shadow of yourself | Bobby (JATP)

chapter 2

To say I was pleased by the fact Natalie was my roommate might be a little of an overstatement. That night when I had found myself back in my room, she was nowhere to be found, which I truthfully felt more relieved than happy about.

I placed myself on my new bed, which I would be sleeping in for the next year, and took a deep breath, the room smelled of perfumes and my acrylic paint, which caused me to smile. So what if Joshua Banks were going to be here for my freshman year, this was college, not high school, campus is huge, I'm probably only gonna see him when he comes here for Nathalie.

You see, these were my thoughts until I placed myself at my first lecture in art history and there he sat, with his blonde hair, which I used to run my fingers through and that quirky smirk, which I once fell in love with, right there on the front row.

"Of course you're here, can't I even have my own lessons?" Joshua, of course, did not seem pleased by the idea of me being here and in fact, I did not even blame him. Instead of answering, I placed myself a few seats behind him, taking out my notebook as I did so.

The door to the big lecture room opened and a man wearing a suit.  "No wonder you all look scared, welcome to art history, I'm Professor Oconnell" He took a piece of chalk and on the big board, he wrote his name.

"That's spelled O c o n n e l l " Oconnell spelled out, I opened my flowered patterned notebook and wrote down art history lesson 1, with Professor Oconnell. I looked down at Joshua, his notebook was already half broken and black, he had painted an eagle on the front which happened to make me smile.

"In this class, you will be learning very important points which you will be using later in life, this class is not easy and I will demand you all are here on time and have done your homework" Professor Oconnell had a spark over him, at first glance I would never have seen him in an art history class, no he looked as if he belonged in a law firm but got downgraded.

"You might ask, well Oconnell, what do we learn in this class" He placed himself on his desk as he looked upon his students, I couldn't help but avoid his eye contact.

"Art history teaches students to analyze the visual, sensual evidence to be found in diverse works of art, architecture, and design as they combine textual evidence. My class will offer you  tools and vocabulary for interpreting the wealth of visual culture that surrounds us"

He placed a paper where he had drawn the seats down and gave them to Joshua. "The seats you have chosen will be your seats for the rest of the semester" When the paper got to me, I wrote down my name at the seat I was sitting in before giving it to the light pink-haired girl sitting a couple of seats to my right.

As the class started, I found myself forgetting that the boy, whom my former self would have cried about, was sitting just a couple of rows in front of me. As class ended, my notebook was filled with scribbles and drawings, trying to explain everything which we had learned.

I noticed Joshua looking back at me, as he placed his things in his painted off-brand backpack, I looked down having our eyes meet, once our hearts would have fluttered, my knees would have gone weak, I would flash him a smile and ask if he enjoyed the class as my hand would fall into his and we would go eat lunch together, however... that was no longer me.

I placed my purse over one shoulder as I walked out of the lecture room, ignoring his eyes as I walked past him. When I found myself outside the building I breathed in the fresh air of Morteinvitam's campus.

Having quite sometime before my next lesson, I walked to the school's coffee shop a couple of streets down from the lecture building, walking into the shop, it smelled of coffee beans and the warmth filled my body all the way to my toes. The café was quiet, only filled with three students all sitting separately around the shop.