An Unexpected Girl

chapter three

It was only the second week of the semester, but classes were already picking up. To Iris, it felt like she had been back at college a whole month because of how professors kept on assigning assignments and random tests and quizzes.

Iris was currently a biology major. She was on the Pre-Med track hoping to go to Med School and eventually become a doctor. Well, that was more like her mom's hopes than hers. Sure, Iris had once wanted to be a Doctor. But that was when she was 12. She had since realized the number of years of schooling that it involved and wasn't really down for it.

But alas, she couldn't do anything about it right then. She was already a Junior in college, and it was what her mom always wanted. Iris's mom had not worked two jobs to provide Iris with the best education she could afford as a single mother, just for her to reject everything that her mom had worked for.

Even if being a doctor was not the most exciting thing to Iris, at least she was in good academic standing, so actually had a pretty good chance of making it into Med School.

Iris walked into her first class of the day, her biology lecture, and took a seat right in the middle of the lecture hall. It was close enough to the front of the class, so she could pay attention and wouldn't get distracted during class, but it wasn't too close to the front of the class that she could randomly be cold-called on by the professor.

Being cold-called during class was one thing that Iris completely hated. Her anxiety could not handle it. It had happened to her a few times, and each time, even if she knew the answer to a question, she always fumbled and ended up stuttering and stumbling over her words.

"Good morning class, let's begin," the biology professor announced, appearing at the front of the lecture theatre. He was a short white man with a long greying beard.

The professor began the lecture on enzymes. Luckily for iris, she already knew a great deal about the content being taught and found that she did not have to pay attention as much attention in order to keep up.

It wasn't long before her mind wandered off.

Of course, Iris was thinking of none other than Niki. It seemed that Niki was all that she could think about lately. Iris was meant to have slept over the night before, but had not received a text from Niki telling her to come over. Of course, Iris would not be the one to text first. Her anxiety was holding her back from doing just that.

Despite that, she couldn't help wondering if Niki had regretted the night they shared. After all, she had not hit her up in the slightest and had barely said anything to her the next morning. Iris pushed the feeling down. She knew ‌she was probably just overthinking the whole thing in her usual manner. Niki was probably just busy with school and stuff. It was still the start of the semester, after all, so she was probably just busy.

Iris's mind continued to wander, and the next thing she knew, she was dreaming about what it would be like dating Niki. Sure, she had hooked up and talked to people, but had never actually been in a serious relationship. This was due to the fact that she was barely even out in high school, and had spent her first few years of college making sure she didn't flunk out of school. But Iris could finally say she had gotten the hang of it, and this school year was finally going to be different for Iris.

Biology class ended, and Iris quickly packed up her book bag, making her way outside.

It was still summer, so the weather was warm, but Iris knew this was only temporary. In a couple of months, the green grass all around would mostly likely have died, and possibly be covered in a layer of snow.

Taking advantage of the good weather, Iris found a large unoccupied tree, and sat cross-legged under it.

All around her were college students like herself, meeting up with friends, laughing and just hanging out.