𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃 apply fic

𝐎𝐍𝐄

𝐀  𝐃𝐀𝐘  𝐈𝐍  𝐓𝐇𝐄  𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄

THE MORNING HAD BEEN GRUELING AND ALL ELEANOR WANTED TO DO WAS SLEEP. She had never planned on piling extra classes on to her already hectic schedule, but it seemed the best option if she wanted to keep her weekend completely free. 

So Mondays kept her morning busy but afternoon free, Tuesdays offered relief in just an afternoon lecture, Wednesdays killed with multiple lectures (ranging from nine am to ten pm), and Thursdays wrapped the week up with only two classes. Overall, the week was a mess but she buckled up and set forth.

New York Polytechnic University wasn't the best place for her to chase after her dream of filmmaking, but it did offer a variety of film-related classes, such as American and World Cinema Studies, and she hoped that taking some of those classes would help her pursue a career. Learning about films from all walks of life would definitely help when she sat down to write a script, or plan a film, even if it wasn't hands-on. But as a declared Creative Writing major, she also had to load up on a few extra gen-ed classes. So her schedule was stock full, but she was happy nonetheless.

She dropped her bag next to her desk and slumped onto her bed. The room was void of her roommate, who had thankfully left the blinds closed after she left for the day, so it was the perfect environment for taking a quick nap before her next class two hours later.

Unfortunately, her phone decided to buzz just before she could drift off. She huffed but pulled it out from her bag. It was from Noah who was asking if Eleanor could please run a book over to her in Lecture Hall C before her next class started. It was a fifteen-minute walk (though only a seven-minute bike ride) and Eleanor figured she could still get a decent nap in before her next class, so she rolled back out of bed, grabbed a copy of the book Noah needed, and rushed out of her dorm room.

She made her way down the three flights of stairs and made a swift turn left to get to the bike racks. Someone made a right turn to the stairwell just as Eleanor stepped outside, and the two collided.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry," a female voice rang out. Eleanor shook her head and grabbed her book from the ground.

"It's fine," she brushed off. The other girl cocked an eyebrow.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"Yeah, you're good. I was kinda watching my feet," Eleanor chuckled.

"Alright, well sorry again and I guess I'll see you around..." she trailed off, hoping for a name.

"Eleanor," Eleanor filled in.

"I'm Samantha!" the stranger, Samantha, said. She gave Eleanor a smile and a quick pat on the shoulder before she spun around Eleanor and made her way to the staircase.

Eleanor shook her head with a smile and made her way to her bike.

The book ordeal took Eleanor no more than twenty-five minutes, and so she was back in her quiet dorm and napping before she knew it. She got about an hour of sleep before her alarm rang out to alert her of her next class. She sighed but turned it off and got down from her bed.

Her next class was philosophy studies related, and despite the topic being interesting, Eleanor never had time to read everything for class. Her teacher constantly assigned forty to sixty pages of reading with a day in between classes to read it all and takes notes. If it wasn't all ancient Greek writings or old bible stories, Eleanor knew she'd make the time. But unfortunately, Jesus took a backseat to everything else she had going on in her life. So, she sluggishly made her way to class, dreading what she knew would be a stale discussion of Exodus.

The hall of the building buzzed with the energy of kids ready to finish lectures and grab some food from the dining hall or grab a few friends and make their way off campus for the evening. Eleanor tried to tune out the excess noise as she made her way down the hall. She made a left into room 106, which was silent aside from the soft sixties jazz her teacher always played before class. Kids filed in and found empty seats and tugged their laptops from their bags. 

Eleanor managed to grab a seat in the back, and thankfully no one sat next to her. She pulled up Final Draft and tapped her fingers on the table while she thought about how to wrap up the scene she was writing. Should the fight happen at the dance, or should the characters pretend everything is alright until the next scene when one of them finally snaps? Should the girl snap or the boy? What would they even say to one another?

A hand tapping next to Eleanor's laptop pulled her from the blinking line.

"Mind if I sit here?" the boy asked.

"Oh, yeah, sorry," Eleanor said while grabbing her bag from the empty seat. She set it on the ground by her feet and the boy took a seat.

"I'm Theo by the way," he said as his laptop booted up.

"Eleanor," she replied. He offered a hand and she shook it with a chuckle.

"What year are you?" he asked.

"Sophomore...are you not?"

"I'm a senior actually," he laughed. "Flunked this class the first time around, and I'd really like to graduate."

Eleanor nodded with a smirk. "That does seem like a good idea."

"Wow, okay I didn't expect all this sass from you El," he said. He turned to his screen for a moment, pulling up his copy of Exodus, which had most definitely been read and analyzed, if his highlighting and underlining said anything. "Major?"

"Oh, I'm a, uh, creative writing major, but I really want to be a director," Eleanor answered.

"Both good things," he said. "I'm a history major, but I'd much rather be drumming."

"Like in a band?" He nodded. Eleanor smiled. "I have a friend who's really fucking talented when it comes to piano, like, she can come up with a melody on the spot, but she's too nervous to do anything with it."

"Oh really? I have a friend in my year who's the shit on bass," he said.

"Just gotta find a guitarist and a singer and you're set," Eleanor said with a laugh.

Her professor paused the music on his computer and turned to the class, introducing the text and pulling up a powerpoint with a few key questions he wanted the class to touch on. Eleanor looked up at Theo one more time, but his eyebrows were furrowed and his lips pursed in consideration.

The class dragged on (she was right, no one really cared all that much about the text, excluding the few uber-religious students who were excited to finally read something on Western religion) and Eleanor was focused on her script the entire time. The clock seemed to move slower and slower, until finally, her professor's timer went off and he gave the class a "goodbye" and "good day." Eleanor shut her laptop and stuffed it back into her bag. She went to stand when Theo stopped her.

"Hey, can I get your number?" he asked.

Eleanor was surprised. "Oh, I um...I don't--"

Theo laughed. "Shit, sorry, not like that, I just--if you're serious about your friend playing the piano my friend and I'd love to meet her. If she's chill with it, of course."

"Oh! Uh, yeah, I'm sure I can get her out of her room," she said with a smile.

The two traded numbers and Theo shook her hand once more, which elicited another laugh. He offered a goodbye and ducked out of the class. Eleanor shook her head and grabbed her stuff before heading out.

That was only the start.