⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:⠀ *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

 All I needed was a solid thirty minutes addition to my sleep time, and a much less ear-splitting annoying roommate. The fact that I drank a lot of coffee yesterday, plus stressing about my nonexistent writings made me sleep way past my usual alarm.

And it isn’t helping me at all.

“Wake up you indolent sloth. You won’t do any good if you keep laying around on your bed like that” was the first phrase I heard this morning, accompanied by a pull on both of my arms, making my back lose contact with my bed’s surface. Halfway through sitting position, she loosened her grip from both of my wrists causing my back to slam against my extremely comfortable bed once again.

I grunted,

“Can’t you at least wake me up in a normal way?”

“Can’t” She stuck her tongue out like a five-year-old kid, stomping away after she completed her mission to wake me up.

Then I felt her stare at me for a few moments,

“If I were you, I’d wake up right now,” she added.

I didn’t answer and let a few seconds pass before having my arms assist me in changing from sleeping to sitting position. This is way too early to wake up. I lethargically tried to tidy up my disheveled morning hair, though in the end it didn’t make any difference. I shifted a bit, leaving my legs dangling at the corner of my bed.

Scanning the insides of our dorm, I spotted Ellie in her usual makeup spot, hands busy perfecting her daily eye makeup. White light bulbs around her beauty mirror blinding me.

“Don’t we have classes from eight today?” Ellie spoke up. She took a quick glance at me before going back to doing her thing.

“What day is it even today?”

“Monday” she answered, ending her little makeup session by dumping all of her mascaras and eye shadows into her iconic emerald pouch. Standing up, she took her lifeless white tote bag and walked further away from me.

“Where are you going?”

“Class” she replied with an ‘isn’t it obvious’ tone.

My body instantly jumped out of bed, eyes darting to search for a particular clock on my bedside table. I squinted to get a clearer view of the time.

Damn it, it’s seven forty five.

“IT’S SEVEN FORTY FIVE?”

Of course, I yelled at her even when it’s mostly my fault for waking up this late. I focused my view onto Ellie, and ended up witnessing such an infuriating scene with her flicking her hair dramatically.

“Yup. Good luck trying to make it in time, bestie” she gave me an innocent smile and half-slammed our dorm door, leaving a panicking me alone.

Another sigh escaped my mouth. I stood next to my bed for another ten seconds, diverting my vision to a gigantic mirror Ellie bought a few weeks ago.

I was still in my childish pjs.

This is where my whole body reacted, I darted across the room, stumbling onto a few belongings scattered across our floor. Reaching my destined bathroom, I wasted no time taking a speedy shower. Five minutes in, I was done with showering, hands grabbing whichever outfit was easiest to reach and aggressively putting them on. Abandoning my hair straightener this morning, my hair received a little help from Ellie’s comb to form a semi- messy low ponytail.

Done with everything I needed to do in the small bathroom, I raced back to my desk. I was a bit too freaked out to actually find the right book to bring so I simply dumped almost all of my thick, heavy notebooks into my tote bag. Lifting my elephant weighted bag, I slipped on my slippers and exited my dorm in no time.

I realized on my way that I had sacrificed my breakfast and morning coffee today. I didn’t even get a sip of water last night, and I didn’t even bring a drop of water with me. Legs moving forward fast, I took out my phone and made a call to the one and only menace to society, Jake.

He’s my childhood best friend - also my current crush. But no one except me needs to know about that.

Anyways, it took a few rings before he finally decided to pick up,

“It’s literally 8 in the morning and you’re already phoning me, you sure miss me”

Out of all the possible sentences he could utter, that was his choice of words. I can feel him smirking on the other end of the call.

“Whatever helps you sleep at night” I rolled my eyes, not that he could see me.

“ You in class already?”  I just dived straight into my question.

“Yep. Where are you even? I think I saw El coming a few moments ago”

I sighed,

“El has the audacity to not wake me up earlier today that’s why” I paused a bit, waving to some of our college security guards standing beside our school gates. They gave me a tiny wave and a bright smile back.

“Please tell me our lecturer hasn't come yet,” I said. I fastened my walking speed up the stairs, resulting in heavy panting when I reached the top.

Yes, that’s how bad my stamina is in case you guys didn’t know.

“I wouldn’t be on the phone with you if he’s here, stupid”

“Whatever, I’m almost there anyways”

I didn’t wait for his answer before ending the phone call and tossing my phone back into my tote bag, taking a few more strides before sliding my lecture hall door open. Catching the sight of Ellie scrolling through her phone at the back of the class, I marched over quickly, but still took a fair amount of time since the hall is massive.

Reaching up to her, I kicked her chair with half of my energy, yet it managed to displace her chair and startle her. She turned her head facing me in a split second with an infuriated look. I slightly smirked.

“You should’ve woke me up sooner bestie”

“I already did and you’re the one that didn’t even move an inch, plus your lecturer hasn’t come yet so what’s the big deal?” she glared at me.

“I missed my breakfast”

“It’s just breakfast”

“AND my morning coffee, so you owe me one” I emphasized, pointing a finger directly to her. She swatted my finger away,

“And what are you even doing here? Don’t you have classes to attend?” 

“He canceled our morning class today. Why didn’t he tell us yesterday? He made me wake up so early just to cancel it” she angrily answered. 

“Then go back to sleep. Why are you even wasting your time by going here? You don’t even have friends to meet in this major” 

“To see your distressed face. Now that I’ve seen it, I’m going to go and buy myself a delicious breakfast. Good luck listening on an empty stomach” she said with an evil smile plastered, standing up from her seat and exiting my lecture hall. I stared at her back until her frame was too far to be seen.

I swear I’m going to kick her ass one day.

I looked back over my shoulder and subsequently headed over to a chair next to Jake. I plopped down on my seat, a bit too hard I must say.

“This is yours right?” I asked Jake as I spotted a cup of coffee in front of him, immediately grabbing it to open the lid and checking the amount of coffee that’s left inside.

“Yeah” he replied, finally facing my direction.

“Don’t drink it” he added, attempting to save his beloved coffee from me. This time, it was me who swatted his arms away from me.

I chugged down his coffee right after,

“Too bad” I said, wiping the corner of my mouth.  

“Damn coffee is indeed the best”

My lips probably had a 1 millimeter distance with his cup of coffee before he aggressively took his coffee back, eyes shooting daggers towards me.

“You drank almost all of it you piece of-“

“I’m coffee deprived, there’s nothing you can do about it” I interrupted him. He was about to roar back at me at the same time our lecturer came in, so instead, he just stared menacingly at me.

I smiled in victory, feeling relieved after consuming a few sips of coffee. Taking out my notebooks out of my bag, the lecture begins.

-

An hour,

Two hours passed, which, not gonna lie, felt like an eternity. As soon as our mighty lecturer exited through the front door, I exhaled deeply, stretching both of my arms above my head. I gave a weak pull on Jake’s jacket,

“Let’s go eat I’m starving”  I took my phone out of my jeans pocket and stood up, gathering my things as fast as I could to exit my terrifying lecture hall. Jake said nothing in reply and took his laptop in his arms and followed me as I walked out of the hall. He fastened his pace to walk alongside me.

“How’s your paper going?” he asked, fiddling with his laptop to put it to sleep. 

“Which paper? We literally have three or four waiting to be submitted” now I was the one asking. 

“The one that we’re supposed to be submitting by the end of this week”

“I finished that already, just a few more corrections here and there. Why? Do you need help from the brightest kid in our class aka me?” I teased, he gave me a death glare and shutted his laptop close, shifting it so he was holding it with one hand.

“I thought you were the one who needed my help” 

“As if” I rolled my eyes. By this time, we had exited the building. We walked past our spacy outdoor sitting area, grass underneath those wood brown chairs and tables which were lined up neatly for students to eat or to study, or to make themselves a clown by doing their stupid shits out in the open. I’ve never liked studying outside, lots of people would walk here and there. In other words, too much noise and distraction.

But this guy walking beside me, he’s a maniac for doing his work out in the open. Most of the time he’d scream onto my phone, asking me to accompany him outside, which mostly I’d decline for obvious reasons.

Looking around, my walk suddenly stopped on its own.That guy, again. Oddly familiar in many ways, I couldn't help but to stare at him for who knows how long. He was sitting on one of the brown chairs, occupying the whole table for himself and he seemed to not care about his surroundings, plugging in his earphones on both ears. Palms covered by his oversized hoodie. 

I continued to stare at him as he stacked a pile of rusty books in front of him and laid his head on top of it. Now all that was left for me to see was simply the front part of his dark hair. 

"BROOKE!" Jake half screamed, which sounded like it was the nth time he did. He waved his hand in front of my eyes and it snapped me back to reality. He eyed me suspiciously.

“Brooke has a new crush” he said matter of factly, continued with his annoying ass smirk.

“Who’s that guy? You know him?” 

“New crush your ass” I retarded.

“Then why were you staring at him as if you saw an angel coming”

“Your choice of wording was definitely too dramatic. I was simply looking at him since he looked familiar” 

“If you say so, I’ve never even seen him”  small pause,

"Where are we going by the way?" he added.

"Remember that new cafe we passed by the other day? I've been wanting to go there" I said. He nodded. 

The rest of the walk was silent with a bit of chatter here and there, showing each other the randomness of social media we spotted. It wasn't long before the two of us got seated. The cafe's ambience and aesthetics were the factors as to why I went to this cafe. It was quite spacy with yellow dangling lights all around the cafe. One or two artificial trees were placed near the counter, with a display of croissants and other baked goods. 

It took me a few seconds to look around and take notice of their menu, which a waiter placed on our table a moment ago. 

"It's batshit expensive here, let's get a bigger something and share it" my eyes expanded as I scanned around the entire menu, flipping back and forth between the pages. I should've known before entering this cafe, it looks fairly luxurious in the first place.

"It was you who suggested this place, why didn't you check out the prices online before you go?"

"I didn't think that far okay" even though it was me who was to fully blame, I gave him a little glare. 

"What are you going to eat?" 

"Just order and I'll pay" 

I stared at him, 

"You're kidding"

"I'm not"

"You're kidding" I repeated.

"You really think of me that lowly eh?" he retarded.

"Excuse me, you're literally the one between us who never pays" 

"That's why I decided to pay right now, so stop looking at me with that freakish expression and order or I'll change my mind of paying and leave you here" 

I went back to reading the menu after giving him a final look of suspicion. We called the unoccupied waitress to order what we wanted a few minutes after, still feeling uneasy. It wasn’t because I’ve never gone to an overpriced cafe before, but it was because of the fact that I’ve been saving up after I started living in our own dorms and that has changed the way I used to impulsively purchased everything into being such a cheapskate,unless a huge discount was offered.

“You said you wanted some pictures?” He opened up our conversation, passing both of our menus to the hands of our waitress. He stood up, 

“I’ll take it”

And again, my head snapped back to him with squinted eyes.

He was being way too nice for a Jake I’ve known. 

“You’re acting suspicious,” I murmured. Though I sensed him looking a bit alarmed, he shrugged it off and grabbed my phone. 

“You’re looking too much into this”  

He dodged my remark by turning away from me and began his search for a picture worthy corners, my phone remained in his hands. He beckons at me to follow him, which I did. If he was playing his small foolish tricks on me then I might as well have a bit of fun.

“Since you’ve offered to be my personal photographer then please do take gorgeous photos of me” I winked at him as I equalized his walking pace.

“As if you could take gorgeous pictures with that face” retarted him. I decided to ignore him this one time and took my phone out of his grasp. Rotating my phone here and there, I found the best place to take the picture I wanted. 

“Here, stand here and keep this phone exactly the way I’m holding it right now, don’t face it too much to the ground” I instructed. He took my phone as I went away and started to pose in front of the camera. 

He thought one snap was enough, he didn’t know what kind of hell he was getting himself into the moment he lay ahold of my phone. 

We ended up taking pictures way longer than we ate.

-

That evening, I arrived back at my dorm a tad bit later than usual due to stopping by at a cafe to purchase a coffee I missed earlier that day (which El didn’t pay for). Holding a cup of coffee and my phone in one hand, the other rummaged through the pockets of my bag in search of my dorm keys. Sliding and twisting the key I’ve found, the door opens widely.

“El?” I roared as I was busy untying my shoelaces, violently kicking my shoes until one of them flew away. I took a few more steps inside after I re-locked the door. No one was spotted, yet my entire dorm was looking way too different for me not to notice.

Most of the dorm’s basic forms are still there, including the bed, table, and some other hefty furniture placements. Yet I’ve noticed a few small pieces of furniture and belongings which certainly don't belong to Ellie. The huge mirror was gone, replaced by a gigantic white lamp. A small part of me fancied this new look of my dorm because it looks much tidier, but it didn’t change the fact that I was still bewildered. 

There was no way she moved out without telling me, especially if someone else was going to move in and share an area with me. I squeezed the edges of my tote bag as I tried calming the surge of panic inside me,

“El?” I screamed once more and still, there was no answer. The only sound answering me back was a rustle coming from my bathroom. I shuddered. 

Debating between sprinting outside the dorm in a flash and to not act cowardly, I chose to walk straight to the bathroom. Despite being agitated,  I successfully carried on to open the doorknob. 

And so I slammed the door back to its original place.