where i belong

-1-

Chapter One

I slammed my laptop shut and threw my face in my hands. The bang echoed throughout the quiet library. My cheeks flushed pink when everyone who didn't have headphones stared at me for a solid ten seconds. I sighed and looked straight ahead at the shelves covered in books. Suddenly, a backpack was placed heavily onto the table, slightly shoving my notebook more towards me. The noise spooked me, but I was able to calm down when I looked at the face smiling at me.

"Someone's jumpy," she laughed, sitting down and beginning to get her things out.

"For some reason, it's not clicking with me. Like I went over anesthesiology and surgery procedures back in Cali. I'm getting frustrated," I pouted, shoving my notebook towards her.

"Hey," she held her hands up in surrender, "I have no clue what this crap is. I'm a law major, girly."

I stared at Alicia as she handed my notebook back to me. She always had a positive attitude when studying. The coursework both of us are enduring is so rigorous, I don't understand how she didn't want to pull her hair out every waking second. Alicia has been there for me since I started at Cornell four years ago. The university made a conscious decision to pair me with a different major'ed roommate. Low and behold, our friendship started.

"I'll get it eventually," I said, flipping a page in my notebook and beginning to copy down some more definitions from my textbook. We worked diligently for the next two hours before we decided to go to the cafe to get dinner. I definitely needed to spend a few more hours studying the things I learned in class today. But food sounded good right now.

I snagged some food up on a plate while Alicia did the same and we reconvened at an empty table. I scrolled through my feeds while we ate. I liked a tweet from TFIL's account tweeting out his new video—overnight at a waterpark. Sam, Colby, Elton, Andrea, and Corey. If I have time to watch it, I'll definitely watch it later.

Recently, going on Instagram and Twitter has really negatively affected me. I constantly see "coldrea" accounts popping up, and so many people seemed to ship them together. Some even conspire that they're dating, completely forgetting about Colby and I still being together. Sometimes I get really jealous of their friendship because she can hang out with him all the time. I can't. But I trust Colby and I know he wouldn't do anything. I haven't seen Colby in a good nine months. I wasn't able to get out to California for spring break this year and I spent Christmas break with my family since Colby was going to Kansas. Well, he tried to put up a fight. He wanted to see me, but I insisted that his family deserved to see him more than I did. He didn't like that.

I decided to tweet something out.

@LeslieNicole: studying is so stressful

There were hundreds of replies within minutes. Most of the people that follow me are in school right now, whether that be college or high school, so all of them can definitely relate to how I'm feeling. Then, my phone pinged with a verified reply.

@ColbyBrock: @LeslieNicole maybe i should come down there and distract you like old times ;)

I smiled and liked the tweet. Everyone was freaking out about the encounter. I think a lot of people thought we broke up because I moved away and we never post pictures of each other anymore. Yet, I never take the ring off my finger nor the locket around my neck. If we had broken up and parted ways, I definitely would've given those back. Regardless of him not being here, he's still my entire world and I love him as much, maybe even more, than the day we left each other last.

@LeslieNicole: @ColbyBrock y'know i'd love that <3

"That Colby guy again huh?" Alicia acknowledged my giddy, happy behavior. I rolled my eyes but couldn't stop smiling.