Romani Noor is an aspiring chemist- well, possible ex-chemist, after she can no longer afford the rise in her university tuition fees.
Her best friend and sister, Juno, is living across the country with her wife, sending Romani occasional cheques t...
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My stomach suppressed a growl as I discreetly chugged half the water in my bottle to keep the embarrassing sounds at bay.
Luckily for me, no one else in the lecture hall seemed to notice and I returned my eyes back to the email in front of me on my beat-up phone.
Dear Ms. Noor,
We must formally regard you of an increase in our annual tuition fees due to taxing reasonings. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause you...
And so, the email went on to offer condolences for something the university had no control over, and something I couldn't provide them.
My shoulders sag ever so slightly as I switch off my phone and tuck it under my notebook that I have laying open in front of me. I try tune into the lecture, but I can't get my mind off the increase in tuition.
What was I going to do? I could barely make ends meet as it was, even with Juno sending me the occasional cheque I still had to give up the occasional meal to pay my rent.
My stomach twists again at the reminder and I bite my lip, willing it to deal with the hunger like I have been for the past months.
"Romani?" A voice whispers from my right, and I jump ever so slightly at the sudden sound.
I turn my head and smile kindly at the girl sitting a few seats over from me with her other friends, "Can you spare me a piece of paper?" She nods to my notebook, "I forgot to bring mine." She smiles at me sheepishly as her friend's giggle at her.
"Of course." I beam back at her, flipping my notebook to a new page and tearing a blank page out. I hand it over to her and accepts it gratefully.
"Thank you, you're such a sweetheart." She tells me, and my cheeks redden at her words as I now smile at her shyly.
"Romani." Our lecture professor calls from the front of the hall, snapping my head towards him urgently, "Do you have something to share with the whole class?" He asks me, raising a brow in my direction.
I shrink back into my seat as much as I can, and my cheeks redden even further for an entirely different reason.
The girls to my right begin to giggle amongst themselves at my predicament, and I dig my nails into my palms to try block them out.
"She wasn't the one disrupting your class sir." A deeper voice calls out from my left, and I gasp slightly, looking over to see a boy with sandy coloured hair narrowing his eyes at our professor.
Professor Monaro glances at the boy with distaste before returning his intense gaze to me. I stay silent, not wanting to apologise for something I didn't do, but also from fear of embarrassing myself.
"Don't let it happen again." Professor Monaro grumbles before turning back to the blackboard to finish off his last chemical equation.
I let out a discreet sigh of relief and glance over to the boy at my left only to see his light eyes already looking at me.
