I Hate My Roommate

CHAPTER 21

Song: Always Forever - Cults

Both took the 08:50 bus and left it at the same stop. Michelle and Sage were frequenting the same university however on different and distant campuses. They were walking, giving their opinions on how the year will be, their performance, Michelle was sick and excited to restart studying and learning about another passion of her that had nothing to do with her hobbies, Sage was tired and lazy, not ready to listen to her teachers talking about perception, developmental psychology, cognition, and behavioral neuroscience, as well as for the applied side, such as neurorehabilitation, education, and health, it was fun, looking at the ways people think, act, react, and interact studying the human and animal behavior, and the thoughts and emotions that influence behavior, but it was also tiring.

Cole called, interrupting the conversation that was keeping Michelle from passing out because of the headache.

"Good morning, princess."

"Hi, my love," Sage said, with a smile Michelle had never seen before, a smile of someone in love. "Did you sleep well?" She asked, with her eyes on the girl next to her putting the earphone on, bothered, impatient.

They walked for ten minutes more to the usual place they would split up and go in different directions, Sage was still on the call with Cole, limited to waving and whispering 'Good luck!' to Michelle, who simply blinked, with the volume almost in the maximum, listening to «Triggered» by Chase Atlantic, making the pain, both from the heart and head, something that was part of her, the way it was just supposed to be. As she was getting closer to the university her heart was beating stronger, her mouth dried and her fingers inside the pocket were shivering.

What's the deal, Michelle? It's routine, stay quiet! She said to herself, taking deep breaths and trying to vibe with the '80s song that was playing. She was already on the campus, between students, teachers, parents, and others, walking in the .,.,. Ground when the music stopped and her phone started vibrating.

"Sarah?" She thought out loud. "Hi."

"Chelle! I just saw you. Stay where you are."

"Sure..."

Michelle took refuge near one of the amber and bronze color stairs looking at the number of people passing, realizing some of them were also shaky, with their throats dry, doing too many hand gestures, unnecessary movements, others were okay, happy maybe, or just hiding the nervousness very well, talking with the ones they were close at, waving at their favorite teachers. She was about to put a cigarette between her lips when a pink-haired girl appeared in front of her with a guy wearing all black and chains.

"Yo." He said. "Excited?"

"Yeah, sure!" Michelle grunted with everything but a smile, winding up to place the tobacco in her mouth, the muscles of her face relaxed, tired. "Coffee?"

"Yeah, but let's wait a bit for Caroline."

Meanwhile Sage talked with Cole, who was also on his way to the institution, about their teachers and school experiences, something that had never come up. She was indoors, going up the rudimentary and old-looking stairs, not wanting to cross with too many people, heading to the classroom.

"I'll talk with you later, then."

She said goodbye to him and took a deep breath before entering the room, but it was just deserted, filled with silence. She went up the stairs, looking for a chair on the top step. It took a few minutes for the groups composed of three or four people to start arriving, interrupting Sage's leisure, not that she was relaxing or calm, but with the music and drawing it would look like she was being dragged to another world.