Acedemic Affections

I turned and rolled out of bed sluggishly, not wanting to start the day. I just wished that this day would go by fast, it seemed that every day was the same. Get up. Go to work. Go to bed. But this day wasn't the same, it was the first day of what's supposed to be my new college life at a real top-notch university. I couldn't help but hear my father and mother in the back of my head giggling at the fact that I wanted to become a writer and photographer. "You'll never be able to make it in this world." your father stated. "Don't be silly writers and photographers don't make nearly enough money to get by and thats if they have talent." my mother chimed in still giggling. I tried to repel the plaguing thoughts of my mother and father's voices in the back of my mind and tried to focus on getting ready for the day. After brushing my teeth and hair, it was time to put on my outfit for the day. Going through my closet I was sitting there unable to choose between casual and classy. I sighed and went to the kitchen to remedy the aching in the pit of my stomach hoping that maybe it would help my decision on clothing as well. I decided to toast some bagels and top it with cream cheese and bacon bits. I finished my plate and went back to my closet to finally choose and thankfully I decided to make an impression today by going with classy and chose a black and white dress sweater combo, with leggings and my white nikes. Given the cold, fall weather it wasn't a bad choice. I pined back the top of my hair with a sliver snake clip and applied some light makeup and headed for the door grabbing my black backpack and coffee to go. ... It was 7:45 when the bus arrived at my new university, NYU. I walked in with my schedule in hand and ready to take on my first class. fortunately, I realized that most of my classes had 30 minutes to an hour between each class with the exception of three middle classes. Walking to my first class, fine arts, I noticed a long line of students waiting to be let in. Great, I thought, walking to the back of the line. I sat down beside a brown-headed girl, she was slim and approximately 5'5. "You must be new I'm Ava," the girl said holding her hand out, I took her hand and introduced myself, "I'm Mina, how long have you guys been waiting here for?" I asked. "Some of us have been here since 6 but I got here around 7:30," Ava said annoyed by the long wait. "Anyways, are you living on campus or do you have a place here in New York?" Ava asked politely. "Oh I have an apartment, it's north of here on the other side of town, you?" I replied. "I live on campus, unfortunately. I know this is random but can I see your schedule? I want to know what classes we have together." Ava said with a slight giddiness, she was a good mixture of chill and giddy. I handed her my schedule and she started comparing mine with hers. "Wow, we have most of our classes together except for the last two," she stated with happiness. "Thats awesome, now I won't have to worry about getting lost now," I replied with a small laugh. She handed my schedule back to me and turned to see the teacher finally come to unlock the door. "finally." she said with relief as we both stood up to enter the classroom. Our teacher was covered in bright-colored clothing and had lots of fun makeup on, she looked like a fun teacher and gave me high hopes for how the rest of this semester was going to play out. ... It was the last hour of the day and I was so excited to be going home soon. Ava and I had walked almost every hour to class together and got to know each other more, I was sad that she wasn't in my last two classes. I still had about an hour before my last class and decided that I would just go and head there and wait for class to begin. Once I got there the door was wide open and I walked into the large classroom and picked a seat in the front, I glanced around and noticed that no one not even the teacher was in there so I shrugged it off and got out my pen and paper and started writing the rest of an already started story to pass the time. The classroom had the seating of a theater and windows that surrounded the room, it was honestly beautiful, you could see the sunlight beam into the classroom windows through the tree's leaves creating a beautiful shadow in the front of the room. Most of the room was made of dark wood and black colored metal and the floor was a navy blue carpet and the seats were navy blue as well. In the front of the room was a big teacher's desk and behind it was a blackboard with two doors on either side into what looked like an office. Everything put together made the whole thing have a dark naturistic vibe. About 30 minutes later a tall brown-headed man with blue eyes walked out from the room behind the blackboard, he wore a whiteish-blue button-up shirt with a blue and black tie and suit pants. The man hadn't looked up until he had sat down at his desk and just now noticed that I was in the room. He looked at me with shock and confusion "Oh I didn't know that there would be any students here, class doesn't start until 2." he said, his voice deep but soft. "Oh, I'm sorry I thought since the door was open it was okay to come in here, but I can leave if-" I started before he cut me off. "No it's okay I was just shocked, no one comes in this early, not many people are eager to be early to class." he said with a slight chuckle. "I'm Mina... Marchetti, I'm new here." I said shyly, his deep blue eyes making me even more nervous as they pierced into my soul. "I would give you my name but since you are my student you have to call me Mr. Stan," he said smiling before continuing "How long have you been here?" he asked. "Um... 30 minutes I think but I like to come early honestly it's nice to be in an uncrowded room that way I can relax and do homework or other extra stuff... Sorry if I'm talking too much." I said, my voice fading slowly and my mother's voice getting louder in the back of my mind. "No, you're not talking too much, I like the company," he said looking at me a little longer than I had anticipated before looking back to the papers he was working on. My heart thumped faster in reaction to his kindness and I didn't understand why. Now and then I'd catch him glancing up at me even when the class started to fill up. It was 2 o'clock now and the room was full of people talking and chatting to their friends when Mr. Stans's booming voice roared over them to quiet down, he turned around and started to mark some assignments down on the board and started to talk about the assignment. For the rest of the class time I had spent mostly writing down notes and important dates to remember for his class as well as doodling a little. At the end of the class, I waited until everyone else rushed out of class before I did in fear I would get trampled. Before I walked out of the class I waved bye to Mr. Stan which he politely returned. Since my apartment was across town I didn't get off the bus until 45 minutes after I got on. When I got into my apartment I headed to the kitchen and opened the fridge to get some leftover chow mein to heat up while I get ready for work. While it was heating up I went to my bedroom to put my work outfit on, we could wear whatever we wanted as long as it was a button-up with black pants, so I picked a black button-up and left my hair the way it was but gave it a little brush before I ate and then headed out. ... I got to the restaurant and immediately put my apron on and got out my pad and paper to write down orders, on my way out to the front of the restaurant I clocked in and went to the first table I saw in my section only to realize that Mr. Stan and some of his colleagues such as the dean of the college, his assistant, the head of the school board and some of the other professors. I almost stopped dead in my tracks but I quickly realized how ridiculous that was and that I didn't even know why I was so nervous when I saw Mr. Stan. When I walked to the table I noticed Mr. Stans's eyes got wide with realization and a smile formed on his mouth. "hi! What can I get for you today?" I asked with a smile looking right at Mr. Stan to possibly tell him I recognize him. The dean looked at me and in a second he recognized me. "You're Marchetti's daughter aren't you?" the dean said while his mouth hung open. "Yes I am, do you know him?" I said trying to hide the particular sting of the topic of my father. "We went to college together, he was a great man and fierce friend." the dean said with a smile. The man the dean once knew was long gone and the mere thought of my father made me want to throw up. I must not have been doing a good job of hiding my disdain for the man because Mr. Stan spoke up asking "So how was your first day of college?" I looked over at him and saw concern written all over his face. "It was amazing, I love all my classes and got some good photos in," I said glad that the topic of my father was over with. "I'm so happy to hear that." the dean said and with that, I turned to walk to the kitchen to put their order in. Every now and then I could feel Mr. Stan's eyes peering at me and every time he did I felt a growing flutter in my stomach. I heard the head chef yell my name as he was trying to tell me the food was done and I quickly picked up a big serving platter to carry all the food over to the table. After I gathered up the food I carefully hauled it over to the table next to them fearing that I would drop it. "If I remember correctly you had the crab and you had the steak platter..." I continued sitting down plates in front of the people who ordered them. As I was setting down Mr. Stan's order one of the other waitresses bumped into me, making me fall into Mr. Stan, luckily his food was already on the table and nothing was spilled but nothing could have saved me from the awkward situation I was in. I had basically fallen onto his lap, my side was completely over him and I had somewhat caught myself with my hand on his shoulder and my other hand on the side of the chair, and I was facing him. "Oh my god I'm so sorry," I said trying to get off his lap but kept losing my balance. My coworker was apologizing profusely while trying to hold back a laugh. "I-it's okay," Mr. Stan said. He was so close his warmth enveloping me and his cologne filling my senses, we made eye contact and I could swear his cheeks were turning red with heat. Next, thing I knew his hands had found my hips and he carefully stood me up. My face was a bright shade of red and my stomach filled with stinging butterflies. I apologized again for the inconvenience and quickly ran to the back and asked Amy, a co-worker, to take my spot for 10 minutes and she agreed. I opened the employee bathrooms and locked the stall. I sat there trying to wrap my brain around the embarrassing events that happened tonight and wanted to go home desperately. Trying to hold back my tears I pulled out my phone and contemplated calling my sister. My thumb hovered over the call icon for a while before I realized my 10 minutes was almost over and decided against it. When I went back in there after 10 minutes and realized that they were about done with their meals so I plucked up the courage to go take care of empty plates, trash, and refill drinks. My heart was racing so fast I thought it would jump out of my chest and onto the table right in front of everyone but I took a deep breath and approached their table. "hi, would anyone like a refill?" I asked nervously gathering the trash and empty plates. I could feel Mr. Stan's eyes on me but decided to ignore the desire to look back at him. I had a few yes's and no's as well and a few head bobs and thank you's from everyone but I noticed Mr. Stan stayed quiet. I gathered the rest of the dishes and went to put them away and wait for my tables to be ready for their checks. After a while, most of them had left and my last table was ready for their check, fortunately, the process of getting the bill paid went fast and I said bye to the dean and everyone while they were heading out. My shift was finally over and I happily but exhaustedly walked to the bus stop right in front of the restaurant and thanks to Amy I got to go home early since she said she would clean my section and lock up. I got to the bus stop and waited for the bus but I looked over and saw two men slowly approaching me, I tried to soothe my rising anxiety by taking a deep breath and holding on to the tazer in my small black leather purse that held the rest of my important items. As they got closer I could hear them catcalling me and saying nasty stuff that they wanted to do to me whether or not they had my consent, one man was shorter than me and the other was as tall as me. They kept getting closer to me until they were right on either side of me, "Get away from me!" I yelped when they started to touch my wrapping their arms around me so I couldn't go anywhere. I tried to pull out my tazer but the shorter man noticed and grabbed my hand with the tazer still having a death grip on it. "Get away from me please! Or I will taze you!" I pleaded, my stomach turning with disgust, I pushed trying to get away but they had stolen my taser from my hands and they were stronger than I was so I screamed hoping someone would hear me and fortunately someone did because the men had been thrown back off of me and ran, I turned to my protector and immediately realized that it was.... Mr. Stan! "Are you okay?" he said, his loud deep voice startling me a bit. "i-i'm okay, I think," I said tears streaming down my cheeks now. He grabbed my hand and led me to his car. "Are you okay if I take you home?" he asked politely, i nodded and got into his car. He handed me his phone with the Google Maps pulled up "Can you put your address in?" he asked. I put my address in and handed it back to him. The car ride was awkward and silent so I decided to speak up "T-thank you." I said. "you don't have to thank me, what they were doing to you was awful and I'm glad I was there to stop them before anything else happened." he said softly. His car was warm and comfortable making me more tired every minute and soothing my anxiety away. I wanted to sleep but I knew we were close to my apartment, I turned my head slightly to look at him and I couldn't help thinking every inch of him was perfect. All these thoughts made my insides fuzzy. I had to stop all this, it was wrong to think like this, I am his student and he is my professor. "We're here Mina, Can I walk you in?" he said softly, hearing his voice say my name made my heart flutter. "You don't have to if you don't want to, I don't want to take any more of your time up," I said. He got out of the car and went to my side, opened the door for me, and helped me out of his dark blue car and up to the door, he opened the building door for me and walked me up the stairs to my apartment. When we went to the door I put my key in and unlocked it. "Thank you for protecting me, would you like to come in? I asked politely my heart beating loudly. "No, I shouldn't, I'll see you tomorrow Mina and please be careful, okay," he spoke softly with concern in his voice. "I will sir I promise," I said his concern making me feel calm and cared for. His eyes flickered with something I'd never seen in his eyes before and I wondered if it was me calling him sir or something else but he then turned around and headed out of the building. When I went into my apartment and locked the door behind me. I sighed with exhaustion and went to take a shower slipping out of my work uniform I gathered my black silk pajamas and headed to the bathroom. The warm water felt nice and my vanilla coconut-scented toiletries reminded me of comfort. I didn't bother with eating, I just headed to bed.