N a t h a n. P O V
Today is the start of a new semester and I'm honestly excited, soon enough I will be a 3rd year . 3rd year architecture students get to work on official school projects , for example this year's 3rd years have full control over the new dormitory being built on the west wing of campus , with help from the 3rd year engineering majors , ofcourse they will be monitored by professionals though .
I'm planning on actually moving into the new dormitories when construction's complete, as of now I live with Konane , Jeremiah and Liam in a two bedroom apartment we found near campus . We've been living here for two years now and it's become our home , I'm probably going to miss it when I leave but it would be beneficial to me. I usually have my classes in buildings over on the west wing which is a good 20 minute walk from here , but for Liam , konane and Jeremiah , all their classes are in the buildings that are on the east wing , what makes it even more convenient is that the building our apartment is in , is close to the east wing entrance to the university . The simple thought of living closer to my course building excites me.
I woke up to the sun's rays hitting my face through the blinds , it was a pleasant feeling, I usually wake up to a loud and annoying alarm set by my roommate Liam . Out of the four of us , Liam and I are probably the closest since we've been friends since middle school , he's practically my brother , but that doesn't mean he never gets on my nerves . I slowly and quietly made my way towards his bed to reach for his phone , hopefully I can turn off that horrible alarm of his before it rings , but sadly I was not fast enough , it rang . You might be wondering what his alarm is for it to get on my nerves this much , it's what he calls "the sound of paradise" which comprises of beach sounds and rain drops, sounds peaceful doesn't it? Well it is until you start to hear chickens ,dog barks and bunch of other animal sounds .
He got up , yawned and flashed me a smile "morning Nate" he said , as optimistic as ever , I returned a smile and walked over the my desk , grabbed my phone and made my way out of our room and to the kitchen. I could still hear that horrid alarm.
Konane being the oldest among us , makes it his duty to make us breakfast and Just when I stepped out of our room , the scent of pancakes and freshly baked muffins hit me .
"Morning Nate , take a seat , breakfasts ready" he said as I walked over to the kitchen island that had three seats facing the living room . In curiosity I asked "What time do you wake up to get all this done ?" , It always shocked me how he was able to do all this and STILL be early for class ,"4 am , but I usually prep the night before" he paused , "also when you leave make sure to go with this , Yeri and Amitola wanted to try out my muffins" , I nodded my head as he handed me a lunch box with Muffins in it , Amitola and Yeri have classes on the west wing too , since that's where the labs are located , so I usually see them and we hang out at the café near the west wing entrance ,they have great blue berry muffins but honestly not as good as konane's .
Jeremiah then joined us but in his pajamas , which shocked me , his usually not around to have breakfast since he has morning classes . "Jeremiah , aren't you supposed to be in class right now? , it's 7:52 , almost eight" , "nope , I have afternoon classes today, Liam too, so we're planning on playing games ALL DAY!" , He said as Liam walked out fully dressed , "sorry Jeremiah , but I promised Amitola that I would drop her and Yeri off at the west wing and then pick them up later in the day " , well isn't that convenient , "you mind if I tag along?" , "Not at all" , I got up and walked over to our room as I heard Jeremiah whine trying to convince Liam to stay , I looked back and noticed that konane was about to burst into laughter with how childish Jeremiah was acting .
I got changed and Liam and I were off to the girls apartment, which was just a floor below us . As soon as we got out of the elevator ,we saw them locking their door ,"hey guys!" , Yeri greeted as she waved and smiled at us , Amitola then turned her head and ran to Liam and gave him a kiss on his cheek , did I forget to mention that him and Amitola are an item? "Excuse me but some of us have 2 hour lectures to attend , so if you don't mind , please continue on with your PDA somewhere else and preferably at another time " , just as I said that Amitola gave me a look, "stop being so salty Nate , Yeri how do you-" , she was about to say something when Yeri pinched her arm , "Nate's right let's go" .
Class ended at one in the afternoon and Liam , Yeri , Amitola and I were going to the café off campus , it was going to be Liams' first time there , I then remembered that I didn't give Yeri and Amitola the Muffins Konane gave me . I made my way to the exit and saw Yeri there , "hey Yeri , before you leave , here" I handed her the lunch box ,"they're from konane, I forget to give them to you and Amitola earlier " , she took them with a thankful smile , we stood there in silence for a while as we waited for Liam to pick us up . Yeri and I weren't exactly the closest which was weird considering the firm bonds I have with the others .Liam , Jeremiah and konane were like my brothers and Amitola was like my annoying sister , but Yeri is.........just a friend ,maybe because she was the last to join our group ,I honestly hope I can get close to her though, she seems nice .
Liam arrived and we got to the café , we found some seats and made our orders . "We should come here together more often , konane would love this place" , Liam said in awe as a girl soon approached us at our table , well to be specific, approached Yeri . "Hi , I just wanted to say that your eyes are gorgeous , I love how they look cat-like , fox-like even " , she said "thanks .....I guess" Yeri said in an uninterested but grateful tone , "where are you from?" , "Florida" Yeri answered as Amitola , liam and I just watched, I had an idea of where this was going ,"no , where are you REALLY from?" ,And there we go . Micro-aggression . "I'm sorry to barge in but ,if you don't mind we were in the middle of a conversation" , I interrupted as I noticed that Yeri seemed to be slightly annoyed but at the same time confused at the girl but didn't show it .
"What was that about, she just wanted to know where she was from" , Liam asked when the girl left "Liam , Yeri already told her where she's from , her asking where she's "really" from was unnecessary" I explained but Liam seemed to keep his stance on why it wasn't a big deal , "she could clearly tell Yeri's Asian, that was micro-aggression" I continued , he still looked confused and I felt the need to explain further "it's basically a subtle , indirect or unintentional way to discriminate or be racist" , I said as the waiter brought our food , we all ordered the same thing , the "chocolate exploration" which comprised of slices of chocolate cake with chocolate shakes , the exploration part was that both where made from different chocolates from around the world . "I don't think she wanted to offend Yeri though , as I said , it's unintentional-" Just when I was about to finish my sentence, we heard chants outside the café "what's going on?" Amitola asked , "stop Asian hate protests, they've been going on for a while now" Yeri answered as she looked outside, but then something caught my attention , an argument between one of the protesters and a man ,"should we go and see what's going on?" Liam asked as me and Yeri both nodded our heads . We quickly finished our meals before paying and going outside . As we got closer we heard the argument .
"Look buddy , you can't be protesting this close to campus , it's university property and on top of that , you're black , why involve yourself in a matter that doesn't involve people like you!" , Though I had no idea what was going on , I just felt like this guys side was not the side to be on . He was a rather well dressed man who's somewhere around his mid 20's and possibly a Princeton student ,"me not being Asian doesn't mean I can't help and be a decent human also , we aren't on campus , what gives you the right to stop us , this isn't university property if it was do you think we would've stepped on the property?!" The protester who was wearing a 'Stop asian hate' shirt responded , "Why am I even wasting my time with the likes of you" the former said , I couldn't help but feel offended at the man's remark ,on the surface it didn't sound offensive but as someone who has been told that before , I'm aware of the under tone it hides , what he's really implying is that the black protester lacks understanding , Even though I knew I was about to put myself in an uncomfortable situation, I just had to butt in "And what is that supposed to mean?" , "Yeah! Care to explain?" I turned and saw Yeri next to me , I wondered why but then remembered that she's a person of color , she's probably heard that response before too "great another uncultured black moron, leave OUR property!" It's the way he just bluntly said that , add that to how entitled he is and you just can't stop yourself from putting him in his place "for your information, I'm a second year at this university, also they aren't on campus , leave them alone!" , "Nate he does have a point though, they are close to campus" Liam said as all I could do was look at him in shock , did he just take the side of some racist white dude . "Liam you can't be serious, the protesters have done nothing wrong , why aren't you defending them" Amitola said to her boyfriend ,"let's go guys , the apes and Chinese aren't worth our time" the man mockingly said to us before he and his friends left "he did not just say that!" Yeri spoke in an infuriated tone , she was about to walk towards the dude and give him a piece of her mind before Liam grabbed her arm , "let's leave" Yeri and I looked at him in disbelief, Liam was just going to let that guy go after he said that , there wasn't even a big crowd , we could've taken that guy and his friends on.
We got back to our apartment and the time was 3 in the afternoon , by now Jeremiah had already left for his afternoon class and Liam was about to leave for his too. I didn't talk to Liam the entire time , I was just so angry .I have faced racism before so it wasn't that I was still angry at the remarks thrown at me and the other guy from before but the fact that Liam seemed be on the other side , the side of the open racist. "You can't stay quiet the entire time dude" Liam said when we got to the apartment ,"why are you so mad anyways?" ,"You wouldn't understand because it's not your race that got insulted or generalized back there" I responded,I couldn't keep quiet anymore , "just let it go , it's not like he lied" his eyes widened when he said that almost realizing what he just said, "what did you say?" I asked in disbelief as Liam sighed and just walked to our room , "Are you serious Liam!? , He called black people apes , how is that true!" , he stopped before he turned around "Most of you lack understanding!.....listen Nate as much as I want to defend you , YOU involved yourself in matters that didn't involve you all I was trying to do was ease the tension!" , " Ease the tension? You blatantly tried to push us away and ignored what the real problem was , that some entitled idiot was trying to stop people who were sharing a good cause because he believed they were 'too close to campus' acting like he owned the place!" I retorted as He stood staring at me , "good cause" he said in a sarcastic tone and left. I was so shocked that I didn't even notice that konane was seated on the couch casually watching us.
What is that supposed mean?