Staring at her reflection in the bathroom mirror, Keisha adjusted her hair for the umpteenth time.
She had decided to put her braids up in a high ponytail with two strands left in front to frame her face. As she was no good at makeup, her face was left bare except for lip gloss and eyeliner.
For a moment, she felt a pang of jealousy for those girls who were skilled in the art of makeup. She'd always admired them and often spent her free time watching makeup tutorials online in a bid to learn. Perhaps maybe she could ask Steph to teach her someday, since her roomie seemed to be good at it.
Letting out a defeated sigh, she walked out of the bathroom. Steph, who was sitting on her bed, looked up at her and smiled.
"Someone's looking good. Ready for your first day?"
Keisha smiled at the compliment, glancing down at her outfit- a black cropped graphic tee, high waisted jeans that showed off her slender curves and white sneakers. She'd accessorized with a black choker and a bracelet. The ensemble wasn't anything spectacular, but she had carefully put it together the night before.
"Thank you. I wanted to make a good first impression."
"Looks to me that you're going to slay," Steph winked at her. "I can see you being popular with the boys."
"Oh please," she rolled her eyes in exasperation. Noticing her friend was still in pajamas, she raised a quizzical brow. "Aren't you going to get ready? It's almost eight."
"Nah, I'm not going today. Resuming on the first day is for losers."
"I guess I'm a loser then." Keisha cast her friend a glance, chuckling as the brunette snuggled back underneath her blanket.
Heading toward the door, she bid her lazy friend farewell and made her way to her first lecture.
When Keisha arrived at the lecture hall, it was half-full. Glancing at the clock situated at the back of the room, she realized she had five more minutes before the start of the class.
Relieved that she'd made it on time, she scurried to find a seat. She didn't want to sit in front with the teachers' pets or all the way in the back with the class clowns, so her goal was to find a sweet spot in the middle.
Noticing an empty chair near the windows, Keisha quickly made her way toward it. The area was mostly deserted, rest for a girl with thick, long hair listening to music on her headphones.
Taking a seat not too far from the girl, Keisha nodded at her in greeting. The girl simply waved back before returning to her music, bopping her head rhythmically.
With nothing better to do, Keisha began to prepare herself for the class. She pulled out her notebooks, textbooks and school supplies from her backpack, neatly arranging them in a pile on the desk.
Like the overthinker she was, she'd packed several pens and pencils into her pencil case, along with many highlighters, erasers, sharpeners and rulers. By the time she was done arranging all her things, her table looked like she was starting a stationery store.
Perhaps she'd gone overboard?
"Whoa," the headphone girl gasped. "You fit all that in your back pack?"
Slightly embarrassed, Keisha nodded. "It's a very spacious bag."
"I see. At least now I know who to call when I need to borrow a pen."
Both girls laughed at that, and the headphone girl extended her hand. "I'm Shalini, by the way. Shalini Kaur."
"Keisha Brown. Nice to meet you."
The girl scooted closer, occupying the seat next to Keisha. "Do you mind if I sit next to you?"
"Of course not. Feel free."
Soon, Keisha and Shalini were chatting casually, oblivious to the person that had stepped before them.
"Excuse me," a shrill female voice interrupted them. "You're sitting in my spot."
Looking up, they were met with the frowning face of a girl who looked to be their age. She had long black hair that flowed to her waist, framing a perfectly symmetrical face. Despite the frown on her face, she was a very beautiful girl.
Perplexed, Keisha spoke up. "It's the first day of class. How is this your spot?"
"Because I like sitting next to the window. Now move," the girl spat, irritation lacing her voice.
"Or what?" Shalini challenged. "I don't see any name tags on these seats."
"You won't be able to see anything if you keep barking like a dog."
Triggered by her outburst, Keisha rose her voice. "What the hell? Who do you think you are to walk in here and threaten us?"
Unimpressed, the girl scoffed. "Of course, losers like you don't know who I am. I'm Addison Reid."
Shalini and Keisha shared a what-the-heck look, before returning their gazes to the girl.
"Is that supposed to mean something to us?" Shalini asked, brow raised quizzically.
An annoyed sigh escaped the girl's lips before she slammed her fists on the table, attracting the attention of several students.
"Let me break it down for you morons," Addison whispered with venom, leaning over the girls. "My parents are among the highest donors to this school, meaning I basically own this place. One wrong move and I can make your lives a living hell."
"Well hell seems way better than having to endure your torturous mouth odour," Keisha retorted, holding her nose for good measure.
The entire class snickered at that, causing Addison to turn red in embarrassment. Enraged, she grabbed Keisha's shirt.
"Let go of her!" Shalini yelled, as Keisha tried to yank off her hand to no avail.
"I'm going to teach you a lesson you'll never forget, you stupid little bi- "
"Let go of her at once, Ms. Reid!"
The sound of the teacher's angry voice restored decorum to the classroom, and students scurried to their seats. Addison however, did not let go of Keisha.
"Ms. Reid!" the teacher angrily stormed to them and forcefully tore Addison away. "What kind of behaviour is this?"
"She started it!" both girls yelled.
"Enough!" the teacher yelled. Turning to Addison, he frowned. "Ms. Reid, you ought to be ashamed of yourself. Physically assaulting a classmate on the first day? Your parents will be hearing of this"
Addison groaned in annoyance, while Keisha scoffed earning a glare from the teacher. "And you, young lady. Fighting on your first day?"
"I wasn't fighting. She was harassing me!" Keisha defended, while Shalini nodded in affirmation.
"It's true, Sir. Addison was trying to bully me and my friend."
"That's not what happened, you filthy liars!" Addison roared, but the teacher immediately shot her a warning glare. Angrily, she crossed her arms with a huff.
Turning his attention back to Keisha and Shalini, the middle-aged man frowned. "I'll let you both off because I didn't see you do anything. But don't even think about repeating a stunt like this or else I'll deal ruthlessly with you."
"Yes, Sir," they chorused, intimidated by his threat. He seemed like a no-nonsense kind of teacher, and neither girl wanted to cross him.
Ordering everyone back to their seats, the teacher who later introduced himself as Mr. Adams began his lecture.
All the while, Addison shot daggers at the two girls from where she sat in the front. If looks could kill, Keisha knew she and Shalini would be long dead.
Ignoring her, Keisha tried her best to focus on the lecture.
It was only her first period, but she'd already made a friend and an enemy. Keisha wondered if the rest of her school year was going to be this dramatic or if the morning's incident was a one-time thing. She hoped it was the latter option.
Deep down inside, however, Keisha had a feeling that the drama was only getting started.
-
The rest of the week passed by uneventfully and Keisha couldn't feel more excited for the weekend.
Finally, she could breathe without having Addison death glaring at her all the time. Crashing onto her bed, she pulled out her phone to text Shalini.
'Are you free this weekend?'
A few minutes later, her friend texted a reply. 'Not really. Why?'
'I was bored and so I figured we could go out together.'
'Sorry, boo. I have to go visit my mom at the hospital.'
Keisha perked up, worried for her friend. 'Hospital? Is your mom okay?'
'Yes, she is. It's nothing too serious. I'll text you later'
Reading her friend's message, Keisha sighed heavily. Was she really going to spend her first weekend in college alone?
She couldn't hang out with Steph because she'd gone to visit her boyfriend and now Shalini had to go see her mom.
What was she going to do now?
Rolling around on her bed, Keisha realized she had nobody to call or visit. Other than Steph and Shalini, she had no real friends. Sure, she'd made a few acquaintances here and there. But at the end of the day, there wasn't really anybody she could hang out with.
Frustrated, she sat up. This was not how she planned her college life would go.
She'd only made two friends and she literally had zero plans for the weekend. How was she going to gain new experiences and meet new people when she was literally a wallflower?
Did the people here even notice her existence?
Keisha didn't want to go back to being a pathetic loner like in high school, but she didn't know how to break out of her shell and showcase herself. If only there was a way she could socialize with people when she was in her element, doing the things she loved like cooking or dancing.
She'd feel far more at ease then and it would be so much easier to talk to people.
"If only," she sighed defeatedly.
Suddenly, an idea popped into her head- what if she started a club? If she could gather a bunch of people interested in the same things she was passionate about, it'd be so easy to make friends. Then she could have the college life she'd always dreamed of.
All she needed to do was find a good name and aim for her club.
Excitedly, she rushed over to her desk in the corner and pulled out a pen and paper. She began to scribble down her hobbies and interests, along with potential club names.
The Cooking Club? Too bland, she thought.
The Glee Club? Too cliché.
The Comedy Club? What a joke.
Annoyed, she crumpled up the piece of paper and tossed it to the side. It slid across the table and wedged itself beside Keisha's mystery novel collection. Not wanting to make a mess, she quickly picked it up and tossed it into the bin.
And that's when it hit her.
"Oh my gosh," she ripped out another sheet of paper, not wanting to lose her train of thought. After frantically writing for a few seconds, Keisha smiled in awe as she read what was written on the paper:
'The Detective Club'.