Cracking Zeenath

September 1st, 2015

September 1st, 2015.

I met that group of kids I've been seeing everywhere.

     I was walking through the park again a few days ago, trying to make it back to my dorm before the clouds looming above my head decided it was the perfect time to release their burden. I was walking quickly, head down, arms pressing my books to my chest. The last thing I needed was to have my books get wet. I hadn't finished reading the chapter for class tomorrow.

     I walked past a bunch of tables on my way back, and I guess I should've been paying more attention because my mind was completely on trying to get home that day. I heard a shout and something landed right on my head, making me stop and look up in surprise. I carefully took it off and looked at it. It was a red baseball cap.

     I turned around and a blond guy jogged up to me, looking sheepish. "Uh, hey. Sorry about that, we didn't mean to hit you," he said, pursing his lips in a tight smile almost like he was afraid I was going to yell at him.

I blinked. "Oh. That's fine," I looked at him and cracked a smile, handing the cap back to him. "Great aim though."

He laughed, "Yeah? That's...different. I expected you to throw it at me and walk away."

     I raised an eyebrow, and he stumbled over his words. "Not that you would do that, I just..I mean..." I watched him struggle before waving my hand at him. "It's okay, you don't have to try and--crap!" A raindrop landed on my head and my hand flew up, feeling the cold seep through my hair. 

    "I really need to leave, bye!" I abruptly turned around and broke into a run. I needed to get home before the downpour. I only realized how rude I must've sounded after I got home. I closed my eyes and laughed to myself. Never before did I have problems talking to people or being polite. But then again. My stomach twisted. Never before have I had no friends.

I guess there's a first time for everything.

I laughed out loud despite myself. I have no friends. I sound so anti-social. What's wrong with me? 

I shook my head and walked into my room to go change my clothes. They were damp from the rain and getting downright uncomfortable and cold.

     That night, I stayed up late, trying to finish reading my Biology chapter for class tomorrow. I turned to my textbook and stared hard at the words until they blurred and crossed over each other. My thoughts kept wandering back to that boy and his baseball cap. That was some throw. Is my head that big?

     But that wasn't the real reason I wasn't concentrating. Somewhere in the back on my head, I was remembering how fun Nick and Noel used to be. That would have been the kind of thing they would have done...But I wasn't going to think about that. There's no use now.

I never finished reading that night and didn't know what was going on in class the next day.

A few days later, Professor Erickson paired us up with someone else to look at different kinds of cells. I was kind of relieved he paired us up rather than having us pick a partner. I still had no friends here.

"I'm going to put up the pairings on the board and give you all two minutes to find your partners and start the lab. If your partner is not here today, come see me and we'll put you with someone else," he said before going back to his computer.

     I searched the board for my name before finding it near the bottom. My partner was someone named Clara Davis. I breathed in and straightened in my seat to have a look around the classroom. My eyes met with a girl sitting a few seats behind me in another row. She smiled and waved before walking over to my seat. "Hey. You're Zeenath?" she asked.

I gave her a small smile and nodded. "Clara?"

"That's me, nice to meet you," she grinned.

I found myself smiling back. "Yeah, nice to meet you too."

"Which station do you want to go to? Do you mind if we just stay here?" she asked, pointing to the lab table set-up next to us.

"Sure," I said, getting up.

After we got all our supplies, I put my eye to the microscope and squinted.

"I think I've seen you walking through the park sometimes. Do you usually go there?"

I looked up from the microscope at her. "Yeah."

There was an awkward pause and I turned back to looking at the cell sample. Stupid thing didn't look like anything. I couldn't see it.

"Umm, you're not looking at the sample..." Clara seemed unsure whether to go on.

      I drew back, realizing my mistake and let out a short laugh before putting my head down on the table. "Oh God. I'm an idiot." I covered my face with my hands, feeling my face grow warm. The lens was facing the wrong direction. I'd been looking at the black stage instead of anywhere near the sample.

She laughed, "No, no. You're fine. I've done things like that before too. I poured liquid into an upside-down beaker once. I tried so hard to figure out why all of it fell out."

I giggled and moved away from the microscope. "Either way, you seem to know more about this. You take a turn. My eye hurts."

We finished the lab fairly quickly and I stretched as I straightened back up. Being hunched over the table for two hours was uncomfortable.

"I guess that's it," I said, stifling a yawn.

"Yeah.." Clare looked hard at the table before looking up at me. "Hey, are you busy after this class?"

I looked at her in surprise. "No, not really."

     "Great," she said, looking more confident. "I was just going down to Anna's Coffee after class to meet with my friends. Do you want to come grab a coffee? They'll love you, I promise....Or, you don't have to, no biggie," she said, noticing my face freeze for a second.

"That's fine. Sounds like fun," I forced myself to smile. I couldn't avoid that place completely. 

She grinned. "Awesome." Then she laughed. And my breath hitched because there it was. 

There was Evelyn's laugh all over again.

~Zeenath.

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A/N: You can always look up parts of a microscope if you were kind of lost on what the "stage" was. It's not the kind where little ladies and gentlemen dance around, but the place where you would put whatever you need to look at. It's that black platform with the hole in it.

Be sure to tell me what you think! I get so happy when I see that you all liked the chapter!

~October