These Years

I scurried around the length of my dorm. It was the first day of classes and I was as stressed as physically possible. I kept running; finding bits and pieces of things I needed before going on my way. I had already shoved my laptop, notebook and a variety of pens into my bag. I grabbed my wallet and cellphone as well before heading out. I made my way through the hall and took the elevator to the main floor. I walked through the lobby and shot a small smile to the lady at the front desk.

As soon as I got outside, I pulled my campus map out of my bag. I scanned the complex layout for the building where my first class was to take place; Physics. I was studying medicine.

My dorm was surprisingly close to my first class; it only took me a matter of minutes to get there. As I reached the building I stopped and looked up at it: carefully crafted, aged, but beautiful in a sense. A small smile played at my lips. I still couldn’t believe I was here.

Shrugging off my childish fantasy I walked up the set of steps to the front door of the building. I paused for a moment before reaching my hand out and pulling the overly large door open. Walking into the building I looked around, taking in all the tiny details. My eyes scanned the old walls decked with bits of decor and science models. I walked down the hallway and up the stairs. After following a few signs here and there I reached a classroom; 310 to be exact.

I hesitantly turned the doorknob and opened the door to my classroom. The room –or lab rather- was fairly quiet but had a bit of scattered chatter. As I stepped into the room I scanned it with my eyes. At the front, there was an oversized black desk. Sitting at it was a man who I predicted to be our professor; his elbows rested on the desk in front of him as he played with the taps of the ‘lab-sink’ before switching over to scanning a newspaper. My eyes darted around the classroom; there was about forty kids in class, and maybe another twenty empty seats. I let out a small sigh of relief realizing I was on time for my class. As I did so my professor turned to look at the doorway which I was frozen in.

“Hello there!” His low voice spoke.
“Hello,” I meekly smiled, walking further into the room.
“I’m Mr. Bello,” The man pushed his black circular glasses up his nose and ran a hand through his thinning hair. “And you are...?”
“Suri; Suri Morrison.” My voice confirmed.
The man brought his hand to his chin, considering something before speaking, “You can go sit over there.” He pointed to the left, “Third desk back.”
I nodded and gave him a smile, “Thank you, sir.”
“No problem.”

My eyes scanned the room once again as I made my way over to my apparent seat. The people in the room so far sat; either chatting to their neighbour or playing around on their laptops: setting it up for the class which would be starting momentarily.

With my luck, if I didn’t watch where I was going I’d likely walk into a desk. I let out a silent laugh as I refocused on where I was headed.

Within a few seconds I was pulling out the chair from the lab desk so I could sit down. As I sat, I pulled out my laptop from its bag and began setting it up. I pressed the power button and waited as the system starting turning on. I crossed my legs and waited in silence until the body next to me shifted.

“Hey!” A boy’s voice spoke. “You’re the girl from Starbucks!”
A look of confusion covered my features¬ as I turned to the face the person I’d be sharing a desk with for the semester. He was a boy with freshly shaven brown hair and a familiar black sports jacket.

Then it clicked.

He was the boy that spilt his drink on me the other day.

I let out a small laugh, and before I could reply he spoke again, “Sorry about that...”
“Oh, it’s no problem. Thanks for the change for another drink.” I gave him a genuine smile.

There was an awkward silence, but the boy was the first to break it. “I’m Jordan by the way; Jordan Parise.”
“Suri Morrison,” We exchanged a kind smile. “Where are you from?” I asked.
“Minneapolis, how about you?”
“Bremen,” I answered. I could tell he had no idea where that was by the look of confusion on his face. I was used to it though. I let out a small laugh and added, “It’s a small town on the coast of Maine.”
“Ahh,” The boy nodded.

Our conversation was cut short though as Mr. Bello stood up from his seat at the front of the room. He pushed his glasses back up his nose with his index finger and began pacing back and forth around the room. I had fallen unobservant, but now noticed the room was filled to the brim; not a single seat was empty. I refocused my attention on the professor as he began a short introduction on himself before getting right into the plan for the semester; Monday, Wednesday and Thursday classes would be held in the lab, and Tuesdays and Thursdays would generally be in the lecture hall. I flipped my pen around my fingers as Mr. Bello got into his first talk on Physics.

I set my pen down and opened Microsoft Word on my laptop. As a short lecture began, I eagerly typed away, taking in everything I could before we’d shortly be putting it into action.