Teacher's Girl (Aflyingwhale)

Chapter 67: Welcome Weekend 

EMMA’s POV :

The first week of college was a rush of classes, people, names, places, and feelings.

After lan went back to Georgia, it finally hit me, I was alone in this big, big world.

Thankfully, Sophie and her brother Tristan were kind enough to keep me company everywhere I went.

We attended days’ worth of seminars, picnics, icebreaker games, tours, and parties during Welcome Weekend.

Every day we were meeting new people and we heard every kind of advice available.

"Be careful of the freshman fifteen, it’s real,"

"Make sure you eat and drink plenty of fluids, the clear kind,"

"Listen to your professors, they will change your life,"

"If you need help, don't be afraid to ask for it,"

And then, the advice I dreaded the most, "Your social life is just as important as your academic life.Make sure that nothing is holding you back and you're putting yourself out there,"

"What are some things that would hold me back?"I asked.

"Things like, feeling homesick, isolating yourself, or long distance relationships,"they would reply.

I never knew that being in a long distance relationship was such a bad thing, especially in your freshman year of college.

As soon as I told people about it, their reactions were pretty much the same: "High school sweethearts? Aw, that's cute.But long distance relationships don’t work, sweetie,"

Sometimes I felt like smacking these people in the face and saying, "You don’t know my story! You don’t know what lan and I had been through! We're gonna make it!"

But I didn’t wanna look like a lunatic, so I'd just nod politely and smile.

"Don’t listen to these people.I think it’s great that you and lan are doing long distance.It’s the test of true love,"

Sophie winked at me.

Sophie and I had just finished our first week as college freshmen, so we went out to celebrate at this college bar that everyone kept dishing about.

It was a cool bar, it reminded me a lot of the bar in Emory where lan and I first met.

I got all sentimental every time I thought of lan or heard someone mentioned his name.

Quickly pushing the negative thoughts aside, I smiled at Sophie.

"Thanks, Soph, I think so too,"

"Trust me, they're just jealous of what you have.They wish they have someone that loves them and waits for them back home,"Sophie was so sweet.

I felt like I struck gold on the roommate front.She lifted her drink and we clinked glasses.I was smiling at her and she smiled back.

We were having a sisterly moment, when Tristan decided to join us.

"Hey ladies, what are we talking about here?"he asked.

"Tampons,"Sophie replied.

"Okay then,"Tristan grabbed his drink and got up on his feet.

"Just kidding, sit down,"Sophie laughed.

Sophie and Tristan were absolute sibling goals.

They were so similar, yet so different.

Sophie was outspoken while Tristan was soft-spoken.

Sophie was a big extrovert while Tristan was more of an introvert.

Sophie was good at math and numbers, while Tristan was more artistic and he liked literature.

Sophie was a business major while Tristan studied English lit. Content provided by NôvelDrama.Org.

Despite all the differences, it was clear that they loved each other and they were looking out for one another.

As an only child, I couldn't help but feel a little jealous.

"So, who's older between the two of you?"I asked them.

"Me!"Sophie exclaimed proudly.

"By eight minutes and she refused to let me live that down,"

"I’ve learned so much in that eight minutes of my life, little brother, you have no idea,"

Sophie flipped her hair back dramatically.exclaiming, "I know, let’s go to Korea-town!"

Sophie started chanting the word ‘K-town’ as we walked her out of the bar.

Tristan let out a chuckle and he gave me a look.

"I guess we can get some tofu soup.It'll sober you up.What do you say, Emma?"he asked.

"Oh, I don’t know if I could,"Tofu soup in Korea-town sounded great.

Sophie was telling me about how awesome the food in Korea-town was and I was excited to go.

Still, the timing was off.

I checked my phone and saw that it was 11.30 PM.

I promised I was gonna Facetime lan tonight after going to the bar.

He told me we could always Facetime tomorrow, but I wanted to prove to him that he was still a priority in my life, so I insisted on talking tonight.

"Oh come on, roomie, this is tofu soup we're talking about! Let’s go to K-town, pretty please with a cherry on top?"

Sophie was giving me her best puppy dog eyes.

Before I could say anything else, I heard my phone chimed and I checked the screen.

It was a message from lan saying that it was getting late and we should Facetime tomorrow instead.

It was like the universe was throwing me a sign.

lan was right, it was late anyway.

Even if I go home right now and get on Facetime, we'd probably only talk for a couple of minutes before falling asleep.

So, I sighed at the screen and said, "Alright, let's go to Korea-town,"

Korea-town was a lot of fun.

Sophie wasn’t lying about the food either.

I had never had spicy tofu soup and rice cake before, but those were delicious.

After our food, Sophie sobered a little, but then she started ordering soju.

She ordered watermelon soju and that was delicious.

She went right back to drunk Sophie mode in just a matter of seconds.

After leaving the restaurant, we were standing outside trying to hail a cab when Sophie suddenly puked her guts out in the middle of the streets.

I was holding her hair back and Tristan was filming everything, laughing maniacally.

Long story short, no cabs wanted to pick us up after that.

We ended up taking the public bus back at 2 AM.

Sophie had fallen asleep on my shoulder and her feet were up on Tristan’'s lap.

It was an exhausting day and she just checked out.

I had to admit though, I was having a lot of fun.

If this was what college was gonna be like, I had a feeling four years would be a breeze.

Although my first week of college went by so great, I still couldn't help but check my phone from time to time.

I woke up thinking about him and I went to sleep dreaming about him.

I was always missing lan and I was always wondering how he was doing.

Every time we got a chance to talk, we talked nonstop on the phone, but that wasn't the same thing as seeing him in person.

"Is that your boyfriend?"Tristan asked when he saw me playing with my phone.

My lock screen was a picture of lan’s hand in mine.

"Yeah,"I smiled at the picture.

"How's long distance treating you so far?"

"It's not the best experience, but we're doing our best,"

"That's cool,"he nodded.

"You don't think it’s stupid? Most people here would say that I'm just wasting my time,"

"Love is love,"he shrugged.

"You can’t really choose who you fell in love with but you can choose to stay with them or not.You're making a tough and brave choice and I respect that,"

Apart from the announcement for free pizza for the freshman class, that was probably the greatest thing I'd heard all week.

"Thanks, Tristan," I smiled at him, pausing for a moment before asking,

"How about you? Anyone special in your life?"

"Uh..."he trailed and got nervous all of a sudden.

"He’s in love with Monique, everyone knows that,"

Sophie said suddenly.

Her eyes were still closed, but apparently she was awake.

"Shut up,"Tristan hissed.

"Who’s Monique?"I asked.

"She's a girl that went to high school with us.She’s also here in U Penn, but we're not close or anything,"he answered.

"Poor boy's been pining over the same girl for years, Emma, for years,"Sophie wailed her hands dramatically .

"He doesn't wanna admit it, but she’s totally stringing him along,"

"Shut up and go to sleep,"Tristan threw her feet to the ground and Sophie giggled with her eyes still closed.

Throughout the next few blocks, Sophie went on to taunt Tristan about Monique and he was tuning her out completely.

I felt like I was their mom, trying to separate my two kids from murdering each other.

After the bus ride, we walked a few blocks and arrived at our dorm.

Tristan lived on the floor below us, but he walked all the way up with us to help me carry Sophie to our room.

After putting her down on the bed, Tristan said good night and left.

Sophie was snoring as soon as her head hit the pillow.

I let out a soft chuckle before hitting my own bed.

It felt so good to be lying down after this long night we had.

It was almost 3 AM and I knew lan was already asleep, but I still felt like sending him a text.

I wrote to him: I miss you and a heart emoji.

I figured he’d get the text in the morning and it would be a great way to start his day.

I put my phone away and I was trying to sleep, when suddenly I heard my phone buzzing.

The screen read: lan Calling.

"Hello?"

I answered the phone quickly.

His face popped up on my little screen and my heart doubled in size.

"Hey, baby girl, I've missed you too,"his voice sounded like heaven to my ears.

"Hey, why are you still awake?"

"I wasn't,"

"Did I wake you? I’m sorry —"

"No, it's okay.I wanted to hear from you.How was your first week?"

"It's not so bad.I really like my classes, especially Intro to Anthropology.I also met like, hundreds of people each day.My Facebook friends list just blew up.And there’s a bunch of free food everywhere, I love it,"

"That sounds good, looks like you're having fun,"

"lam, but I still miss you like crazy, every single day,"

"Ah, me too,"

"It's great to see you.How are you? How’s Georgia?"

"Boring as hell.This town’s got nothing without you in it,"

"Aw, you're sweet,"I pressed the screen to my forehead, wishing I were doing it to his face instead.

"And you're cute,"he laughed, pressing his forehead to the screen, mimicking me.

"I can't wait to see you on Thanksgiving,"I sighed.

"Me too,"

"It's gonna be great..."

I didn’t remember much of what we talked about after that.

I was so tired and lan was tired too.

We ended up falling asleep in front of each other's faces through the screen.

It was such a sweet moment, not even Sophie’s loud snoring was able to ruin it.

Although it was only through the screen, our love was as real as ever.

I went to sleep smiling that night, knowing full well we made a great choice.