CHAPTER 2: THE MEETUP
456 Words
Boarding school wasn't as easy as I thought
it'd be, all my expectations started going
down the drain. Was this what they always
told me it was? Absolutely not. In no time I
became used to the school environment
since anyway I was to be there for close to
four months. By all means I had to get
comfortable with my new environment.
"Ryn, Ryn, Ryn wake up! Ryn,
Ryyyyyyyyyyynnnnn! wake up" called Lili my
newfound friend. We had clicked off
somehow. "Ahhhhhhhh! it's still early," I
cried out from underneath the blanket. "Just
two more minutes." I begged. "No! we are
already beyond late!" answered Lili, Carrying
my sleepy self out of bed, I made my way to
the bathroom to freshen up, this was
actually my worst time of the day in school,
waking up as early as 5am daily. I had not
yet adapted to this timing and to make
matters worse, we had aerobics today.
"Ryn you had better hurry, we have no time
at all." Why didn't anyone mention that I had
to wake up at 5 everyday before I made up
my mind to join boarding school. After
everything, I made my way to the library. It
had somehow become my favorite place.
I never expected to notice anyone that day,
the library was quiet,the kind of quiet that
felt heavy like it was keeping secrets in it's
shelves, I had buried my nose in a book I
barely understood, the letters swimming on
the page, when I heard it, a soft clearing of
the throat.
"I think you dropped this."
I looked up startled, a notebook lay at my
feet one that I hadn't even realized slipped
from my bag. The boy holding it was calm
almost unnervingly so. His eyes... I don't
know looked like they were looking for
meaning in the spaces between words... not
just scanning faces.
"Thanks..." I mumbled cheeks warming.
"You read this too," he asked nodding
toward the book in my hands. His voice
wasn't loud but it was deliberate. Clear.
Careful.
"I...try," I admitted. I wasn't used to talking
to strangers, especially not ones that made
me feel simultaneously small and... curious
"Good enough, then, Books are better when
someone actually thinks about them."
"Uh! I'm Ryn..." I said forcing a normality
into my tone that my heart refused to follow.
"Arvin," he extended a hand, but then
hesitated, letting it fall back to his side. A
small gesture that I noticed.
By the time the bell rang, I didn't want to
leave. I didn't know why. But walking back
into the noisy halls, I felt it the first gentle
pull of something I didn't have a name for
yet.
Something like...falling.
- Writer
