The Beautiful Monster

After psychology and general microbiology, organic chemistry was her last class of the day. Paired with its three-hour lab, she dragged herself out of the classroom at around four o\'clock that day. Even if all of her classes just went over the syllabus or one little PowerPoint presentation, it was still a lot of information to absorb.

She also had two more classes to attend for the first time tomorrow, which was more to add to her workload. She hoped she could find the motivation that she needed to get through this semester and tackle all of the work coming her way. She couldn\'t stumble and fall in her second year. She had many left to go through.

Psychology would definitely be a cushion for her GPA because microbiology and organic chemistry threatened to squash it with all of their hard work and exams. She already knew that she would have to study more than she ever had before to pass those classes, but she would be one step closer to getting her bachelor\'s.

This was nothing compared to the hell that medical school would be, but it was the hell that she preferred, as opposed to going back home. At least she could possibly make a difference going through all of this.

Her goal was to be a pediatrician and to help children. She had come to realize how important her childhood years were. They were so formative, so influential. Great care and open conversations were so important, and she got the mediocre version of both. She wanted to be better for other children.

Alyssa walked into the main building on campus, which had the bookstore, a few fast food places, the cafeteria, and a study lounge. Students crisscrossed through the building, rushing to class or finding something to eat. It was the hub for everyone.

She figured she could grab a bite to eat in the cafeteria with her meal plan before heading back to her dorm to work on her planner. Keeping organized made her feel as calm as she could possibly make herself. It was a good distraction too as so many other girls on her same hallway hung out with their friends or got ready to go out and have fun.

She needed a friend. College was one part of her very long life, and she didn\'t want it to be totally miserable. She wanted to tease at the outskirts of her comfort zone. A little. Nothing crazy. She just wanted to make memories, and it was hard to do that on her own.

If she told her parents this, they would just scoff and tell her to go talk to people. That was how to make friends. Alyssa wished she could make them understand that it was far harder than that. People hardly went out of their way to talk to strangers anymore. It was odd. She wouldn\'t be able to explain that to them, though.

Alyssa swiped her card at the entrance of the large cafeteria before heading inside. Many tables were full of people who sat with their friends or partners. Smaller tables were against the back wall for people eating alone. That was where she\'d be at.

There was so much to choose from in the cafeteria that she had a hard time deciding on what to eat. There was pizza, comfort food, salad, sushi, vegetarian food, and burgers. She opted for a crab roll at the sushi station. After grabbing a glass of strawberry Fanta to drink, she walked to the last small table along the wall and sat down to get started on her early dinner.

That side of the cafeteria was fairly empty. She popped her earbuds into her ears and put some music on while she grappled with her sushi with her chopsticks. At least the food here was good. With the melodic sound of guitar in her ears, she ate alone, not even bothering to notice anything around her until she spotted a flash of black.

Alyssa glanced up to see a slightly older guy sit down at one of the small tables a few feet away from her. Usually, she\'d go about her business, but something about him captured her attention. Maybe it was because he was incredibly cute.