On My Rainy Days

Chapter 2: Winter Himself

"I am almost there..."

It felt like I was in a race, and my sluggish feet weren't helping. My snow boots were soaked wet from walking, no, running, in the snow. By the time I got to the Academic Center, I was gasping for air. I used to be really athletic in high school. I was a member of a volleyball team since I was thirteen, and I was also the MVP until I graduated high school. It has been three years since I last played volleyball; it must be why I was a bit inept to accomplish rigorous activities now. I did miss high school a lot. I missed my big group of friends, and even when I was a total bitch back then, my friends were always there to stick with me. Somehow. But that's all behind me now, and what's in front of me were flights of stairs.

"You have gotta be kidding me! I only have 10 minutes left!"

On top of that, I did not even know where my classroom was. I looked at my class schedule, and it said that my English class was in room 409. I only had 10 minutes, one pair of feet, and a pair of lungs that I hoped were still attached inside of me.

"Excuse me, hi! Do you need help with something young lady?" An unfamiliar man said. I turned around to look at him. He was a portly man wearing a long black coat and a thick knitted chocolate brown scarf with black detailing of some sort.

"Yes sir. Do you know what floor room 409 is on?"

"409? That is on the fourth floor. Here, let me show you a faster way to get there." 

This man just saved me from embarrassment. I have always been bad at directions. If I was lost someplace, and someone tells me the way to go using the four cardinal directions, I would probably have a panic attack. I would not even know where my north would be in that situation. I would just lie on the floor and cry for my mom or something.

"So you enter this gate, and from there, you go up flights of stairs that will lead to entrances to each floors. Just keep going up until you see the entrance for the fourth floor. You will see a sign on top of the door."

"Thank you so much! Have a nice day sir."

"You have a good first day in class, young miss."

As I entered the door, I balled my fist and clenched my teeth together. Step by step, I climbed up the stairs until I got to the fourth floor. Out of breath, I held onto the handle and just froze there as I calmed down and breathed normally. My heart was beating fast.

"Isabelle, the heck with it!" I thought to myself before I entered the door. I was in a hall, and on the wall, showed room numbers and arrows directing which hall to take. Apparently, room 409 was just to the left of the main entrance coming from the stairs. I felt a bit anxious now that the room was actually in front of me. I honestly did not know what to expect. I have never been to an American school before, let alone a college. I felt scared, and my stomach was churning. Something felt stuck inside my chest, like a rock blocking my windpipe. I still had three minutes left. I slowly walked over to the door, took a deep breathe before I went in. In the room were eyes that were fixed on me. I just picked a random seat in the front and sat there. I was sure there's an unspoken rule every first week of school that whichever seat you choose will be your seat until the semester ends. Even I knew that.

Unaware of what the normal thing to do was, I leaned to my side to unpack my stuff. I reached for my books, binder, and pen inside my backpack and placed them on my desk. I was glad that my books for that class were just the size of my hand, just an inch or two bigger. A few minutes later, the professor entered the room without a word and began putting his stuff on this wooden tabletop podium that I found very weird. It sat on top of what seemed to be a bigger desk. He went to the main podium, which looked similar to the smaller one except it was a normal sized one. It had a computer, and the professor started tapping on the keyboard until the projector lit up against the white projector screen that was hanging on the far right side of the room. 

"Good morning class. I am Lucas Barnes, but I prefer to be addressed as Mr. Barnes for the rest of the semester. Now, I am gonna pass on an attendance sheet and I would like everyone to sign in their names."

The sheet circulated the room, seat after seat, until it got to me. I quickly signed my name and passed it to the person behind me. When everyone signed the sheet, Mr. Barnes discussed the syllabus. Typical rules of no using cellphones, turning in papers on time, no coming in late, and just rules in general. He also went over the grading system, and how many points each assignment was worth. After an hour of going over the syllabus, he made us sign a contract that restricts us from using our phone during class time.

"Now, bring out your book and turn it to the introduction page." He said as he tapped the sheets of contract against the desk to even out the edges.

The whole class looked at him, bewildered. I did not get it at first, but then someone blurted out a remark that clarified my confusion.

"But it's the first day."

"So? What did you all expect? We have fifteen minutes left. We wouldn't want those to go to waste."

And after he said that, I heard a few aww's of disappointment. They must have thought that he was going to let us go earlier than expected. He made us turn to the introduction page and read three full pages of paragraphs in unison. I was sometimes a bit lost and had to pretend I was on the same page reading the exact same thing when I was literally holding the wrong book. Not to mention, I had to rummage through the pages to find the introductory page. Of course, Isabelle. The introductory page was somewhere in the middle of the book. Pure genius. I honestly did not mind staying a bit longer. I was actually enjoying learning about grammar. Although I sometimes could not keep up with how fast Mr. Barnes was talking and having mini heart attacks whenever I could not, I learned a lot in the past ten minutes or so.

"We'll stop for now, and we'll pick up where we left off on Thursday. It was nice meeting you all, and I hope we get along this semester..." He reiterated his office hours and reminded everyone to read the said chapters on our college educational web system, EdWeb.

I packed my things one by one, made sure I did not forget anything, put my coat and gloves on, and slid my bag on my shoulders. I took my phone out, and was not paying attention to where I was walking when I caught the door being held open from my peripheral view. I rushed towards it, felt a bit embarrassed that I made the person hold the door for me that long.

"Thank you." I murmured, almost whispered.

"Mhmm." He replied. I thought it was a bit lazy of him to hum a reply instead of actually saying "you're welcome" or "no problem." I did, however, made him wait a bit, so I probably merit that reply.

I slowed down my pace to have him walk in front of me and to take a good look of what he looked like and familiarize who he was. I watched his back as he walked lopsidedly. He looked a bit awkward and weird. He wore this thick black coat, and he had gloves on as well. He had dark brown hair, just like mine, and he was scrawny. He looked a bit ghostly having pale white skin, and he wore glasses that rested still against his crooked nose. The thing that I noticed about this person was that he walked weird. He just gave off that vibe that screamed "hey, I am weird and awkward," which, I thought, was kind of cute. I have had this made-up belief that when a guy is a bit awkward, he is intelligent and has trouble making friends. It could be a bad thing for others, but I found it strangely endearing. It's like, if you befriend him, he will value that since he doesn't get that a lot. It made sense if given a deep thought.

I found myself looking at this man in front of me and figuring out what kind of person he was. I let it go for the day. I had another class to attend. I followed him down the stairs and out the door to the first floor. I had to take my phone out to check if someone texted me, and right after doing so, I looked around and he was nowhere. I went to the main entrance of the Academic Center, and he was indeed gone. Just like that. I was crept out knowing he was gone in just a few seconds. As I was on my way to the Campus Center for my next class, it started snowing.

It really annoyed me when it started snowing.