It's Magic --- PART I - Chapter 2

Kept it going.

Chapter 2

 

        After my ‘false alarm’ in the café, I just apologized to Saab, paid my orders then went directly home… Yet, one thing I can never forget about that afternoon was that… I have the unusual beating of my heart, and I think, I’m sure that whom I saw was Ron. But am I?

        Well, nothing much happened during the rest of summer break and today is the first day of my first semester in college life! Oh my gosh! College life!

        And yeah, it’s a really quick jump of time right? Well, I’m in a hurry with college life, so please bear with me.

        As I roam around the campus, since it’s still early, I realize that universities are pretty much better, bigger, and more amusing than high schools. What I felt are really mixed! I’m tensed yet very excited. It’s like I’m ready for college life now, yet I seem to be scared of it.

        By the way, Camille studies at another university �" so, that adds to the tension, because no one is here to help me with the matters I need assistance with in college life as good start.

        I am now looking at and thoroughly studying my schedule map, since I got it just this morning together with the school and library IDs as well as the School Utilities General Pass.

        I found the room of my first class, or shall we say as advisory room. It’s not very far from the main entrance of the campus, so I guess I can go in and out during lunch.

        Time passes by and the number of students increases so I guess I’d just settle in our advisory room. When I get at the door, I see a number of my classmates already in. They are all strangers to me, and I guess almost everybody is a stranger to each other. Others start to get to know each other, while I just silently come to a vacant chair away from them near the window. I’m more tensed, and I feel my heart beating so fast. It’s uneasy. It’s awkward.

        Later, a boy in a jacket and bright brown hair like mass of rice in a field, about my age as well, takes his seat on the chair beside me.

        “Hi,” he starts with a lip smile, which makes my heart skip a beat.

        “Hello…” I reply in a nice way and flash him a smile as well.

        “What’s your name?” he asks…

“What’s yours?” I say, insecure because of the feeling that envelops us.

        “I asked you first.” He counters which makes me chuckle.

        “I’m a lady, be a gentleman…” I say again, trying to irritate him. Well, I don’t feel like being friendly yet. Not with not-so-smart boys…

        “But I believe in the saying, ‘ladies first,’ and I hope you do mind that as well.” He mocks me in such way, that I am quickly proven wrong. He is smart. “So, what’s your name, miss?” he continues with his lip smile still on his face which is very near mine! And then I notice his hazel eyes, which reminds me so much of Ron.

        I am taken aback in time, sitting on the swing when a boy sat on the opposite swing and then took my hand in a stride. We were both looking at each other, but I was not looking at him, I was looking at his smart hazel eyes. The same eyes I see in this guy before me…

        “Hey, wouldn’t you tell me your name?” I’m taken back to reality.

        “Oh, sorry...” I start. “My name’s Katherine McGraw.”

        “Katherine, is it? A nice name... My name’s Lawrence Foster anyway.” He introduces himself and reaches his right peachy-skinned hand out to me as he stands up. “Nice meeting you…” I do the same and as I reach my hand into his, it summons a childhood memory.

        As our hands touch, I’m immediately visualizing Ron holding my hand as we play.

        The moment that Lawrence’s hand let go of me takes me back to my senses.

        “You can call me Rence. How about you? What do you want me to call you?” Surprising…

        “Kate.” I say.

        “Oh, what course do you take?” he asks.

        “Fine arts and music, how about you?” I answer. He’s interesting. Or maybe it’s me?

        “Good news! I’m taking the same.” He says. “Ja!” Then he left and joined the others.

        But my eyes start to follow him, and as the number of people in the classroom increases, Lawrence makes more friends. And sometimes, when he catches me looking at him, he flashes me a smile. He is a nice guy.

        I can see “Ron” in Lawrence, but a part of me wants to believe that the “Ron” I saw one time out of the café was the real Ron. Even though they both have brown hair and hazel eyes �" wait, have I said that I didn’t see the color of the eyes of the “Ron” I saw out of the café? Well, I just realized that I haven’t seen the color of his eyes.

In any case… they don’t look the same. Lawrence has that intelligent formal look. Well, I think “Ron” is a nerdy, sweet yet smart and gentle type of a person. Or is he? I think it’s what he seems to be back when we were still children!

        Well, what’s important now is that I have the feeling that “Ron” is coming back into my life, and that’s what matters to me. It inspires me, so I follow Lawrence and also make friends with others �" girls or boys.

        Our advisory class is kinda unique, since we got almost all sorts of classmates. Boys, girls, gays, tomboys, nerdy people, gangsters, genius, jokers, weirdoes, overacting ones, attention-grabbers �" well, even b*****s! And whatever else our class of seventy-six has to offer. Well, I think I’m a hopeless-romantic type of a person. I get along well with most of my classmates.

        When the teacher arrives, orientation takes place, and we get to know each other in general by introducing ourselves, the course we take, our ages, and some other matters in front of the whole class. The rules and regulations were discussed, too. Our adviser/professor is nice and good, which suits her name. Mrs. Angelina Angels. Yeah, I’m serious. It’s her real name.

        The orientation lasted for almost two hours, since our subject with Mrs. Angels lasts for such time on the first schedule. We all learn that she teaches music, trains some teenagers (mostly kids) with instruments and that she have many successful students in doing so.

“Music is life.” She says. “Without music, everything has no life. In short, it’s senseless without music, right?”

She gets along us as we have fun. She’s both ideal and realistic yet in a funny way. Well, I learned from high school that most realistic persons were irritating. But she proved me wrong.

        In our second subject, most of us divides in numbers, attending different classes since not all of us take Fine Arts and Music course, so that leaves me, Lawrence and seven others entering the next subject, since we take the same course and have the same number of units and subjects to take. Our professor is an artist whose age is about early thirties. His name is Henry Collins, and he teaches art, obviously. Another thing is, he’s gay.

        Lawrence and I are seatmates in this subject, because we are allowed to be choosy with our seats. Well, it is him who came to the vacant chair beside me when we enter the room. Our seats are near the door, with mine just beside the window.

        “I think not everybody is here yet. Let’s wait for the others before we start, okay?”

        “Yes, sir…” We answer.

        Then, a hurrying pretty girl comes at the door, probably from her first subject.

        “Good morning, professor. I’m sorry I’m late.” She says, catching her breath.

        “Apology accepted. What’s your name dear?” Prof. Collins asks.

        “Mylene...”

        “Family name, please.” Prof. Collins holds a folder, containing our names… Well, that’s his way of checking attendances, as he said. He wants to know us not just by our names but also by our “beauty.”

        “Carpenter, sir... It’s Mylene Carpenter,” the girl says.

        “Okay. Take your seat.”

        Then, I see her make her way to the vacant chair in front of me.

        “We’re just waiting for one of your classmates, and if he comes in later, we’ll start our orientation.” Prof. Collins announces.

        As Mylene takes her seat, I observe her. Well, I just feel like it.

        She has long black hair which she lets fall until her scapulas and she’s about as high as me. She also has fair skin.

        “Hi, miss Mylene.” Lawrence and I both call her. Well, maybe Lawrence wants to make friends with her, too.

        “Oh, hello.” She turns to us and smiles. Then, I see her cat-gray eyes which seem to give me a weird feeling that even I don’t understand. She doesn’t have bangs, but she’s really pretty.

        “By the way, I’m Katherine McGraw, Kate for short.” I introduce myself while smiling.

“I’m Lawrence Foster. You can call me Rence.” There goes mister nice guy.

        “Nice meeting and knowing you two. I guess you already know me, right?” she says and reaches both of her hands to us despite the hard position �" her left hand on mine, and her right one on Lawrence’s.

We shake hands together. Friendship sealed.

        “What course are you taking?” Lawrence asks.

        “Industrial arts. How about the two of you?”

        “We both take Fine Arts and Music.” I answer.

        “Oh, really?” she says, amused. “Good choice, an entertainment package. I also want to take that one, but too bad I don’t have much talent in music.”

        “Oh…” Lawrence says. “I don’t have much talent in music as well as in arts, too.”

        “Then why take such course?” Mylene asks.

        “I just want to develop and use my skill in playing piano and guitar, plus some of my skills in drawing… I want to use those for good.” Lawrence replies.

        “So, that’s it.” I conclude. I just knew about that, since we haven’t talked much earlier.

        “Okay.” Mylene turns then, and a perfect timing when the other classmate we are waiting for arrives. It takes a couple of seconds when I realize who I’m looking at…

        Straight yet thick brown hair capping his head round, with bangs just above his eyebrows, bright skin and smart eyes with the ‘sleepy’ look…

Oh my good Lord, it’s…!

“Ron.” I gasp. Lawrence and Mylene looks at me with raised yet confused eyebrows. I just avoid my eyes from them. “Oh, sorry…”

        Then as Mylene turns again with a smile, and as I feel that Lawrence isn’t looking at me anymore, I realize that I’m in a certain state of shock. I can feel that my mouth is half-open. My right hand slowly forces itself against my chest through my clothes, feeling the metallic cold aura of the pendant Ron gave me, and the race of my heart beat. It takes me inside my thoughts, showing that I’m in the café, noticing the mysterious guy outside whom I believe was Ron. That guy at the door is the guy I saw last time. And he’s the one I was and am looking for, but at once he was gone…

        “Good morning, Professor.” He greets our teacher. His voice is that somewhat deep yet his tone is nice to hear which sounds like music in my ears.

        “Good morning, Mr.?”

        “Kevin Smith.” I am quickly proven wrong. I am expecting his first name to be Ron.

        Prof. Collins completes the attendance. “You may take your seat.”

        “Thank you, professor.” He’s gentle and respectful.

        He then heads on the vacant chair, one sit apart Mylene to the left. He sits on the vacant chair beside Mylene’s seatmate, to the left.

        I am still in shock, but I manage to get along with the class.

        I can’t believe the impact Kevin has on me… I really believed that he was Ron.

        The orientation starts and all the time I am psychologically distracted and I just keep on looking at Kevin, and at Mylene and at Lawrence as well, so what I had a grasp on was when Prof. Collins said that, “Art is a way self-expression. Sometimes you encounter some persons who don’t talk much, since it’s not their type. They’re not expressive with words, so instead they draw weird things, but that’s the way they express themselves, and if you just observe at what they did, you would eventually understand them...”

        “Everybody please look at the image beside me.” Prof. Collins presents a colorful abstract drawn on a white cartolina which he pastes on the board. “What can you see?”

All I can see in that abstract is a bird trying to spread its wings. I guess everybody does.

        “A bird.” We all answer in chorus.

        “Yeah, a bird…” he says. “But what does the bird in an abstract possibly mean?”

        Kevin raises his hand first.

        “Yes, Mr. Smith? What do you think?”

        “Freedom,” he answers.

        “How can you say so?”

        “If I would say, the pattern of the random colorful lines around the concealed image of the bird represents restriction. As we all see, the bird tries to still spread its wings despite being seemingly being held captive by restricting lines, and based on what I see, the bird is successful in spreading its wings and breaking through the restrictions. It met its freedom.”

        He then takes his seat with a still face, and almost everybody clap their hands, even me.

        Impressive, smart… He sees through those which most cannot see.

        Then, he turns his head, and for the first time, he looks at me eye-to-eye, his face still.

        My heart beats so fast at the moment, and it seems like I can see myself shocked through his crystal clear hazel eyes. Hazel eyes! I finally saw his eyes! It’s like my eyes are attracted by a magnet towards his eyes. I see a curve forming across his lips and his eyes speaks of a smile.

        I can feel magic enveloping around us, and I just feel my face making a sweet smile.

        He turns his head and focuses on what Prof. Collins discusses and I do the same.

        The introductions start then, and we know more of our classmates of this subject by their names. Then follows the discussion of rules and regulations, next comes the coverage of our lessons for the first semester. I found out that Mylene, Lawrence and Kevin are also freshmen like me. Most of the time, I am flashing glances at Kevin. And now I’m looking at him for long.

        But this time I notice two familiar pairs of eyes watching me.