Chapter 1
Her phone began to ring – 5:30 AM – which meant she had to get up. She reached to the floor and unplugged her phone, turning off the alarm in the process.
She took a deep breath and held it, thinking of everything she could as long as she could hold that one breath of air. Luckily, she could not think of anything else before she felt like she needed more air.
She let out a shaky sigh and closed her eyes again for a few seconds.
She imagined her room in great detail, then her whole house. Well, dorm, but a house to her. She tried to think of herself but couldn’t. That part, she had always failed.
She remembered the obvious about herself: Anne with dark eyebags, green eyes, orange hair, and a hooked nose. It made her stand out, which made her hate it, but she can’t change anything about it.
. . . . Sigh. Time to get up.
The room was exactly how it was last night. And the day before. And that day before that. . . It was simple.
It was plain.
One bed in the middle of a wall on one side of the room and a small TV standing on a long dresser across her bed.
She stretched and got out of bed, stretching again and headed towards her bathroom.
Anne sighed as she turned on the lights, squinting slightly trying to adjust. She blinked a few times and stared at herself in the mirror, trying to memorize everything about her face.
Where the freckles were most abundant; the gap in the middle of her teeth; the shape of her eyebrows; everything.
She couldn’t.
Anne huffed, as she grabbed a hair tie and put her hair up in a messy ponytail, and began brushing her teeth, while looking through her closet for today’s outfit. She laid out her outfit on the bed: a striped turtleneck sweater, brown slacks, brown socks, and her heeled boots. Too much brown.
She added a green jacket onto the pile, smiling slightly, then frowned.
Now you’ll look like a tree! Shut up. Damn.
She shook her head, and went back to the bathroom to finish up, before getting dressed.
Once Anne was done, she headed out to the living room and went to the key rack, noticing a pair of keys were missing. I guess my roommate had already left, Anne thought as she grabbed her lanyard with her ID, her car keys, and her watch and wallet that sat on top of the small shelf that the key rack had provided. She took one last look in her apartment, seeing everything in its place and reading the clock on the oven: 6:28 AM.
The freeway was packed, with two cars parked on the side of the road at 6:41 AM, and cars swerving in and out of traffic. Her knuckles were turning white from gripping the steering wheel tightly. Her jaw stiffened along with her body, and she checked her mirrors more. Bracing for impact from anywhere. She looks and watches, glancing further up the road just in case and the cars beside her as some go over the line slightly or merge without warning.
It was her and her trusty, 2017 Honda Civic, against the world of trucks and SUVs. That and back to school, so there is more traffic than usual.
Shit. It’s the first day back.
I hate it here, she thought. Her music was the only thing keeping her grounded just enough, along with the heat emitting from the seat, helping her trying to relax.
I still hate it here, she continued.
The sun was directly on her, enhancing the orange of her hair and blinding her in the process. She grabbed her clip-ons for her glasses and put them on, the sun no longer bothering her. The cars around her got faster and she knew she had to keep up to not cause an accident or be pulled over for "not following the flow of traffic." But she didn’t want to since it was getting closer her a residential area.
Maybe I should take the bus next ti-
A Ford Escape got in front of the gap she left; she looked at the rearview mirror and sighed lightly seeing there was no one. The car who cut her off honked.
“Why are you honking at me?! You're the dumbass, you-! No, no, don't get mad,” Anne seethed, calming down quickly after as the next song played until a car almost swerved into her.
Don’t puke.
She put her blinker on and carefully switched lanes, using it one more time to turn into the school’s parking lot. Once Anne had found a parking spot, she stared at her steering wheel for a bit, before letting go of her breath -- one she did not know she was holding. She turned off her car and put up the sunshade, the last seconds of “Untrust Us” faded out and went to the next song.
Okay, Anne, time to go to learn! She scrunched her face and groaned, throwing on the green jacket and grabbing her work ID for later.
She got out of her car, locked it, and looked at the school that stretched for miles. Anne walked across the parking lot and saw a Ford Escape. The exact same one who cut her off. Her eyes widened as she gazed at the car, spotting someone still inside.
The car door opened and revealed a woman with a short, blue pixie haircut, wearing a yellow cardigan with a white t-shirt underneath, a long green skirt, and white tennis shoes. She watched the woman struggle as she got several things out of her car and load them onto a small rolling cart.
I could. . . No. . . Ugh. Anne groaned, clenching and unclenching her fists, and walked up to her, “Uh, excuse me? Ma’am?” The woman didn’t hear her. I could leave her here- STOP BEING PETTY! She took a deep breath and tapped on her shoulder, “Excuse me, miss? Do you need help?”
The woman gasped and quickly turned around, “Hey! Uhm. . . Yes, please.”
Anne grabbed some of her things from the trunk, and glanced at the items in her hands, the cart, then the woman. “Uh, what is- What is this stuff for?”
The blue haired woman kicked the cart onto its wheels and looked at Anne. Her eyes are so blue. “It’s for class. My group and I have this presentation, and I elected to bring everything. Though I didn’t plan how many things we had,” she muttered the last part. She stared at Anne’s eyes, Anne tried to look away, and nervously shuffled.
“OH!” She exclaimed, causing Anne to flinch, “Sorry, I haven’t introduced myself.” She stuck her free hand out, “My name’s Joy Herwick! 2nd year majoring in biomedical science with a minor in education!”
Anne hesitantly shuffled the things in her arms, and shook her hand,” Uh, Anne B-Byers. 1st year majoring in computer engineering with a minor in, uh, nothing right now.” She sheepishly smiled.
Great. You have no minor while she does! Loserrrrr.
Joy let go of her hand, looking slightly uncomfortable from the long handshake, “Wow. That’s a lot of math. I’m guessing at least. I could never. Let’s go, we can walk and talk.”
Anne stiffened and followed beside her as the cart was behind Joy. “So, what do you plan to do with your degree?”
“I’m hoping for a nice tech company, or maybe design work for anything! But, I don’t know, what if they consider me as overqualified and I can’t find a job? Or, what if there are no more jobs?” Anne was about to continue, before catching herself and took a deep breath, “I don’t know. I know I’ll be able to find any job, just, I’m worried about the future. . . JOBS. Worried about jobs in the future.”
Joy giggled, “That’s fair. For me I just wanted to be, I guess, like some kind of scientist and maybe work with kids? Or a pharmacist. There’s a lot of opportunities, but with a minor in education,” she turned her body slightly, and pointed her thumb at herself, smiling, “I can be anything.”
Anne widened her eyes at the statement. “That’s, uh, very optimistic.
“Thank you! I try. Anyway, what class do you have right now?”
“I have chemistry and math lectures today, uh, and. . .” Anne trailed off as they both entered a building, one Anne hadn’t seen. Not like she has been on the campus long enough to know it, but it was one she didn’t see during orientation.
“It’s nice, right? Outdated, but nice.”
Anne nodded, “Yeah. I just forget how big this campus is.”
“Yeah, that’s why they have a ton of buses for this place. I kinda feel like I’m your tour guide, Anne,” Joy said, walking backwards to face Anne as she fell behind, which she did not notice.
Anne blushed, embarrassed now, “Heh, I guess you are. Uh, where is your class? I feel like we’ve been walking for a while now.” And my class starts soon.
“It’s right here actually!” She opened the door, and the classroom was one of the fancier lecture halls. The ones with the big screen in front of the classroom with rows of seats, yet it still looked old with the wood grain of the “desks,” more like a long table, and the slight yellow tint of the boards on the walls.
Anne spun around once and continued to follow Joy to the front of the classroom, realizing there were about 15 students sitting and staring at them. Nervously, she asked, “Uh, Joy? Where do I put these things?”
Joy started unpacking her cart, stacks of paper, a laptop, books, and a loosely wrapped poster board were place on the desk, and without looking at her, “You can put it on the desk here.”
She quickly put the trifold poster on the desk and small model of. . . whatever it was. It looked like a cell of some kind, but that’s not her business right now, she had to get to class and-
“Thank you, by the way.” Joy looked up, blue staring at green, “You didn’t have to, ya’know?”
“Oh! Uhm, you’re welcome? I did it becaussse. . .” Why did I? “It felt right.” You wanted to leave her! What do you meannn?
Joy straightened her back, standing in front of Anne, causing her to realize how much taller she was in comparison to her. “Thanks again. I hope we run into each other more.”
In a quiet voice, “I hope so, too.” She looked at her watch and the time read 7:33 AM.
Her class starts at 8 o’ clock.
She panicked, “I gotta go. Bye, Joy!”
I still haven’t forgotten your car.