The First Day
Tiana stopped in front of the glass doors and took a deep breath. They were taller than she had imagined, and behind them stretched a marble lobby where her entire town could have fit three times.
She smoothed down the blouse her mother had ironed the night before with her hands. It was the best one she had. On the bus, it had seemed enough; now, among so many designer coats, it looked like it belonged to another century.
You promised, Dad, she thought. I'm here.
She pushed the door open.
During the university orientation, the dean had spoken about excellence, the future, and opportunities. Tiana had listened to every word with her heart in her throat, convinced that room was the beginning of everything. That was why, when she entered the Civil Law classroom, she still carried that hope intact, holding onto it like someone carrying a lit candle in the wind.
The wind arrived fast.
The conversations died down one by one. Heads turned, and gazes that started at her hair—rebellious despite the bobby pins—slid down to her worn-out shoes and crawled back up with a slowness that hurt.
"Where did that one crawl out from?" whispered a girl in the second row, not bothering to lower her voice too much.
"Could she be the new cleaning lady?" another replied, and muffled laughter rippled through the room like dirty water.
Tiana felt the heat rise to her face. She wanted to say something, anything, but her throat closed up. She lowered her gaze, walked to the first available seat, and sat down with her back very straight, pressing her hands against her skirt so no one would see them shaking.
You are not going to cry. Not here.
She took out her notebook, a cheap one with flexible covers, and opened it on the desk. She wrote down the date with a steady hand. It was the only thing she could control.
That was when she felt a different kind of gaze.
It wasn't mockery or disdain. It was a fixed, attentive, almost curious look. She turned her head slightly.
In the back row, by the window, a guy was leaning back in his seat, arms crossed and dark hair falling over his forehead. He wasn't laughing with the others. He wasn't whispering. He was just watching her, as if she were a problem to be solved rather than a joke.
Their eyes met for a second. Tiana looked away first, her pulse racing for a reason she couldn't explain.
The door opened and the professor entered, a man with a graying beard and a worn briefcase.
"Good morning," he said, setting his papers on the desk. His gaze swept across the room and lingered for a moment on Tiana, and for the first time all morning, someone smiled at her without any hidden motives. "Let's begin. Today we will look at why the law exists: to protect those who have no other defense."
Tiana raised her head.
Even though no one else noticed, those words were the first good thing that had happened to her in the city.
