Through the Gates of Love

"Finally!" I said while looking at my reflection in the mirror, I'm wearing the purple dress my mother bought me when she was in Paris last month. Today is Monday and I am so excited to see my friends at school especially Freeza, my best friend. Although I'm a little bit nervous since I'm already on my second year college and I know that this school year is going to be more difficult than last year. But.... what can I do right? Life has always been difficult for all of us. After a few minutes of fixing my self, I went down the sala to check if my parents were already there. And as I expected, my dad was sitting on the couch while my mom was preparing our breakfast on the table. I greeted both of them and I went to my mom to kiss her on her cheeks while I gave my dad a flying kiss. "Are you ready for school? Do you want me to pack your lunch?" she asked seriously, as if I was still a kid! "Mom are you kidding? what am I? a thirteen year old girl?" I asked while laughing. "I'm fine mom. I'm going to have lunch with Freeza" I added. My mom then just nodded at me while smiling and said "fine, just text me and your dad if you need something else". And with that, I just smiled at her and assured her that I will surely text them if ever. After eating breakfast, I already went to school with my driver. I texted Freeza that I'm on my way to school and then she responded "Ok, see you there!" I arrived at school around 8:30 in the morning. I can see so many students walking with their friends, which is why I decided to text some of my friends, but then…...I was startled because someone from my back hugged me. I was about to freak out, but I heard him say "I miss you" That's the time I realized that it was Leo, one of my guy friend in the cheering squad. I then turned around so I can see his face clearly. I noticed so many new things about him, he got a new hairstyle, he got a new pair of glasses, he got taller, but most importantly, he's wearing a nice hoodie! "Hey! I want your hoodie! Where did you get that?" I asked him. But instead of answering my question, he just smirked at me and said "No need to know, I'll just buy you one". And so I smiled at him and was about to tease him but then I saw someone running towards us - it was Freeza! Gosh, why is she running? She looked as if she joined a marathon. I laughed at my own thoughts and just hugged her by the time she got near me. "I miss you girl!" she told me while she was out of her breath. I was about to laugh again but I stopped myself. I asked her why was she running, and then suddenly, she glared at Leo for a few seconds. I was confused of what is happening so she told me that it's because she saw Leo talking to me! And that she thought maybe he was asking me out again, just like before. I was taken aback at what she said and didn’t know what to say. So I awkwardly looked at Leo and saw him smiling defensively. After a few minutes, my first class was about to start so I told them that I already need to go since I do have a class to attend to. Leon wanted to go with me but I insisted that it’s fine, I can go on my own. By the time I entered the room, I saw Stephanie with her friends. And as usual, she just glared at me as if I did something wrong. I mean, I really can’t understand her, ever since I joined the cheering squad, she always make me feel that she doesn’t like me. Well…. I’ve got no problem with that, she can hate me whenever she wants, but the thing is, she’s being unreasonable especially during practice. She’s acting as if I am her competition, when obviously, I’m not! I’ve decided to sit in front so I continued walking until I reached the place where I want to sit. I then took off my bag and was about to place it on the chair beside me but then a girl with an eyeglasses approached me. “Umm hi! I’m Beatrice, is it okay if I will sit here?” she asked, pointing at the chair beside me. I didn’t expect that someone would even ask me that question because of course! Who am I to stop her right? “Oh sure, no problem”, “It’s not as if I own that chair anyway” I replied while smiling. “Thank you. By the way, you’re Amara right?” she asked. “Ah..yes? How did you know my name?” I replied. She then laughed at my question. “Are your serious?” she asked. My brows furrowed. By the tone of her voice, it seems like I asked her a stupid question, when I’m sure I didn’t!…I guess? She chuckled and turned her head to face me. “I mean, you’re face is literally posted on every bulletin board in this school, so it would be weirder if I don’t know your right?” she said. “Ah...” realizing what she just said. “Well, that was because I won the national debate competition last year, so---” “oh wow!” she interrupted. She seemed very surprised when I mentioned the word “debate” so I chuckled at her reaction. She was about to open her mouth when our professor entered the room. It was sir Esteban, the dean of our college. Bea snorted before glancing at sir. Since it was our first day, he just discussed some of his rules in this class. He also reminded us that there will be times that he wont be able to attend the class so he would just send someone to look after the class. “I already expected that one” I murmured. “Oh Ms. Zavala, You’re here in my class!” I was shocked at the sudden call. “Ah.. yes sir” I replied. “Are you going to join the debate tournament next month?” he asked. “I heard that Agreste University is joining” he added. “Umm sir, I’m not yet sure, I still need to check my schedule” I replied. “Okay, just visit me in my office if you already made up your mind” he said using his stern voice. "Thank you sir” I replied. After an hour, I went to building 2, where the College of Arts and Sciences is located. I was sitting on one of the benches while waiting for Freeza when I heard someone calling me. “Amara Louis!” I stopped scrolling and then looked at my back. I saw Aeya, our leader in the cheering squad, walking towards me. “Do you really need to call me using my two names?” I asked while laughing. “Why? I love your name. It’s unique” she said. I chuckled then clasped my hand. “By the way, have you heard the news?” she asked. “What news?” I asked her back. “A football competition is going to be held next month and all universities are required to join. And do you know what that means?!” she seemed so excited while telling me these things. Well, I cant blame her though. I, too, was excited to perform especially because its been a while since the last time we performed. “Umm.. That we need to practice?” I asked her as I slightly scratch my nose. “Ah-uh! So…I’ll just text you guys the details of our schedule?” she happily asked me. “Um.. yeah, anything’s fine with me” I told her while smiling. “Hi, Ae!” I didn’t notice that Freeza was here already. She was standing beside me while holding some of her books on her arms. “Hi Freeza! Oh my! You look lovely” she commented to Freeza. Freeza then chuckled and thanked her. We stayed like that for how many minutes. And then after that, Ae told us that she needs to go to her class already while Freeza and I have also decided to eat to the nearest restaurant in our school. I was scrolling through my phone while waiting when I saw a post regarding the debate tournament that’s going to be held next month. It was only then when I realized that the football competition is also next month!