Crush Quest

Chapter 2

"I'm so sorry Lina. My phone turned off as I was taking the bus. I didn't know you'd show up this early." said Esther after finally showing up at the cafeteria near the bar.

"Well you would have known that if you hadn't turn off your phone last night. When will you stop doing that. Get over yourself Esther, you're 21." I responded with a furious tone.

Esther deals with some serious anxiety problems. She literally turns off her phone every night in case it decides to blow up all of a sudden in the middle of her sleep. Her argument is a long story we have all been told by our mothers: the charger that blew up and set fire on a full house. Spoil alert. Everyone dies except the guilty phone charging guy who delivers the story to the world later on.

"Where Is Aaron?" She asked.

" I have no idea what this guy is up to. He hasn't answered my 20 phone calls yet." I answered.

He is not asleep, and I'm sure he would have answered my calls if he had seen them. Where is this guy!

No way! How did I miss that! He must be at the gym building.

"Esther, follow me. I think I know where he is."

We walk across the halls leading to the back entrance of the campus, discussing our successful-to-be-hopefully plans on how to organize daily group revisions for the three of us. We both were at the peak of our motivation to do things right this year:

❖ Not missing a single class.
❖ Taking full note in every lecture.
❖ Preparing for exams two to three weeks ahead.
❖ No procrastination allowed with academic projects.
❖ Daily group revisions of an hour minimum.

To be quite honest, I have been following this to-do list
for the past two years. Efficiency approved and guaranteed from my standpoint. I managed to be 5th in class during my second year, which isn't bad for a person who failed her first year anyways. There is a bright side for everything. I chose to look at things differently since my failure.

My social distancing emerged for couple of reasons. University drama is a lot to handle if one is willing to achieve passing scores. But for my case that was not the main reason.

I had not always dreamed of being an economist. I was more passionate about galaxies, the universe, the big bang. For so long and since I was a child, I had a dream of becoming an astronomer when I grow up. Now that I am grown up, I got to deal with grown up issues as well such as

disappointment and moving on. I thought applying for an economics bachelor wouldn't be a big deal anyways. Economics is easy right? Or so I thought. I'm bursting in laughs now that I think about how I used to perceive this discipline. Big LOL.

Skipping to the part where I failed. With no motivation, no passion, bad peer pressure, tons of drama, and a rigid academic system, I would have been more surprised if I passed than I was when I failed. It is a human nature to be a bit optimistic even in the darkest of times. Except for me, I was a too optimistic given the harsh circumstances. Which made the situation worse.

I never felt the same since that day I opened up my email inbox to find out I was going to repeat the year, which I didn't enjoy anyways. How am I going to tell my parents? How am I going to deal with this mentally? I felt the disappointment running through my blood. The five year old me would have not been so proud of my current being at that time.

Now that I look back at this event from a different height, I feel blessed it happened. The chaos enabled me to see things I was never able to glance before. It set up challenges I always took for granted. I am happy I could get back on my feet without enduring an actual mental breakdown. No matter how successful I will be in the future, I will never fail to mention this chaotic event, because it marked my first felt success. Success to move on and turn obstacles into opportunities. Success to detach myself from everything all at once so I could attach to the meaningful things only this time. I succeeded at creating a better version of myself out of volatility.
Volatility is my go to today. Perhaps its one of the reasons I felt my blood freezing through my veins as I saw him again walking past the hall.

"Oh lord, how could there be such a perfect guy."

He must be in his late 20's. His height was of a medium average. He is sharp featured; wall-eyed autumn brown eyes ornamented by sparse dark lashes and arched thick eyebrows. His gaze radiated a fierce and icy vibe while he seemed to be searching for something.

My heart palpitates of delight. But what delight is that? I was happy to see him again, considering that there was a bigger chance I'd loose him in the crowd. There was something about him that created the magnet I was experiencing. Is this the chemistry everyone swears by? What chemistry Lina! He doesn't even know you exist! I'm freaking out and have no idea what I am dealing with.

"Lina what's that look on your face?" Repeats Esther following a failed attempt to have my attention.

"Nothing really. I'm only looking at all those new faces at university." I replied.

She did not doubt me for a second. She knows that I do not fall for guys my age, or even worse, the ones at my university. If she had not noticed, her as my best friend, he would not have noticed a thing, him being a stranger right?

WRONG.