Just College

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Daya sat on her bed, legs crossed underneath her as she gently folded the clothes on her bed. Nari sat at her desk, headsets on, clicking away at her laptop.

Spring break was drawing near and Daya was already fearing to go home. She normally just stayed in the dorms most times or went to a vacation home with someone but even that person has never contacted her for the past two weeks. She folded up a white hoodie, trying not to sigh loudly since she wasn't sure if the other girl had music blasting in her ears.

She was going home this time. In as much as she loved being at home and away from school, she also hated it. You'd understand if you saw her at home.

Daya got on her feet, gently piling up the folded clothes in her arms and walking to the shared closet with Nari. That girl was lucky. She just resumed and she was planning to go back home already.

"Are we having lunch at the dorms cafeteria today?", Nari asked, reading the notification from the dorm mistresses in the dormitory's platform on her laptop screen.

"I guess so", Daya said. It was the last Saturday before the break and it only made sense that.... that they all ate in the cafeteria. Her eyes widened. She stared at the brown board of the closet. "Nari, what?", she turned away from the open closet and looked at the girl.

Nari spun in her chair, facing the girl. "Did you say something?", she raised the left speaker off her ear.

"Yeah, I did. Why did you ask if we were having lunch at the dorms cafeteria?"

"Oh. They sent a notice", Nari jerked a thumb behind her at her laptop. "And we will be late after 15 minutes"

Daya thinks she got herself an alarm clock. Nari was so time regulated it gave her migraines sometimes. "The boys eat with us too", Daya quietly said, more to herself but louder than intended.

Nari thought back to the things those girls said to her on her first day. The reason she switched classes the next day. "Kim Seungmin, he is the boy I saw those weeks ago, right?"

Daya looked at her. This was the first time she was bringing this up again after that Friday. Daya walked to her bed, picking up her remaining clothes and going back to the closet to pile them in.

Nari placed her hands in her laps, staring at the girl's back. "What's your relationship with him?", the older girl said nothing. "I know I said I wouldn't pry but I can't keep on defending something I know nothing about"

"Did I ask you to defend me?"

"Oh", Nari blinked with a whisper. She was right. She had only known her for three weeks.

Daya shut the closet door. "Don't worry, he hasn't contacted me since that day"

Nari nodded. She took off her headphones, placing them on the table, she got up. "You will go, won't you?. For lunch"

Daya turned to the girl with a bright smile that Nari knew was fake. "Of course I will"

Nari put her hand into her shorts pocket. "I can get to the cafeteria on my own. You don't have to tag along if you don't want to", she smiled a little, walking past the girl to get to the bathroom.

Daya dropped in a squat when the door shut quietly. She stared into space. She was scared. Scared that Professor Sooyoung will mess up her grades because of what she saw. Liberal arts was like the pillar of the career she was heading for. She didn't say a word about that but she doubted the woman appreciated that. The stank eye she always gave her in class, the way she called her out on every little thing during classes, all showed that she was heading for impending failure at the end of the term. She was wondering what made the woman so cocky. So relaxed. So brazen. It all measured to one thing or one person.