A modern love story

The beginning of something...

It was the first week of the spring semester. The college was very packed with students eager to start a fresh semester at college. There were lots of people and students of different ages as this was a community college. Sarah was an ordinary girl, there wasn't much special about her, at least she thought. She was told by plenty of people that she was smart, but she never looked at herself this way. She was a little bit insecure about herself, but she never lets it show. She was 18 years of age and unlike other students, she wasn't looking forward to this semester. It was her second year of college and she had only one friend, Sandra. Sandra was Sarah's closest friend in the city of Sacramento. She was the only true friend she made when she relocated to Sacramento from Sudan 2 years ago. To Sarah this semester was gonna be like any other, she was going to hit the books and try to get straight A's as usual. Grades were really important to Sarah, as she wanted to go to medical school and become a doctor. She did not mind that her life was just about her classes, family, and Sandra. This was more than enough for her, but from time to time when Sandra tells her about Wahid, Sandra's boyfriend, Sarah would get a little bit jealous of Sandra's life and wish to have some drama in her life as well. There was one thing that Sarah was excited about that semester, her new job. Sarah got hired at the school's main library and she was going to start that spring semester. She was so happy about it as it was her first job ever. She thought of it as a way to start meeting new people and that's exactly how it turned out, plus a bit more.

Sarah arrived at school just in time for her general chemistry class, which starts at 8:30 am. She hated morning classes, but it was her only option. She walks into the class and sees some familiar faces. She sat on the first chair that was empty. A voice suddenly called her name..

"Hey Sarah, How you doing?" said Steven.

"Oh hey Steven, I didn't see you there." said Sarah surprisingly

Steven took general chemistry 1 with Sarah. He's overly nice with Sarah the whole time, but she knows he had his reasons. Steven wasn't the smartest.

"I'm surprised you signed up for Professor Z's class." said Sarah "She's not exactly the easiest."

"It'll be fine. We'll be doing the class together at least." He said with a friendly smile.

Steven sat next to Sarah and started chatting with her about how he spent his winter break reading a book. Sarah found the conversation very boring, but she was a very nice girl, so she decided to put a smile on her face and listen to the story till the end. Lucky for her the professor walked in and class had started. Sarah felt a little bored in class as well, as she knew most of the material that was being explained. She was smarter than people her age and that was why she was in college a little bit early. Once the class had ended, Sarah had to rush to the library, as it was her first real day of work. She worked one day in the library before that, but it was only for training. Today was her real first day of work. She was very excited to start working, it was her first step towards her adult life. She walked into the library and through the back door.

"Hey Sarah, welcome to the library! You are officially staff now" said Janet with a wide smile on her face.

"Hey Janet, it's good to see you again! I'm so excited to start working with y'all. I don't think I've met everyone though. I see some new faces."

"You're right Sarah, we have some other new students, who'll start working with us today as well. I'd love for you to get to know each other."

Janet is the library's main technician. She was Sarah's boss. She is a very nice lady in her late 30s. She is very lovely and likes to talk to everyone. It was her first semester in the library as well, so she was getting to know people too. Besides Sarah, there were 2 other girls, Selina and Cami, and 1 guy, Marcus.

"Everyone, this is Sarah, it's her first day as well. Sarah this is Selina, Cami, and Marcus."

"Hey Sarah, it's nice to meet you. That's a really nice shirt you have on." said Selina.

Selina was very beautiful. Sarah was very flattered with her comment, but she knew that it was just a comment she made so that she could break the ice.

"Hey Selina. Thank you, that's very nice of you. I actually got it the other day from H&M. I think they still have sales going on, you should check it sometime." said Sarah nervously. She was happy to start work, but also very nervous to meet new people. She was a bit of an introvert, also a very shy person.

Cami didn't say much, she seemed a bit of an introvert as well. A student approached the front desk, so Marcus went to help him. The student didn't seem to speak English well and suddenly he and Marcus started to speak some other language that seemed foreign for Sarah. Sarah was very amazed by the way Marcus spoke. She always had a thing for guys that spoke different languages. She was very curious about what language it was, but she never asked because she was shy. Marcus really caught her eye. He did not seem like the type that would know another language besides English. He was a blonde young man with blue eyes. He had a grey sweater on that for some reason looked amazing on him, at least that's what Sarah thought. He was very tall, taller than Sarah and she was 5'7''. She thought he was cute, but like any other guy she has crushed on, she knew nothing would happen between them because dating was never her thing. She has never dated before and she did not think about it as much. The only love stories she knew were those in the movies and love novels. To her, she wasn't exactly sure that love was a real thing. She had always called it a flood of emotions or teenage hormones.

She stood by the front counter waiting for students to approach her. Marcus was done helping the guy, so he stood by her. She wanted to start a conversation, but she didn't know how to. She looked at him and said:

"Hey there, was your name Marcus?"

"Yeah, that's me! And you are.... Sarah, right?"

"Yeah."

"So what do you study, Sarah?"

"I'm a pre med student, but my major is neurobiology. I'm planning on applying to medical school once I get my bachelors. My dad was a doctor back in my home country and he kinda talked me into thinking about medicine. I didn't want to get in to medicine because of family pressure, but in the end I found myself liking sciences and medicine." She then nervously chuckled and said "Sorry about the rant, heh."

"Oh wow! So much for a what do you study question. He laughed. JK JK, my dad was a physician too, back home. He was a physician in the army during the Soviet Union. I am originally Russian, but lived my whole life here. I was pressured into getting into med school too." He said while laughing.

"But I decided to take the easy route, which is become a cardiosonographer, make some money and then apply to med school."

"Damn! I never thought about that. That's hella smart, but you know what, I like the pre med classes, so I guess I'm fine. Plus I wanna experience the 4 year college life here in the US." she said.

"Soo, you are Russian you said? That's pretty cool. I am a foreigner too. I am from Sudan, but lived in Saudi Arabia for some time."

"That's very cool! I don't think I've ever met anyone who has lived in Saudi Arabia before, but I've met one guy who's from Sudan." He said

"Oh wow I'm surprised. Trust me that's rare, there aren't many Sudanese people here in Sacramento." 

They kept on talking for a long while about a lot of things. Marcus broke her shyness barrier and she became very outgoing. She thought he was very funny and sweet. She was glad that she made a friend on her first day of work, but she couldn't help herself, but feel a very strong connection with Marcus. She kept on telling herself that he's just a colleague and she's probably just overreacting. She got back home and she felt very happy. She told her family all about her day and how she had fun. She got ready for bed, laid on her bed, and she couldn't shake this feeling that this was the beginning of something in her life. Little did she know that her life would never be the same after that day......