Behind Closed Hearts

Chapter - 4

My first day at college hadn't been exactly what I'd expected it to be, but it hadn't been that bad either. For someone who'd had spent all their life in the same school with the same teachers and the same friends, going into a new college felt much more intimidating than it should have, or at least it did to me. The prospect of making new friends felt daunting and I wondered if I'd even be able to do it.

I wasn't the kind of person who shyed away from any and every kind of social interaction whatsoever, but I didn't like putting myself on the spot either. I could hold up a conversation pretty well but the thought always stayed if the person whom I was talking to liked me or not.

I was confident in myself, yes, but whenever self doubt kicked in, I couldn't help but feel nervous. And that was exactly what I was feeling when I'd first stepped into the office to collect my schedule. Navigating through the campus wasn't that hard since I'd memorized the map and I'd easily found my first class for the day.

There were barely any students in the class when I'd first walked inside. I looked at the watch, realizing I was twenty minutes early. I took a seat in the third row and waited for the others to come in.

It wasn't long before a girl with fiery red hair and a smile as bright as the lights illuminating the room walked in and took a seat next to me.

"Hey! I'm Emily." She introduced herself once she'd set her books down.

"I'm Scarlet." I nodded at her with a polite smile, instantly taking a liking to the girl.

She took out a chocolate from her bag and offered some to me. I gladly took a cube and put it into my mouth. "You're the best." I told her through a mouth full and we laughed. We quickly compared our schedules and realized we had one more class together.

The rest of the day went by in a blur of me listening to the professors drone on and on and on about what we were going to study in their class, what all to expect as the year went by and so on. I made two other friends, Amelia and Eva. I'd sat with each of them in two of my classes and we'd quickly become friends.

By the time it was time for college to be over, I was content with the way my day had turned out so far. None of the professors had seemed too rude or scary and I'd sucessfully made three friends. I didn't know much about any of them for now, but I was sure as the days went by, I would.

It was quarter past four by the time I pulled out of the parking lot and onto the road, on my way to the Spring Park where I was supposed to meet Theo.

Admittedly, the thought of finally seeing him had been at the back of my mind for the whole day, but I'd pushed it back so I could concentrate on my studies. I'd received a message from Theo that morning, wishing me good luck and asking if we were still going to meet in the evening. I'd thanked him and told him to be there by five since it was nearly an hour's drive from my college campus. The park was half way between my home and college and had seemed like the best place for us to meet, seeing as it was a half hour drive from where Theo lived too.

It wasn't long before I pulled into the parking lot at the park and got out of the car. I pulled my phone out of my pocket to check the time. It was five mintues past five and surprisingly enough, I had two messages from Theo.

I quickly opened them. The first one was sent at 12:20 pm and read 'Hope college has been treating you well so far.'

The second one was sent at 4:30 and read 'I'm leaving for the park now, can't wait to see you XD.'

His texts made me smile, it was sweet how he cared enough to text me in the middle of the day just to see how my day was going. I hadn't checked my phone at all ever since I'd entered the college and now I felt almost guilty for doing not replying to him.