Half of My Heart ✔️

51 | against the wall

I enter the lecture hall, excited to leave last semester behind and start again with new classes. This is my first class of the week and probably the one I'm most excited about. It's the first class I'm taking that is specific to my major, so the people in this class will likely only be other psychology majors.

Nature vs. Nurture: The Roles of Genes and Environment in Human Development

After talking with my counselor, I think I've decided on what career I want to pursue. An adolescent psychologist specializing in addiction. It'll be a few years of schooling after I get my B.S. in Psychology, but it seems worth it to be able to help people. People like Dani.

I pick a seat in the middle of the classroom next to a girl laying out about fifteen different colored pens. She doesn't look up when I sit down.

One of her pens rolls off the desk, and I catch it deftly. "Here," I say warmly, setting it back down in front of her. When she doesn't say anything, I add, "I'm Scarlett, by the way."

"Gracyn," she says, still not looking up. "Spelled G-R-A-C-Y-N."

"Oh, that's my dad's name." Then I realize how odd that is to say. "Well, spelled differently, but sounds the same."

Once her pens are organized, she pulls out a trapper keeper binder and begins flipping through the millions of pages she already has in there. "Interesting," she murmurs, though she obviously finds it the opposite of interesting.

I'm surprised when she keeps talking. "Are you a psych major?"

I perk up, thinking I might be about to make my first fellow psych major friend. "Yeah, I am. I want to get into pediatric psychology."

"Cute." Gracyn starts copying down what's on the whiteboard, even though it all looks like insignificant information. Guess she just wants to be thorough. "I'm double-majoring in psychology and neuroscience on the pre-med track. Also in the honors program. Less than a five percent acceptance rate."

She pauses, as if waiting for me to congratulate her for that. I have to admit, double majoring while on the pre-med track sounds difficult. But if anyone's cut out for it, it's the girl that already has a full sheet of notes down before the class has even started. So I just say, "Sounds difficult."

"It is."

Alrighty then. Guess I'll be choosing a different seat next class.

I hear someone take the seat on my other side, and I breathe a sigh of relief, thinking that I might actually have someone worth talking to in this class.

"Need a pen?" I freeze at the familiar voice. "Or did you finally learn to bring your own."

I don't even want to look at him, much less ask him why he's in this class. He's not a psych major, and even if he was, what are the odds that we have the same lecture time? But my curiosity gets the best of me. "Why are you in this class?

"What do you mean? We picked our classes out together, remember?"

"No," I bite out. "We didn't. I didn't even tell you what classes I was taking."

I turn to him just in time to see that easy smile fall over his face. "Lucky guess," he says. "We had so much fun last semester, I thought you'd be happy to see me."

I also notice the purple bruising around his eye and jaw. Like he got into a losing fight. But Levi isn't my problem anymore, so I act like I don't even see the injuries.

"Well, I'm not." I start packing up my stuff to move seats, but Gracyn's chair is pushed out too far for me to fit down the aisle. I stand up and hover over Levi, hoping me gets the hint to move, but he doesn't look like he's keen on letting me pass.