Perpetually Dreaming

Chapter 1-The Student

Chapter 1-The Student

      With a huff, I tossed my dramatic self into my roommate's bed and began typing on an old laptop she'd let me "borrow" a few years back. Ally smiled at my grand entrance as she rearranged her shelves, putting her workbooks "out of sight and out of mind" while we're on break. She's done this every year for the four years we've lived together. She's very committed to this whole mindset that your room affects your attitude, but I've yet to decide. I mean, it's not like a clean room will magically do my summer essays for me... or can it? I just might have to look into that.

       "Natalie, you better be playing games! Summer, like, literally just started. I doubt that your teachers are gonna notice if you don't work on those stupid papers all day every day, take a break!" She chuckled, putting a large orange crystal in the center of her desk and clicking a button to turn it on.

         "I know, I know, but I only have a few more hours of work on this one, and I'd rather not have the stress all summer." I did my best to explain, wishing I had chosen an easier major. I don't exactly want to be a psychiatrist, but I did get a couple scholarships to UCLA for the field, and I wasn't about to let them go to waste. Life ain't cheap and money is money. Plus, in the end, I could save a few lives if I tried. Or at least get the latest gossip on all my clients, which is a win in my books.

        I watched as she walked over and shut my laptop, sitting beside me. "Summer is for romance, not homework, and I happen to know just where you can find some love." She smirked to herself and began scrolling through her phone, until it seemed that she found what she was looking for.

       "Okay, so, like, this guy I've been talking to-"

       "The Canadian one? Or is it the guy that doesn't talk, or the one who-"

        She gave me a look, like I should know every guy she's talking to at any time point. "The Canadian one, stupid. And for your information, his name is Zach. He's coming to visit some of his friends that live around here, and I figure we could have them all over for a day or two, so you better get used to hearing that name. Plus, you desperately need the socializing." She emphasized that last part, but it's not that I'm incapable of finding friends. Just over the years that we've lived together, Ally's become a sort of second mother to me—far more annoying about me socializing than my actual mom, but still very caring. She seems to reject all the people I choose to bring into my life in favor of the ones she chooses.

       "Sounds like communist propaganda to me. We share our home, food, and hospitality for a fellow comrade? No thanks, I love capitalism." I snark at her with a smile. She rolls her eyes so hard they might just fall out and immediately started to go over the dynamics of their group and how they're "such good friends and blah blah blah," so I zone her out. In true Dramatic Ally fashion, she went into too much detail on the smallest things and lost me.  I took my laptop and walked out of her room, down the hall, and into mine, hoping to get away from my roommate's dramatic new life of Canadians.

      Heeding Ally's warning, I put the assignment away for now, moving onto something I actually cared about. Over the school year it had been collecting dust, me being too busy to use it, but I figured now was as good a time as any to get on my desktop (which has earned the nickname "Dust Top" for its abandonment). The old computer whirred and booted up, taking far too long for any sane person to wait, and showed me a desktop cluttered with old files and various programs. The background is the same as when I bought it six or seven years ago that I'm just too lazy to change, so I won't. Totally isn't because I don't know how. Haha, why would you suggest that?

       I clicked the ever iconic dirt block icon and loaded my all-time favorite game—Minecraft. Originally I had despised the simple game on the grounds that my old graphic design teacher forced us to use it for a whole semester. It was on some building design that I couldn't care less about back then and, honestly, still wish didn't exist. Looking back, I should've cherished those classes more, they were a whole lot of fun. Building in Minecraft for a grade? Sign me up... Again. Please. Just saying, after I got over the pretentious "anything to do with school is terrible" attitude, I really enjoyed myself. There aren't any rules, only joy, you know? No true end, no storyline, and you can build anything you want without limitations. True freedom in a rightless world. Except in class, but that's not the point.