Kiara࿐
"Remember, you are going to college to study. Not to do all those irresponsible things that your sister used to do." My mom's words rang in my head as I headed towards the heavy college doors.
Trudging into the almost full lecture room, I sat down at an empty seat in the middle.
I didn't exactly fancy being at the very front because it was awfully close to the lecturer. It made me quite anxious. And at the very back, I couldn't focus much on what the lecturer was saying. I found the middle to be just right.
Pulling out my notebook and pens, I laid them neatly on the desk and waited for the lecture to start.
The hall was very much like any other lecture room: red seats and wooden tables with thick, red curtains drawn in to prevent sunlight from penetrating through the glass windows and interfering with the images cast on the wall by the projector.
Gradually, one by one, the hall started to get packed with students and the previous quietness of the hall dissolved into loud chatter.
"Hi, is this seat taken?"
I looked up to see a girl with short, dark hair and olive skin dressed in a floral gown. She was pointing at the seat to my right.
I shook my head, "Nope."
"Thanks!" She beamed at me. She had an amiable smile. "My name is Rose."
Ah, explains the floral dress.
"Kiara." I smiled back at her.
Five minutes later, the lecturer scurried into the room and turned on the slides, booming into the microphone, "Good morning, class. I'm Dr. Alastair, and welcome to the first lecture of your course."
He was dressed in black slacks and a navy blazer over his white, tucked-in shirt with his feet tucked into a pair of navy loafers. He had dark-rimmed glasses perched upon his nose, which was a deep contrast to his striking white hair.
"Wow, his name sounds like something from Harry Potter," Rose leaned towards me and whispered in a thick Indian accent--which I had to admit, sounded undoubtedly nice.
I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep myself from laughing; the name did sound like a character's name from the legendary wizard movie.
"I hope we will get to know each other more during the span of this course. I--" He stopped when a loud creak interrupted him rudely.
The door to the lecture hall was pushed open, and I watched as a guy--probably a couple of years older than me--strode in. He sported dark, ruffled hair, and a faded, red hoodie, adding to his 'I don't give a shit' vibes.
There's always that one lazy boy in class with the uncombed hair.
"Sorry I'm late, Dr. Alastair." He rubbed the nape of his neck, nervously.
"Ah, Hayden. So, I see you are repeating this course again." Dr. Alastair sighed and nodded towards the seats. "Sit down."
The guy threw him a slight smile and scanned the room, trying to find a vacant seat. His eyes briefly caught mine before looking over to the very back. I glanced beside me and realized the seat was empty.
Oh, great. Just when I thought I was safe.
I looked up just in time to see him stroll past me to the empty row of seats at the very back.
Phew, thank God.
Letting out a breath of relief, I opened my notebook up to reveal the first page. The blank page stared at me as I gazed at how immaculate it was. Too bad, I was going to have to ruin its flawlessness with my messy handwriting.
"Alright, people. Let's begin." Dr. Alastair crossed his arms in front of him. "Since there's a lot of fresh faces here and also because you'll be stuck with each other for four whole years, I decided to give you all an assignment to let you all get to know each other and become closer to one another.
"For this assignment, I'll be pairing you all up into groups of two. Each group will have to interact with each other and make a presentation about your partner. The presentation needs to be about how your partner influences you and how you influence them.
"You can talk about your passions and how different you are from each other, anything," he continued. "It doesn't require you to talk in front of the class, but the presentation must be done in a specific medium. It can be an audio clip, video, picture, or even in the form of a slideshow. Whatever medium it is, will be your choice. Your partner can choose a different media type from you, or you can both use the same medium, it doesn't matter.
"The deadline is at the end of this first year, so you'll have plenty of time to prepare. And since it's only a paltry amount of conversing that's required to complete this assignment, your studies won't be interrupted either. Also, remember, you'll be getting ten credits for completing it. Any questions?" He arched his eyebrows and glanced around the hall.
What? What the hell?! This is not what I signed up for! Ugh. I guess, finally, the day has come where I die as an introvert.
"Okay, let's pair you all up now, shall we?" He tapped on a transparent box, filled with pieces of paper inside, laying on his desk. "Since there are only thirty of you in this class, I have prepared thirty pieces of paper, each marked with either a single letter, number, or symbol. There are two matches of paper with the same letter, number, and symbol," he announced, as he paced around on the stage.
"Now, I want each of you to form a line, come forward, and pick a paper from the box. Once the lecture is over--each one of you has to come up on stage and ask for the person with the same character as you. Till then, you must keep the piece of paper safe and not lose it." He stepped aside and glanced at his watch. "Okay, time's ticking, everybody form a line and come up to the front."
Everyone in the hall shuffled around and formed a line. As the line progressed forward, more and more people started grumbling.
"I am doing this course to study psych, not to get to know about the others, Dr," a girl in a polka-dotted tank top whined to Dr. Alastair.
He laughed a booming, deep laugh--which bounced off the walls, echoing all around us. "I am sorry for doing this, but believe me, it's better to go through this course with friends than alone."
Soon enough, it was my turn to pick a piece of paper. I dove my hand into the box and dug out a piece of paper folded into four. It was so small and crumpled up; I felt like it would fly away if I held my hand up into the air. I sauntered back to my seat and unfolded it.
The symbol '$' was inscribed on it in black ink. I folded it back up and put it inside my notebook.
●●●
"And that's the end for today," Dr. Alastair said as he clicked on the last slide, which read 'Thank you for paying attention!' in large cursive letters. "Now, let's start teaming up."
Groans echoed around the hall from the bored students. I swear, one guy was literally snoring with his textbook held up in front of him, covering his face.
Such a mood.
Dr. Alastair let out a guffaw. "You guys will enjoy this, I promise!" He stepped off the stage. "The teams that are complete, please step over to the right side of the hall." He pointed at the polka-dotted girl from before. "Let's start with you."
The girl stepped on to the stage and questioned into the microphone, "Anybody with the number four?"
Immediately, a dude in a blue shirt stood up. "I'm number four!" He lifted his hand, bouncing excitedly--excited probably because he was paired up with a girl instead of a guy.
He marched to the stage and over to the right of the hall with the girl. They were laughing over something the guy had whispered in her ear, seeming comfortable with each other for a pair who had just met.
"This is BS," Rose mumbled in my ear.
I nodded in agreement. "I never expected something like this to happen on the first day."
The pairing continued for a while before Dr. Alastair pointed at me.
Don't be nervous, don't be nervous. You just need to ask for the dollar sign—nothing to worry about. Come on, you can do this.
By the time I reached the microphone, I was already sweating loads, but it was comparatively less than I normally would have been, thanks to the air conditioner.
Can my sweat glands quit crying for a moment, please?
"Does anyone have the dollar sign?" My voice echoed around the room.
Wow, I am so loud.
I waited for someone to respond, tapping my foot on the stage, impatiently. The hall was silent, except for the low chatter coming from the right where the paired up kids were rambling.
That's when the guy in the back--Hayden or whatever--stood up and locked eyes with me as he walked down towards the stage.
"That's me."