• “What am I to you? What are we? What was your motivation to love me?” I asked with a tear rolling down my cheek. Shane sat opposite of my tear-covered face.
    “Alice, do you even have to ask?” Shane said glancing to me, then to the table. Shane, a young student with stunning looks, is attending a nice university off the coast of Russia, as well. Shane seemed to be the apple of my eye. “What are you to me? Be real. You are my heart, soul, and you are my love. We – we are great together. And the motivation? The motivation is that one day, you and I can be forever.” Shane wiped a tear off my face and smiled. “Now, are we done with the tears?”
    “Mhm,” I said with a brief nod.
    I stood up as soon as he had and scurried off as the other freshmen flooded the room. Quickly keeping pace, Shane appeared to be out of breath. “W-ait up A-a-lice. I thought our fight was over,” Shane said gasping for air.
    “Wrong. Dead wrong.” She said with her hands on her hips. “Your fight is over. Mine is not. “ Anger flooded my heart, and a wicked glare came to my hateful eyes. Shane to here was just another cheating, conniving loser who thought that he could have me as his own as he was with other women.
    “Shane, I’m tired of you. You and your decent little “I’m going to cheat on you now” goodbyes.” I inhaled and Shane quickly braced for more cold remarks. “You’re ignorant, ignorant to the fact that I know that you’re cheating. So you know what here’s a hint, get lost!” I darted away to my dorm, and as far as I knew, he could have just been leaving to see Sherri, his little French “thang” on the other side of campus. “Good riddance!” I mumbled under my breath.
    Quickly, my realization kicked in that I was now single, and tears fled to my eyes. This wasn’t so much as that I wasn’t happy with what I’d done, but as much towards that I didn’t really like the fact that it had been a year since I had last been without another half. I fumbled around in my pocket for my keys as I pricked my finger on a safety pin in my pocket. Mumbling curses under my breath I realized there was a passerby watching me intently, as to have seen something rather fascinating. “Uh, can I help you?” I scoffed, kind of a bit creaped out with this person watching me scavenge around for my keys. “N-no. Um, yeah. Sorry.” The brown haired stranger didn’t hesitate to evade, noticing my eyes looked like the fury was still burning in them, and in all honesty it was.
    This was my second week on campus, and I had yet to complete fill out for my classes. Luckily, the administration office had lent us a couple weeks to settle down and then they’d dismiss us by dorms to choose our electives. My dorm was an off pink-purple, with a chic black cross stripe on one wall. The furniture we had was rather casual, a bean-bag here and there, and a cheap television, with a nice single bed. Getting back from this break up left me tensed, and truthfully, slightly insecure. So brilliantly, I decided a nice long shower would be best.
    The water was wonderful and very comforting, but all good things have to eventually come to an end. The water shifted to a decent 98 degrees to a horrid 50 degrees in a matter of seconds. Shrieking, I jumped out of the shower and scrambled for my towel, knocking over a box of hair bands, complements of the dorm administration. From bad to horribly worse. Then to top this off, my sleaze-bag ex decides it’s still okay to call. Picking up the phone with bitterness I chirped into the phone, “Nope,” and that was that.
    After heading to sleep, morning quickly squeezed in, dragging its memories of yesterday back into my thoughts. And to think today was the day I was going to be choosing out my classes. Yeah, great idea. Quickly, I tossed on a pair of black slacks and then tugged on my white T-shirt, and pranced out the door.
    “Great, class enrollment,” I complained. Pulling up the pen I stared at the classes. Art, yes. Gym, no. Advanced trigonometry, good lord no! Combat classes, heck yeah! Surprised and astonished at the class for fighting being listed, I began to wonder what purpose or use it would ever serve. Oh well, easy A I guess.
    “So is that it, Miss Morozov?” Mrs. Rai asked with a perk of curiousity. I nodded. “ You’re in for a tough year, Alisa. These classes you chose are pretty difficult. Shakespearean classes? Algebra? Oh my!” She said, as if to be thinking I was crazy.
    “Yeah, I’m good.” I mumbled as she tucked my class requests into a giant file.
    Sign ups were done and what else did I have to do on a boring April night. Pacing away to the park, I saw an area of birds flying through the sky, as a gentle breeze caressed my face. The giant trees lurched over my head and all I could manage to think about was the amount of trouble I had been through since I had shown up on this colleges door step.
    Now back at my dorm room, I was beginning to unwind for a day of classes ahead of me. Pulling on my shorts and tank top, I slid into my bed and closed my eyes. The clock ticked. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Sleep eventually embraced as if to have being a long, lost, and very deserted friend.
    Once again, the morning seemed to have arrived just a little too early. “Gracefully” awaking, I slammed my hand against the beige alarm clock. My wardrobe, as always, was plain and basic. Pulling out my best pair of jeans, which weren’t all that great due to torn patches, were my choice. Along with that I chose a daft little shirt with a panda on it. So, how much more foolish could I look?
    Stepping out of my cheery room, which was completely irrelevant to my mood since the break up, I realized how boring my college experience would be. What else can I say? I was a weak 5’ 5” and was under the weight category of average, not very busty, nor very tan, along with short black brown hair that didn’t even show off my neon green eyes. I’m simply a plain girl in a college full of bigger, better fish.
    First class of the year, oh boy! Letting out a sigh that was useless, I reluctantly trudged to my Algebra class. Mrs. Barge stood at the door offering friendly I’m-going-to-be-so-boring-you’ll-just-die smile.
    Taking my seat, I quickly realized that nobody was familiar. “Today class, we shall study the binomial formulas just as a recap, today. And so the class continued on “Okay class, this is the end of our discussion for today. Remember not to leave your notes in your rooms. Clumsiness is an F.” Mrs. Barge then bid her class ado and opened the door for the anxious class to leave.
    “Miss Morozov, wonderful to see you are attending this class,” Mr. McElroy tried to charm. “Now take your seats class, Shakespeare doesn’t agree with tardiness.”
    The class began, and at least Mia was in my class this time. Mia, a close friend of mine, whose hair was a light blond and her personality gent, was a great person. Then, another face flashed through my mind. The stranger that I had a run in with the other night was sitting a decent ten seats away from me. It was amazing how small of a world this was, and how crammed I was in it.
    “Into pairs now, chop, chop.” Mr. McElroy Beckoned.
    Taking my place next to Mia, we quickly began to discuss the great tragedies of ‘Romeo and Juliet.’ “And therefore, Romeo was a backstabbing, naïve, heartless, loser with absolutely no taste what-so-ever.” I ended my discussion with burning hate I had conspiring in my own mind of Shane.
    “Alice, are you okay? You seem a little… how can I put this gently…. Psycho? Rude? No that doesn’t cover it… oh now I have the word! Hurt.” Mia said with a caring look plastered across her face.
    “I-I’m fine. Shane and I had a little fight, and I decided he wasn’t my type.” After I had uttered out the words so calmly, I had almost wanted to suck them back in and spit back out rude biting comments about him. Mia looked shocked.
    “Really?!” She questioned. “But, you guys were together for like a solid year!”
    “Girls, we are supposed to be talking about Juliet’s tragedies, not your own.” The teacher scolded.
    Class was finally over, and now on to something a little more fun… and stress relieving at that. Combat classes seemed like a wonderfully pleasant idea to this moment, and I was truly ready to shoot off steam. I mean come on how hard could throwing a few punches and kicks be?
    Walking into class like the toughest was probably the worst idea. People twice my size stood over me as I was a guppy. Once again my feeling of my inferiority was sneaking back into view.
    “Okay class,” A familiar voice began. “We will be studying a series of skills that could one day save your lives. And I truly do advise you to listen.”
    Once again, there the stranger stood, petit yet fairly large. “I will break you off into groups with other teachers of this profession. Collagen to Mr. Lance; Rictvoy to Ms. Sanstray;” One by one the groups were chosen leaving me last to the list. “And Miss Mozerov to your truly, Mr. Vincent Vladimir.” Mr. Vladimir humbly did a little stage-left-bow, which was clearly unneeded.
    Now my epiphany of bad ideas were seeping into my brain. Good God, why did I join this class?! “Miss Morozov, what are you doing?” Mr. Vladimir asked with a sarcastic tinge.
    “I’m fighting you, just like you told me to.” I hissed back.
    “Who taught you to fight, a gorilla?” He darted back.
    “Are you one to talk, are you not just about the same age as me?” I shot back, along with if-looks-could-kill-you-than-this-would glare.
    “Indeed, I am a junior to this college, and I am your teacher. Sorry Miss Morozov, I do believe you should talk with a little more respect. Better yet, continue on fighting the way you are.” Mr. Vladimir challenged.
    And so I did, punch; kick; block; block. Nothing was working, again and again he blocked and eventually threw in a devastating kick to my stomach, sending me flying. Grunting and gasping for air, a tear came to my eye.
    Mr. Vladimir danced over to me with a smug grin. “I told you, if you do not correctly fight, you will be and easy target to take out.” Holding out his hand he offered peace.
    “Didn’t I see you the other day near my dorm?” I asked in curiosity, as well with belittling thoughts that I had once thought he was rather meek, but apparently not.
    “Yes, why?” He asked with a blissful sparkle in his eye that seemed to mock me.
    “I was curious” I said while throwing out my foot to attempt an attack. But once again Mr. Vladimir caught my foot and his grin widened.
    “Are we done yet” He asked slightly twisting my foot teasingly.
    “N-no!” I said jolting my foot forward, then twist. Falling flat on my butt, I just sat.
    “Fight me then! Come on! Don’t be weak!” He said pushing me back, almost showing no effort but sending me so far.
    Great, the soreness was already kicking in.
    Almost, as if to be VERY bipolar, Mr.Vladimir offered me his hand for help up.
    "Mmmno," I said sticking my chin upward as if to be a stuck up prissy prep.
    Mr.Vladimir looked down at me with that same psycodic look as if to be intending on a menacing, epic battle. "Well then, we shall have it that way. Apparently you don't want to know how to fight properly." His extended hand turned into a hateful fist. Pulling back his hand he snickered and sneered at me.
    Jumping up expecting a beating to dart in my direction, he simply just walked away. "W-what?" I stuttered.
    "Miss Morozov, I am sure as I am certain there is air that I am not going to waste my time with you if you aren't willing"
    For some reason his words echoed in my head and slammed deeply into my heat. "You- you-" I said with a deathic glare as I leaped up and slammed my fist into his ribs.
    "That's right little lamb," Mr. Vladimir said slamming his open palm into my stomach knocking the breath out of me. "Are you done?"
    Gasping for air, I nodded. As before he held out a peace offering. Taking his hand he hoisted me up from the ground, due to the fact that I was in a form of a kneeling position trying to refill my lungs.
    Before the class had ended, Mr. Vladimir taught me almost every flaw in my, as he'd say, trash-fighting style.
    With a loud whistle, Mr. Vladimir called the classes attention. "Class is over." Looking over at me almost immediatly as the words escaped his mouth he nodded toward the exit. "Run little lamb, run," he whispered with a smile.
    As he predicted, I booked it out of the field. That crazy little rat was leading on a show with me in the hallway, I thought to myself. Walking under the canopy of trees I darted the dormatory a almost relieved look.
    Entering my room, I heard ample amounts of giggles escaping from my room. "Uh.... hello?" I whispered as I opened the door.
    "Oh, uh... hi." The tall blond girl chirped in almost a disgusted tone. "Do you need something?"
    Trying to avoid the rude remarks I could've made, I muttered, "Yeah I do. I want to know what you're doing in my room."
    Holding up a pair of underwear and folding it away into one of the empty dressers she hissed, " You're room? No hun, this is my room."
    Great, one of those kinds. And when I say those kinds I mean the 'I'm so pretty, aren't I so pretty? Tell me I'm pretty while I stroke my glossy hair' I thought to myself. "So your who I'm bunking with?" I said trying to seem thrilled to have a new roommate.
    "Yeah," she said, not even returning the kindness of false enjoyment. She simply just stared at my untamed hair. "You, uh, have a little... something in your hair" She said through chuckles pointing at a "battle twig" that was hiding in my hair.
    Pulling the remains of the greenary out of my hair, I danced over to the shower. Turning on the hot water, I pulled off my clothes and stepped in. At first, the warm water trickled down my bruised and tattered body but then almost instantly the hot water turned into freezing drops paralyzing my body. With a loud shriek, I leaped out of the shower and draped the robe over my shoulders and trudged out of the bathroom to glare at my wonderful roommate. "You-" I growled as she turned off the sink water that she was using to wash off a lightbulb.
    "Oh, oops, did I ruin your shower. Sorry, I just cant stand a dusty lighbulb," She said with a ditsy grin. "So, anyways, now that your out, I'm Aleah." She chirped.
    "Yeah, I'm Alisa," I muttered with a groan.
    After her nod of "approval" I walked into me bedroom and reached into my dresser and ripped out a pair of matching black shorts and a tanktop. Tugging on my clothes, I heard a light wrapping on the door.
    "I've got it!" Aleah yelled as I could hear the clinking of her unlatching the door. "Oh! Hey, Mr. Vladimir. 'Whatcha need?" Aleah asked shoving her hand into a bag of chips.
    "Is Alisa here?" He asked with a sense of indifferent to her mind-as-well-be half nakedness.
    Offended, Aleah pulled a hoodie over her mini-shirt. "Yeah, whatever."
    Stepping in, Mr. Vladimir chuckled at the soaked lightbulb and the trail of water leading away from the bathroom. "Alisa, deary, could this little mess here be yours?" He said between muffled laughs.
    Slightly embarassed, I pranced out of my room and glared at Aleah. "Yeah, kind of." I said releasing a chuckle, I mean hey, apparently my life is now going to be an act to impress. "So, what are you doing here," I asked without really thinking about the way it sounded.
    "Ohh, I guess you're still a little distraut from my improper actions earlier," He said looking into my eyes as he idly twirled his hair around his finger. As my face turned a off pink he then struck an odd proposition, "Alisa dear, would you care to leave this monstrocity called a dorm?"
    "But-" I didn't have a chance to finish my sentence before Aleah was cramming us out through the doorway.
    "Have fun!" Aleah yelled, and then mumbled "Don't come back."
    Walking under a canopy of trees, the moonlight shimmered on the pond in the park area, and the stars twinkled and reflected off of my hair. I glanced up and caught a small glimpse of his violet eyes, which were now a mock of mine. I couldn't imagine what he was seeing in my eyes. Then finally he joked, "You have one seriously blond roommate."
    "Yeah, no dip. She is completely idiotic and rude." For that moment I felt as if I had thrown myself off the planet, because I was never one to really spit coments like that.
    "Well you're here now and not there. " For the first time got this safe arua to radiate off of him and though the moment was short lived it was a sense of victory. Then almost as quickly he brought it, he removed it, "You were rather stubborn today, Miss Morozov." His gentle look turned into a challenging glare.
    I turned away, because I had suddenly relized why he wanted to talk. "So this is what our walk is about? So you can critique my "horrible" fighting?!" My voice rose an octave due to my gutsyness drifting into sudden shyness and sorrow.
    "No- that's not what I was getting at," Mr. Vladimir said cupping my chin in his icy hands. "You were the first student to test my patience. The first that had the guts to actually defy."
    His stare was so passionate it burned, and I was dying to look away but his hands were unmovable. "Why are you doing this to me Mr. Vladimir?" I whispered trying to pull away and once more failing.
    "It's Vincent, and because I can," he whispered onto my ear, but almost seeming to be built with surround sound because it echoed to the other side.
    Becoming dizzy by his intoxicating voice, I began to sway in his hand. "Because- because you can...." I chuckled weakly as I got lost in his purple shaded eyes.
    He laughed in reply and released me and then said, "Till tomorrow, Alisa." Then he simply sauntered away.
    Turning on my heels, I began to walk sleepily toward a bench that looked ever so inviting. When arriving at the bench, I glanced down and saw a gorgeous rose. A blue rose with a black ribbon tied around it. Gently picking it up, I walked back to my dormatory in a trance and pushed the rosed delecately into a vase.
    As soon as my droopy head hit the pillow, I was out and I was off to a land of slumber.