semi-automatic ; j.d

thirty one ; the start of new classes & new friendships

it's a sad day when mia has to get up at nine in the morning to go to class.

when her alarm went off she felt like the world was ending. going back to school was never something she looked forward to. so even though she wanted to cry in protest and stay in the warmth of her bed, she eventually got up and drove to college.

she was pretty much all set to graduate and done with her credits, so the majority of her classes were all ones she actually wanted to take.

the lecture hall is surprisingly loud when she walks in. there's still like ten minutes until the class and it seems like the majority of the students in there know each other.

advanced fiction writing. that's the name of the class that she's been looking forward to ever since she put it on her course request. she figures it'll be an easy a.

mia finds an empty seat in the middle row and unzips her coat. the brunt end of winter in ohio has never been a particularly pleasant time of year, especially with all the snow.

"hey," says the boy sitting next to her with a warm smile. he has short, dark brown wavy hair styled in a messy quaff and green eyes. his jawline looks like it was chilled by the gods, but he doesn't seem the type of attractive where he's all full of himself.

she glances over at him, "hi," she says back, returning his smile.

"i'm zach," he says, extending his hand out to her.

"mia," she shakes his hand back. "what's your major?"

"liberal arts. you?"

"journalism. minoring in creative writing."

he grins, revealing a perfect set of white teeth. "nice," he nods his head.

the professor for the class comes in trough the side door, and he looks to be in his early thirties. scruff decorates his face and he has the look on his face like he's constantly thinking about how much he hates his life.

"hello, everyone," he says after setting his leather messenger bag down on top of the desk pushed back on the right side of the room. "welcome to advanced fiction writing. my name is mr. pincelli, and i'll be your professor for the semester. while i hand out the syllabus outlining the work for the time we'll be together, i'll tell you a little bit about myself."

oh great, mia thinks. he's one of those teachers. she listens to him ramble on about things that no one really cares about, like where he went to school and how he became an educator. when he starts talking about his family, mia completely tunes him out.

zach hands her a pile of yellow papers, and after taking one and passing the rest town to the person sitting on her other side she glances down at the course outline.

"i don't want this to just be another class for you. i hope that by the end of each of the lessons, you all grow not only as writers, but as people."

mia looks over at zach, mouthing 'seriously?'. she's had her fair share of professors who think that what they're doing is significantly important, maybe it's just a writer thing or maybe this guy is just really weird. or both.

mr pincelli's hands grip the sides of the wooden podium that's placed in the middle of the front of the room. he has a serious, 'i-want-to-change-the-world' expression on his face. "you all have the power to do great things. and even if your great things are only great to you, that's okay. hopefully you are all here because you share at least one common thing, and that thing is a love for writing. now i understand for some of you this may be the only thing you have in common with your fellow classmates, so for your first assignment i'd like you to partner up and write a five-page story about your partner. get to know them and let your mind explore the possibilities. i'm not looking for what you write, but how you write it."

"d'you wanna work together?" asks zach, looking at mia expectantly.

she shrugs her shoulders and then nods with agreement. there are a couple other people in the class that she knows, but she figures it won't kill her to get to know someone new. plus, this zach guy seems nice enough. "yeah, okay."

they spent the rest of the hour brainstorming ideas and just sorta getting to know each other. before she leaves, mia feels zach grab her arm.

"maybe we could hang out outside of class or something to finish this?" he asks, glancing briefly at his laptop screen where he's started writing things down.

mia nods her head. "yeah, definitely. here-let me see your phone."

so they exchange numbers, and mia wonders if maybe she should mention the fact that she had a boyfriend. it's not like she thinks zach is hitting on her, but she doesn't know if saying it will prevent anything from happening.

"alright, great, so text me when you're free to work," says the smiling green eyed boy as they both stand up, stuff all gathered.

mia bites her bottom lip. she decides not to say anything because she doesn't feel like it'll be a problem. "will do," she replies and then gives him a quick wave goodbye as she walks down the isle and out of the lecture hall.