The Burning Tales of Althea Winston

When The Storm Leaves You Wet

The Burning Tales of Althea Winston

Chapter 2

Althea’s POV

She angrily turns to the guy who had startled her, and finds him smiling innocently at the mess on the floor. 

“I am sorry about that.” The blond-haired guy smiled sheepishly, as he helps her retrieve her luggage. 

Althea chooses not to respond, still startled by his sudden appearance. She quickly gathers her luggage and backs away a few steps to put some distance between them. 

Althea wasn’t afraid to admit that she was sceptic of this guy who appeared out of nowhere. He had an easy smile on his face, and very handsome feature that was sure to leave an impression on anyone he ever met. 

Her friend, Desmond, would call her paranoid. But if her past experiences have taught her something, it was that first impression can be very misleading. 

“Truly, I am sorry for startling you. I was just surprised to see someone here; school doesn’t start until Monday.” Blondie said, handing her luggage back to her, the faint aftermath of a smile still on his face. 

Althea scans her surrounding and finds it empty, if what the guy had said was correct, then she probably won’t find anyone else to help her. She eyes the luggage by her feet, and sighed in defeat, asking help was better than aimlessly wandering around for the sake of her ego.

Althea quickly ditched her glare and softened her feature, “Actually, I am new here, I was supposed to report to the admission office immediately after my arrival, could you please show me the way, if you are not too busy?” 

“That’s okay! I was just taking a break anyway. Follow me, and let me take that.”

A break from what? She did not stop to ask, neither did she stop him when he took one of her luggage in his hand and began leading the way. 

Althea felt glad that she had asked for help, otherwise she would be circling this building like a fool trying to find the office, when the office existed in a different building altogether. 

Walking out of the building, they started walking in the direction of the only building visible in the far distance. Unlike the one she had been in before; this building was clearly a work of modern architecture. 

The school was constructed on a small mountain that towered over the city of Canvas, she knew that, she just didn’t anticipate that the walk from one building to another is going to be a trek upwards that she was in no shape, physically and mentally, to complete.

Halfway through the journey she started panting from the effort of dragging both her feet and the luggage along. She stared at the boy who was happily whistling a tune as he walked alongside her. The boy sensed that Althea had stopped walking, and turned to her with a sympathetic smile. 

“You get used to walking such long distance after a while, most of our buildings are in higher places. The school is spread across more than 500 acres of land, most student use their own vehicle to travel around, but the faculty does provide cycles, and bikes upon request.” 

“I am sure they don’t get such requests often.” Althea muttered, as she struggled to regulate her breath. She had not meant for her words to be heard, but when the boy throws his head back and laughs, she knew he had heard her. 

“Nothing like that, I am sure they do. Many students around the campus travel by bikes, it’s just that they are very picky, and so they like to bring their own.”