Strength |✔️

three

Neil

"Welcome to UVA, freshmen!"

Roars of applause sprout out from the audience. I look over at Alisha, who is smiling and applauding along as well. I never knew that Alisha was, well, Alisha. I thought she was some ordinary girl that I just ran into randomly. I never knew that she was the Alisha Dave, and I feel bad for ever asking her.

The orientation lasts for about forty-five minutes. After it's over, we were dismissed to go to our classes or our regular schedules. I say bye to Alisha as she walks off. I feel a hard clap on my back and I wince.

I turn around and I see Nick. I've known him since middle school and he is a huge dick. He taunts me a lot and I don't like it a single bit. He's also six foot and he has a girl. Typical.

Nick looks at me with curiosity. "Was that your girlfriend or something?"

I shake my head. "Nah, man. Just a friend."

Nick chuckles. "Whatever, Neil. She's hot, though. I say go for it."

I look at him and cross my arms. "I'm not like you, Nick. At least I have my limits."

Nick looks at me with a sort of rage. Nick and I are good friends, I'll say that, but we've had a rocky friendship lately. Nick played on the football team with me and he'd always want to be better than me. Turns out I was better than him.

Nick continues to look at me with glaring eyes. "I'd watch what you say, dude," he jabs me on the shoulder. I hear a girl say Nick's name. "That's my call," he says grinning. He runs off.

I scoff. Why am I even friends with him in the first place?

I walk to math analysis and see Alisha. I thought I didn't have any classes with her. She sees me and gestures me to sit on the seat next to her.

"Hey," I say, and take out my books. She's wearing a navy blue sweatshirt that says UVA and black leggings. I see that she's getting used to the school spirit. Her hair is pulled up in a high ponytail and her eyes are brighter than ever.

"Hey," she answers back. "I'm so not ready for math class."

I laugh. "Then why'd you take it?"

"'Cause I wanted to bring my gpa up and everything." She twiddles with her pencil. "So I can afford to live on my own in the future."

"Is it because of what happened to your parents?" I blurt out. Her cheeks turn red and she faces away from me. I messed up. Bad.

"Yeah, I guess," she says, her voice cracking.

"Ok," I say. I want to know exactly what happened to her and how she felt and everything. But I cant dip into her life and expect her to tell me all that had happened. If I was in her place, I would want to distance too.

The professor walks in and says "good morning, class." We repeat and say professor instead. "Please turn to page 355 in your textbook and work on the next three pages with a designated partner. Failure to finish it in class will result to work on it with your partner in your free time. I want to know what you guys know so far about math analysis, so you may begin."

Alisha turns to me, a smile forming. "Want to become my partner?"

I return the smile back. "Of course."

We work on the assigned work for the remainder of the class. We talk in between and I tell her how I want to pursue a career in football but my dad is forcing me to do math. Alisha looks at me. "Why would he force you? It's your life."

"I know." I groan. "Having strict parents are the worst."

She chuckles. "Must be."

we finished the three pages in time. I was surprised we did though; we talked more than did work.