01

Amara Hunt

As I wake up, I hear my phone alarm going off by my bedside table. I grab it and turn the alarm off quickly. I look at my clock and sit straight up. I might be late to class. "Shit." I mumble, running to my bathroom to get ready. I quickly take a shower and tame my orange colored afro and put my glasses on quickly. I put on a long sleeve turtleneck with jeans and my converses. I do one last check in my mirror before I run out to my car. "Instruments, check, art stuff, check, books, check.

I take a deep breath and rest my head on my steering wheel. Here we go. I then pull off and head to the university. When I got to the parking lot of the university I pick up my phone to call my brother. "Sage! Where are you? We have our first class in less than 5 minutes." I say, grabbing my stuff out my car. "I'm right here, dummy." He says as I bump into him. "Oh. Do you know where the band room is?" I ask, walking quickly. "Yep, follow me." He says, taking my saxophone.

We rush to the band room and I put my things in my designated locker before running to class with Sage. "Are you a band member?" My teacher asked when we walked in. "Yes ma'am." I respond. "You aren't late, take a seat." She says, smiling at me. I sigh in relief sitting by Sage. I fix my hair and take my things out. "So, how's school going so far?" He whispers. "Pretty good, kinda rushed." I say, shrugging as I write the notes down on the board.

After our class, we go to the band room for a brief meeting. "Alright well I gotta get to class Amara, see you later!" Sage says, waving at me. I wave back as I stand by a corner waiting for instructions. While I was drawing on myself, I felt someone approach me. "Hey there, first day?" The girl says. I nod slightly, feeling nervous. "Me too, I'm Ashe. I play saxophone, looks like you do too." She says, looking at my case in my hand."

I nod finally speaking up. "A-Amara, nice to meet you." I say, shaking her hand. Did you just stutter? "Here," she says, giving me her number. "We should talk more, call me." She says, winking at me then walking off. I feel my face heat up slightly. You're so gay. After the meeting, I go to the lunchroom for lunch. I sit at a table with Sage and two other people.

I'm drawing so I don't bother looking up to see who they are. "Amaraaa" Sage says, taking my headphones off. "What, Sage. I'm drawing." I say, slightly annoyed. I then look over at the people and see Ashe and another boy. "Ah- hello." I say, waving nervously. "I'm Amare, Sage's classmate. Nice to meet you." He says, smiling at me. I smile back and shake his hand. "We've already met, Amara." Ashe says, sliding me a wink. I smile nervously. Calm yourself you fag-

"So, do any of you have jobs?" Amare asks, interrupting my thoughts. "I work with the technology department, nothing crazy." Sage says, picking up a fry and eating it. "Oh really? I'm the head of the tech department!" Amare says, sounding excited. "That's cool, we'll see each other a lot then!" Sage says. I see a small blush on his face as I smile. "What about you, Amara?" Amare asks.

"I work at the bookstore down the street." I say, shrugging. "Oh me too, I work at the coffee shop in there." Ashe says, smiling at me. "Good to know." I say. "Well, I gotta get to my calc class. Bye guys!" Amare says. I have band for my next period so I grab my things and head to the band room. "Next class is band?" Ashe asks, popping up beside me. "Yep." I say, popping the 'p' as I fix my backpack. "Do you play anymore instruments?" She asks. I smile slightly, feeling happy. "Yes I do, I also play clarinet, bass clarinet, flute, piano, and guitar." I say.

"Damn, pretty impressive." She says, nodding at me. "I'm also writing my own song right now." I say, slightly embarrassed. "Really? I'd love to hear it sometime." She says, opening the door for me. "Maybe." I say, smiling at her.

After our class, we both have no more classes for the day so I go straight to work. When I walk into the bookstore, I get a boost of serotonin. My happy place. I put my stuff down and start looking around. "Amara?" Someone says. "Yeah that's me." I say.

"I'm your boss, My name is Ava. You can take a few minutes to get settled in and I'll start teaching you the stuff." She says with a smile. I nod and continue to look around the big bookstore. I then spot the coffee shop at the back of the bookstore and I see Ashe making a cup of coffee. She has her curly hair in a ponytail with a apron on. I walk up to the counter leaning on it. "Hey Ashe!" I say. "Hey Amara, one second." She says, making coffee art. I watch her as she makes a perfect heart design in the coffee.

She sets it down carefully and turns her attention back to me. "What's up?" She says. "That's pretty cool." I say. "Oh thank you, It's just a little something I'm good at." She says, turning red slightly. "It's really unique." I say. "I just got here so I'm looking around before I have to start my shift." I say. "Oh alright, well you get to that I need to go do some stuff anyway." She says. I nod and smile at her as I walk off.

After Ava showed me how to do the basic stuff, I settled in at the check in/out counter with a book I found from the shelf. Being lost in my book, I didn't notice Ashe was at the counter leaning in front of me until I looked up. "Oh-" I start, being directly in front of her face. Too close too close too close. "What are you reading?" She asks. My eyes trail down to her lips slowly. "Just a book I found on the shelf." I say, backing up slowly. Control yourself. "Oh okay, well I think we have the same shift so you wanna go get food with me?" She asks.

I nod getting my stuff and walking out with her. After our "date" I say my goodbyes and drive to my dorm. I put all of my things down and collapse on my bed. First day of college, check.

A/N

The end!! Hope you liked the first chapter, follow my socials they're in my bio🤭 I will update this book every Saturday!!