Looking up, the foyer was awfully tall. Chlo felt
terribly small. This was going to be
very different than high school.
High school wasn't kind to Chloe Stratton. She wasn't
a smart kid or a cool kid. She didn't have a particular talent; she wasn't
sporty in any way. She was, however, a lonely kid, a side-lined kid. College,
she had hoped, was going to be very different.
However, she had that gnawing feeling in the pit of
her stomach. As she looked around the mall like atrium of her new college, and
she feared that she would be lost, too, in this vast place. She could feel her
lower lip starting to tremble with nerves. "I must not cry here," she thought to
herself. That would never do for a first day.
"Hey." Someone stepped up beside her, and she nearly
jumped out of her skin. "You look lost. Are you new?"
"Yes, it's my first day. This place is awfully big".
The newcomer laughed. "You'll get used to it. It's not
as big as it looks. I'm Janey. What's your name?"
"Chloe," she said. "But I prefer Chlo."
"Cool name. I like your hair. Looks like candyfloss.
My mum'd never let me do that".
Chlo's mum hadn't been too keen either when Chlo had
dyed the tub a hot pink in her attempt to put on a cooler face for the next
phase of her life. But she had acquiesced. She knew that changes were coming.
"Yeah, she's
pretty cool, sometimes. Hey, can you help me find my class? I have no clue
where I'm going."
"Sure, what's your class?"
"Lemme check," she looked down at the timetable she was
clutching. "Art first, then English."
"Cool, the art block is this way. Lucky you, I'm heading
there too. I'm second year Art history."
Chloe used the walk to get to know Janey a little.
Janey was a year older, with long, slightly unruly dark brown hair which she wore
in a loose plait with a heavy fringe. She wore round lensed glasses with
plastic tortoiseshell frames. She was dressed in a very bohemian way, in
browns, greens, and mustard yellows. Her full plump lips were stained with a cherry
red lip tint, and she smelled earthy, like bare fields after a sudden summer
downpour.
"Patchouli oil. Do you like it?" she replied when Chlo
asked about her scent.
"Yes, where'd you get it?"
"A little place in town. I can show you after college
if you want?"
"Yeah, I'd like that."
Janey pushed open the door to a much older, shabbier
building than the shiny new foyer had been. The interior smelled of drying clay
and fresh paint.
"This is us. Art block. I think this is your studio", Janey
pointed to a door. "Because the other one is mine. Catch you later?"
"Sure," Chlo replied.
