Unfair

Life is unfair. Those three words couldn’t be any truer. Life is unfair. Life is cruel, but most of all, it is unexpected. Nothing in life is easy.

I learned that the hard way.

Mother had been sad, Father had been angry. What more is there to say, but that Mother wasn’t home the next day and Father dumped me at the St. Jude’s Orphanage? Nothing really.

I was a good girl. Silent, obedient. I never gave the sisters anything to worry about and always looked after the little ones. I worked with children at my job, that I excelled at, and graduated high school a year earlier with high honors.

I was a parent’s dream child, but no one wanted me. I had saved my money and began college, silent as always. I kept to myself and no one bothered me.

Well, almost no one, as I soon found out.

“So, in conclusion…” I scribbled down the equation on the board as the teacher explained it. I didn’t need the explanation. Never did, but I wrote it down anyway.

“Mr. Evans,” the teacher turned his back on the chalkboard, “can you explain how I found this solution?” His eyes looked over my shoulder at some boy sitting somewhere behind me. I stretched my hand that had cramped up from trying to keep up with the teacher’s words, and waited for the response.

“Hmm?” It sounded like someone being pulled from a deep trance. “...Oh, right.
Um…forty-two?” The accented voice held innocence, but I knew better than that.

I smiled minutely. Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

The teacher shook his head in exasperation and went on to explain another equation. My hand shot across my paper as I followed his lecture again.

“So care teh tell me who everyone is?” the same accented voice asked.

My hand froze on the paper. Another male voice began to point out people in seating order and telling little tidbits on what he knew about their personalities.

“That one, in the sunglasses? He’s always drunk in this class, but I heard that his parents are rich lawyers and that’s the only reason he’s still here. And--” The voice broke off, slightly confused.

I inwardly cringed. It was something I could never get used to.

“And…?” the accented voice pressed.

I envisioned a shrug as the bell rang, signaling the end of class and for me to get to the dorms and begin to study. Quickly, I gathered my things and turned only to find my path blocked.

Blocked by a six-foot three-inch boy in a red shirt, tight jeans, Chuck Taylors, and a half-sleeved form-fitting leather jacket. His blue eyes regarded me from under the mess of brown hair that clouded them. His hair was flattened to his slightly red left cheek, most likely from sleeping during class.

And there stood me. Five-foot three-inch, brown haired, grey eyed, plain sundress wearing me.

“Excuse me,” I mumbled, staring straight ahead.

“Not until yeh tell me yer name and favourite color.” I looked up into his clear, deep, Caribbean water colored eyes and saw that his smile reached them through and through. His accent seemed familiar, but I was concentrating on trying to get back to the dorms. I moved to go around him and he mimicked me. Inwardly, I sighed.

He tilted his head to the side, studying me. I clutched my book tighter to my chest and spoke more than I had in a long time.

“So forty-two?”

His smile disappeared and his face looked confused for a second before his face broke out into a wide grin. He scratched the back of his head, embarrassed.

“Yeh, gets ‘em every time.”

“Is there a reason?”

“Hmm?” He looked back up at me, his face confused again, but innocently so.

I sighed audibly, “To ask me for my name and favorite color?”

His face got serious for a moment before he smiled crookedly, “Just ‘cause.” He shifted his weight slightly and let his hand rest on the back of his neck as he studied me again, waiting for my reaction.

I stared at him, weighing arguments in my head before I responded.

“No.” My response caught him off guard, allowing me to push past him and hurry to the dorms. Not quickly enough.

As soon as I had reached the path outside, the sound of footsteps behind me made me curse myself. Then I stopped short. I never got aggravated with myself. It was just something that never happened. The moment passed and I hurried forward—the dorms in my sight—but he had matched my stride and was strolling next to me.

“Why not?” His voice had an annoyed edge to it, adding to his confusion in his expression.

Apparently, he wasn’t used to getting shot down, or he thought that he could read people like books. I went with the former.

Another wave of surprise hit me. I was never judgmental either. The day seemed like it would never end this moment.

“I can choose whether or not to give you my name. Your reason must not have convinced me.” I needed to shut my mouth. I was never outspoken.

“Oh, really now?” he trilled his “r”s. I finally recognized the accent then. Irish brogue. He stepped in front of me and I collided with him, dropping my book and sheets of notes. He cringed as I stumbled slightly and hastily collected the papers before the wind claimed them.

“Thanks,” I mumbled when he handed me everything.

“Sorry ‘bout that. I di’n’t mean teh, yeh know?” He shuffled his feet and stared at the ground to my left for a moment. Finally he looked up at me, determination easily read in his eyes. “But I will find out yer name. Yeh can bet ‘n it.” He nodded curtly and walked past me, back to the university building—leaving me standing in the middle of the path, shocked. It wasn’t until the bell tolled, announcing the start of the next class, that I snapped out of my trance and ran the rest of the way to the dorms.