Page 6 of Clichés & Curses

But as my hands continued to search through my pile of things over and over again, I tried to remember the last time I used it. Then it hit me: I used it yesterday and left it to hang near the front door of my apartment. I was in such a rush in the morning; I must’ve not noticed it when I left.

‘Are you kidding me?’ I whisper shouted at myself. The one day I didn’t bring my umbrella also happened to be when I absolutely needed it.

Groaning out my frustration, I zipped up my bag, checking once again to make sure I didn’t leave anything behind before heading to my next class of the day. My mind already dreaded taking the longer route to shield myself from the rain.

Tardiness wasn’t uncommon for me. But considering it was the first class of the semester, I wanted to make a good impression or, at least, not draw attention to myself and get called out by the lecturer in the upcoming weeks. My class was to start in five minutes and if I quickened my pace, I might be able to reach there just a few minutes later.

Fortunately, the coffee shop—my favourite one on campus—wasn’t too far from the building where my elective was going to be. After having spent two years here, I was pretty familiar with all my classrooms. However, my next class, Introduction to American Sign Language or ASL, was held at a different part of campus—the one that I rarely visited.

Once I safely arrived inside the building, I took out my phone on my way up the stairs to the second floor. I was thankful for my foresight in finding the classroom; otherwise, I would have been even later than I already was.

I was panting by the time I reached the door. I made sure that I was at the right one before twisting the door handle and heading inside.

My mouth was already preparing to apologize for being late when I noticed that the front desk was empty.

The instructor wasn’t there yet. I let out a sigh of relief.

Awkward apology avoided.

I quickly turned my attention to the rest of the classroom, searching for an empty seat. The space wasn’t anything extraordinary, same white walls and floor tiles— both things that had definitely seen better days. However, the tables and chairs were different.

Instead of the usual task chairs, the classroom was fully packed with rectangular tables from the front to the back, each one capable of comfortably fitting two people. Most of the tables were filled, except for the one at the back of the room, which was perfectly fine by me.

I made my way to the table and took my seat in time, just as the front door opened and a man, who looked to be in his fifties, stepped in.

‘Good morning, everyone,’ the man, whom I presumed was our instructor for the class, greeted us. He had a briefcase with him which he softly placed on the desk. ‘Sorry for the slight delay. Just give me a few minutes and then we can start the class.’

Taking out my notebook and pencil case from my backpack, I turned to a blank page and wrote the day’s date, along with the class name.

Once he settled himself, he opened the briefcase, taking out a piece of paper from a pile that was already covering the desk. ‘It seems that everyone is already here,’ he said. ‘So, let’s get started. Hi, every …’

He was interrupted mid-sentence by the squeak of the door, signalling the arrival of someone new.

‘Hey. I’m sorry for running late, the rain caught me off guard,’ I heard a masculine voice say as I was going through my bag to find the class syllabus that I had printed out yesterday.

‘No worries, Colton. We were just about to get started,’ our instructor replied. ‘I think there’s a seat available at the back.’

My hand stopped mid-task when I heard the name.

Colton.

There’s no way it wasthatColton, right? I mean, it was a pretty common name.

The universe wouldn’t be that cruel.

But boy was I mistaken.

Because lo and behold, the Colton that was standing at the front door was none other than Colton Reed, the beloved star athlete of the college.

And he was heading straight to my table.

I was so focused on getting myself ready for the class that I didn’t even realize the seat our instructor was referring to was the one at my table. I gave a quick scan to the rest of the classroom to see if there were any other empty seats.

But nope, the only seat available was the one next to me.

My pulse started to speed up. My mind was freaking out.

I tried steadying my erratic heartbeat as Colton pulled out the chair next to me and took his seat.

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