Two

CHAPTER 01

In a very early morning corner of the city, a young girl was getting ready for a very unpleasant day.

Dring dring dring. 6:00 am.

"Already?"

I sigh with sleepy eyes. I get out of bed with a zombie face. Still asleep, eyes half closed, I shuffle along. I feel dark circles around my eyes. I yawn until I swallow a fly and swear inside. It's been two days since school started. "To think I'm going to have to put my foot down in college for nine long months. It sucks."

Last year I was all excited to study, but now I'm lazy. And why is that? It's simple. As a senior in high school, I thought this world was magical. I told myself that I would never get tired of studying and that going to class was so cool. Now, I believe that the saying "dreams are sweet, but reality is bitter" is true. I do have some fun, but getting up every morning, making that drive and sitting for four hours to follow a teacher who could be a little boring is really boring, even though I love what I'm getting into: Law.

In short! For introductions, let's just say I'm nineteen and a lawyer in training and believe me! I'm not complaining. My parents rented me a small apartment with kitchen and bathroom in the capital "St Jean", the biggest city of our small country and the one where the biggest Campus is located so that I can easily go to classes and have the training I am looking for. It must be said that they live a little far away, in Porte Nouvelle; which is a hundred and fifty kilometers away; which implies that I sometimes miss the members of the house...

After showering, I get dressed and head to my bedside table. I open a drawer and take out my medications. These have been part of my daily life for a few years. I look at the little box that contains them and sigh with sadness. I still haven't had the courage to tell them. I don't want them to suffer because of me. I can't look at them and tell them the truth.

"But you'll have to do it sooner or later. You don't have a choice, because this treatment doesn't last forever," my conscience dictates daily. Yes. I know. I have to prepare them for what might happen. If I let reality hit them hard, they may never recover. "Why do things have to be so complicated?" I ask myself. I so wish they wouldn't mind after this; that we would just go on with our lives as if nothing had happened. I push all nostalgia and guilt out of my head, grab my bag and head outside, making sure to lock my door. "I could be robbed" I think. The city is not safe and I'd rather not get into any more trouble than I already am.

The campus is only a few meters from the house, so I can walk there. Anyway, whatever the distance, I have to walk and I don't mind it so much. On the road, I go like a rocket. It is still early and there are not many people on the sidewalk. So I take advantage of it.

"The last thing I need is to be late. I don't want to fight for a seat," I tell myself to motivate myself to speed up my steps.

The lecture halls in which we have to teach are not big enough to hold all the students, so we had to come very early so as not to be forced to follow the course from outside. I want to go there as soon as possible and join the members of our quartet who must be waiting for me. They are in fact my three best buddies on campus. I love them. We are in Licence 2 now and I wonder how this year will go for us. I decide in my head to make some plans for the year. Head down, in the clouds, I bump into someone:

"Excuse," I say without raising my head.

"No problem," says a voice that is both deep and soft.

I am charmed and intrigued. Who could this voice belong to? Since I am small, I raise my head to see who it is, and this, to the point of wringing my neck, to see the one who has spoken to me. He is tall. Really tall. I'll say about 6'4". He's dressed in a black hoodie and dark blue jeans and has a black backpack slung over one shoulder. He turns to me within seconds and then continues on his way. "He doesn't have an ugly face" comments my conscience.

"You, I like your face."

I hit my forehead at the same time. But what was I thinking?

"Oh well! The stranger throws me before leaving for good."

"WAIT."

I run to catch up with him and stand in front of him, out of breath:

"By the way. What is your name?"

He takes a moment to "think":

"Mokira. I have to go," he replies, before running around me.

"AND ME, THERINE," I shout to him after a short moment of reverie.

He raises his hand. I surprise myself sometimes. But what was I thinking saying something like that to a stranger? On the other hand, it was kind of funny. I'm kind of glad I did. Hooking up with a stranger on the street can be entertaining. I should do this more often. But for now, I shouldn't be late. Still, I stand there daydreaming for a moment before I realize I'll be late. Then I start running like crazy. And luckily, I arrived at the campus gate in time. In front of the big gate, my friends are waiting for me. Caleb, always with his too adorable face, Nelly, as small as me and her airs at the same time serious and tender:

"Hello!"

"Hello, Therine," says Caleb.

"Hello," Nelly answers.

"How are you?"

"Great. How are you?"

"I'm good. Good. And Mireille?"

"Late as always," laughs Nelly.

Yeah. I should have known.

"She could have made an effort today, right?"

We laugh. This girl doesn't care about the day. She's an eternal latecomer.

"So, what do you think? Should we wait for her or not?"

"Let's go," says Caleb. "We'll find a place. If she doesn't come soon, well... Too bad."

"The poor. That's wicked."

"Okay. Stay there so. But don't count on us to save a place for you my little one."

They're leaving and I'm following them.

"Okay. Okay. I'll save her a seat. When she gets here, she'll call us."

"Finally!"

I sigh when we get to our class location:

"I'm tired of walking so much. Why does this lecture hall have to be so far away?"

"It's normal for you to be tired with your tiny legs," says Caleb.

Nelly and Caleb start to laugh:

"No. But what a sass!!! I'm going to finish your education with a punch in the face."

"Yeah. That's right. When you reach my size, my little."

Indeed, he is quite tall and I really can't compete.

I give him a tiny punch in the arm. He didn't feel a thing.

"Laugh. Let it go, little one. You can't do anything."

We walk back into the lecture hall and head to a row. There's already one person at the end of the table:

"Hello. Say, are these seats reserved?"

"No, they're not. Take your seats."

He gets up. We sit and talk for a long time. Caleb looks at the time on his phone.

"8:35 a.m. girls," he points out to us.

I sigh. Nelly is indignant:

"And she thinks she can find a place at such an hour..."

Suddenly, her phone rings and interrupts her:

"When we talk about the wolf... she blows."

I see her enter the lecture hall. We were in the first rows, so it is easy to notice her. I raise my hand. She sees me and hangs up. Then she joins us:

"The latecomer. Aren't you ashamed?" I ask her.

"The road was long."

"Uh... You live next door to the campus. You're overreacting," says Caleb.

"Bro. She's got mosquito legs. You know that.

They started laughing. Mireille comes and sits next to me and pulls my hair:

"Aï ! No but. It hurts."

"Stop mistreating her," Nelly orders her in a plaintive tone.

At least she feels sorry for me and takes my defense.

"That's what happens when you make fun of me. Cheeky little thing."

"What do you mean? "Little"? I'm older than you. I remind you."

"So what?"

We start laughing. Suddenly, a hand touches my shoulder from behind.

"Hello again, you," I hear behind me.

I immediately recognize the voice that troubled me this morning...