Infinite

Main Thing, Part II

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Do it for ourselvеs, nobody else
Staying on our grind, wasting no time
'Causе we're about to go up, up, up, up
No time for no one but us, us
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Julie, in her dorm at Berklee, could feel her stomach growling. She wanted food but didn't want to walk all the way to the cafeteria just to get it. The stuff she brought from home was underneath her bed, of which she had eaten half of a box of Cheez-Its already, but that was on Wednesday after missing lunch. Carrie had called while she was still sleeping and the vibrations didn't even wake her up. She tried calling back, but Carrie must have been busy because she didn't answer.

Leave a message at the tone 'cause I can't get to the phone. That was what Julie heard from Carrie's voicemail and she was disappointed. She wanted to talk to Carrie, hear her voice for a few minutes even if it was just to get Carrie to convince her to do homework.

Instead of getting food or starting her homework, she decided to call her dad. His enthusiasm for life would get her into the groove of getting work done. "Hey, papí. How's it going down in Los Angeles?"

"Good, mija. It's still very hot here. I've been checking the weather in Boston and it's already hitting only sixty degrees during the day." She wore jackets nearly every day because it was already quite cold, even if most people looked at her funny.

"Yeah, I wear jackets most days unless it's above seventy. Classes are going good, too." Julie sat up in her bed, pulling the comforter up to her chest.

"Good. Carlos has a game in Anaheim this week against another travel team." Julie wished him luck and finally decided to work on homework. She knew she should text Carrie to talk for a few minutes, but at the same time, she didn't want to bug her. Carrie had her own life and her own friends and, maybe, they were drifting apart.

They both knew it was possible. High school friends weren't always meant to be lifelong ones. And childhood friends could be, but their lives were starting to spin in different directions. Julie wanted to stay friends with her, but that wasn't a given. They could be best friends until they were old and grey, but it wasn't a guarantee. She had to focus on her happiness and school first, friends had to be put second. Julie, above all, had to survive and put herself first.

But, she couldn't resist the temptation to text Carrie to see if she was doing well. Plus, they hadn't seen each other in a few days and Julie wasn't close with her roommates. Not yet, anyway. She barely knew them and their orientation split the three of them up. She knew their names, majors, and where they were from, but not much else. Despite their group chat to communicate with one another, she hardly talked to them. Hardly saw them, even. She didn't even have any classes with Jessica and only one with Kim, but they didn't sit close to each other. For whatever reason, Julie was disappointed.

Julie was alone. The kind of alone she felt after her mom died. Her whole world felt off balance and the spirit inside her wasn't as bright. After rediscovering her love of music Julie thought she would never have to feel that way again. As it turned out, it wasn't the music. It was the people she had in her life.

The time seemed to pass quickly, stretching minutes into hours and, soon, she had almost all of it done. Everything that was due Monday or Tuesday, she had finished and put in its respective spot in her two-inch binder. Julie refused to get more than one or two binders, though she didn't know how many physical copies of assignments she'd get over the course of her term.

"I only got time for the main thing, main thing. Do anything for the main thing, main thing," Julie sang, realizing it was a pretty catchy tune and wrote it all down. She had to compose another song for one of her classes, and that was a pretty good start.  Or, at the very least, a start.

"Julie, do you want to join Kim and I outside? The TABT Leaders are hosting some big get-together for all the students who live on campus." After working on homework for over two hours, she wanted to get out of their room and do something. So, she replied with a "yes" and they headed out to the courtyard, which was a huge open field that could hold up to a thousand people (at least, that was how many the Boston Fire Department allowed for fire codes and all that).

"Welcome to the first week Bar-itone Stools here at Berklee. There is no alcohol being served, but here's three tickets—these will get you drinks and food from any of the stalls around the courtyard." She vaguely recognized the four people handing out tickets to be four of the members of TABT. "I recommend the Chinese booths along the back. They're amazing." He whispered to her and she decided to take his advice.

Plus, Chinese sounded quite good right about then.

"Okay, what should we get for food?" Jessica asked and Julie jumped at the chance to suggest Chinese. "Chinese sounds good." Julie noticed how she took charge with everything. She didn't mind in this chase, because they agreed, but she didn't ever want to cross Jessica. "Ooh, there's a Hawaiian stand. We can get drinks from there."

"Blue Hawaiian Mocktails are the best." Kim piped up.

"I don't think I've ever had a mocktail of any kind, but it sounds good to me," Julie agreed, and they stopped by the Hawaiian table and got drinks, then walked another five minutes to the back, where the smell of ginger and soy sauce wafted into their noses. "Wow, that smells fantastic."

"You guys must have gotten a tip," Julie noticed it was Wyatt behind the counter as he winked, "because we just finished up a batch of vegetable stir fry." Julie's stomach growled when she heard that. Kim's and Jessica's did, too, and they each got a takeout box full of food to bring back to one of the chest-high tables with a few other students. For Julie, it nearly hit her shoulders, but she was lucky it wasn't any higher or she wouldn't be able to eat.

"Do I recognize you from somewhere?" An older man passed her that she had never seen before in her life.

"I don't think so, no." She shrugged and continued eating her stir fry.

"Do you know who that is? It's Dr. Henricks. He's one of the best professors in music in America." She didn't know how the professor, Dr. What's-His-Name, could know her. Her mother didn't go to Berklee, although she did have her picture in the Secret Practice Room. The girl that told her about the super-famous professor seemed to be wiser and older, and had an audio recorder in front of her. "Sorry, I record everything, just in case there's a beautiful sound I want to use later. I'm in Music Production."

"No, it's no problem. It's cool." Julie shrugged. "What are you hoping to do when you're done?"

"My dream is to produce amazing songs like Alan Walker. If I had the magical touch he did, I'd be on track to get a 4-point this term. I'm pretty sure I'll be lucky with a 3-point, to be honest." Julie knew that, if she wanted, she could do anything, including produce as well as Alan Walker. One day, at least.

"Hey, I'd listen to your songs," Julie said, and her eyes lit up. But, they moved around to another table—per Jessica's request—before the upperclassman could tell Julie her name. Or, for that matter, say a thank you.

"Okay, what do we say about getting some French macarons?" Julie didn't even know what those were, but she went along with Jessica's suggestion. "They're amazing, by the way. Little cookies with a filling sandwiched between them. My favorite dessert of all time, actually." Julie had to try it, if nothing else. They didn't sound half-bad. They got lucky, actually, since the Bar-itone Stools were closing down soon. Julie and her roommates were the last people to get macarons—vanilla, chocolate, and lemon flavored—before they closed up shop for the day.

"These are good." Kim agreed. "How did you learn about them?" That reminded Julie about her discovery of her roommate's ability to see ghosts. It had shocked Julie, but so had the time when she learned Mari could see the guys.

Kim first saw ghosts when she was ten. It started with a passing glance here or there on the streets from a man she didn't know. Somehow, it transformed from seeing him to talking to him over the years and, as it turned out, the man was her grandfather. But, he died when her father was only six, and she never even got close to meeting him. But, he was the only ghost she could see, just like Julie with the band. It wasn't easy balancing between the two worlds, but clearly Kim did it better than she did.

Author's Note: Keeping this short because I am at work. Vote and let me know what you think in the comments. All the best, MistyRider921.