The Middle: Of College

Chapter 2: Would I?

With my eyes widened a bit look up to him, shocked. I haven't seen him in months. To be honest, I wasn't quite planning on it either. Before he could say anything, I figured taking the lead in the conversation will make it less awkward. So I said something even worse. 'Waddup'. Waddup? Really. Who still says waddup like that. I never said that why would I say it now, damnit.

He laughed. 'Waddup?', he replied.
'Waddup', I said while nodding.
I raised my eyebrows, pushed my head a bit forward and looked him right in the eye. As if he offended me.
'I see you've kept your confidence', Darryl said.
'Sure did', I replied.

It got quiet for a moment. You could cut the tension with a knife.. or nails. But then again, what tension? Where is it coming from? Would I be able to process this awkwardness every single time? I can't do this right now, I need to get back to class.

'Well', I said.
'I- I have to go', Darryl replied quickly.
'Yeah, uh- Me too', I said.
'This important appointment', he smiled.
'You too? Ah, I do as well!', I replied.
'Great!', he said. 'I'll see you.. around'.

He walked away. Leaving me standing there having a whole conversation in my head. Appointment? Really, Aliyah. What appointment? We don't even have appointments. The only appointment I'm in need of is an appointment with a nail salon. I need to lay down and I need to do it now.

I walked into the hallway when I see another familiar face. I didn't need to think about it for a second longer, it's Isaac! I immediately walked to him as I called out his name. He turned around and smiled in less than a second. I hugged him and asked him what he was doing here. Obviously, he answered that he went to school here.

'Really?!', Isaac said happily. 'What's your major?'.
'I study Art History', I replied with a smile.
'No way, you've always wanted to do that', he laughed.
'I did!', I smiled. 'What about you?'
'I'm studying law', Isaac replied.
'That's great!', I replied. 'I totally didn't expected you here'.
'I didn't either', Isaac smiled. 'Also, this is Maggie'.

The girl he was chatting with smiled. It was her he was referring to. I introduced myself before he could. She has this chill vibe, just like him.

'It's nice to meet you', Maggie said to me.
'Likewise', I smiled.

Isaac and I were in the same friend group before my mother and I moved. We were so close, especially when he was the only one who would still speak to me after everyone hated me. Rumours were created and spread around about my father, one of the reasons we moved. He was always by my side.

'Anyway, I really need to go now', I said.
'Sure', Isaac said. 'Hopefully we'll see you around!'.

I walked into my room. Originally, my plan was to wait for Alicia to get to the room. Yet, as soon as my head hit the pillow, I was knocked out. I attempted and I failed. In my defense, it has been a long day. So I fell asleep. In my dream returned the beautiful, big tree from campus. I was sitting in the sparkling, green grass that was flowing with the wind. The sky was remarkably blue with pink tints. The tree still had all of it's green leafs on it and the sun was shining behind it. It looked like heaven. It sounded like heaven too, it was so quiet-

'Open the door!'

Wait.. I don't recall hearing anything in my dream. Then it occurred to me.. Alicia doesn't have her keys yet! 'Shit', I said and slowly opened my eyes. I needed a second to adjust to the setting of the room again. 'Hello?!', Alicia yelled. I opened the door and was totally snapped out of my sleep. Great. We sat down and talked until noon.

'Guess who I bumped into?', I asked Alicia.
'Monica?', she said after thinking for a minute.
'No, I wish it were her', I said. 'But no, Darryl'.
'Darryl?', Alicia replied instantly. 'Wait, ew. Darryl?'.
'Yes, ew Darryl', I said. 'We had this weird and might I add very awkward chat'.
Alicia sighed and rolled her eyes.
'Tell me about it', she said.
'Something happened?', I asked Alicia.
'Nothing really', she replied. 'What did you guys talk about?'.
'Well, nothing!', I said. 'There was this weird silence and then he told me he had this important appointment. I replied with me too'.
'What kind of appointments do you guys have on our first day?', Alicia replied.
'I- Wait.. Thats a valid point, right there. Also, I lied. I have none. ', I said.
'Aliyah, girl', she sighed.

We laughed it off and then finally went to sleep.

The next morning Alicia was already showered and dressed when I woke up. I could pretend to be shocked, but I know how she is. She still needs to adjust to the whole college thing. So do I! I know that I also need some time to adjust to everything, a new room, new people. Everything will be alright. I sighed. However, I had an hour and 30 minutes to get ready. My first class, I cannot wait.

When both Alicia and I were dressed and ready, we left our room and started walking to the main hall. We got our login information for our schedule. Alicia and I both looked at each other when we saw our schedules.

'Classroom D401', I said.
'Well shit', Alicia sighed.
'What?', I replied.
'A122', Alicia said.
'Right.. That doesn't sound close at all', I laughed.
'Lets just find a map', Alicia laughed.

It turned out we were totally right. I had to walk to the other side of campus. So I really needed to start walking if I wanted to be on time. I hugged Alicia and started walking. That was until I realised I had no clue where to go to.. So I stopped and looked around for a person I could ask directions. There was no need for that because I saw a big sign with the letter D on it. At least I found the building, now the classroom. I walked inside and walked up to the first girl I saw.

'Hi', I smiled. 'Do you know where classroom D401 is?'.
The girl turned around. Wait a second..
'Hey', she smiled. 'Aliyah'.
'Maggie, wasn't it', I smiled.
'Yes!', she said. 'I guess were going to the same class then'.
'What?', I asked.
'Yeah, me too', she laughed.

I'm was so happy I found someone familiar to start class with. Maggie studies art history as well. She said her goodbyes to her friend and we walked into class. Here we go.