate the long sleeve crop top that I had borrowed from Asme the other night. Once I found it I laid my outfit on the bed nodding to myself in approval. I then grabbed my towel and shower caddy making my way to the showers. Tonight was going to be a good night.