Becoming Ready

Chapter 8 - College, Day One

It had arrived. Charlie's first day at the Art Institute. Her first day of college.

She had always struggled with anxiety, whether it be social, or the general sense of impending doom that would kickstart most of her panic attacks. Thankfully, she hadn't gotten one of those in a while.

Even though she still had her moments, the time she spent in therapy, and surprisingly, discovering her love for acting, helped her with the social anxiety. In most situations, she found she could certainly act better than she felt, and usually everything worked out. Except for nearly every time she spoke to River, but that was out of the ordinary.

Charlie kept all that in mind as she walked around campus, giving herself an internal pep talk.

'You've got this,' she told herself as she headed to her first class of the day. She had attended an online Freshman orientation the week before, but today was her first actual day on the grounds. She admired all the sleek, modern looking buildings. Of course a school full of artists and design students would be aesthetically pleasing at every turn.

She had consulted a map in advance, preparing herself as much as possible so she wouldn't get lost her first day. She entered a building named the "Bryce Performing Arts Center" through two large doors, and headed for Stage A. This was where her class "Film Acting 101" was held.

Charlie took a seat next to a girl in one of the amphitheater-style rows. The girl looked over at her and smiled.

"Hi, I'm Jen," she said, reaching out to shake Charlie's hand.

"Charlie," she smiled back, happy to meet someone who seemed friendly.

At that moment the teacher strode in, and everyone turned to look at him.

"I'll be your Film Acting 101 teacher, I am Professor Davids, but you can just call me Kirk," he said, then launched into a description of the course.

Charlie listened, absolutely rapt. Over the semester they would be presenting three scenes with three different partners. The last one would be taped on camera and counted as the final. The other two would be critiqued by him and their fellow classmates. Kirk explained how film acting was different than stage acting, and said to forget everything you thought you knew if you had a theater background. Charlie gulped.

After he finished his speech, he made everyone get up and do several acting warm-up exercises. Charlie felt her adrenaline pounding. A lot of the exercises were designed to get you out of your head, to stop worrying about how you looked, and to just commit to whatever it was you were doing. It was the most fun she had ever had in a class.

After the session was over, Charlie had a thirty-minute break before "Film History 101." She headed to a nice looking section of the campus that had benches and lots of grass. Tons of students were hanging out there, on their breaks as well.

She sat down on a bench alone, tilting her face up to the sun and closing her eyes. She smiled a little bit. So far, she liked college.

"So do you actually go to school here, or are you not sure if you belong, like the meeting last night?" a familiar voice interrupted her peace.

Her eyes flew open and she saw River standing in front of her.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, totally taken off guard.

"Getting an arts education, what about you?" he smirked.

"Same thing," she said, still shocked to see him.

He sat down on the bench next to her and leaned back, tilting his face to the sun just like she had been doing, seconds ago. "You're a Freshman, right?"

She turned to look at him, even though his eyes were still closed. "Yes, what about you?"

She suspected he wasn't, but she really couldn't tell how old River was by looking at him. She couldn't tell how old anyone was, for that matter. In High School it was way easier to see the difference between a Freshman and a Senior. In College, not so much.

"No way," he laughed, relaxing his arms across the back of the bench. "This is my last year. I'm a Senior, baby."

She couldn't help but notice that he had chosen to sit much closer than necessary to her on the bench, and now his arm was behind her. Her stomach flipped as his knee tapped hers lightly.

She stood up, unable to concentrate with him that close. "Well, cool," she said lamely.

"What are you studying?" he asked, opening his eyes when he sensed her movement.

"Acting, with an emphasis on Film," she answered. "You?"

He grinned. "What a coincidence. I'm an actor too."

"You don't say?" she said, a hint of sarcasm in her voice. Now she knew why he gave her James Dean vibes.

"Maybe we'll work together some day," he said, standing up as well.

"One can dream," Charlie replied, still sarcastic. For a guy that insisted he wasn't hitting on her last night, he seemed awfully interested in her today.

River smiled at her response before turning to walk away. "Catch you later, Charlie."

Charlie figured she might as well go to her next class early. Since it was the history of film, it was held in a small screening room in a building called "Lawson Hall." She headed in that direction, checking the time on her phone. She still had about twenty minutes before it started.

Once inside the building, finding the screening room proved trickier than she thought it would. This building was a little older than the last one, so the floorplan wasn't as open and spacious. She was standing reading the map key on the wall when a group of students rounded the corner.

Charlie looked over, and she felt like her heart nearly stopped. Her ex-boyfriend, and first love of her life, Cassius Green was standing there, looking like the very definition of shock. He had no idea she was going to school at the Art Institute. At least Charlie had been able to mentally prepare for this in advance, and still, it felt like the room was spinning.

"Charlie?!" he said, his mouth agape. 

***Ok ok, so not the entire showdown with the ex. Sorry about the cliffhanger! Haha

**Also, what do you guys think of River??