Status: Hopefully you'll love it.

Lady of Sparta

Packing

Sitting in European History was one of my favorite classes aside from the teacher. The lectures were boring at times, and there was always homework to do every night. It was college which meant there was going to be things that I didn't enjoy doing or seeing for that matter. I decided to go for a degree involving foreign culture, and I wasn't going to back out just because the guy next to me was drooling enough to put the Pacific Ocean to shame.

I wrote down notes from today’s lecture about Athens in 507 B.C. and the establishment of democracy. The notes were sloppily written, but at least I could read them. I could only hope that I was getting everything I needed.

“Now, I do expect to receive the essays by the end of the week,” Professor Reynolds announced loudly. “If there are any questions you have on the formatting, please come to me. Class is dismissed.”

I gathered the papers and pens back into my bag before standing up. The guy that had been drooling on his papers was shoved awake by one of his friends as I passed behind him. I walked down the steps heading towards the door.

“Ms. Blaton, could I have a word?” the professor called to me before walking into his office.

I stepped inside the small white room. It had shelves of books and a desk covered in papers that made me wonder what he did besides talk during the class. “Yes?”

“I remembered you asked me about books explaining life in Sparta. I’m assuming this is for your essay.” His eyes scanned my face waiting for my answer. He had a crooked smile playing at his lips.

I shifted my bag on my shoulder before nodding. “I looked in the library, but they only had two books on Sparta, but there wasn't enough to cover more than a couple of paragraphs,” I explained nervously.

I wasn't the shy person. It was the fact that Reynolds always kept a close eye on me. I could be paranoid, but every time I wore something mildly low cut like today, his eyes would wonder down to my chest. I was only glad that my leather jacket covered a lot of my pale skin unlike the pink top underneath it. I cursed myself for not thinking ahead this morning.

He turned to the shelves scanning the titles before finding a few and handing them over to me. “Those should help. If not, go across the hall and ask Mrs. Ellington. She has plenty of books about Sparta.”

I gave him a small ‘thank you’ and walked out of the room. I had gotten through all of my classes for the day. The sun shined above my head as I walked towards the parking lot, happy that I didn't have to live in the dorms like I did last year. I didn't enjoy having a roommate, and I knew I won’t have one next year.

“Gemma,” a voice called behind me making me turn to see my old roommate. “It’s been awhile.”

“Yeah, it has,” I agreed forcing a smile on my face. I appeared to be happy to see her.

Allison Johansson was tall girl with long blond hair that curls naturally. She had a light tan from the Florida sun and spent every weekend at the beach as if it was her second home. She was a twenty year old girl that dated surfers with darker skin than hers.

“I heard that you’re going to Greece next month,” she commented. When she noticed my look of shock, she added, “Brian told me. I was just wondering if you would like to meet up with us in Italy. James and his friends are taking me to Rome, and he has a friend that wants to meet you.”

I rolled my eyes. This was typical of Allison. She always tried to set me up with some guy after I broke up with Trevor Emerson who was walking this way as we speak. I told Allison I would think about it before nearly running to my car in the attempt of avoiding my ex. It had been like this for a few weeks now. Trevor continued to find me, but in all honesty, I couldn’t talk to him. I couldn’t tell him that I broke up with him because I knew he would never support me like I needed to be. Or that I wasn’t mature enough yet to be in a relationship with him.

I drove until I was in front of my apartment building. I stepped out of the car noticing the kids playing on the swings next to one of the buildings. They stared at me as I walked up the steps. A couple of them were my neighbors's children, and the others could be from another building or a friend of kids visiting.

“Gemma,” Mrs. Crow said siting in her chair in front of her door. “How was your day?”

“It was fine,” I replied with a friendly smile.

She nodded her head before turning it to her son who was running up the stairs. I took the time to slip into my apartment without any further conversation. I let out a sigh of relief before I planted myself on the couch forgetting about the essay that was due in three days. I was four pages from being done anyways.

It wasn’t long before I pulled myself up and went to my room. I knew that I had to pack for my trip next month for the summer. I saved up enough money to go to Sparta which was the place that I had always wanted to go. Even as a kid, I found myself wanting to live in Sparta. I could never explain to myself why I wanted to go there of all places. It was just a place that seemed to scream my name every ten seconds.

My parents told me that I would get to go when I graduated high school, but they said that I had to go to college instead of paying for the trip to the other side of the world. They paid for college while I worked every day only spending my money for the important things like the apartment, food, and gas for the car. The rest I saved. I nearly fainted when I saw that I had more than enough to go to Sparta for a year.

I began to dig through my closet thinking of what I would wear. My closet was stuffed with clothes that I either bought on sale or given to me. I stared at the items before reaching in and grabbing a few of my favorite outfits that wouldn't stand out too much thinking that they would be fine. I quickly folded them and tucked them into the bag zipping it up. I smiled to myself. In a few days, I would find myself in Sparta.
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Well, here is the first chapter. Tell me what you think.

I'm sure that I already thanked you for the help, but thank you again for all the help, Crystel.