Freedom, Books, Flowers, and the Moon

Chapter 2

The girl slowly unlaced her shoes, tired from her eventful day. She felt lucky that her third and final class that day didn't have a god-like professor. The sweet older lady had been a welcome sight. Aurelia trudged her way to her bed and collapsed. She had been more drained from the social interaction than the classes themselves, but she knew this was only the tip of the iceberg. She had always kept to herself, but moving to a new place required meeting all new people. Aurie was already tired of it. She pulled her laptop from her bag and turned it on. She found the syllabus from her class with Professor Angevin and sighed as she reread it. She had no idea how she was going to learn all of this, let alone meet the man's expectations and excel. She rubbed her face harshly, already stressed. She quickly switched to her next class, finding her second professor's syllabus to be a lot more relaxed, much like his personality. She shut her computer and rolled onto her side. Her phone once again showed no notifications, so she turned on her alarm and closed her eyes, letting exhaustion take her consciousness.

Aurelia groaned as she reached to turn off the incessant beeping of her alarm, sighing at the silence when she succeeded. She let her feet hit the floor and stood, once again staring at her closet and wishing she was still in bed. Once the girl grabbed a pair of jeans and a random shirt, she went to the bathroom and did the same thing she did yesterday, already creating a morning routine. She grabbed a granola bar from the bin in her room and checked her schedule as she ate. Math again with Professor Angevin. Do I have to deal with that class every day? She scrolled down and found that her next class was one she was truly dreading. Introduction to Law Enforcement with Professor De Luca. She wanted to kill her father for forcing that on her schedule. She could only hope the person teaching it was patient; Aurie knew absolutely nothing about law enforcement. She scooped up her tote and left her dorm. When she trudged back into pre-calc, she was once again the first one in the room. Will this be something that happens on a regular basis? How late do people normally get to class? She slinked into the same seat from yesterday, trying to be unseen.

"Good morning, Miss Coty,"

Her eyes widened before she replied gently, "Good morning, sir."

"How was your first day of classes?"

"I, um, it, it was ok. How was your day, sir?" The girl stuttered, flustered by the attention.

"It was good; thank you for asking." He looked back down at the papers in front of him, trying to hide his smirk.

Aurie began picking at her fingers, wishing class would just start already. After a few people filed in, the professor stood, turned, and started writing on the whiteboard previously behind him. As the girl stared at the muscles in his back moving, she knew she was going to fail his class.

When Aurelia left the room an hour later, she had absorbed more information than she thought. Professor Angevin was an excellent teacher, and Aurie was beyond grateful. She made her way to the small cafe that she had found yesterday and ordered another latte, then sat down at a table in front of a window. As she sipped, she looked to see where her class was. Does this university have another building? Aurie giggled to herself. Since there was an hour and a half until her next class, she pulled out her writing notebook and considered the prompt Professor McBride had given them the previous day.

"How do I make this not sound stupid?" she mumbled to herself.

She chewed on the end of the pen in her hand before beginning to write. About 45 minutes later, she checked her phone and was horrified to see that there were 3 minutes until her class. Aurelia threw her things in her bag and sprinted out the door. When she reached the room five minutes later, she sighed, disappointed in herself. This isn't the best way to make a good first impression. She knocked on the door lightly and slowly opened it to find 30 pairs of eyes belonging to only men on her.