Help Me Find It

October 2029 - Britechester, Illinois
University of Britechester - Charlotte Craig is 19 (freshman), Adam Smith is 19 (freshman)

University life is nothing like Charlotte has known before now. It feels like she’s a lifetime away from her parents and the small cities she knows. The university by itself is like a new town. There are so many people that Charlotte can barely keep up with which ones are her instructors.

One of her classmates, Jazlyn, has befriended Charlotte. She’s a freshman too and from San Myshuno, so she says Britechester is a completely different world.

But they do have one thing in common: it feels like a completely different world being on your own without parents overseeing every little thing you do.

“Want to go watch the football players practice for the game?” Jazlyn asks. “A lot of them are really nice to look at.” She grins wide and winks.

Charlotte laughs. “Wish I could, but I promised Adam I’d help him understand today’s lesson in our Always Be Celling class.”

“Are you sure you two aren’t really dating?” Jazlyn asks. “You spend a lot of time together.”

“We’re just friends. It’s a whole different world here, so it’s nice to have someone familiar hanging around.”

Jazlyn doesn’t look convinced as she smirks across the table at her. “Uh-huh. Just keep talking like that and maybe one day I’ll believe you.”

Charlotte finds Adam in the dining area of the main building at the university. Her stomach growls so she grabs some pizza and sits down with him.

“Did you even bring your books?” she asks.

“I have my notes,” Adam says. He pats his pocket. “Right there.”

“Folded up and written in your messy handwriting?”

He shrugs. “I can read it just fine, so I don’t think it’s messy.”

A girl from one of their classes, Charlotte doesn’t even have an idea of her name, comes over and smiles at Adam. “Hey,” she says. “Mind if I join you?”

Before he can say anything, Charlotte snaps, “Of course we mind. Some of us are actually going to study.”

She stomps away, glaring at Charlotte. Adam raises his eyebrows. “I thought you wanted me to make friends like normal people do?”

“I don’t want your friend to be someone whose only goal is to take your attention away from studying.”

Charlotte gets up to throw the rest of her pizza away, no longer wanting to eat with all the annoyance in her stomach. But when she comes back to the table, the girl is there again, along with someone else from their classes. Adam is talking to them as he finishes his pizza.

Charlotte lets out a loud huff and grabs her notebook. “Study on your own,” she says. “I’m going where it’s quiet and I can actually concentrate.”

Adam tries to work on his class assignments after Charlotte abandons him.

But his brain just isn’t putting it all together. He didn’t know college classes would be this confusing to him!

***

Charlotte goes out to one of the debate club events on campus.

She really wants to join, so she tries to make a good impression on the other people there. But some of them tell her she’s doing nothing but distracting them from the debate.

So instead she watches the debate quietly, observing everything the people at the podiums do to argue their point. When it’s over she immediately rushes over to one of the team members who had been at the podium.

“You did a great job,” she tells him. “You really argued your point well.”

He’s honored that she would have such a good impression of his arguments. He invites Charlotte to sit with him and watch the rest of the debates, and gives her the offer to join the debate team. Charlotte accepts immediately, thrilled at the chance to join in.

***

Charlotte is busy with a class assignment when one of her dormmates sits down next to her.

“Hey,” he says.

“Hey,” she greets him.

“I’ve been watching you around here,” he says. Charlotte can’t even remember his name, though he introduced himself the first day the dorm opened for students. “I thought maybe you could skip the homework and we could hang out somewhere.”

“I have a lot of work to do,” she tells him. “I don’t want to get behind in my assignments.”

The guy snorts. “So what? You’re one of those geeky girls who doesn’t know how to have fun? College is about letting loose now that your parents aren’t around.”

“I’m not uptight,” Charlotte says. “But college isn’t all about partying and hookups.”

The guy rolls his eyes at her and leaves, heading toward one of their other female dormmates. She knows he just wanted someone to hookup with in his bed, but she does feel a stab of rejection. Maybe she is being too much of a college loser. She hasn’t even been to a party.

Adam asks Charlotte to give her honest opinion on the poster he had to make for one class.

“Um, well…it’s kind of…messy. Did you draw that by hand? You could probably find some pictures online to show your point.”

“So you’re saying it looks like a kid did it with crayons,” Adam says.

Charlotte shrugs. “You asked for my opinion.”

Adam doesn’t like her opinion, but maybe she’s right. So when she’s gone he starts back to work, trying to make it all look good enough for an A.

***

College life is not what Charlotte had hoped for. She thought maybe it was a time to really enjoy herself, now that she was away from her parents’ watchful eyes.

But it’s exhausting, more than she had ever imagined it would be.

When she talks to her mom, she tries to sound as if everything is great. But it’s hard, especially those days she had that strange itch take over her face and neck. No way was she giving her mom something else to worry about.

Charlotte just doesn’t know if she can make it through this first year so far from everything she’s always known.

When she goes to bed, she looks at the pictures of her parents that she put right next to the bed. And she holds back the tears, trying to convince herself that she can make it.

***

“Nice to see you actually working on something,” Charlotte says when she meets up with Adam at Pepper’s Pub.

“I’m always working on something,” Adam tells her with a pretend enthusiasm. “It might not be school related, but always something.”

“Yeah, like meeting up with girls around campus?” Charlotte asks.

Adam raises his hands. “I don’t need to meet your approval.”

Ethan laughs as he approaches the table. “You two are so much amusement to watch. We should meet up more often.”

Charlotte lets out a grunt as she looks at Adam. “No, thank you.”

Adam smiles. “She always enjoys my presence.”

“Keep telling yourself that,” Charlotte says. “Go ahead and live in the fantasies in your head.”

***

As much as Charlotte tries to make it look like she’s got everything under control, she still struggles.

As does Adam, even if he won’t admit it to Charlotte. But even though he’s sitting on the other side of the common room, a wall in between them, he still hears her trying to hold back the sniffling and sighs, evidence of the hard times she’s going through. And as much as he tells himself that she keeps pushing him away, he knows he needs to help her relax and move past all the worries in her head.

So he lets out a loud sigh and then stands up from the computer, headed over to her side of the common room.

***

Charlotte and Adam place a quick order at the food stand in the common area outside the dorms. The cook only grunts in response, but gets their plates to them quickly, grunting again when they pay.

“You didn’t have to bring me out here and buy me some food,” Charlotte says when they sit down.

Adam shrugs. “You look like you need a break. And I’m hungry.”

Charlotte sighs, letting out the frustration and worries that have been building inside her these last few months. “It’s a lot harder than I thought it would be. I don’t even have time to go out to the parties around campus. I’m studying all the time, feeling rushed to get all my work done.”

“It’s your first semester,” Adam tells her. “You’ll figure it all out soon and things will get better.”

Charlotte gives him a small smile. “I hope so.” She pauses, then adds, “Thanks for being a friend, even if I have fussed at you about everything.”

“My parents fuss at me all the time,” Adam says, waving one hand as if to brush her words away. “I can always use a little kick in the behind to get me going.”

After they eat, Charlotte makes Adam follow her over to the area marked off for attempts at painting the university square.

“I don’t paint,” Adam tells her.

Charlotte grins. “I don’t either. But we can try.”

So they grab two of the cans of spray paint nearby and begin their display of artwork, both of them painting anywhere they choose without a plan in place.

They are quiet as they do so, but neither one complains about being so close to each other, neither one complaining about what the other is doing.

It’s late when they finally spray the last of the paint on the university courtyard. Charlotte smiles as she looks over their artwork. “Perfection,” she says. “A masterpiece.”

Adam raises his eyebrows at her. “A mess of random painting.”

“Haven’t you ever been to a museum? That’s what a lot of masterpieces are.”

Adam shrugs. “I’m not really an art person.” But he looks at her, taking in the smile and happy look on her face. “So are you feeling more relaxed about everything now?”

Charlotte smiles wider. “Very. Thanks.”

———–

Well, Charlotte managed to pass but poor Adam is on probation! Still part of my early attempt at university last year and trying to learn what exactly needed to be done to earn that passing grade. Oh well, try again next semester.

Charlotte is so exhausted trying to keep up with classes and assignments! She and Adam are taking three classes, which I realized is not much easier than Ethan’s experience with four classes. After this, I definitely went down to just two!

I like the fireworks shooting up when the schools play against each other.