3
"I must be seeing things..." She sighed as she looked down to roll up her sleeve. The drawing of the crescent moon with star was still there, though showing some signs of fading. She had been careful not to let water touch it.
"I must be crazy." She said to herself. There was no way he would be at the school. What was she even thinking? She would never see him again after all.
Her phone rang and she slid it out of her pocket.
It was Andre, Professor's teaching assistant.
"Yeah?"
"You have a package."
"I do?" She asked, surprised.
"Yeah, I forgot to tell you about it yesterday."
"Okay, I'll come over right now."
Everyone had abandoned their pieces by the time she hurried down. April was particularly surprised to see her headed out again.
"Going out again?"
"Yup." She replied.
"Where to?" April asked.
"The professor's office." She said as she plugged in her ear pods and played around the stairs headed for the professor's office, which was a couple of blocks from the studio. Her aunt was probably the one who sent the package. Her mother would have informed her if she was going to send anything.
Sol was filling out some documents and Andre was putting the secretary through something by the time she walked in.
"Tahti is here." Andre smiled and she bowed slightly. He was their senior who had gotten retained back at school.
"Good afternoon."
"I almost forgot about your package. Michelle was the one who reminded me about it." He said as he fumbled through the draws.
"I see." She thinned her lips.
Andre took out her package and handed it to her.
"I guess the sender had something special for you."
"It'll probably be my aunt. She loves sending me stuffs out of the blue."
"I see. I wish I had an aunt like that." Michelle said and Andre peered up to look at her arm. "What's that?" He asked and she looked down at it for a minute.
"It's nothing. Someone drew it."
"It looks like love to me." He smiled.
"It's not." She replied.
"What then? Lust?" He asked and she gave it a thought. She wouldn't really consider what happened that night as lust.
"It was more like...fun." She said as she ran a finger over the drawing.
Sol cleared her throat and they turned towards her. "I have a meeting with the professor."
"Right. Tahti, you should go in with her." Michelle said and Andre slowly turned to her.
"Together?" The girls asked and Michelle nodded.
"Sol can have the meeting first. She was here before me, after all."
"It'll be a waste of time. It's about the exchange student program, right?" She asked and Sol nodded. "The professor's nagging will get longer if the meeting is one on one."
"Alright." They replied and slowly turned to walk in.
"You're really clueless, aren't you?" Andre asked as the girls walked in.
"What do you mean?" She asked, looking over some documents.
"Tahti was feeling uncomfortable since she didn't want to be compared to Sol."
"Is that so?"
The professor lifted her eyes from the files, she was going through when they walked in.
"Good afternoon, professor." They greeted and she dropped the files and took off her glasses.
"What brings you girls by?...The student exchange program?" She asked and both girls looked away as she walked over to pull out a chair before she sat down.
"Have a seat." She said and they slowly pulled out the chairs and sat down before the professor turned to Tahti, who passed a compiled list of universities to her and the professor glanced through with a sigh.
"You only picked hard places to get in. Tahti, it'll be difficult to get accepted to any of these schools. You know that, right?"
"Yes."
"I'm not saying you're bad. You're doing well, but there are only a limited number of spots. You have to raise your GPA...Work harder, okay?"
Tahti nodded slowly. "Yes ma'am."
"And going abroad isn't always the best answer. Staying in America could be a better option. Domestic graduate schools are pretty good too. There's no place like home, don't you think?" The professor asked. "Let's talk again next time, then." She said and turned to Sol.
"What about you, Sol? You didn't submit your list?"
Sol shook her head. "No,not yet."
"You could start next semester. What are you waiting for? Is there something going on?"
"No. I'll make my decision soon, ma'am."
"Alright. I'd prefer if you made it quick. It's a waste of time. You might think it won't be any different, but there are things you can learn from the world out there. This is a great list." The professor said and Tahti made to receive her list when the professor passed it to Sol. "Look at this...and make your decision.
An awkward Sol turned to her before she received the list. "Yes ma'am."
Prof sighed as she leaned against her seat. "Why do you too look so gloomy? You should be shinning at that age...Don't stay holed up in the studio. You should make your life eventful to get inspiration for your work. Got that?"
"Yes."
Tahti tried not to wear her disappointment on her face when the girls rose to walk out of the office and Sol turned to give her the list.
"Here."
"Just take it. I was about to give you the file if you needed it anyway." She said and Sol smiled.
"Thanks...It'll be helpful."
Tahti threw her head back and groaned. "It was so embarrassing, though."
"What was?"
"I listed up all the great universities without thinking about my grades." She said and turned to her as they walked down the hallway. "I'm jealous, Sol. You can go pretty much, anywhere."
Sol raised the list to look at it again. "It might not be the best idea to go abroad. Honestly...it kind of feel like I'm just trying to run away."
"Were you thinking that too?" Sol asked eyes wide.
"Sol." A voice which both girls recognized as Jennie had them whirling to the back to see Jennie running Sol.
"Oh, you were with Tahti. What did the professor say? Why did she call you two?" Jennie said when she noticed Tahti.
"It was about the exchange..." Tahti was saying when Sol cut her short.
"Assignment ideas." Sol said cutting Tahti off and Tahti turned to her.
"Assignment ideas? You two?" Jennie asked and folded her arms. "It's not fair. She's playing favoritism." She whined.
"See you later, Tahti." Sol said as she turned to walk her bestie away.
"You too." Tahti replied and turned to head back for the studio as they went their way.
"Why are you dressed so nicely?" Sol asked as Jennie locked arms with her.
"Do I look nice? That's a relief." Jennie replied beaming.
"Is it because of tonight's gathering?" Sol asked. Jennie had informed her, a couple of days back that their friends from high school had a gathering that night.
"Well...my blind date was supposed to be tomorrow, but he said something urgent came up and asked if we could meet today. Otherwise, it'll be a while later..." Jennie pouted as Sol turned to her. "You know how you shouldn't out off a blind date for too long. So I just agreed to meet him today."
Sol was surprised. "What? Then what about our gathering?"
"Tell the others for me." Jennie said, no sign of remorse written on her face.
"Hey, I didn't want to go. You're the one who made a fuss." Sol protested. She hated attending gatherings and if not for Jennie's persuasions, she wouldn't have considered going for this particular hangout.
"I know, I'm really sorry. But if you don't go, everyone will curse me to death. Please Sol, please." She gave her the puppy eye as she raised her hands to her.
"Gosh. Alright." She hated how she couldn't say No to Jennie.
Jennie threw her arms around her. "I love you. If things go well with my date, I'll set you up with someone too." She beamed.
"There's no need." Sol replied faster than she meant to.
Tahti's sudden crave for alcohol surprised her as she headed back and she guessed it was because the day wasn't going too well for her, so she decided to grab a drink with her friends later that night.
April wasn't in the studio when she arrives a couple of minutes later.
"Where's April?" She asked Derek who seemed like the least busy person around.
"She left early." Derek replied as she walked over to her table to dial April.
She answered on the third ring.
"Yeah?" April replied bored
"Where's the location for tonight's drinking?" Tahti whispered into the phone, not that she cared about what anyone would have said but she wasn't in the mood to answer questions as to why she wanted to drink.
"Why? Wanna come?" April's bored voice was now a curious one
"Yeah, I think." Tahti replied almost unsure of that's the answer April expected.
"Well, we'll be drinking at Dream Orchids tonight. The one not far from the campus." She replied, her voice devoid of emotions.
"Alright. I'll see you guys then." Tahti said ending the call.
Her eyes went to her piece as she dropped her phone. She had gotten stuck on it times without number and that had delayed the progress of her work. She was out of ideas now, too.
Sighing, she pillowed her arms before she lowered her head to her table, hoping to take a rest for a couple of minutes.
