The fifth of the month was a Saturday and a very grumpy one at that. The day hadn't been going really well and that explained Astrid's tear-stained face. She did not really know what she was going through for all she knew she had reached just an odd juncture in her life where even a bit of sadness couldn't be tackled in a safe way. She would cry. It had seemed as though crying had become an outlet for her emotions to flow out from.

Things had never gotten any more stressed than it had been for Astrid. She had come back home for the last time before she could head off to her university. She had been accepted as a student at Savannah Ridge Global University, and though she was late and missed many of her first classes she would catch up, she was a brilliant student.

Her spirit was crashing as reality struck her smack in her face, there wouldn't ever be a time she would go back to being a kid. She would not ever run down the same hallways again. She had grown up - and too fast for her own good, she had failed to realize the downside of growing too soon. She had taken her necessities to her dorm a couple of days before. This would be her final trip home if all went well.

She would've headed to Caelum's place, except that he was at his university at that very moment, finally going to attend the first meeting of the LGBTQ+ community. According to what he told Astrid, he had been invited to it by Alex and though he wasn't part of the LGBTQ+ community, he was an avid supporter. It was the Martinez boy who had baked that marvellous cake for his birthday. He was in the same year as Caelum at Macmillan Wonderwork's University studying Contemporary Art and Culinary Arts. They had already become close and good friends. And she in no way wanted to distract him from the meeting.

It was truly an honour for Astrid to be accepted as a first-year or her extremely rare course – double bachelors in International Relations and Journalism. She had never been more excited and she already loved her classes, but she felt homesick often. Things had been rough in the past months.

The legal fight between her parents had ended almost a few months before. It was mid-November and the weather was getting much chiller than the earlier summer vibes she had been rocking. She hugged the cardigan closer to herself. It was the season for cardigans and though, it was a tiny bit itchy wearing one she did not have it in herself to change out of it. She missed the summer already, it reminded her of easier times.

Things were also strained between Caelum and Astrid. It had been almost a whole month she had not touched Cal and that was honestly to be blamed on the distance between their universities. If she was being frank, something about the whole distance was reminding her of the first time she met Caelum – it reminded her of the very reason why she had broken up with Ryan. Oh, Ryan, that was a can of worms she usually ended up avoiding to think about. The issue wasn't with the fact that the distance dampened their communication skills because if time and distance had improved anything, it was their communication skills. It was the lack of physical contact, especially because Astrid was one who relied greatly on her touch.

They had tried meeting up once every two weeks and they had been doing that at the start – probably in the month of August, but by November the truth was inevitable, the physical distance to cover was long and travelling to each other took a journey that neither of them had the time to make. It turned out that all the action Astrid had been a part of in their school lives was the same number of activities Cal had been handling in college. Of course, she didn't blame him, she was greatly rejoicing because she had always wanted him to be more outgoing but she missed him sometimes. And began realizing the other side of the coin and how Caelum must have felt all those times before while she was at a meeting or some committee event like always.

In all honesty, Astrid was tired. The past months had been a lot. She hadn't seen her best friend in months and by some sort of cursed luck - Astrid believed - the only person she knew in SRGU was Owen Collins. The same Owen Collins that she hated with a passion who happened to be Jo's twin brother. Things were insane, and if she were to tell her younger self that there would be a time she would be sitting with Owen making small talk and hanging out, asking about life to each other, her younger self would laugh her way to heaven. But it was true. Turned out that Ryan Stelberg leaving had more effect on everyone than people wanted. 

Owen came out as Bisexual and who would've known that he was a romantic? He and Astrid often meet up knowing that she was the only one he knew. He had confessed his own feelings of homophobia and biphobia and jealousy that the guy he liked was with Astrid made him grow very bitter. The Owen that Astrid was friends with was completely different from the jerk she once knew. He wore tie-dyed shirts with the tips of his black hair bleached white. He had internal struggles at times - in moments of vulnerability in front of Astrid because he was uncertain if he was truly bi and at times gaslighted himself.  He was the first person to show Astrid around the campus - a sign of truce - and introduce her to most of his friends and the people he knew.

But truly some things often like to slap one in the face and her slap was when Lucy Chen had suddenly asked her if she saw the latest news. And the news just happened to be about her mother - Kara Lopez (she had dropped Finlays after the divorce) - had officially been introduced by model Antonia Sciallo as her "girlfriend". Her heart had dropped to her stomach at the news, Astrid knew this was coming but she didn't realise it would be that soon. Sure she wanted her mother happy and to find love, even if it wasn't in her relationship with her father, but it still stung as to just how easily she could've moved on as if it was a thing of long ago. 

Lucy had apologized profusely when she had realised that she had been the one to break the news to Astrid but she didn't mind it. After all, Astrid knew that while being a chief newspaper editor, one could get too blunt with words and a bit too straightforward in character and Lucy was one of the best editors "The Ridge" - their local newspaper - had seen in years even if she was just two years over Astrid.

It was all alright though. Everything always happened for a reason and though she did not see it at the moment, she would someday. And the thought of that was enough. For now. 

As she hugged her grandmother as tight as she could, she knew that the following months would ensue in a lot of chaos and even a huger load of work but it was all going to be just fine because Astrid? She was a diamond. And diamonds shine under pressure.