Total Opposites | Cairo & CC

Chapter One - Latte with Almond Milk

CC Walker - Chapter One - Latte with Almond Milk

Song Choice: Come a Little Closer by Cage the Elephant

It was my first day at Yale University, and I was remarkably nervous, despite my cool exterior. I knew, deep down, that I had really only made it to Yale because of soccer. Which was amazing, and though my grades in high school were good, they weren't anywhere near the grades of the average Yale student. I knew I was going to be struggling these next four years. I wish that I could be more like my younger brother, who was interviewed with Yale when he was twelve. He was a genius. And, much to his dismay, I ended up at Yale before he did. But oh well. I just couldn't fail, because otherwise I couldn't play soccer, and if I couldn't play soccer, I couldn't be at Yale. This was going to be a long year.

As I got ready for my first day, I decided to dress simply, putting on some black jeans and a blue Yale Soccer t-shirt with my black Nike Dunks. I threw half of my hair into a bun, grabbed my backpack, which really only held my laptop, a notebook, and a few pens, and stepped out of my dorm. I was lucky, I didn't have a roommate since I had to be up early so many mornings for soccer, and the school didn't want to have to put another student through my early morning misery.

Reviewing my schedule for the week on my phone, I saw that I had American Literature at 9am, followed by Multivariable Calculus at 11am, and Geology, which was the introductory course for my major, Earth and Environmental Science.

Walking out of my dorm, I put my AirPods in and started playing Come a Little Closer by Cage the Elephant, making my way to American Literature. Class started at 9, and it was already 8:45, but I was a fast walker, despite the building being a twenty minute walk away.

Luckily, I made it in time, even if I was slightly out of breath. It was 8:58, and the open seat I saw the fastest was in the back row, and there was only one other girl in the row. She was on the innermost seat, so I opted for the aisle seat.

Sitting comfortably, I quickly glanced at the girl four seats down from me. She was absolutely beautiful. Long, brown hair, dark eyes, perfect jawline, she was just beautiful. It didn't seem like she had on nearly any makeup - she didn't need it anyways.

She was wearing a white button up with the sleeves rolled up to her forearms, a black skirt (that was admittedly quite short, though I totally wasn't checking her out), and some black Converse Chuck 70s.

At the desk she had pulled out from her chair, she simply had out a singular piece of paper and a pen, and I noticed the simple, gold rings she was wearing, along with her watch, which was simple, with a dark brown leather band. I noticed the watch was in analog time, which was interesting, as I didn't know watches like that were even still used.

Catching myself staring, I faced forward, sitting relaxed, almost lazily, and pulled out my laptop, since I figured I'd likely need it for class today.

Realizing it was 9am, and class was about to start, I pulled up Canvas, still not quite used to it since it wasn't used by my high school, and went to the syllabus for this class, since I figured that was likely what we'd be doing in class today anyways.

I was indeed correct, and we spent the next fifty minutes going over the syllabus, and I was fighting the urge to look at the girl to my right, and only lost to it three, maybe four, times?

Either way, I don't think she noticed. At least, I hope she didn't notice. That would be awkward.

Five minutes later, class was over, and I threw my laptop in my bag, wishing that I could somehow wait for the girl next to me to leave first, but I knew that I was blocking her by being in the aisle, and that it was pointless to attempt, especially as she had already stood up and was waiting on me to exit.

Hastily getting up, acutely aware of her eyes on me, I did my best not to trip down the stairs. Thankfully, I didn't, and I made it out of the small lecture hall, stopping in the hallway against the wall, pretending to check my phone.

With my luck, the girl followed behind me, and I was able to trail her a bit, doing my best to hide in the crowd.

Was I following her? Maybe. Was it weird? Probably. But I had to know who she was.

Eventually, much to my avail, I lost her in the crowd after we got out of the building, and I just had to hope she wouldn't drop the class so I could see her again on Wednesday, when we had that class again. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I had a different schedule, which consisted of Italian at 11am and Post 1800s United States History at 1pm. I had taken Italian all through high school and was nearly fluent, but we had to take at least two semesters of a language at Yale, so I just chose the intro Italian courses since I knew it'd be an easy grade.

Usually, I'd have soccer every morning from 5am to 7am, but thankfully, that started next week, so I had a week to get used to my class schedule.

In defeat over losing the mysterious, yet remarkably attractive girl from English, I decided to make my way to one of the on campus cafes, since I had about an hour until my next class, which was nearby.

Once there, I ordered a hot vanilla latte with almond milk, since my body decided to hate me (aka, I couldn't have dairy), and went to a corner table.

Pulling out my laptop once more, I put my AirPods back in and went to YouTube, pulling up highlights of soccer player Alex Morgan, who was practically my hero.

In high school, it was a running joke that I was the school's very own Alex Morgan, but I didn't believe I was good enough for that comparison until I was one of twenty from across the country to make the under-20 US National Team. I'd love to meet her one day, but for now, I could simply try to learn new techniques by watching her highlights.

After some time of this, I repacked my bag, ordered another latte, since I desperately needed caffeine and had already finished the first one, and began to walk to Calculus. Math and science were my strong suits, so I wasn't too worried about this class. English and history on the other hand, I knew would be difficult, and getting a good grade in both of those classes would be hard.

That girl from English is probably really smart, and she looks like she would be a humanities person. . .you could have a tutor, maybe something more? My inner voice said, though I quickly shut it up. I couldn't have a crush on the first day. . .could I?