Where We Are

05 | C L A R I T Y

"A child can teach an adult three things: to be happy for no reason, to always be busy with something, and to know how to demand with all his might that which he desires."
-
Paulo Coelho

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05
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"Hey, are you new?" A subtle wave of warm air brushed at the nape of her neck, startling her. Kyla's eyes bolted to the source, and crashed into the newly familiarized set of sparkling brown eyes. They searched hers before a toothy smile spread across his face.

"You're really easy to tease Kyla Devans," he cited, pulling on the seat next to hers and plopping himself down.

"You're really starting to give off that classroom bully vibe," Kyla playfully retorted back, a little braver, a little more open than she was the day before.

Kaden smiled back at her, amused yet focused, simultaneously removing the contents of his brown leather backpack. She couldn't help but chuckle when she noticed he had two of everything, including calculators. "It's funny how you're showcasing grade level A bullying as we speak Devans."

"I didn't mean to laugh but are you always this overly prepared? I would have thought we're due to write a midterm right now," she smiled at him, loving the ease of their banter. "Why do you have two calculators?"

"The other is mine," another voice chimed in, it was deep and low but immediately sent her heart into a frenzy. Before she could turn to face him, he swiftly breezed by her seat and went to the other side of Kaden's, sitting himself firmly down in his seat.

"He has a neck for only carrying a single pen to all of his lectures," Kaden explained, still focused on the contents of his bag.

Kyla had diverted her attention back to the front of the class without further comment, her mind going blank. It was the exact opposite of how she had practiced her stats lecture going. Bryson's presence was too heavy. It was as if all the ease Kaden provided her with was devoured in whole right before her eyes.

"Okay, let's start the class! Turn to chapter 10 everybody!"

As the lecture droned on, Kyla's thoughts danced on a different stage altogether. Like a floodgate unleashed, her mind surged with questions she longed to ask her old friend, and emotions she yearned to express.

Where have you been all this while?

How have you been?

Why didn't you reach out to me?

Did you miss me at least a little bit? Like I did you...

The intensity of her thoughts startled even herself. It seemed absurd, even reckless, to assign such weight to memories from a decade ago. Yet, for Kyla, those moments remained etched in her heart as cherished fragments of a time when life still held the promise of boundless potential.

Before the relentless march of time turned her dreams into ashes, before adulthood beckoned with its cold, hard truths. Before she learned that the world didn't always reciprocate her fervor, that not everyone shared her vision, and that love often came with strings attached.

"I don't know what's going on," Kyla breathed, packing up from the most painful 2 and a half hours she had ever spent. How did all those numbers manage to lose track of her so quick? She could swear she had jumped light years from yesterday's lecture which was at least something digestible.