Changing Lives

Hannah Fischer checked the time on her phone as she rushed up a set of stairs in Kolbe Hall. ’11:58. Damn. I’m going to be late. First day of class and I’m late. Of course.’ She shoved her phone back into the pocket of her tight shorts as she all but ran down the hallway. She vaguely thanked herself for checking what rooms her classes would be in after she got her finalized schedule.

She turned a corner so quickly that she had to shoot out a hand to bounce herself off of it so that she didn’t fall into it. The classroom she was looking for was on the right side of the hall and as she walked through the door she noticed that the clock on the wall was a few minutes slow. It still read 11:54 and Hannah felt instantly better about how the day was going to go for her. She noticed, however, that as she looked around the small room for a seat, only two weren’t taken by either a person or a backpack. One was in the first row of the classroom and the other was about three rows from the back. Seeing as how Hannah hated to sit in the front of the room, she decided to go with the seat near the back.

The desks in this classroom were set up in three rows; next to either wall was a row of desks two seats wide and in the middle the desks were four seats wide. The open seat Hannah was going for was on the left side of the room next to the aisle and was at a desk with a boy with unkempt dyed black hair and a thin face.

He looked as if he was trying to keep to himself, flipping curiously through the textbook for the class. He was wearing a blue flannel shirt and dark jeans, despite the near 90 degree heat of the day. ’Maybe that’s why his hair is so rumpled,’ Hannah thought off-handedly as she took her seat. She sat her backpack and her purse on the floor next to her chair and began pulling out the textbook, a notebook, and a pen to write with. When she sat back up, she brushed her bangs out of her face and noticed that her desk partner was looking at her oddly.

“I hope it’s alright that I sat here,” she said sweetly, not wanting this boy to be as bothered by her presence as he looked. “The class is totally packed.” She chuckled and kept the smile on her face. “I’m Hannah, by the way.”

“Oh! No, it’s alright, you sitting here. I was just a little startled, I suppose,” the boy smiled back, not looking as thrown off as he did seconds before. “And it’s nice to meet you Hannah. My name is Atlee.” He extended his hand for her to shake and when she accepted the gesture, she noticed that his hands were calloused almost all over.

“That’s an interesting name,” Hannah noted, quirking a shaped eyebrow at the same time.

“I get that from a lot of people,” Atlee chuckled. He reached the opposite hand that he shook Hannah’s with and scratched the side of his nose with his thumb. It was kind of a cute motion, Hannah found. “It’s a, uh – a family name, I guess you could say. Kind of a long story really. And it looks like class is about to start.” At saying that, he pointed to the front of the room, where a middle aged Indian woman in a shapeless green dress walked towards the podium with a binder.

“Alrighty now, the clock strikes noon and we’ll begin,” the women stated, opening up her binder and flipping a few pages. “Welcome to Effective Oral Communication, room 232 of Kolbe Hall. If that’s not the class you’re supposed to be in, I’d suggest you start running to the right room so you’re not too late. Everyone’s in the right class? Okay, good, we’ll get started then. My name is Asha Kerns and I’ll be your professor this semester, but I’m sure most of you gathered that by now.” There were a couple small laughs throughout the room at her attempt at a joke.

“So since this course is about public speaking, we’re going to start it off with a bit of a pop-speech, as I like to call it. Kind of like a pop-quiz,” she started, interrupted by several groans, “but no studying necessary. Or I should hope not,” she laughed to herself. “After all, you’ll be telling us about yourself. You ought to not need studying for that.” Again, a few small laughs sounded, though this time more likely in an attempt to not make Professor Kerns feel bad about her flat jokes. “Also, this is only graded on participation. So as long as you’re here, you’ll get the credit. Now does anyone want to go first?” Professor Kerns’ large brown eyes searched the room for volunteers for about twenty seconds before giving up.

She rolled her eyes and laughed. “Of course no one wants to go first. Alright, I guess I’ll have to. So I’m going to do a little bit more than what I want from all of you; your name, your age, your major, something you’re passionate about, and an interesting fact about yourself. My name is Asha Kerns, like I’ve already said, but that is my married name. I was born in India as Asha Gupta and then moved with my family to America when I was two. I’ve got a degree in Communications, obviously, but also one in Literature. I married a man named George Kerns when I was twenty-five and we have been together for twenty-seven years now. So do the math and you’ve got my age. I have three children, all of which are a huge part of my life, and in turn part of one of my passions; family. I also happen to be passionate about horseback riding and own two horses and a large property to ride them on. So I suppose that also covers something interesting about me.” Finishing up, Professor Kerns started walking towards her desk. “And if no one will volunteer, I’ll just have to start choosing people at random.”

Hannah sighed, raised her hand, and announced, “Okay, I’ll be the first I guess.”

Someone from the middle of the room clapped and announced, “You’re my hero, brave soul.”

Hannah smirked and rolled her eyes. “Do I need to go to the front of the room, or…?”

“Yes, please; up to the podium, just like it would be a normal speech.”

Standing up from her chair, Hannah pulled her shorts down a bit, seeing as how they had ridden up when she sat down, and headed for the front of the room. As she stood behind the podium, she noticed that Professor Kerns had left her binder on it, which was open to the class roster. She looked at her professor and pointed to it, asking, “Did you need this at all?”

“Oh, yes, thank you!” The dark skinned woman started moving to get up but Hannah waved her away. She gathered up the binder and brought it to her professor, smiling.

She walked back to the podium and took a short but deep breath. “Alrighty here…well, my name is Hannah Fischer and I’m twenty-two years old. Uhm, one thing I’m really passionate about is sociology, which actually is also my major. And, hmm…something interesting about me? Well, I uh, I guess I have a habit of psychologically profiling people and their actions without really realizing it, since I also really love learning about psychology. So if you ever catch me doing that, I’m sorry in advance.” Her bottom lip stuck out as she smiled; a weird quirk she’s had for years. She heard a couple people in the room chuckled at that last bit and she smiled wider. “Okay, next person’s up.”

Hannah walked back to her seat next to Atlee as a pudgy boy with blonde hair began walking forward. She pulled back her chair and sat down, pushing her bangs back from her face again. Atlee leaned over slightly and whispered, “Fischer; that’s German, right?”

Hannah blinked, surprised at him for knowing that, and turned to look at him. Curiosity read across his face, as well as a hint of impatience at waiting for her answer. “Yeah, my grandparents moved here before my dad was born. How’d you know that? Are you German?”

“No, no I’m not. Well I mean, I am sort of, but nothing so recent as you. Some of my ancestors way back in the 17th century were from Germany, but that gets confusing and, uh, it’s also kind of a long story. I just know a lot of people with German names and I recognized that one.”

“Oh, okay. That’s cool still,” Hannah whispered back, turning her attention back to the pop-speeches that were unfolding in the front of the small classroom. It looked as if two or three more people had done theirs and the class was looking for the next volunteer. Nobody stood up right away and everyone was just looking around the classroom to see who would make the next move. Hannah looked back to Atlee and gave him a soft nudge with her elbow. “You should go next.”

Atlee gave her a surprised look, likely confused by Hannah’s seemingly instantaneous attempt at friendship with him. Before he could respond, someone else from the back row sighed deeply and stood up, saying, “I guess I’ll go next. Save some pain and suffering for the rest of you.”

Hannah looked on at Atlee curiously. “I didn’t mean to startle you,” she whispered apologetically.

“No, that is perfectly alright. I suppose I’m just not very accustomed to people as openly friendly as you are to me. Not that that’s a bad thing,” Atlee finished quickly, afraid of offending Hannah somehow.

“I may not always look like it, but I am a pretty friendly person – typically,” Hannah said, chuckling.

“And that is a good thing,” Atlee smiled, adding playfully, “Typically.”

Hannah laughed quietly, trying not to draw too much attention to herself and Atlee. “You should go next though. Get it over with and all that.”

“I may as well,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. As soon as the girl at the podium finished, Atlee stood up and walked to take her place. He cleared his throat before speaking. “My name is Atlee Miller, I’m currently undecided as for a major, uh, I’m very passionate about free thought and free speech and the likes, and I suppose that it’s kind of interesting that I have six siblings and – well that’s kind of a long story, so forget about that. But, uh, that should be it.”

’It’s kind of a long story?’ Hannah thought as Atlee sat back down next to her. ’A lot about him seems to be a long story.’