Beyond the Bounds

Chapter Two

I woke up the next day feeling light-headed. It was a terribly evident feeling that kept telling me I didn't sleep well last night. I knew there was something that was waking me up, but I couldn't quite point it out. There was no noise as far as I remember; the uneasiness just kept waking me up for no apparent reason. Okay, screw this. I'm going to pretend like nothing happened. This will stop me from dwelling on it too much and allowing it conquer my existence. My mom said this house was blessed and I'm holding onto that thought tightly. I don't need night demons to drag my body across the hall to prove that I'm unsafe.

The day went by quickly and in a blink of an eye, it was my first day in college.

College was not what I expected it to be. Well, on my college at least. There were no drug dealers in the halls or people smoking weed at hidden places on the rooftop. I was in the College of Science and people were damn right studious. Don't get me wrong, these actually happen to be the people with astounding senses of humour. It just happens that we were trained like High Schoolers in here. We weren't allowed to use our phones in class, nor were we allowed to wear ripped jeans.

I guess I should've expected this since I was taking up BS Biology as my Pre-Med. I don't think med students are up for drunk partying and getting pregnant. Not like I want to. I believe my mom has given me enough precautions already to scare the living crap out of me.

This start of the school year gave me a different vibe. I was usually known in high school as being outgoing; "highly approachable" to be exact. Shyness used to be written at the last pages on my vocabulary. Meeting new people and striving to gain their trust was once a piece of cake on my end. But this time, it's already been three hours since our first class, and I only made one friend. ONE.

Her name is Chastine. Our friendship started when our professor started calling us one by one and demanded each of us for any concept related to Biology. One rule: we aren't allowed to repeat what one already said. To my dismay, Chastine and I were seated at the back of the class which gives us, well, fewer options left. The lucky students in the first two rows had already mentioned stuff like the mitochondria, photosynthesis, and basically all the body systems. I, of course, had an unwanted mental block as my heart pounded the closer the professor was getting to me. "Oh shit."

I could tell Chastine noticed my suffering by the way she immediately shot me a glance.

"You know, I'm going with mitosis, may I suggest meiosis?" She whispered so no one would hear and gave me a supportive smile.

Her turn came before me and as soon as she finished answering with mitosis, the professor pointed at me and I confidently answered with my ever-so-original, "Meiosis."

The professor was back discussing about organelles which gave the both of us the perfect opportunity to start a conversation.

"Thank you so much," I started telling her, "You saved me from my possible embarrassment."

"You're very much welcome. I'm Chastine by the way, Chastine Torres."

"I'm Eleanor Vega, nice to meet you." We both exchanged genuine smiles while neither of us knew that this insane start would eventually lead to the beginning of a new friendship. "You friends with anyone here yet?"

"You are the first."

"Care to eat lunch later?"

"Better than being alone."

We both whispered under our breaths, hopeful for the professor not to hear us. The class were seated alphabetically by last name, so it was destiny that no one had a surname starting with "U." And luckily, Vega comes right after Torres.

There are no restraints when I say that I have easily appreciated Chastine's physical features. She had dyed her hair light brown and her eyes were an evident brown color, unlike mine which appears closer to black than brown. She's definitely not a pure Filipino like I am.

Chastine was an inch shorter than me but a year older than I was. With just a few exchanges of conversation, admiring her was effortless. I swear we were both soul mates. It was like she spoke my language and she could instantly pick up any inside joke I had (a F.R.I.E.N.D.S reference, for example). The only difference we had was how she was a bit innocent and somehow "pure." She still felt awkward when I used two curse words in a row and got extremely uncomfortable when I asked her if she had gone further than making out. She said she'll eventually become used to it, but for the mean time, she asked me to "take it easy on her."

"Where are you from? You surely don't look like you're from here." I took a bite from my inadequately seasoned chicken while taking notice of her facial features.

"I'm not," she swallowed the food in her mouth, "well not originally. I'm from New Jersey and my parents thought it was a decent idea if I tried First Year College here. Explains why I'm a year older."

"Hm, my situation's quite the same. But my parents brought me here a bit earlier."

"How early?"

"First year high school."

Our conversation went on smoothly and it was fascinating how comfortable I could feel with only one person. Usually, I was always with a group of people sharing hundreds of insights regarding one simple topic. But this feels exceptional and much more personal. This way, I actually believe that our topics could go deeper in depth, unlike group conversations which stay on the shore.

"Remind me to never eat here again, okay?" I tell her as I took a final bite of the chicken I wasn't enjoying.

We laughed and conquered the day together.