Ch. 5

Seth

The first day of classes has went fairly smooth. We have practice almost every afternoon so the football team has its own parking lot next to on of the buildings. Not having to find a spot saves a lot of time in the morning.  It’s a pretty large campus with many stores and restaurants. The restaurants came in use since I didn't bring any lunch. Anyone can easily navigate around so finding my classes wasn’t a problem. Since we realized too late I wasn’t able to switch any of my classes to avoid being with Bella. She would purposefully avoid looking at me but I would steal glances at her. She is such a beautiful girl and we used to get along so well. Why did she have to go and ruin things? Guess I may have taken things too far back then but I was so mad at her for betraying me by going to our parents. Wish I could just forgive her and go on but I can’t trust her to not cause problems for me. Was she afraid I would forget about her when I started getting more friends? I wouldn't have left her out but maybe she thought if she got me in enough trouble then I wouldn't be allowed out and it just be us.

Walking down the long hall to my last class of the day I see Bella walk in. I mentally sigh seeing her. I see her all day at school and again at home. I don't know why this distance between us is becoming difficult for me to handle now, it never used to be a problem. I see the professor just inside the door as I turn the corner. He is handing everyone a syllabus and a piece of paper. “The piece of paper you are holding has a number on it. There is a seat in this room that has this number. There will be no trading of numbers or moving so don't even ask. I would like for each of you to find your number now.”

As I walk around the room to find my number I see Bella walking in the same direction as me. He speaks up again “once you have found your seat take a look at the person next to you. This is the person you will be working with for the first few weeks. In this course you will learn your curriculum as well as communication skills.” He pauses while every person finds their seats. I look at my partner and she looks as unhappy about this as me. We all look back at the professor as he continues, “I do not want anyone to come to me to ask to switch partners. At some point most everyone will work together so it is a waste of my time. There will come a point in time of everyone’s life that you will be faced with a difficult person. Every ones ideas are different. So the key to being successful in your professional or personal life is communicating. Being able to find a common ground to allow differences to lift one another and support our peers and companions is crucial. The world we live in has shown walking away from people different from ourselves is our downfall. So to enable each of you to be successful I am teaching you to overcome obstacles through communication. Each assignment with be worked as a pair. If one fails you both fail the assignment so find a way to work together or you are not only hurting your partner but you are hurting yourself.”

After the professor is finished speaking I see Bella typing an email to her counselor asking for a class change. I place my hand on hers to stop her before she can hit send. She instantly freezes and turns her eyes to me. “Bella, don’t do that. We both need this course and surely we can work together for a couple weeks. Maybe it’s time we learn communication. If we learn to work together we will learn to work with anyone in the future. It's just one class and it won't last forever.” She stares at me for awhile and I couldn’t read her expression. When she looked back at her computer I could tell she really thought about sending the email. Then surprisingly she stops and looks at me. This time her expression showed more sadness than I would have liked, “Seth I will stay in this course and be your partner but please don’t be cruel.”

Hearing her words I knew she truly was in pain from the things we had done to her.  I was so determined to punish her I never paid attention to how much it hurt her emotionally.  All I could do was nod in agreement.

Our eyes linger at one another for a moment longer when she turns her attention back to the professor.  He continues over the assignment we will be doing for the next few weeks. I can't help but feel a ping of regret as I think back to everything I directly and indirectly did to her. Maybe she had her reasons for talking to my parents I don't know but I'm second guessing the level of torture I inflected her with. So deep in though I almost didn't realize class was over until Bella stood up to leave. She collected her belongings and heads for the door stopping momentarily to look at me. My eyes meet hers "look at your practice schedule and let me know what days and times work for you so we can do this assignment. If possible I'd like to work on it at least nights a week until it's completed. The sooner we finish the better." There wasn't bitterness in her voice but she sounded more defeated than I ever heard her.  

After classes I head towards the training room. I'm looking forward to the distraction from today's events no matter how exhausting it will be. Feeling a soft hand rub my arm from behind I turn to see Bella's friend smiling at me.  "Hey there cutie" I say as smooth as possible while mentally trying to remember her name.

"I thought that was you I saw heading out this way. There aren't many guys here that look quite like you." She says with a giggle. "I was just going to see if you wanted to hang out some time?"

"Im headed to practice right now but here put your number in my phone and we will another time" I say as I reach in my pocket and hand her my phone. Once she's done and walking off I really kick myself knowing hooking up with Bella's friend will definitely not be a good idea if I'm ever going to get us out of this mess we are in.