Loving The Wallflower

Chapter Six : Darian

Every first years were required to choose at least one residential club to participate in. There were so many clubs for each residential dorm. The dorm where Astra, Skye, and Aiden were staying was named Lyra. There were five dorm houses in total : Orion, Artemis, Lyra, Altair, and Atlas.

Each dorm house had its own clubs and student associations. Astra and Skye decided to join the Photography Club. Their reasons were nothing particular. They just wanted to do something fun, but not too energy draining.

The first meetup for the Photography Club was set to be at 7 in the evening, so Astra and Skye went to the cafeteria to grab dinner first. While they were lining up for ordering food, someone patted Astra on the shoulder and she turned around to see who it was.

She smiled at the familiar person infront of her.

"Jer! Nice seeing you here. It's been a week since I last spoken to you."

They hugged each other, and Astra introduced Skye to Jeremiah. While exchanging greetings, it was soon Astra and Skye's turn to order. They excused themselves for awhile to order their food, and invited Jeremiah to join them at their table after seeing that he was alone. Jeremiah said yes to them and he proceeded to give his food order at the counter.

Jeremiah looked around to see where Astra and Skye were sitting at. He spotted Astra not too long after. They were sitting at the far end of the right wing of the cafeteria. Jeremiah sat down right next to Astra and flashed her his signature charming smile.

"So...how's first week of class going for you?"

Astra grunted and rolled her eyes.

"It was tiring. I mean, I did not get to have too many breaks in between classes because this is actually my first time having a 3-hour class. Secondary school and Form 6 didn't have that. And sometimes it's two 3-hour classes in a day. I need more time to adjust."

Astra plopped her head on her arm and looked at Jeremiah, closing her eyes and just took in a deep breath. Jeremiah chuckled and patted Astra's head softly.

"Aww, I hope I can do something to ease those feelings. But you're on your own, kid. I believe in you, though. You'll get use to it in no time. Now, tell me about the dorm clubs. Which one are you joining in?"

Astra thanked Jeremiah for his kind word and gave him a thankful smile. She really missed home now that Jeremiah was treating her just like when they were little children again.

"We were planning to join the Photography Club. Which reminds me, what club are you in again, Jer?"

"I'm in the volleyball club, but I'm the president of Lyra's hiking club as well. So, if you're interested in going for a hike, you know who to call."

Astra loved hiking, she just had to go with the right person, or people. She did not fancy it much when she could feel strangers looking at her during any hiking session. Looking back at her personal experiences, she knew they were making assumptions about her.

Some people just had this perception that fat people should not go hiking because it would be so "off-brand" of them. But the same group of people would call fat people "lazy" for staying at home. Astra had been feeling frustrated with such situations for so long.

Pick a side, she internally said whenever she encountered people like such.

"I will. Thanks Jer. By the way, I spoke to Darian last night on the phone. He sounds very excited for his basketball tryouts this weekend. I'm so happy for him, I just wish I can be there to cheer for him."

Astra and Darian spoke for about 3 hours the previous night and they caught up on a lot of things. Astra told him about Skye, Orion's Garden, classes, and Aiden. Darian, on the other hand told Astra about his upcoming basketball tryout, the clubs he recently joined, and about his roommate who was a huge fan of the Hunger Games franchise and would have lots of Hunger Games merchandise hanging around their room. Not that Darian would complain about that. In fact, he found it fun and cool.