College Days - The story of a lass.

Summer days and memories.

Chapter Two

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Now the day had been passing quite slowly to be honest. As Louella’s mother thought it was a good idea for Lou to get used to rising before the sun, at six am. Now being home schooled meant that Louella never had to get up that early. As school usually started at ten or eleven instead of the college’s eight thirty. It was a change that Louella didn’t mind but didn’t fully appreciate either.

Though staying up till midnight didn’t seem to help matters in the least. Though it had been for a good enough reason. At eleven as Lou just laid down in her bed, staring into the darkness her cell phone had let out a loud buzz as it lit up the room with its electronic glow. “I bet that’s Nolan.” She had thought to herself as she rolled over and picked up the still glowing phone. Sure enough there was a text. Louella had stayed up until midnight before pleading sleepiness. With a promise to text him the next day Louella drifted off into sleep.

Now it was only a few more days until Louella would be heading off to college and a local fair was coming to town. The last time Louella had attended the fair was two years ago when she was sixteen with a group of female friends. She had informed the group that she would not go to the fair again unless she had a date. Though Louella had now changed her mind. If she could just find a group to go with that would be good enough for her. Though having Nolan around as well would be even more appealing. “I don’t even know if he likes fairs or rides and whatnot.” Louella thought to herself as she sat outside, enjoying the sunlight and its warmth.

Pulling out her phone Lou decided to ask in an offhanded way. “If there’s enough people who are interested a group of young adults should go to the midnight madness night at the fair this week.” She quickly typed out before hitting send. “It’s not like I’m singling him out and asking him. Lots of friends go to the fair together...”  Louella thought to herself off hand idly. Louella had a big distaste for girls who chased guys. With Nolan she was constantly afraid that she might be chasing him. She would purposely not reply to his text messages right away to try and attempt to distance herself. Though it seemed to work the opposite. The longer she waited the more excited she became to read his messages. “God have control.” Loulla whispered up to the sky as she let out a sigh. Lou already knew if that she didn’t go to God with this one things could turn out quite messy indeed. Though it was oh so tempting. Feeling a twinge Louella realized that she was doing her best to control the situation.

Staring at the clouds that rolled oh so gently by on the breeze that played with the leaves Louella silently prayed.

“Hey God. I’m screwing this up good already. I know I haven’t been flat out chasing but I haven’t been seeing him as just a friend. I haven’t been talking to you about it either. I’m sorry. Please help me to know what you want me to do. I’m a little lost right now.”

There was no voice from the sky, no howl of wind, nothing. Just a simple peace that made Louella knew that she was starting to get back on track. “Baby steps.”  Lou reminded herself.

Rising to her feet Louella began to head in to the house. She had some cleaning to do.

A few hours later Louella’s bed room was spotless and shining. “That looks better.” She said to herself with a smile as she looked at the shining surfaces. Her room hadn’t received a clean since right before she left for Germany a month ago.  Quite a lot of dust could gather in a month Lou decided. Thinking back on the trip Louella remembered how un prepared the team was when they had arrived at the church. They had been asked a list of questions on what they were ready for and they had to say no to every single one. That had been another blow to the team who had lost their leaders the day before they left.

For six months the team had endured meeting once a week, for two hours to listen to the leader talk and teach them German. It had all been for naught as the German words they had learned couldn’t be used in any casual conversations. With exceptions for “Nein” though Louella had already known that word before she applied for the trip. Despite the situation and the trials the team had left, flying half way across the globe without a leader or a clue on what they were going to do, besides serve.

Louella’s favourite phrase to tell people when they asked how the trip was, was simply “Amazing! The team left on faith and was greatly rewarded!” Accompanied by a large smile and shining eyes. If the person was interested in more Lou would go into detail about their ministry and work projects, though most people just wanted a simple statement like that and none of the big details.

Sitting down on the edge of her bed Louella picked up her Berlin journal and slowly flipped through the pages. There were many, many good memories written out. Along with some bad ones, though they were of a lesser extent.  Smiling to herself Louella remembered the day the team had went o visit a concentration camp. It had rained the whole day. By the time the team had gotten to the camp they where wet. Though by the time they left they where drenched. Louella had been wearing a rain jacket over her hoodie, over her vest, over her shirt. Her hoodie had been wet and her vest damp. She knew this due to the fact the team found it fun to remove their jackets and hang them up on the hand rails on the ceiling of the S-Bahn. (The train.)

Some other wet tourists had also found it amusing and copied the team. Laughter and picture taking had ensued on the train, generally turning the cold, wet day into a fun cheerful moment. Louella remembered somewhat fondly, how her feet had been the only ones wet. Now Louella had made the mistake of wearing her old runners on the trip which were not water resistant. Due to the rain they had filled up so full of water that when she walked inside there would be the “squish, squish, squish.” ensuing from them. Needless to say having dry socks once back at the church was a blessing.

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