Y2 – Sophmore

You know, when I returned back to Greenwood in the fall, I never expected everything to look exactly the same. Apparently, the workmen had to delay their work on the kitchen for a week and– Wait a second, I haven’t even returned yet and I’m acting like I’m already there! Haha.

The car rolled up onto the driveway as I opened the door and got out, I waved to my sister as she drove off once again. Leah had a competition to get to and she only drove me because it was on the way to her competition. I breathed in the fresh air around me as the familiar scents of Greenwood came back to me. I was back, with a brand new look and a brand new me.

I noticed just after I turned around that there was another girl walking down towards the dorm. I had never seen her before, and she was just the right age to be a student. Maybe she’s the new student that’s supposed to be coming into our school this year. She’s studying the Culinary Major, right?

She seemed really nice, with her hair tied up into two small pony tails, and her striped blue and white t-shirt. Although, I hoped that she packed some clothes for the winter because it was going to get REALLY cold here soon. If not, maybe someone can lend her something or we could all go clothes shopping together! Okay Noah, stop. You sounded like a girl.

Nevertheless, I thought that girl would be awesome!

 “Hey you, over there!” I called out to the girl before she turned around to face me. I quickly caught up to her as we shuffled to the side near a tree and I smiled towards her as we dived right into the conversation. “Hi! I’m Noah Chung and I’m going to assume that you’re staying in Greenwood Dormitory too. You must be the new Culinary Major student, right?”

“You’re right at that. Oh! You live in this dormitory too? That’s splendid. Name’s Emma Lockhart by the way. Do you know what room I’m staying in?” She asked me and I nodded my head.

“You’re on the top floor, with your room next to the Dean’s. She’ll show you around when she’s here. OH! Don’t approach her if she comes home before 9pm on Wednesdays, it means her blind date didn’t go well.”

“Thanks for the info, I’ll be sure to follow it! How’re you feeling today?”

“I’m feeling excited, it’s been two months since I’ve seen everyone and we’re all adults now and it’s exciting! I need to widen my vocabulary, I can’t keep saying exciting all the time.”

“I’m excited, nervous and a bit nauseous at the same time. Haha! It’s just, I don’t know how everyone in this University will treat me and I’m scared that if I don’t deliver the right impression then I’m doomed.” Emma looked down to the ground but I took her chin and lifted her face to face me.

She reminded me of myself last year, where I was so nervous about meeting everyone and didn’t no one even knew. I made myself feel confident and I took that new beginning as the chance to reinvent myself.

“Show everyone you. Be yourself, show them who you are. You’re a culinary major right? Well, we’re probably having a Greenwood Gathering tonight, so bake something for us. Everyone loved the cupcakes you baked last year, so how about baking something new?” I advised Emma and a bright smile appeared across her face.

“I’ll make something! But, what’s a Greenwood Gathering?”

“It’s basically a dorm meeting, Adelaide Gibson leads it and we just speak. It’s a great way to remain close as a dorm.” I smiled at Emma and she smiled right back at me.

“Thank you so much for helping me. I’m going to get going inside now! See you soon!” Emma thanked before she headed inside of the grand doors into Greenwood Dormitory. I could even hear her gasp when she looked around. I remember I did that!

I quickly got inside and ran upstairs to my bedroom, and boy was I surprised. I put down my suitcases by my bed and I made sure I was silent because someone was sleeping on my bed. Although, looking at his bleach blond hair, I could tell that it was Neil. How long had he been waiting for me that he fell asleep?

I tip-toed over to my bed and poked Neil several times before he turned to face my direction.

“Neil. Neeeeeeeil. NEIL, GET UP!” I shouted before Neil flinched awake on my bed and got up, he looked around before looking right into my nose. “What, do you want me to smell your face?”

“What? No Noah, I don’t want to smell your face. Wait a second, Noah? NOAH!” Neil shouted as he wrapped his arms around me, and I did the same. I missed my best friend, and I could tell that he missed me as well.

 “How have you been, bro?” I asked Neil as we hugged. We both split apart before he answered me.

“I’ve been great! My family are good, and my brothers are slowly recovering from their defeat in The Bachelorette. How about you, how was your holiday?”

“Same old, same old. I just spent it away from my parents again. Although, I was forced to attend a few family events I didn’t want to be a part of. Oh well, life happens.” I laughed and Neil scratched his head.

“Well clearly, you got something new as well. New jumper, new hair, new piercings!”

“Yeah, I let my hair grow throughout the Summer and I bought some new clothes for the autumn too! I hope you have warm clothes, it’s going to get really cold soon.” I warned Neil before he nodded his head.

“Of course I don’t!” We both laughed, I really missed Neil’s sense of humour.

“Oh! Do you know that the kitchen’s construction has been delayed because of scheduling? It’ll be constructed from tomorrow.” Neil mentioned.

“Yeah, I know. It’s really really sad. Although, there’s more chance that our Dean will order us food!” I celebrated with Neil and he realized something and tapped me several times.

“OH! I hear they opened a new asian restaurant in town, and I think it’s right down your alley!”

“I don’t have an alley.”

“But-“

“Kidding! I know what you were trying to say and IT SOUNDS AWESOME!” Queue Celebratory Pose.

Although, now thinking about it, I realised how much I changed. Looking at my pictures from last year, I realised that this year, I would be gaining many more fun memories and many more fun opportunities will come my way this year.

Also, looking at the pictures reminded me that there were many more people that I still had to see and catch up with. Adelaide, Piper, Gabrielle and Bobbi, I needed to catch up with them all and I couldn’t wait for the Greenwood Gathering tonight. Nevertheless, I made a small goal that I would replace the photos of last year with photos of this year and the ones from last year would go in a special photo album.

I ran down to the Kitchen straight afterwards and noticed that everyone else seemed to be into the kitchen. I saw that Bobbi was busy eating breakfast, she probably forgot to eat breakfast on the way here, I saw Adelaide also eating breakfast, but she probably got here too early for breakfast to be eaten, since that was her usual self. Gabrielle was getting cereal from the fridge.

Emma… was taking a picture of her food, the wrong way. The flash was in her direction, oops.

“Oh darn it. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to work my way around this.” Emma sighed before figuring out where the reverse camera button was. She smiled as she took a picture of the cake. Now, I hope that’s a new cake and not the cake we ate at my birthday party last year because… that’s naaaasty.

“NOAH!” I heard Adelaide shout as the got up from her chair and I dashed right over to her. “Oh my plumbob, your hair!”

“Yeah, I changed it a little, and I also got myself some new clothes!” I cheered and Adelaide sighed.

“I didn’t have time for that during the Summer, I was busy being an intern at an Art Gallery. It was so fun, I got to watch an artist’s thought process as they painted and it felt so inspiring!”

“I’m so glad you had an awesome Summer!” I said before I went into hug Adelaide, Adelaide’s hugs are always so warm and comforting. I realized then that Adelaide has been much more confident recently, and I’m proud of that. Maybe she became even more confident over the summer!

“So, I hear that you switched subjects, Mr.Wellness.” Adelaide smirked as I nodded my head.

“Yeah, I changed Handiness for Wellness. I really do think there’s something in there that would be awesome for me. You never know, I could learn how to teleport or something! Haha!” I laughed and Adelaide’s face remained unchanged. “What?”

“Well, there has been reports of people who’ve studied the art of Wellness and Meditation being able to teleport and even levitate.”

“REALLY?! THAT’S AWESOME!” I shouted before I returned back to my casual self. I had a hint of insanity there and I shouldn’t let that be shown again. “So, are you making any changes to your room?”

“Probably not, I like the same old and I prefer to know where everything is now, just for ease of access. How about you?”

I thought about whether I wanted to change the way my room looked all summer but I couldn’t think of anything. And now that SummerFell and autumn has come, I think my tastes have changed quite a bit.

“Maybe. I’ll see if I can find any inspiration online, if not then I’m probably not going to change it.” I smiled but Adelaide was too busy looking through me. Well, not through me but behind me.

I turned around to find that girl standing behind me. The girl I couldn’t stop thinking about over the summer, the girl who invaded my dreams each and every night I slept, the girl who I couldn’t wait to see again. Piper Angelo stood before me, with a smile on her face.

“Hello.” She said to me while Adelaide went back to sit on the barstool next to Bobbi.

“Hi.” I replied before we took a few moments to stare into each other’s eyes. We both didn’t have the best summer, and we both didn’t want to tell the other person how bad it was, but we knew that we were back and that we needed each other. “I know you hate physical contact but…”

“I’ll allow it, because I missed you so much.” Piper smirked as her chin dug into my neck. It hurt but, I really really enjoyed this moment we spent together. We separated after a couple of minutes, and Piper looked up and down my entire body. “I see you’ve adopted a new look.”

“Yeah, I felt like having something new and this fit the deal perfectly, do you like it?”

“No.”

“Oh.”

Piper came up close and whispered right into my ear. “I love it.”

We both erupted in laughter, it was fun having Piper around once again. It’s like we never had Summer Vacation and we we’ve been together all along.

I felt weird though, there was something I had to get off my chest and out of my mind. It was hard for me to contain that thought since ever since I discovered what it was, it kept pounding in my mind and in my heart.

“Piper, let’s go outside.” I smiled towards her as I took her hand and walked outside with her near the fountain. Piper didn’t know why we were going towards the garden and she looked a little annoyed that I took her away from the food as well. “Don’t be sad! The extravaganza is about to begin!”

“Extravaganza? What the plum are you on about?”

“Piper, smile!” And she did.

“It worked!” I celebrated and Piper hit my arm, hard. “Ow!”

“Just cut to the chase, smiley.” Piper smirked as I scratched the back of my head and thought of something to say quickly. I never did well in these situations, not that I’ve had a situation like this rise up before.

“Listen, there’s something that I need to tell you.”

“What exactly?” Piper asked before I grabbed both of her hands with both of my hands and held them tightly. “What are you doing?”

“There’s been something on my mind the whole Summer, and I need to find out if it’s really true.” I stated and Piper shrugged her shoulders.

“What do you need me for then? If it’s for one of your te–“

“No.”

“Just don’t hit me.”

“I can’t promise that, Noah.”

“Well, here goes.”

“Here goes wha–“

“Please don’t hit me. Please don’t hit me.” I thought to myself as I looked frightened to Piper.

“Did you find out what you were trying to figure out, Noah Chung?” Piper spat and I nodded my head.

I knew exactly from that kiss what I was trying to find out. I like Piper Angelo, I adore Piper Angelo, I enjoy Piper Angelo’s company, I missed Piper Angelo and I’m glad Piper Angelo is back with me.

“Y-yes. I d-did.” I stumbled to say and Piper looked right at me, smiling.

“GREAT! NOW, I SHALL BE ON MY WAY. HAHAHA.” Piper blushed before walking away from me, up the stairs. I think she liked it.

“Piper wait!”

“Until tomorrow, smiley. Goodbye!” Piper shouted back but I laughed.

“We got the Greenwood Gathering tonight!” I continued to laugh and Piper looked back and waved, before continuing up the stairs.

Yeah. This year was going to be a great year. I just knew it.