1 CHAPTER 1: The College Crush

[Sasha Shadows]

College was beating me.

Assignments, bullies, bitches, exams, assignments…

Things that I would never get to finish in one day, and never get to avoid from until I graduated from this hellish place. In this unfamiliar piece of land, I was alone without my friends, without my family.

Some of you might begin to guess - she might be an orphan, her family doesn't want her anymore (well, that's rude), she ran away from her parents… And bingo, it is the last statement. I ran away from my family and decided to live all by my own in a place where they would never find me.

As for how I got so much money to live alone, I happened to save my pocket money since young. Therefore, my current savings enabled me to survive the first month.

Heaving out a sigh, I sat on the bench near the front gate of my college while waiting for the taxi driver I'd just called. He was an aged old man who lived alone as well, the money he earned by driving his taxi was his only way to live. Thus, I always called him to pick me up.

In return, he would lower the prices which I was required to pay after reaching the destinations. No matter how far or how close.

Honk honk!

The car horn broke my stream of thoughts, leading me to look up from the flaring mobile screen. The old man sitting in the driver seat shone me with a cordial smile as he welcomed me aboard. "Hi Uncle Daniel." I greeted while entering the vehicle.

"Hi Little Sasha, going home or to your workplace?" The driver asked as he looked at me through the rearview mirror. His warm, smiling Asian black eyes relaxed my nerves.

"To my workplace, please." I answered in a friendly manner.

"Aye aye." He put on a pirate gesture of agreeing before maneuvering the taxi off the roadside. As the vehicle began to move, I couldn't help but looked out through the window towards the bright, blue sky. The fluffy white clouds moved slower than my little turtles but appeared to be more flexible than them, as these elements managed to change into different interesting shapes.

Bunnies, babies, puppies, dragons, worms…

"How's college today, girl?" Uncle Daniel asks, breaking the silence that turns the atmosphere awkward.

Shrugging with a pout, I say, "Nothing special, just studying and having classes." The memories of Kayla pouring cold water onto my hair sent a jolt to my heart and consequently, my throat turned bitter when I tried to suppress the urge to cry.

"I hope this is really what happened, little one." Uncle Daniel sighed, as if he knew I'm lying to him. His voice contained concern and pity.

I managed a giggle while trying to hide my scar behind the mask. "There really is nothing particular today." The driver finally pursed his lips and stopped asking. Nevertheless, I wouldn't blame him for asking so many questions almost every day when he picked me up either from home or from campus. Because in this faraway place from my real home, he was the only one who viewed me as his granddaughter.

His family.

"I'm quite tired, Uncle Daniel. Could you please wake me up when we've reached the destination?" I queried with a yawn which drove out the old man's cackle.

"Certainly, little one. You do need some rest." After answering his statement with an acknowledged giggle, I put on my earpieces and slowly drifted off to sleep.

_____

Not knowing how long I'd been closing my eyes instead of really entering my dream world, Uncle Daniel's wake-up call was audible for me to flutter my eyelids. A mere roaring sound of an old car engine vibrated through my eardrum, signaling me the vehicle was halted and parked. "Please wait, I'm taking out my purse."

Staying silent, Uncle Daniel waited patiently until I'd paid him the acquired amount which he always made it half from the exact total of my journey. If I have to clarify, this became one of the reasons why I never considered to call taxi drivers other than Uncle Daniel, not because I can save money, it's because he would always keep me safe.

The feeling of safety was important for a female loner like me. And this driver had given me that through his sincerity. In fact, this act of his reminded me of my dead grandfather.

I can hear people shouting the word "naive", "stupid" and "too innocent" at me now. But due to the every-day practice given by the mean girls, my psychological defense can be considered strong. These words would never bother me as I would throw them to the back of my head and let them rot in my short-term memory storage.

Yes, memories do decay and if I didn't take such tiny things seriously, it would be easy to forget them, unless they are repeated.

Over and over again.

Once I bid goodbye to Uncle Daniel, I began to stride towards the bookstore which I worked in currently. Being a bookworm, I would love to roam places full of thick and thin books with a variety of genres. For me, each book represented a different world and sometimes, I would use them to escape from the real world to find peace or adventure in them.

Moreover, I would create my own world by writing it out.

Since I was promoted to be in charge of the counter, or cashier, the computer placed there would be the best tool for me to write down my imagination. Everything seemed to go smoothly and perfectly for my imaginary world creating except there was no chair for me to sit on. So, I had to stand at the counter for the whole 5 hours until my shift ended.

"Miss?" I looked away from the computer screen when a random customer called me. Apparently, she had been waiting for me to pay for the things she chose.

As fast as I could, I switched the writing page into the bookstore's payment page. "Sorry." And then, several beeps were audible when I scanned the objects quickly. "Fifteen dollars and fifty cents."

"Alright," says the lady who looked like a mother and now that I noticed her buying exercise books that followed the syllabi of recent elementary schools. "Here you go." She gave me 20 dollars. "Keep the change, it's fine." She smiled at me before receiving the packed belongings from my hands. Her phone buzzed by the time she left.

Soon, I was greeted by another customer.

He was handsome. He was a genius. He knew almost everything, but me. He was my college crush and I would never tell him about it. His name was-

"Hey beautiful, may I see your manager? I'm looking for a job here." Obviously, he didn't recognize me. But seriously, did he just call me 'beautiful' with a smile instead of a disgusted face?

"I'm sorry but the manager is not here today." I couldn't believe I was turning him down with the truest fact. "But she'll be here tomorrow."

"Oh great. What time will she be here then?" His voice was so magnetic, and this led my heart to pound even more vigorously. His moving lips were so fluffy, and I couldn't stop wondering how they tasted like. "Hello?" Waving in front of me, his smile was broad, and I was going to die of a heart attack.

After a few seconds of blinking back to reality, I finally illustrated the answer with my cute-girl voice instead of the real Sasha's. "Uh, I'm not truly certain, sorry. B-but here's her name card. Y-you can try calling her number." I suggested stutteringly while snatching a clean, white card from the holder and gave it to him politely.

"Okie-yay then." He agreed rather hesitantly. "Thank you so much for the service. I hope we can meet again." My heart was screaming until it might burst through my ribcage and out of my chest. And if it didn't, it would rather leave a nasty bruise there due to over-stamping with a fast speed in the same place. "Bye."

There he winked at me.

And I nearly fainted on the spot.