Anika
I grudgingly grab my bag as I make my way out of the front door. Looking back to grab a granola bar, I catch my father looking at me deliriously, eyeing me down as I make each and every step. Why is he acting like I'm a criminal that needs to be watched every second?
Shaking my head in disappointment, I close the door. The calm breezy air hits my face as a weak smile appears very slowly. All I managed to wear today is a sweater that says a quirky remark and black leggings on the bottom with my favorite tan-colored Uggs. I push my glasses up to the bridge of my nose as I push my hair aside. Time to go to the first day of senior year of college. Yippee.
My Honda Accord beeps three times as I open the front door. I climb into the driver's seat and start the car, letting the radio play the Top 40 hits. Closing my eyes, I lean my head back on my headrest, preparing myself for the long day that is to come, and by 'long day' I mean dealing with immature college students and cranky professors that hand assignments out like confetti.
It's pretty safe to say that college has been, well, a very uncomfortable environment for me. Not only are the classes difficult as hell and keep me up basically all night, but I also have literally no friends in college. Mostly because a majority of them scrunch their nose up at me whenever their beady little eyes land on my figure.
The only friends that I have managed to keep are basically two. One is a shy girl that is in my biology class, otherwise known as Emily. My other close friend is Tyler, who is also shy and also very gay. He basically crushes on very straight guy out there, even though I basically plead for him to actually like a gay guy for once. But both of them managed to be friends with me since freshmen year of college, and we're doing great!
Except the fact that everyone picks on us.
I guess it's because of our brainy personality and how neither one of us has the guts to spark any sort of conversation. Emily and Tyler always stay in the corner, always wanting nothing to do with speaking or impersonating any sort of socializing whatsoever. But I... I want to socialize. I want to be part of conversations and have many friends.
Why else would I go to a club and have a really hot Indian guy feeling me up?
My cheeks warm as I think of the guy who boldly laid his hands on me and how we danced around in such an... explicit way. I mean, who knew I had the capacity to even talk to a guy like that, a good-looking one at least? And not just good-looking... Lord, that boy made my insides turn to mush just having a quick little glance at him.
But I know he's way out of league for me. Whoever he was dancing with yesterday night... was definitely not me. That was the inner me. The inner me that has been longing to get out of her cave and unleash herself. Let her college know that she is not to be messed with and she is not just that shy and smart girl that can barely utter a simple 'hello.'
But I know I can't act all bold and mighty as I was at that club, here in college. Here I am known as the brainiac, being top of my class. Hell, I even correct my professors sometimes! There's no way I can land a guy like him, no way.
Sighing to myself, I reverse out of the driveway and drive to UCLA, letting my windows down as the cool Californian air hits my face.
Shaurya
"Wake up, ya sleepy head! We have class in an hour, for God's sake!"
"Shut up, Mom," I grumble, pulling the pillow to cover my head as the sunlight annoyingly approaches on my face.
"Um, first of all, I'm Nathan... definitely not your Mom," he shudders, snatching the pillow away. Groaning, I get up and moan, "What the hell was that for?"
"It was for your own good, dude," Nathan rolls his eyes, pulling his messy blonde hair back. "And did you not hear me? We have class in an hour!"
"So what?" I grumble, slouching.
"So what?" he repeats, chuckling to himself. "It's okay if I miss class, but I know your family, Shaurya. Your parents are freaking strict, bro, and you're number two in our class. Now, do you mind rethinking your decision in sleeping in?"
I take a deep breath and playfully punch Nathan's bicep. "Sure. And damn, that hurt!" I blow on my knuckles.
"Your boy has been working out," Nathan smirks, kissing his biceps.
"For Emma, you mean," I smirk back and Nathan swats my arm. "Shut up!"
Nathan has been crushing on Emma Abbott for basically since the beginning of junior year. I urged him thousands of times to ask her out, but he always refused saying 'how she's way out of his league and that she only dates brunettes, which obviously means that she only likes brunettes... right?'
I laugh as I start to get up. My head hurts extremely, and I rub it as I moan in pain. "Does your head hurt?" I groan, continuing to rub it stressfully.
"Not really," Nathan answers. "It must really hurt for you, though. I saw you drinking ten shots of tequila with that sexy Indian girl," he winks and my cheeks burn in embarrassment. "You-- you saw that?"
"Of course," he sing songs. "And I basically saw you two getting it on at the dance floor."
"We weren't exactly 'getting it on'," I reply with a hint of snark in my attitude, but deep down I knew that Nathan was right.
"Oh really?" Nathan raises his eyebrows. "Then explain to me why grinding against each other doesn't exactly come to the conclusion that you guys were getting it on?"
I contemplate for a second as Nathan bursts into laughter. "I've never seen you get so shy when thinking about a girl."
"Me neither," I grumbled.
"Then she really must be the one, huh?" Nathan wriggles his eyebrows.
"Shut your trap," I hiss, feeling my cheeks warm even further.
Nathan cackles like an idiot while I throw my pillow at him as it easily hits Nathan square in the face. "Oof!" he screeches and a wide grin breaks out on my face.
Nathan Landings and I have been best friends since freshmen year of college. I started out as a nobody; barely had the guts to acknowledge a pretty girl or say a simple 'hello.' But Nathan pushed me to break from my barriers and basically made me ask out the girl I was crushing on, Alexandria Brooks, or Lexie. I had dated plenty and dozens of girls before Lexie, but Nathan knew that I had no interest at all in the other girls, so I broke up with my recent girlfriend before Lexie and asked her out... and she said yes.
But my stupid hormonal mind didn't realize that Lexie was actually a pain in the ass, her being so high maintenance all the time. I thought of breaking up with her countless of times, but she always shut me up by acting seductive... and you know how that always ended.
One day, though, I basically had enough with her because I saw her swapping spit with my biggest rival, Brayden Parker, at least a dozen times. We're both on the football team and even though we're on the same team, we still highly resented each other to the extreme. First, he was always trying to flirt with Lexie while we were dating. Second, he always competed with me and tried to get on my level (I mean, you gotta admit: getting on my level is going to take plenty of years, Brayden).
So, I broke up with her, finally bringing myself away from that toxic relationship.
After I take a quick shower and have a five minute breakfast eating session with Nathan, which consisted of only granola bars and a swift chug from the milk carton, we run out of our apartment as I beep my new and silver Mercedes that stands high and mighty in our parking lot.
"Damn, bro," Nathan whistles. "I see you with that Mercedes."
I chuckle to myself, pushing my hair back as I cradle the books in my hand. "I got it before school started."
Nathan shakes his head. "Man, I don't get why you hate your personal life so much. You are rich, first of all--"
"Okay, my parents are rich, not me," I retort.
"And that's exactly what a rich boy would say," he remarks and I roll my eyes.
"Carrying on," he emphasizes. "You're rich, your parents buy you everything in the entire universe, you can get every girl you adore, and you're smart," he finishes off.
"Anything else?" I question, a smile growing on my lips.
"Dude!" he yelps. "Just admit it! Your life is perfect."
"It's not," I adamantly reply. "No one's life is perfect."
I shake my head as I climb into my new car. If only he knew.
Anika
The chatters of highly energized college students fill my ears. Huge swarms of girls ponder around, carrying huge cups of Starbucks as they annoyingly chatter away and other huge swarms of big and buff college dudes chest bump each other and talk about the girls they screwed this break. Meanwhile, professors wander back and forth, high key stressed about the new students they have to deal with and piles and piles of papers they are going to have to grade this semester.
Welcome to college!
Taking a deep breath, I climb out of my car, properly cradling the three huge textbooks in my hand. I have to deal with three classes today: literature at 10, biology at 3 and political science at 6. Hopefully Emily and/or Tyler will be at least one of my classes because I am so not looking forward in being alone today and continue to be trampled with bullies and countless of people pointing their snobby fingers at me.
"Need a hand with that?" I hear a chirpy voice behind me.
Turning around, I meet eyes with Emily Taylors, who flashes a brilliant grin at me. I see that her hands are completely empty and that she seems to be wearing a quirky polka dot dress. Her luxurious red hair is in a loose braid and she pushes her glasses up, placing her hands out in front of her. If she wasn't such a brainiac, I bet she would be modeling for Abercrombie and Fitch right now because that girl is gorgeous.
"Definitely," I sigh, and hand her my political science textbook. "Jesus," she mutters. "This textbook is heavier than you."
"Thanks," I mutter, rolling my eyes. She flashes another grin. "Just kidding! But seriously, Ani. You need to gain some weight! Try going to the gym or double up on those protein bars."
"First of all, I hate the gym," I remark as we both start to walk to our classes. "And second of all, protein bars are disgusting."
"Well, with an attitude like that you're never going to gain weight," she raises her eyebrows. "Honestly, though. It's the last year of college!"
"Finally," I mutter.
Emily smiles and I quickly ask her, "Where's Tyler?"
She sighs. "He wanted to get to his art class earlier. Probably because of the guy he's been crushing on."
"Oh, you mean Jake the Gamer?" A smile grows on my lips.
"Probably," Emily rolls her eyes. "But whatever keeps him happy. But as I was saying... you need to make this year count. You know what I mean...?" She wriggles her eyebrows.
I take a deep breath. "Em, I know what you're thinking and no, I am not going to get a boyfriend this year."
"Oh, c'mon!" she moans. "There's so many cute guys on campus. Just start flirting with someone!"
"It's not that easy," I reply. "Most of the guys here are douches."
"That, I agree with you on," she nods her head. "But honestly, Ani, you're going to regret this."
"No, I'm not," I raise my eyebrows, turning around. "This year is meant for me to focus on my studies and to find out who I truly am, okay? I don't need relationships to start butting in and distract me from what I truly need to focus on--"
Then, I am merely interrupted as my back collides into something very particularly... hard.
"Watch it, would you?!" I hear a deep voice yell. Gasping, I watch my giant textbooks fall to the ground and I look up making eye contact with someone who looks very... familiar.
His hard body rubbing against mine... his minty breath whispering into my ear... his hands wavering over my body...
"I'm... I'm sorry," I mutter, making intense eye contact with an extremely good looking boy. His fluffy dark hair falls on his face as he annoyingly pushes it back, glaring at me. He clenches his jaw, enunciating his chiseled face as he glares at me, but his face seems to soften...
"C'mon, dude, let's get out of here," a blonde haired guy pats his back, intensely glaring at me. "Stupid nerds, they are just so engrossed in their books," the blonde haired guy mutters, pushing his friend back as he looks at me curiously, connecting the dots, trying to figure out who this girl is that ran into him.
Shaurya
"Can you believe that?" Nathan snorts. "That girl is truly blind!"
"Let it go, Nathan," I hiss, straightening my clothes out.
He raises his eyebrows. "Why are you being so chill about this? You should've yelled at her!"
"I said, let it go, Nathan," I grit through my teeth. Nathan furrows his eyebrows at me and shrugs. "Whatever, let's just get to class."
Nathan walks me over to literature. I feel my heart pounding, replaying the events that just laid out in front of me. The girl that ran into me...
Was that her?
I shake my head. No, it can't be. The girl at the party was way too bold, too confident, and too stunning. The girl that ran into me seemed very simply and shy and too sweet.
They just look eerily similar.
We open the door to our class, seeing three people already seated in a huge classroom. Our professor stands at the podium as she gruffly looks towards us, her glasses perched on the bridge of her nose. "Take a seat wherever you like, just don't bother me."
Nathan and I look at each other in surprise. Well, this class is going to be fun.
As Nathan says good bye to me and wishes me luck, he closes the door behind him. I feel loneliness as he leaves and I awkwardly look at the seats. Okay, where should I sit?
I find my legs walking over to the middle of the classroom where dozens of empty chairs are. I place my book on the side and prop open my laptop, setting it up for the class. Taking a deep breath, I suddenly hear my phone vibrating in my pocket and I look at the notification.
Dad: Are you in class right now?
Me: Yes. What's up?
Dad: Just wondering. Also, make sure to focus on your studies and don't slack off. Or you can say good bye to your Mercedes.
Me: I got it, Dad.
I shut my phone off, taking a deep breath. Of course he was going to text me this. He knows my schedule, he knows all my friends, and I bet he has a tracker on me. Ever since I was born, he just never seemed to let me go and restricted me in every single little thing I did. Now, he wants me to join the business he owns but... I don't want to do that.
He knows I don't want to go into business.
Yet he tortures me with the classes he signed me up for: literature, business, and economics. I didn't even have the freedom to get the classes I wanted to inherit.
Clenching my jaw, I place my hands on my face, shaking my head. Why can't I just achieve freedom for once? Freedom from my father, at least?
I jump up when I hear the door open to... that girl.
My heart pounds against my chest as she slowly walks inside, awkwardly pushing her glasses up. She looks around the classroom for an empty seat and her eyes land on me.
Why... why does she look so familiar?
Slowly, she starts to walk up towards me and I feel my heart racing even more. She pushes her dark hair to the side, biting her lip as she walks to my section. I quickly brush my hair to the side, my arms fidgeting as she slowly walks towards me.
She smiles as she sits in my section and I smile back. The girl sits a few seats away from me, grabbing her book and her laptop from her hands. Then, she slowly looks in my direction, her soft brown eyes looking at me in question. She starts to open her mouth, my heart still beating repulsively.
"How are those tequila shots doing?" she asks.
*
A/N:
Hope you enjoyed Chapter Two of Just Us!
Ahh, so first day of college seems to be going great for Shaurya and Anika... right?
And wow, seems like they did run into each other! But Anika knows it's definitely him, but Shaurya seems to be a bit iffy because the girl he saw at the club and the girl he sees now seems a bit different.
Now Anika says to him, 'How are those tequila shots doing?' How do you think he replied...?
Well, looks like you're gonna have to stay tuned for the next chapter.
-Ru <3