Chapter One

2696 Words
‘Donde hay Amor, hay dolor’ That’s what my mum used to tell me when I was younger. I didn’t understand what she meant at the time; I’d just reply to her with the same six words every time ‘But love is greater than pain”. She’d smile and tell that I was too young to understand; that when I’m old enough and fall in love, I will know what that means. At that age I didn’t know much about love, but what I didn’t know I mainly learned from watching shows like friends and charmed, from what I see my mum and dad do, and from old Blue and N Sync cassette that my mum used to play in her minivan when she drives us to my grandma’s every weekend. Even with the minimum amount of contact back then, all of those shaped my idea and expectations of relationship back then and still have because without them and a little help from someone else, I wouldn’t have learnt what love is and felt it. I wouldn’t have understood what my mum meant with the proverb back then. I woke up at 7 a.m. that day, after half an hour for falling asleep and getting woken up by the alarm every five minutes. When I finally did, lazily rolled out of bed and carried myself to the bathroom, brushed my teeth, washed my face and let my hair down. I went back into my room and got dressed into a white button up shirt, grey cardigan, black dress pants, with a pair of white back flats. I left my hair fall into its natural curl to just under my shoulder blade like usually, then quickly applied a bit of eyebrow gel to hide my eyebrows gaps and unevenness. A habit of mine has always been to dress up when I’m nervous for a presentation or big day, which today was; I had a business pitch idea for my English class. It wasn’t really marked based on the business and the idea, it was more on the spoken grammar, pronunciation, body language and presentation skills. Something that we are constantly being pushed into improving in all of my classes. When I walked into the kitchen downstairs, no one was home, everyone was either already at work or in school. So, I fixed myself a cheese sandwich and headed to my class. I reached class half an hour early, so I took a seat outside and messaged Derek that I’m on campus and have time to kill. After I received a message that he’s on his way, I took out the current book that was reading ‘Someday by Colleen Hoover’ and tried to burry myself into the love Sydney and Ridge. When I have an important day, exam or a presentation, I usually bury myself into some young adult or romantic novel to ease off the nerves and relax. It’s my way of dealing with pressure and nervousness. Around 10 minutes later, I felt Derek take a seat next to. I turned to the short brown haired, hazel eyed boy that was dressed into a black hoodie, dark jeans and white sneakers. He gave me his usual boyish heart-warming smile when our eyes met. I smiled back and slightly nudged his shoulder with mine. “Looking good, Sophy” he winked. “And you look as bad as usual” I teased “Isn’t this the fourth time you wear a hoody to class this week?” He rolled his eyes “Yes, but it a different hoody everyday” he pointed out “What do you have against my hoodies anyways?” I chuckled “I’m just teasing” I said “You know damn well that if I’m not in formals and lazy, that would be my go-to outfit” “Speaking of outfits” he said “My dad is hosting one of the company’s parties in our house next week. All his co workers and boss will be there with their children, it would be a fancy dress-up kind of part. Come” “Is it one the weekend?” I asked. He gave me a nod. “Sure” I said “I’ll be there anyways. I’ll just borrow a dress from Alex or something” We almost fell into conformable silence before he spoke up again, almost as a light bulb in his head lit up “Oh and I saw this post for a contest next month, I thought that we can enter it” he said as he handed me a folded poster out of his pocket. I unfolded the flyer after I took it from his hand. It was a contest hosted on campus, CPS, it was a contest for finding a creative parking solution for the parking issue that we been facing since the university opened back then. It had a prize of 500 dollars for the winner and a half-paid scholarship for the remaining years on campus. “It would be fun” he said “Plus, you can take the prize money and I’ll take the half-paid scholarship. With your business brain and my technical skills and IT knowledge, plus Cole’s artistic skills if we need them, I’m sure we can win” I rolled my eyes “I have visual design friends that can help up instead” A flash of apology appeared on Derek’s face before he smiled again “C’mon, what do you think?” “If you promise that you won’t ditch and that will put as much effort that I will put in too, then sure” I told him. A wide smile appeared on his face “Promise” We spent the reaming time before class discussing ideas, but all seemed to come to a dead end. Derek’s ideas were great and would indeed solve the issue, the only problem is that his ideas required a budget that the university did not have and would take ages to build. We ended up agreeing that when we get back to the house, we’d sit and brainstorm some more with Alex. Surprisingly, my presentation didn’t go as bad as I thought it would be. I went through it like I practiced and managed not to panic and f**k everything up. After the presentation and the next class ended, I messaged Alex about how successful the presentation was since I made her sit through my practices for three days straight last weekend. I then messaged Ben as well, my boyfriend of two months about the presentation and my plans for today. Ben and I met through Alex two and a half months ago and started dating around two weeks after we met. Ben is a year older, from Texas and worked in the U.S. military. When we first met, I was a third wheel in a date with Alex, and Ben happened to be there during the movie, so we just started talking and following Alex and Jeremy around. On that day, we just hit it off, then we exchanged numbers; and the next thing we know, we went out on a date a week later and started dating. Our relationship was sort of a long-distance relationship, even though he only lived 45 minutes from where I live. He has to work most of the time, and the rules and regulation of his job prevents him from going out of the base, so when we do meet, I usually spend time with him there. We usually message most of the time, skype and meet once or twice every three weeks. I didn’t mind it really, I mean I had to focus on my studies too, so it worked. As usual, I headed to the food court after my second class, spotting my friends in the back. When the saw me approaching, I smiled and waved. “You’re dressed up today” Kamila said. I gave her smile “Thank you, you do too as usual” “Had a presentation?” Lina asked. I gave her a nod as I take off my blazer, then take a seat between Kamila and Adam. He pushed his plate to me, offering me a slice of his pizza. I give him a smile as a thank you, then take a piece of his peperoni pizza. “I never knew that you ate Pizza, you’re usually picky with your food” Lani said. I rolled my eyes, slightly annoyed because her undying interest in my interest in food, a sensitive topic that I don’t like her talking about because her consistent annoying and unrequired opinions in the way I eat. “I do” I said annoyed. Adam kicked me from under the table, signing for me to take it down a notch and control my annoyance. I turned to him and give him an annoyed look before everyone falls into their usual pattern, Nadia and Lina talking about weekend parties, while Adam and I talk about movies. “How about we go for a movie tonight, all four of us?” Adam asked. “Not my thing” Lina said “Maybe we could go bowling or something. It would be fun” I shook my head “Can’t, I already have plans with Derek tonight” Kamila smiled “Derek, the cute brown-Derek?” “Derek, my friend” I said. “He’s cute” Lina said “I have a feeling he has a crush on you” I rolled my eyes ‘Here we go again’ I said to myself. “No, he doesn’t” I said “We’ve been friends since we were 6 and 4; plus, he’s younger than I am. We’re practically family” “Well friendship turn into relationship all the time” Kamila said “You should go for it” “I have a boyfriend, remember? Ben” I reminded them. Adam snorted “Yeah, Ben” he said. I turned to him surprised “What do YOU have against Ben?” “Nothing” he said “I just know stuff, Sophy, and I know that you deserve better than him” “You should just dump him” Lina said “You can do so much better. He’s not even that cute” “She’s right” Kamila said “I don’t like the guy. I don’t even know what you see in him” “Girls” Adam said, knowing that those two were taking it a bit too far for me to control my nerves. “What? We have a point. Ben is just not a suitable fit for you, but Derek on the other hand is perfect. You two would make a better couple than you and that loser your dating” Lina said. “Lina, what the f**k” I heard Derek snap at Lina from behind me. “I’m just being honest” she defended. I bit down my lips in attempt to not calm my nerves, but failed “You know what, f**k it” I said getting up “Last time I checked, no one asked your opinion. Who I date and who I don’t is none of your f*****g business, so stop making f*****g judgements and telling me to break up with MY boyfriend that you haven’t met or even had a five seconds conversation with. My life isn’t a goddamn multiple-choice game that you can live through; if you want to control a relationship or give love advices, who about you get your own” I threw my bag over my shoulder and picked up my blazer “My love life and friendship are a line that you can’t cross. And I’d like to remind you that this is MY life, not your over lunch conversation to fill a void in your boring lives and to gossip about” With that I stormed out of the food court with Derek and Adam hot on my heals. “Sophia” Adam called chasing me. I kept walking out of campus with the two boys following me causing everyone’s head to turn at us. I didn’t stop until I reached my car, where is kneeled down between my car and someone else’s as I tried to catch my breath. I felt my chest tightening, throat burning for all the screams that I wanted to let out, the placed getting tighter and hotter by the seconds, my hands shaking and stomach hurting. I knew that I was in the verge of a panic attack. It wasn’t something that I was a stranger to, I’ve had panic attacks all the times until I learned how to control it; that didn’t stop them from hitting me like a truck though, they still happened but less than usual. “Hey, Hey. Sophia” Derek said as he started rubbing my back “Calm down, there’s nothing to panic over. I’m right here with you. You need to slow down your breathing, the faster we can do that, the sooner this will end” Adam took a seat in front of me rubbing my shoulder “Bro, why the f**k is you panicking? What you did back there was badass” he chuckled in attempt to calm me down by distracting me “I never seen you stand up for yourself like that. I mean, damn, at some point I almost thought you would bite Lina’s head off for being such a b***h. And Kamila, I don’t think that one was terrified that you were going after her next” he chuckled again, earning a small one from me as I came down from my panic attack. “And by the way” Derek said, still rubbing his hand over my back in circles “Eww, gross. As I would ever think of dating you, you’re like my little sister. That would be so weird” Adam laughed “b***h, as if SHE would go for YOU. She has higher standers when it comes to boyfriends” I smiled at the two boys as my breath became steadier. Adam gave me a hearted smile “I didn’t mean to open the topic; I didn’t know that they would take it that far. Hell, I didn’t even know that they didn’t like him to be honest” “It’s fine” I said out of breath “I know you didn’t” Derek grabbed my key from my hand, then helped me up on my two feet “Let’s get you home” he said “You just gave me a reason to skip” “You’re more than welcomed to join, Adam” Derek offered. Adam shook his head “I need to get my ass to class, I’ll message you later though” I gave him a nod. He gave me a smile before he left “And again, that was really bad ass” he called as he walked away. Derek opened the door, then helped me into my seat “Are you okay now?” he asked again. I nodded “Yes, Yeah, I’m find” “Good, that’s great. Let’s get you home then” he said.
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