I stretched my arms above my head sighing in relief when I hear the bones crack. A two hour lecture could do that to you, my stomach growled angrily as it was finally time for lunch. I had one more class left to go before I could head home and later pick up Matthew from daycare. Standing up I gather my things heading for the cafeteria, it wasn't as crowded as yesterday which calmed my nerves a bit. Just then a group of college students walked in quite Aabir leading them to the table they sat at yesterday. "Those are the performing art students. I'd watch out for them" a petite Asian girl with long hair and bangs whispered next to me as I was getting my food.
"Oh uh sorry about that. It's a bad habit of mine to start chatting to random folks. I'm Lillian a mathematics student" she chirped sticking out a pale hand to me. I tried to not appear so awkward as I shook her hand.
"Very nice to meet you. I am Aliyah I'm studying creative writing" I say my voice cracking at the end. This has been mt first encounter with someone, well other than Aabir who had forced his advances upon me.
"Well it's nice to meet you as well. This mist he your first year here. I can see a freshman face from a mile away" Lillian cackled with laughter. I gently smiled at her infectious laugh. A question arose on the tip of my tongue.
"Why did you say it's best to stay away from the performing art students? I glanced over at their table to see Aabir already looking at me. He beckoned me to come over waving madly not even caring about the stares he was receiving.
"Seems you've gained the attention of Aabir Chakma. From what I hear he's really cool, he transferred here from Bangladesh last year and he's really popular. He's an amazing dancer too but be warned, there are other girls competing for his attention" Lillian whispered grabbing an apple. We stepped away to find a table that wasn't so close to fhe performing art students. I pretended I hadn't seen Aabir calling me over.
"He is rather annoying! I don't know how he's gained such popularity" I snorted taking a bite from my tuna wrap. Lillian lightly shrug, if felt as if we had known each other since forver. Things were finally starting to change for me, no more was I going to be the girl in the corner. I vowed to make my college experience a memorable one. I struggled to open my bottle of water when it was suddenly taken out of my hands. I looked up to see a frowning Aabir now holding my bottle of water.
"Why are you sitting here? I thought you saw me waving you over" he whined placing a hnad on my arm tugging it a bit. Lillian smiled big sending me a sneaky wink as if I had done a good deed.
"It's nice seeing you Aabir. How are the plans for the college comeback coming along"? Lillian asked forcing him to take a seat next to me. He opened my bottle of water placing his luscious lips on it and taking a drink.
"It's going well I must say. I'm glad to see you met Liyah here. She's a shy one but trust me once you get to know here she's a-"
"Why are you acting as if you know me? I thought I made myself clear! I don't want to talk to you or be near you so why don't you scram"! I spat angrily catching him off guard. I hadn't meant for it to come off so hostile, his face had turned an expression I hadn't seen before. It was blank and the light in his eyes seemed to have dropped.
"As you wish" he said coldly before leaving the table not once looking back. Lillian bit her lip as if she was itching to say something but I already knew. I screwed up big time and this wasn't like me at all.
"Hmm I've never seen him be so interested in someone before. I won't say anything but I think you know what I'm thinking" Lillian says sheepishly. I groaned placing my head on my hands, this was what I wanted right? For him to leave me alone, but for some reason I hadn't expected him to actually do it. I wasn't used to a guy being so.... affectionate towards me and it was a littl unsettling. But I knew I hurt him way more than I should have when he had been nothing but sweet to me. I had no idea what he saw in me but I needed ro fix things.
When my lunch break came to an end I bid farewell to Lillian before heading to my final class. It was some elective class that I didn't want to take but it was either this or music. Stepping into the half full classroom I made my way towards the back of the class. I heard soft whispers as I passed by a group of girls, they watched my every move like hawks. They laughed at me struggling to keep my things from falling out of my bag. I knew it had to be karma from the events earlier. The professor walked in with another student behind him, I gasped lightly when I daw Aabir take a seat next to the professor. "Hello class, welcome to your very first day of Art 101. We will go over the syllabus today and then get started officially tomorrow. Mentor Chakma is here as well should you need ant further help" the professor said placing a hand on his shoulder. The rest of class felt extremely awkward as I kept peering over at him daring for his eyes to meet mine. But no, that never happened as he went around handing out specific papers. When he handed me my syllabus our hands touched and he looked at me with longing before moving on. Sooner or later I would have the guts to apologize to him but for now I would wallow in self pity.