Never Mine

This is my freshman year in University. Finally, a clean slate. A fresh start. An escape from all those high school dramas. By the way, I am Elara Freling. It may sound unique but believe me, there is nothing special about me. I am just like any other girl. Dreaming of love, dreaming of getting through college to land a decent job enough to provide for a living. My mother named me after one of Jupiter’s moons, Elara. If you will look into Greek mythology, my name comes in different variations. Elara, Elare, and Alera. They all came from Larissa, a mortal princess that happens to be the daughter of King Orchomenus. She was one of the mortal women who slept with the god Zeus, thus bearing a child giant Tityos. Yeah, you probably didn't know that. It's one of the very interesting things about my name that nobody seems to think is amusing. Nobody cared. But yeah, I am one of those people who was named after the moon. Actually, it didn’t bother me If no one found my name amusing or even slightly special. I was used to the shadows. Like the moon, I preferred to be in the dark. Shining and standing out was never on my bucket list. I just wanted to live a normal life. Have a normal family. Normal kids. Grow old and be just like the rest of the human beings on this Earth - die peacefully as nobody but Elara Freling. Besides, I do not have time for anything special. Working as a student assistant and as a waitress while studying at University was enough to make me busy. Being special doesn’t fit in my schedule. So here I am driving to school. I could not afford the dorms inside the University so I opted for a small apartment a few minutes drive away from school. It was closer to work. Although no one cared about my name. Everyone cared and looked at my car. I drive a vintage off-road Defender Land Rover that I endearingly call Charlie, from my favorite cartoon character Charlie Brown. My car was one of the most prized possessions that I have. It was a gift from my father. Charles Freling. Yes, actually my car was named after him, but that does not mean that I do not find Charlie Brown adorable. Let’s just say that I named my car after Dad and Charlie Brown. My car is one of the possessions that I will never sell. If needed, I would rather sell one of my kidneys than sell Charlie. I would rather live in my car just like what I did the first three months that I moved out from my Mom's place than sell my car. It would sell thousands, enough to buy me another decent car, and enough money for me to rent a nice apartment. But Elara Freling was different. I would sell anything but Charlie. Enough of the reminiscing. I need to go to my class. I still have 15 minutes before I am officially late for my first subject on my first day at the University. Parked my car close to the disabled parking near the library. It was the closest building to the art department. You heard me right, I am studying in the Arts department. Of all the profitable courses that I can take in the University, I chose creative writing at Portland State University. Well, I guess you can say that maybe in my mind I was thinking of becoming the next J.K. Rowling. Well, just like what I have said, all I wanted was to be normal. Becoming J.K Rowling or getting as close to what J.K Rowling achieved was not normal. I would rather apply to a small publishing company. Write feature stories. Maybe I'll even publish a few short novels. But nothing prolific. Again, I was all for being unnoticed. I loved being in the shadows. Looking for my room was a breeze. I downloaded the school map from the web so it was quite easy to pinpoint where the art rooms were. “Ow,” A guy in a striped shirt bumped into me as I walked up the stairs. My books and car keys fell on the stairs. Too much for not wanting attention on my first day here. All the kids who were going up the stairs looked at me, at us. Luckily, the boy who bumped into me helped me pick up my things. “Sorry about that, I was in a hurry.” He said. “So was I.” I replied. “Here.” He gave me my things. “Sorry again.” He said and then proceeded towards the entrance to the Arts Building. “Whatever,” I mumbled to myself. I went on to find my room so I can find a sweet spot near the window or the door. Anything far from the others who wouldn’t bother me. Just as expected, I arrived early, five minutes before class started. I took the chair close to the window. The view was great. It was the football field. Students that were taking up History class started to come in one by one. The quiet morning I had earlier was long gone. The people talking around me created a buzzing sound in my ear. I tried to drown them down, focus on something else. It worked. For a few minutes, It felt like I was not inside that noisy room. I was outside the football field, alone, enjoying the silence of the day. “Hey,” Someone blocked my view of the football field. “Hey,” I replied back. “Sorry but I think I mistook your notebook for mine.” He handed me my black notebook. I checked my backpack and took the black notebook inside. I browsed the first few pages. He was right. It was not mine. I handed the notebook to him. “Thanks” He took it. “By the way, I’m Reed.” He gave me his hand to shake. I took his hand to shake. It was rude not to. “Elara.” “Elara, just like Jupiter’s moon?” He asked. Woah, someone actually knows something about my name. “Yes, my mother gave it to me.” “Nice name.” “Thanks.” I continued looking outside the field while waiting for the professor. However, Reed seemed to be a little chatty. “Actually, this is my second time taking this subject. That’s why I am sitting here at the back. For sure, Professor Richardson will recognize me from last year.” He shared. “Why? Was the subject hard?” Of course, I knew it wasn’t. It was History. All you need to know is to read and remember. I can’t see anything difficult about that. Of course, I was not going to tell it to Reed’s face. I opted for a more dumb reply. “No, I kind of like it. But my Mom got sick last year and I had to take the rest of the semester off so I could take care of her and my siblings. She’s feeling better now.” He casually shared. I was about to say something else but the professor arrived. It was indeed Professor Richardson. Reed didn’t bother me anymore. He was dead focused on listening to the professor. Maybe he really had a lot of catching up to do. “So for our first essay, I would like you to work in pairs to create a 5,000 worded report on a least popular writer in American history.” The professor said when we were about five minutes to the end of the lesson. “Ok, let's start with Stawarski.” The professor pointed in my direction. I looked at the student on my right side. He looks like a Stawarski. To my surprise, Reed responded. “I’ll work with Elara here.” He told the professor. He looked at me and smiled. “Ok then, Freling and Stawarski. Let’s see.” The professor continued listing out partners for the report. Meanwhile, I was thinking of something else. Why in the world did Reed choose me to be his partner? Well, maybe because I was the one closest to where he was sitting. After the class ended, Reed handed me a small piece of paper. “What’s this?” “My number.” He said. “Here, can you type in your number here? I need to go practice. I’ll catch up with you about the paper later.” He casually said. I took his phone and saved my number. Nice work, I told myself. I am giving away my number to men on the very first day of school. “There, I’ll see you later Elara.” He said before running through the hallways. I gathered my bags and headed to the library. My next class is after lunch. I can begin doing the research for the report. It’s due in two weeks but I have work later. I can actually do this alone but working with someone seems fine. I shouldn’t be creating any issues with the professors or my fellow students. As long as I stay low profile, keep my head down, I can get through University without any issues. Working silently for over an hour, my focus was slightly disturbed with my phone vibrating. “Where are you?” The message said. I replied back. “Who is this?” “This is Reed, please save my number.” “Ok, library.” That was my reply. After a few minutes, I saw Reed enter the library. She actually looks kinda cute. Well actually, Reed falls under my category as handsome. The girls inside the library started to whisper as he entered the library. He looked around. When he saw me, he immediately walked towards me and took a seat close to mine. The girls continued to whisper. I hated the attention. Well, Reed was getting the attention. But somehow, him being here beside me somehow placed me under the radar of these college girls. Definitely not good. “So you started the research?” He asked. “Yes,” I kept my voice low. We were inside the library after all. “So you already picked an author?” He asked. “Yes, I hope it’s ok. I wanted to start the report as soon as possible. I have work later so I try to take advantage of my free time.” Why in the hell am I explaining, I thought. “Who did you pick?” He started browsing the books on the table. "I chose Nick Hornby, I hope it's fine with you? He wrote “High Fidelity: About a Boy." As if he knows who I was talking about. "Yeah, yeah. He wrote "How to Be Good" too. I have a copy of that book at home. Wow, a reader. I am slightly impressed. “So I guess we can include it in the report? About the books, he wrote?” That was my suggestion, but that was already what I was doing. “Sounds good.” He said. We worked silently with our report but at the side of my eye, I saw most of the girls looking at us. Well, looking at Reed. I tried not to care. “When is your next class?” Reed whispered. “Three,” I replied. “That’s your last class?” He was really chatty. “Yeah, then I’ll need to go to work.” Here I go again, giving details that Reed was not asking for. “Really? Where do you work?” He asked. “It is my first day as a waitress as Suco’s” He looks harmless, I might as well give a few information about myself. “Really? I work there, as an assistant cook.” Reed’s voice was slightly louder, causing the other students to look. He noticed and whispered. “I work there too. What a coincidence right?” He added. I was surprised but I didn’t know what to say. “My shift starts at 4:30 till nine. How about you?” He asked. “Same,” Geez, this is not happening. “We can go to work together if you want to?” He suggested but it sounded like he was already expecting a positive answer from me. “Sure,” I answered. I know I will regret this eventually. “That’s awesome, let’s meet here after your last class.” He smiled. He remained smiling as he continued reading. What did I just get myself into?