History Doesn't Repeat Itself

Chapter 7

The sound of birds chirping filled the room, and it felt like I was resting on a fuzzy pillow—the one that I saw on the edge of the bed last night.

I slowly opened my eyes and a beam of sunlight hit me, making me close them back up again. 

I re-open my eyes, this time I was squinting, trying my best to see even though the sun was harassing my eyes.

It was pretty normal for me to wake up this early in the morning. Especially on weekends. There wasn't a reason I had to, I just like waking up early.

With a yawn, a new memory pops up inside my head.

It was the middle of the second semester at university. I was lying on the bed of my dorm as I scrolled through Facebook. Alyssa—my roommate at the time— had gone to a group study along with her friend group.

I—the procrastinator—decided to give myself 5 more minutes of screentime. That 5 minutes eventually turned into an hour, then to two hours. . .

The next thing I knew, I had been hyper-focused on looking at food posts, that I wasn't able to keep track of the time, forgetting to attend an important lecture.

It was around 6:00 when I heard a knock on my door. Alyssa usually comes back to the dorm room around this time so I figured it was her. I walk to the door.

"Who is it?" I ask, opening the door.

It was a tall cute guy. I wasn't able to properly look at his eyes, but I knew they were pretty.

He was staring at me with his lips parted.

"Hello?" I say.

"Oh, right, Sorry. You left this at the lecture earlier." He says, winking at me through the shades he had on.

"Me?" 

He nods.

"I didn't—"

"We have exams coming up and you didn't attend the most important lecture?"

I shook my head, trying to refresh the conversation. "I'm sorry. Do I know you?"

"You do not." He says as he smiles at me, revealing his dimples.

"This must be a misunderstanding, this isn't my notebook—" I get cut off.

"Look, Chris. This is very important information that I know you'll need. I know you didn't attend the lecture. Or any lecture at all" He says as his expression changes. "Read the note in front. Hide that. Don't let anyone see it. Alright?"

I was a bit skeptical at first. I opened the notebook to the first page and it read:

2nd Semester: Reviewer Plan

"What is this?" I say, lifting the notebook up.

"It's all the notes I have of the whole semester; all the topics and all the lectures you missed. I want you to have it."

"Why?"

"I never see you pull out your pen or your notebooks." He says. "I figured you needed something like this."

I giggle, "Wow. I mean— Wow, like, thanks." I say, smiling at him and then at the notebook.

A guy who I barely knew decided to give me his notebook filled with exclusive information about the lectures. It even had a list of lessons and the main topics, along with a list of possible questions that I might find on the test. It was a full-blown confession if I had ever seen one,

"I really like your smile." He says, breaking the silence.

"I like your eyes. I can't see them, but they look cool."