You Promised Me

IV. The First Encounter

It was the first week of university. Excitement and giddy anticipation were coursing through (y/n)'s veins.

Looking down at her orientation checklist, she quickly scans through what she needs to do. 'Freshman: Orientation Meeting in the Auditorium (optional but recommended).'

(Y/n) scans the campus map she had pulled up on her phone, quickly spotting the auditorium room.

Feeling a tap on her shoulder, (y/n) turns around.

"Umm, excuse me? Do you happen to know where the auditorium room is?" a timid voice called out. A girl with brown locks and green eyes adorned with black-rimmed glasses was holding a physical campus map, upside down.

"Of course!" (y/n) happily exclaims, taking the map from the other girl, flipping it right-side-up, and pointing at the location.

The other girl flushes in embarrassment, putting both hands on her cheeks, and yells, "No one told me I was holding the map upside down for the past twenty minutes?!"

(Y/n) tilts her head and laughs at that. "It's okay! Everyone here is probably too nervous to even notice, that's all. We can go together if you'd like. I'm also heading that way."

The brown-haired girl relaxes her shoulders, glad that the kind girl in front of her didn't further her embarrassment. Quickly recovering, she happily agrees to go with her.

As the two walked together, the (h/c) haired girl spoke in a gentle voice. "My name is (y/n). I came from (h/s). I hope we can be good friends in the future."

'She's so pretty,' the other girl couldn't help but admire.

"My name is Amanda, and I would love to be friends." She responds with a grin.

"I never had many friends in high school. People always bullied me because of how much I was a loner because I was ugly, haha," Amanda continued, dryly laughing with no humor in her tone.

"I didn't have many friends by the end of high school, either, (y/n)'s soft voice came out. Amanda whips her head at her statement, mouth wide open in disbelief.

"You?! How?! But you're so pretty and so kind. I mean you were the only one who told me my map was upside down and didn't comment on how I didn't notice!" Amanda slaps a hand over her mouth, embarrassed by her sudden outburst.

(Y/n) just laughs at her outburst, not showing any signs of hurt or discomfort. Amanda relaxes at that, not wanting to already drive off her first friend.

"Well, I had a decent size friend group towards the beginning, but my closest friend changed a lot and ended up not wanting to be friends with me anymore because of our differences in entertainment. Plus, everyone is nervous right now. You probably just didn't notice because of the nervousness," (y/n) simply explains.

Amanda couldn't help but ponder, 'differences in entertainment?' Though, not wanting to push her to explain a sensitive topic, she drops it.

"Well, at least you're pretty," Amanda chirps out.

"Am I?" (Y/n) suddenly stops and tilts her head with slightly wide eyes. Amanda's mouth hung in disbelief, again, furiously nodding her head.

"Have you seen yourself? You're gorgeous!"

(Y/n) giggles with slightly flushed cheeks at that, thanking her.

"Thank you so much. I haven't heard that in a while after my friend began to change and we went our separate ways. I didn't really want to talk to many people after that, afraid of being hurt again," she explains.