Y1 – Lessons in Self-Confidence

Adelaide took me by force as soon as I walked up the stairs. She linked our arms together as she began to pull me to her bedroom… I know how bad that sounds, but it was nothing scandalous!

I walked into Adelaide’s room, where she began a brand new painting and slowly started to speak to me. Honestly, I was scared about what Adelaide was going to say to me because I didn’t want her to be annoyed at me because I made her the student head.

“Noah, why did you do it?” Adelaide asked me while she continued her painting, “The Student Head thing?”

I was not sure exactly why I did it, but I knew it had something to do with Adelaide having more confidence in herself. She shuts herself away from everyone, hardly speaks and never says what’s truly on her mind unless she’s with one or two people.

“You need to grow some balls.” I replied to Adelaide and she immediately turned around to me.

“Excuse me?” Adelaide remarked before continuing her painting. If I was determined to get her out of her shell, I had to hit her with something very painful. The truth.

“You heard what Bobbi said back then! You’re too timid. Do you really want to live the rest of your University years inside of this bedroom talking to only me and maybe another person? Do you really not want to experience what it feels like to have a community of friends who are here to support you?” I told Adelaide and her paintbrush stopped in place.

Before the paint dripped, she placed it back into a pot and she seemed to actually give what I was telling her some thought. I wondered what was going through her mind, what she was thinking about. She turned her head slightly towards me and smiled.

“No.” Adelaide answered.

“Really?!” I instantly replied. I was so proud of Adelaide, she’s taking that first step towards breaking out of her shell and becoming part of a wider community. I think she’s ready to open the door.

“Really. But I do have a condition.” Adelaide requested, and then took a deep breath and then said it. “You have to be with me. Every step of the way.”

I guess that implies that she’s only comfortable with talking to other people while I’m around? I’m completely fine with hanging out with Adelaide while she gains some confidence in herself. She turned around after that and continued on with her painting once more.

“So… when do you want to start this?” Adelaide asked for the third time as she applied some paint to the canvas. I was too distracted by her painting to hear her for the first two times, and as soon as I snapped out of it, I replied to her.

“Oh! Whenever you want to! Sorry, I’m just really intrigued by your painting.” I replied and she giggled, and then walked over and sat by me.

“Well, you’re just going to have to wait to see what it is.” Adelaide continued to giggle and then looked at me with a look that implied she was torturing me.

“No fair! But, I guess I can’t rush creativity.” I laughed, and I noticed that Adelaide’s facial expressions seem to speak louder than her words. But, they’re funny from time to time!

“I have an idea!” Adelaide shouted out, but then quieted down as the sentence went on. She was probably surprised at how loud she spoke.

“What is it?” I asked her and she pointed to her camera over on her desk.

“We should take a picture, to commemorate the first day of… of… what do we call this?” Adelaide replied and after that, the name sprang to the both of us like a lightning bolt of creativity.

“Lessons in Self-Confidence!” We both said to each other at the same time, and then we both laughed. Adelaide and I then rose up from our seats and positioned ourselves in front of her camera, and we both gave our widest smiles.

“Freezer Bunnies!” We both said to get a nice smile and Adelaide took the picture, after it printed out, she hung it on her wall with one of her nice frames.

“Do you just have frames in your bedroom?” I asked and she odded her head.

“Yeah, I usually buy them in bulk for half the year before ordering another bulk for the rest.” Adelaide responded and I nodded my head in understanding.

“Gotta admit, I do look pretty great in that photo.” I said to Adelaide and she laughed.

“Right. So, what’s first?” Adelaide asked and I wondered what we could do. I looked out of Adelaide’s window to find Bobbi at the barbeque bar outside.

“Let’s go outside!” I dragged Adelaide out with me to the Barbeque bar, where Bobbi was busy mopping the ashes off the floor after there was an accidental fire here last night. Apparently, our dorm is being haunted by a fire ghost.

“Did the fire ghost strike again?” I asked Bobbi and she nodded her head as she mopped the floor.

“Luckily, it didn’t harm much, so the acoustics here weren’t damaged.” Bobbi replied and she looked up at me and Adelaide. “Oh, you’re not alone.”

“Nope, Adelaide 2.0 is here with us and she’s got a lot more confidence!” I smiled and Bobbi nodded her head.

“Mmkay. Well, I’ve got to get going, see ya later.” Bobbi waved goodbye before leaving me and Adelaide by ourselves.

“Say Goodbye to Bobbi, that’s part one.” I instructed Adelaide and she shook her head. But, I nudged her a little and after a minute, she turned around and smiled.

“Goodbye to Bobbi.” She said, although I wasn’t sure if Bobbi actually heard it. And then I realised what Adelaide had said and we both burst into laughter.

“Let’s go into the living room.” I suggested before laughing and as we walked back in, I noticed some paintings outside and I pointed them out to Adelaide. “Did you paint those?”

“Nope! That man… Elder Wolff! He came and painted those when he was out looking for his children. They really do speak out to me though.” Adelaide looked at the paintings with a huge smile.

“Purple Day.” I said to Adelaide and she nodded her head. We both went inside to the living room where the pair of us then sat down together.

It was pretty awkward at first because we didn’t know exactly what to say to each other, so we pretty much just sat together in total silence.

“Have you ever heard of the name game?” Adelaide asked Noah and he turned his head.

“Nope, what is it?” I replied, interested in what this name game is going to turn out to be.

“Noah.” Adelaide smiled.

“Yeah?” I asked and she laughed, and laughed.

“Silly, it’s part of the game. Just be quiet while I do this.” She smiled as she started over once more.

“Noah. Noah Noah bo Boah, banana fana fo Foah, fe fi mo Moah. Noah!” Adelaide told me and I clapped my hands. This name game actually sounds pretty fun to do!

“Where did you even learn this?” I asked her and she shrugged her shoulders.

“It’s one of the things I picked up over the years.” That is seriously so cool. I never knew that Adelaide had so many interesting things about her, and I never knew that she could make a rhyme out of anybody’s name!

“Adelaide!” I shouted.

“Adelaide Adelaide bo Badelaide, banana fana fo Fadelaide, fe fi mo Madelaide. Adelaide! Okay, it does sound a bit weird.” I laughed and Adelaide joined in too.

“My name doesn’t sound weird, until YOU put it in the name game!” She laughed. “Thanks.”

“For what? Making a mess of your name?”

“No. For giving me the chance to open myself up to everyone.” She smiled as we continued to talk on throughout the entire night.