clique (clairo)

madzy

as the days went by, i came to several conclusions. the days were short, but the weeks were almost unbearably long. sandy was exhibiting habits of being a serial monogamist and skipper was at the very least bisexual. i only had a problem with dealing with the first conclusion. was college supposed to feel like this never ending blur filled with almost meaningless social interactions and useless assignments?

i had been trapped in a state of perpetual boredom, where everyday felt the same. i woke up, went to class (mondays and wednesdays being intro to philosophy and film studies, tuesdays and thursdays being mass communications and biology). my beginner's russian professor hadn't held a class yet but told us to come to his classroom today. he had been holding off since he had just gotten back from a trip to siberia he had taken with his ta.

i was presented with a piece of paper as soon as i walked in. as i chose a desk in the circle of them, i scanned the paper to find that it wasn't the syllabus but a passage, presumably in russian. a tall boy, with blemish free brown skin and black curly hair that was in a slightly messy style, sat in the desk next to me. he pulled a book out of his bag and began reading, seemingly entranced in it.

my professor proved himself to be even more of an anomaly. he began by introducing himself and thanking the six of us who hadn't dropped his class since it was october and we were just now meeting him and holding our first class. he wore a charcoal suit with a plain red tie, contrasting his pale skin and snow white hair that laid neatly on his forehead.

"i want you all to introduce yourselves to each other. sam, would you be a dear and start?" asked  professor daniel. the boy next to me stood up from his desk, his thick book closed and positioned in the center.

"hey. i'm sam houston and i'm your ta for this class," he introduced, glancing at me and then to the other people in the room, a small smile on his lips.

"sam and i have been just completed a journey to siberia. we, uh, were supposed to get back before the official start of class, but, uh, we're here now," joked professor collins. the room remained silent.

we each introduced ourselves, giving our names, home state and major. i managed to remember everyone. ricky from iowa, toby from georgia, jojo from massachusetts, grace from canada and sam, who was from colorado and an applied mathematics major minoring in russian. he was a senior and had been working with professor daniel since his sophomore year.

"it is customary for me to give russian names to my students. would you like me to bestow one on you or would you like to pick your own?" questioned professor daniel. the class unanimously agreed that we would let him give us a name.

i became anastasia, ana for short. we were now to reintroduce ourselves using these names.

"hello anastasia," remarked sam, who was now alexei. he had the same small smile on his lips as he did earlier, but it seem softer and more focused, as if he crafted it just for me.

as we settled back into our seats and professor daniel began going over the expectations and goals of the class, i couldn't focus. my attention kept drifting towards sam, who wrote in his notebook and kept his attention on professor daniel.

at 3:15, we were let out. i placed the russian passage in my folder than in my backpack. i had the rest of the day to myself but i had no clue as to what i could do. i left the classroom, attempting to keep my distance from sam. he wore a black concert tee, paired with skinny khakis and red vans. his backpack was a plain navy jansport and had nothing adorning it.

i made it back to my dorm and lulu's door was open for once. she sat at her desk, clacking at her computer, headphones in her ears.

"hey." lulu turned around and waved shyly at me.