Welcome to school.

~University of Pliver~

Cordelia got to the gate of her new school at 7:45am, feeling a little bit weird. After what  had happened the previous night, she was too scared to relate with anyone. 

Heaving a loud sigh, she held onto her bag firmly and walked into the school compound. Immediately she entered, she was wowed by the beauty and busyness of the school. 

It was nothing like the school she formerly attended. 

There were so many big trees planted in the school, with so many tall white and brown buildings. 

Her new school was arguably one of the biggest that she had ever seen and been in. She could see different students of different races, different calibers and outfits. 

While her eyes scanned the compounds, her eyes fell on some couples behind some of the huge trees, kissing and smooching.

In shock and disgust, she looked away. Before she could take another step, she saw some guys in a car, drinking and smoking.

It was like the school existed without rules and authorities. 

While she was still in shock, one of the guys in the car looked at her and broke into laughter.

“Baby girl! Why are you dressed up like that?!” He loudly mocked her, pulling the attention of other students to her. 

Other students broke into laughter as well, making Cordelia feel humiliated. 

Cordelia almost forgot that she was wearing a large black hoodie and gray pants which made her look homeless. 

Well, she was indeed homeless. In shame, Cordelia pulled the hood over her head and took fast strides towards the main entrance to the school building. 

Her heart thumped against her chest as she tried running away from the thoughts of what had just happened.

Cordelia went straight to the secretary’s office, since she had already asked for directions from the man at the gate. 

She needed to complete her paper work for school, and collect the key to her locker. She had heard whispers from students that it was almost time for their first class, so she walked hurriedly to the secretary’s office.

“Good Morning Sir. My name is Cordelia.” “Good Morning Cordelia.” He answered, still facing down, concentrating on what he was doing. 

“I’m new here sir, the gateman asked me to come here for my locker number and key” Cordelia said.

Raising his head up to look at her, he said… “Cordelia Johnson? The transfer student from Massachusetts?” “Yes sir” Cordelia answered, nodding her head in affirmation. 

“Your locker number is 406, here’s the key, make sure you don’t misplace it and make sure you keep it safe.” The secretary said, as he gave her directions to the hallway.

“Thank you sir.” Cordelia said, as she hurried her way out of the secretary’s office. 

She got to her locker after searching for 7 minutes. All the lockers were color green, and the numbers were hard to see.

immediately unpacked her books from her backpack.   

The blue bag she brought to school was her fathers last gift to her before he died.

She was about to cry again when she muttered to herself… “You can do this Cordelia, You’re going to pull through and you’re going to be okay.” She said to herself, picking up the timetable for the week. 

She sniffed, picked her notebooks and textbooks too, and locked the door to her locker. 

Placing the key in her back pocket, she lifted up her head and her eyes fell on Jared. ‘Jared?’ Her jaw dropped in awe as his handsomeness and simplicity swept her off her feet again. ‘It’s really him.’ She thought, taking a step further like she was trying to reach him.

Jared’s locker was 8 lockers away from hers, so he didn’t see her. Jared was also getting his books, getting ready for class. 

He was wearing a white collared shirt, with a brown knitted sweater tied around his neck, blue jeans, and a pair of Nike Air Jordan 1s. 

Jared locked the door to his locker and turned to leave. Cordelia was about to take another step closer to getting to Jared, when all of a sudden, a young beautiful lady wrapped her hands around him, and covered her lips with his.

“Hey baby, are you ready yet?” She said, with her arms still wrapped around his waist. “Yeah, let’s go.” Jared responded. Jared’s girlfriend was a beautiful girl.

She had long, silky brown hair, round hazel colored eyes, a straight nose with a raised base, and pearly white teeth. She was like an Angel. 

Cordelia’s heart sank. She couldn’t believe her eyes. She didn’t know that Jared had a girlfriend. 

Well, how could the hottest guy she’s ever seen be single. Cordelia let out a sigh and walked to her classroom. 

Too many things went through Cordelia’s mind as she walked towards her classroom. The last time she heard from Mr Smith was when he sent her part of the money for her schooling.

‘I hope he’s doing okay.’ She thought. Cordelia got to class late since she could not easily locate her lecture hall, and she was not willing to ask anybody either. 

The class was already half full by the time Cordelia arrived, but Cordelia wanted the seat at the top of the class by the window, so she wouldn’t have to talk to anybody.

It was a 52-Seater lecture theater with blue and red padded chairs, with 23 students already seated. 

Cordelia was walking up the stairs towards her seat when she saw Jared seated with his girlfriend. ‘Oh my gosh! Jared is in my class!’ She muttered quietly as her eyes widened in awe. 

But this time, Jared saw her too. She wanted to raise her hand and wave to him, but he turned his face forward and started talking to his friends, Ian and Scott like he never saw her. 

She was expecting Jared to at least say something to her, but he didn’t.

‘Doesn’t he recognize me? Why didn’t he talk to me? Will he not talk to me?’ Cordelia thought sadly. 

Immediately Cordelia got to her seat and sat down, the lecturer for Business and Management stepped in to teach. 

“Good Morning Class. Let’s begin.” The lecturer said, rolling up the sleeves of his brown shirt. 

The lecturer had taught for about 15 minutes when he noticed that Cordelia had been staring out the window since he began teaching.

“I see we have a new student amongst us. Hello, what’s your name?” 

Cordelia was lost in the beautiful scenery of the school, thinking of how she was going to survive her days there all alone with no friends and family. 

“Hello… Young lady…” The lecturer in a bid to get her attention had to smash his hand against the wooden table in front of him, almost hitting his laptop, to finally get her attention. 

The loud noise snapped Cordelia out of her thoughts. And immediately she turned, she realized that the whole class had been looking at her. 

“Are you okay?” The lecturer asked. “Yes sir.” Cordelia said. “You’re sure you’re okay?” He asked again. “Yes I am sir” she responded. 

“What’s your name?” “My name is Cordelia, Cordelia Johnson.” Cordelia said her name while she threw glances at Jared. 

‘Perhaps he’d remember me now’ she thought silently. But Jared still didn’t look towards her direction. 

Instead, Ian, Jared’s friend who was also one of the boys who had tried to embarrass her outside, started to make fun of her again. “Our plain Jane’s name is Cordelia Jackson.” 

Everyone in the class laughed, except Jared and the lecturer. 

The lecturer had to raise his voice to calm the class down. 

“That’s enough now.” 

“Okay Cordelia, my name is Mr Tamil, and I’m your business and management lecturer. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” He said, adjusting his glasses so the nose pads could fit properly. ‘He still doesn’t remember me,’ Cordelia thought to herself as the lecturer asked her to sit. 

An hour had passed and the lecturer brought the class to an end. “That will be all for today, see you again on Friday.” Was what the lecturer said as he packed his bags preparing to leave. 

Cordelia made sure that all the students had left before she did. She was sad, and it was written all over her face. ‘This is harder than I thought.’ Cordelia muttered to herself silently. 

Heaving a loud sigh, she picked up her books and headed back to her locker. On Cordelia’s way to the locker she bumped into Sasha.  Jared’s girlfriend. 

Sasha was the cheerleading captain for the Tornado Tigers basketball team, where Jared was team Captain. 

That was how Jared and Sasha hit it off. “I saw how you were looking at my boyfriend in class. It better not be what I’m thinking.” Sasha said. 

She had two members from the cheerleading squad with her, looking at Cordelia with a distasteful look.

“It’s not.” Cordelia said, taking a step like she was going to walk away. Suddenly, Sasha placed her hands in front of Cordelia, making her books fall and blocking her path. 

“I said, it’s not.” Cordelia said, looking at Sasha straight in her eyes, with her voice almost raised in anger.. Immediately, Sasha dropped her hands down and allowed Cordelia to pass. 

“It better not be.” Sasha said as Cordelia walked away.

Cordelia walked straight to her locker without looking back. Cordelia no longer lowered her head to walk, but she still couldn’t make eye contact with anyone. 

Cordelia reached for the key in her back pocket, opened the locker, and grabbed her bag. 

“We made it through today, we’re going to pull through other days too.” She said to herself, stroking her chest so she could calm down. 

Cordelia needed to catch a taxi to the small apartment that Mr Smith had gotten for her. She strolled down to the gate, secretly hoping that she would bump into Jared. 

Cordelia heaved a loud sigh when she got to the gate, without seeing Jared. Immediately she got out, she stopped and entered the first taxi that she saw. 

“Stradun Avenue please.” 

“Yes Ma’am.” “You know what? Take me to the Fainting Goat instead.” “The Fainting Goat?” The driver asked, turning to look at her properly.

“Yes, take me to the Fainting goat.” Cordelia answered, looking straight into his eyes.