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#really glad i decided to take a history class to fulfill a requirement this semester though <3
yuniesan · 6 years
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Girl Meets Season 6 - Episode Four – Girl Meets Old Friend
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Synopsis: The Journey from High School and into College will test everything Riley knew about her life, her friendships and her love. What life lessons will she learn in her first year of college?  
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A/N: I managed to ignore most of Tumblr and finish this.... but I miss Tumblr.... but Infinity War spoilers are out there and I’m trying so hard not to look for them.
Episode Four – Girl Meets Old Friend
 Riley’s third class of her first week was her writing class, she was excited because that meant that she was going to be able to write more than what she had before. One of the best things about the class is that it was a two-part class, so they were required to take the second one in the spring and in that class, they were supposed to write a novel. This was also the only class she had with one of her friends. Zay had decided to take it with her because it would satisfy a part of his minor requirements, and they talked about how they could both write the next great novel, but she knew that it was also something they could take together while everyone else took other classes. Maya, Farkle and Smackle had a history class together, Lucas had a class with Zay and Farkle in statistics, Smackle even had a class with Sam, but for Riley this was her only class with anyone she already knew.
“I’m so excited,” she said bouncing on her chair. Zay was sitting next to her and he looked at her and smiled, it was good that he was having happy moments, but she was still worried about him. She couldn’t help but worry, she worried about everyone it’s who she is.
“Stop bouncing around though,” he said trying to keep her down. “We’re only freshmen in a class full of upperclassmen.”
“Doesn’t matter,” she said to him looking him in the eye. “We’re students just like everyone else here.”
Zay nodded at her, he was going to say something but was interrupted by someone nudging at Riley’s side. When she looked up she came face to face with another familiar face, one that she wouldn’t have imagined she would see again. Or at least for a long time.
“And here I thought that you would have gone to NYU,” he said, and Riley jumped up.
“Charlie,” she said as she looked into a familiar pair of blue eyes, his hair was longer than the last time she had seen him and he had gotten taller which put him in the same eyeline as Lucas. At the thought of Lucas, she was reminded of something that happened the last time she had seen Charlie during sophomore year.
“Well, well, well,” Zay said looking up at the two of them. “If it isn’t cheese soufflé.”
“Seriously I hate that nickname,” Charlie said before sitting down in the seat in front of Zay. “I really should have fought against it.”
“You wouldn’t have won,” Zay said to him smiling. “Maya is kinda powerful when it comes to making sure nicknames stick, why do you think she still calls Lucas Ranger Rick.”
“Anyway,” Riley said trying to change the topic from Maya’s use of nicknames, it was a running joke with Maya at this point. She had told Riley that she wanted to keep going with the nicknames because it meant that those people meant something in her life. Riley had a few nicknames, so did Lucas and Farkle, they had been the ones who had been around her the longest but lately Smackle has gotten a few and so has Zay. “What are you doing here?”
“I go to school here,” he said looking at her. “I mean that should be the obvious part.”
Zay laughed for a moment before holding back after she glared at him, “I meant why this school?”
“Well it’s close enough to home that I can visit but far enough away that I don’t have to be there, plus it meant that I could get away from my sisters, they’ve become holy terrors from the moment they heard I wanted to go to college.”
“Must be nice to be annoyed by siblings like that,” Zay said with a starry-eyed look on his face. Riley knew that he was an only child but the last time she had talked to Zay’s mother, before the she left for Texas with Lucas, she had told Riley that they were planning to adopt so that Zay could have a sibling and their family could grow. Zay’s mom wasn’t ready to have an empty nest, but it seemed as if she hadn’t told Zay just yet.
“Somedays it is but being the only boy in a house full of girls tends to get old fast,” Charlie answered Zay’s query with a smile at both of them. “Plus, I needed something new for once and this was the best place to try that out.”
“Do you have a major yet?” Riley asked him, she wanted to ask about his girlfriend but with Zay’s recent break up she wasn’t sure if he could handle another couple around him.
“I’m going to be a lawyer, ever since I joined the debate team in high school I realized that I’m good at arguing with people, plus I remember arguing with Friar a lot, although I didn’t win that one. Anyway, I’m majoring in criminal justice and history since the school doesn’t have a pre-law program, but pre-law is useless as a major according to my advisor.”
“Oh, we’re in the same program then,” Zay said perking up, this meant that he had someone to work with it was a good distraction Riley thought. She wanted him to be happy and not dwell on the past. “Why are you in this class then?”
“I wanted to take something that would help me with my writing, plus fiction is fun since my only other option was to take a class in math and I’m trying to avoid that right now. Also, who knows I could write a big novel and get enough money to pay for school.”
“Sounds like the dream man,” Zay said laughing before slapping Charlie on the back.
Class started soon after that, giving them very little time to talk as the professor talked them through the syllabus, the expectations of the class, and a million other things. They were in fact the only freshmen in the class, but no one treated them any differently, they were all there to fulfil some kind of credit requirement and that’s what mattered. They had been paired off in groups, the professor put the three of them together with upperclassmen but encouraged them all to work together until the end of the semester. They were only writing short stories, the big project being left off until the spring.
When class was over Zay ran off to his next class which was across campus, leaving Charlie and Riley behind on the steps of the building that housed the English and Com departments. Riley laughed as Zay waved at them before his footing missed a rock and he almost fell onto the grass. She was glad his spirits were up, but the worry over her friend still lingered and she wondered how he was dealing because he wouldn’t talk to anyone about the break up.
“So,” Charlie said pulling her out of her own thoughts. “Why not NYU?”
“I looked at a bunch of schools but in the end, I settled on this one because I liked the programs better. I guess I also got lucky because everyone else sort of followed me,” she said smiling thinking of her friends. “How about you? Where’s your girlfriend?” she was genuinely curious about where his relationship went since she had last seen him.
“I already told you why, but mostly it was cheaper than going away, and I didn’t want to burden my parents especially with how big our family is,” he said with a smile but he looked at the ground and she knew that something was happening in his head.
“I’m guessing you don’t want to tell me what happened with your girlfriend,” she said to him. It wasn’t a question it was a statement of fact and she knew it.
“Why do you and Friar work so well?” he asked her without looking into her eyes.
“Well we talk all of the time, it’s our thing we need to have those important conversations,” she said remembering the day they had gotten together. “I mean we have our problems, what couple doesn’t but in the end, we talk about them.”
Charlie sighed before walking towards the grassy area in front of the building and sitting down, she followed him because she knew that he needed someone to talk to. For some reason understanding people had become second nature in some ways, but even she missed things, everyone missed things every once and a while.
“Tell me,” she said as she sat down on the ground next to him, letting the sun warm her skin, never really looking at him because he wasn’t looking at her.
“She broke it off,” he said with a sigh. “Actually, she cheated on me with one of my teammates from the soccer team, I had found them one day after a game making out behind the bleachers at one of our rival schools.”
Riley felt powerless all of a sudden, there were so many broken hearts all around her and she couldn’t do a thing. “I’m sorry,” she said to him.
“It wasn’t your fault,” he ran his hand through his hair, it was weird to see it so long but it suits him. “I guess I need to live with the fact that things like this happen, but it happened months ago and it still hurts.”
“Well you have a friend right here if you need one,” she said even though she knew that Lucas would have a problem with it but she would deal with that when she told him about it.
“Are you sure,” Charlie said he eyes wide and she knew that he had been thinking the same thing.
Riley couldn’t help but laugh out loud, everyone knew her so well, they knew Lucas so well too, it was strange but in the end it was nice to have people around who understood her world.
“Yes, I’m sure, and I’ll talk to Lucas because we promised a long time ago not to keep secrets from one another.”
“If you say so,” he said before getting up off the ground and brushing the grass off of his pants. “Wanna go get some lunch?”
“Sure,” she said before shooting off a quick message to Lucas to join them. She didn’t warn him about Charlie being there, she wanted to find a way to introduce them to each other as her friend Charlie not a guy who may want to date her. Charlie knew that her relationship with Lucas meant the world to her, they had talked about this before, even though they haven’t seen one another in a while.
The two of them got their food and sat down at one of the empty tables and started talking, but after five minutes she felt him before she saw him. Lucas was a presence that she couldn’t ignore it was weird how attuned she was to him but she loved it so much as well.
“Hi Riley,” he said kissing her on the cheek before sitting down. “Gardner.”
“Be nice Lucas,” she said but when he smiled at her she was thrown for a bit.
“Don’t worry Riley,” he said with a smile. “We actually ran into each other in the dorms a while ago, but I told him not to say anything for now.”
“Uh why?” she asked looking between the two of them. “This isn’t a giant prank is it because I will kick you into next week if it is.”
“It’s not,” Charlie said to her giving her a smile. “We talked and said that we were going to try and be nice to one another, I mean there was a time when we thought that we could be friends so we’re going to try for that now.”
“So why not tell me that Charlie was here,” she said turning to Lucas.
“Because I knew that you needed a surprise of some kind,” Lucas said with a smile. “I know you want us all to be happy but sometimes you don’t get any surprises at all because you’re the one always in control of everything. So, I wanted you to have something that was out of your hands.”
“So, you’re okay with me and Charlie hanging out?”
“It’s fine Riley,” he said taking her hand and holding it against his chest just above his heart.
“I need to get away from all of this fluff,” Charlie said rolling his eyes. “Trust me Riley, after all of this time I realized that I don’t feel like that for you. It’s probably just so school boy crush, but what you two have I know is one in a million, so take care of it.”
“Actually,” Riley turned to him. “It’s not, it just takes a lot of work to get to where we are, and finding that one person who will make it worth it.”
“Well that’s a little too romantic for me right now,” Charlie said with a smile. “But I guess if I’m around you long enough I might find that too, if the track record with your friends is anything to say about it.”
At his words Riley felt awful because the one person who hadn’t had a good ending in a relationship was currently pushing himself to be happy around everyone. Charlie walked off soon after leaving Riley and Lucas alone, the two of them talked about their day before Riley went off to her next class. As she was walking home later that day, she found herself looking at a person sitting on a bench by themselves. It was still light enough out for her to see that it was Zay, but he wasn’t moving, he was just sitting there staring out into the distance. She sat down next to him and he didn’t acknowledge her presence, instead of saying anything she just sat there with him and waited.
“You know,” he said after the sun had set on the horizon. “I’ve been debating about whether I’m alright with any of what has been happening. I’m not struggling with school, it’s only the first week, but I’m struggling with my own life.”
“Do you blame me for any of this?” she asked him because she wasn’t sure what to think anymore.
“No,” he whispered. “I’m grateful for the time I had with Cassie, but I feel like a teenage romcom where I know this is supposed to make me stronger and the next person I meet will change my life.”
“But it still hurts, and life isn’t a movie.”
“Yes, but I need to go through this, and maybe whoever comes along in the future will give me something even more special than first love,” he smiled at her but his tears made it bittersweet. “I mean we can’t all have an epic romance.”
“We can, we just have to want it as much as the next person,” she said before taking his hand and holding onto it, it felt the same as when she held onto Auggie. Somehow Zay had become a part of her family. “Zay, remember no matter what you don’t have to go through this alone.”
“I won’t,” he said to her as he leaned back onto the bench. “I have you guys, I have my family, but somedays I think I just like finding myself looking out into the distance and thinking about the happy times.”
“I feel like we should have chocolate cake and ice cream, and watch extremely horrible movies,” she said trying to cheer him up.
“I wouldn’t mind the cake, but considering the last time something happened in our group that involved ice cream, well I might want to stay away from that,” he said before letting go of her hand and hugging her she was surprised by the sudden contact.
“I promise I won’t push it into your face,” she whispered.
“Okay, but can we go to your room, I don’t want the guys to know I feel like this.”
“It wouldn’t make you less of a man Zay,” she said to him before putting her arms around him and holding onto him for a little while. “But if that’s what you want we can do that.”
“Thanks Riley,” he said smiling at her. “No rom coms though.”
“How about I know exactly what we should watch then,” she said as she pulled away standing up. “Let’s go.”
When they got to her room, with two bags of ice cream and chocolate snack cakes, Sam was sitting on her bed staring out into the room like she didn’t know what she should be doing. Riley smiled and asked her to join them. They ended up watching the Maze Runner movies, because there’s very little if no romance at all in them, even though Zay swears that they messed up too much of the books, while Sam screamed out that Brenda was supposed to be immune. Riley wasn’t sure if she should yell at the movie like they were, so instead she filled up their drinks and handed out the last of the ice cream before it melted.
It was the first time she really hung out with her roommate, and while she still didn’t know a lot about the girl, she knew that they would be good friends if Sam could accept a random movie night without question. The three of them had passed out on the floor in front of the small television that was in the room. They had somehow built a fort around themselves and were under it without a care in the world.
“We should do that more often,” Sam said the next morning as they sat down for breakfast. It was only ten to eight but they were all happily eating eggs and pancakes. Zay wearing one of Lucas’s hoodies that Riley had stolen from him during senior year.
“I second that,” Zay said before shoving food into his mouth like he hadn’t eaten an entire bag of cake and ice cream the day before.
“I’m fine with it, but next time not on a school night, and we need more pillows,” Riley said, her back felt sore from being on the floor.
That’s how they ended up with Thursday night movies, just the three of them, or when one of the was feeling especially down they would get together. Charlie joined them the week after, because he found out his ex-girlfriend had a new boyfriend, Lucas joined them after that. Maya usually went to the city on the weekends to spend time with Josh, while the geniuses had started going to club meets on the same night. It was strange to be in a room where Maya wasn’t, but her best friend hadn’t complained about it so Riley let it go, making sure to add some Maya time to her week for days when she was on campus.
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agnesatsmith · 7 years
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My Fall Semester, 16-17
Now that school has been over for awhile, I think I can really begin reflecting on my classes. This past fall semester, I’ve started focusing more on subjects I was considering a possible major in--history and sociology. I ended up being right, but that semester I was still branching out a little. Here are the classes I took--
1. AST100: A Survey of the Universe. I am really not a STEM person, and so decided to take the astronomy class focusing on the theories (there’s another astronomy classes that utilizes math more that is also an introductory class to astronomy) to finish part of my Latin Honors requirement. Professor Lowenthal was incredibly enthusiastic and you could see how much he loved the subject he taught, infecting everyone in the class! The one downside was that the required program that we did a lot of our homeworks on was a hefty amount--over $60. I appreciated the professor’s awareness of this issue, deciding to use a free textbook to help alleviate the original costs. This class taught me a lot, and I also really liked how Professor Lowenthal took note of everyone’s interests at the beginning of the class and focused on the specific subjects people wanted to know about the most. Everyday was basically mindblowing and I would walk out of the class a little more appreciative of the universe we live in. I would 100% recommend this class to anyone hesitant about taking another STEM class!
2. DAN144: Tango I. This 2-credit class was my exercise for the semester! Daniel Trenner was the instructor for the class, and I can’t imagine learning tango from anyone else. I made a lot of friends in this class because tango is a social dance and we would often partner with classmates we didn’t know that well--and out and about the Five College Consortium as well! This class was a little more intense that I expected, with a requirement of going out to three social dances, which didn’t have to be only tango milongas. It really pushed me out of my comfort zone to go to these social dances and dance with complete strangers--I went to a contra dance in Amherst, a salsa dance also in Amherst, and a tango milonga. Even though it was at times awkward, I really learned a lot about myself and my personal boundaries. (Here is an interesting talk given by Daniel Trenner--he also talks about this in-class, and ultimately I came out of the class feeling like I understood my relationship to my body better)
3. HST204: The Roman Republic. I’ve taken a class with Richard Lim before, and I enjoyed this one just as much. He often has more lecture-styled classes with ample opportunity for class discussions throughout the class. I always come out of his classes a little overwhelmed with all the information, but in a good way! I found his final research paper to be challenging in the freedom of picking any topic and also to write a lengthier paper (around 7 pages), but I really appreciate how he carefully explains the process of finding sources and how to use them. The papers I end up writing always feel very fulfilling too! Professor Lim is really friendly and so sweet, and every now and then (AKA every week) he brings in food! 
4. MUS957: Smith College Wind Ensemble. This was the first semester that musical groups such as Wind Ensemble were recognized as a 1-credit class. The Wind Ensemble was originally an org, but I’m glad to have the 1 credit nonetheless! The Wind Ensemble is a fun group that I’ve really enjoyed being with these past two years. We put on a concert near the end of every semester. Ellen Redman, the conductor, is really nice but still makes sure we get everything done.
5. SOC226: Power & Privilege in American Education. This was a really intense class, taught by Tina Wildhagen. The books Professor Wildhagen assigns thoroughly look at the sociological implications of our current education system in America. As someone who grew up with the American education system, it was somewhat jarring to see how my experiences correlated with others. Understanding how some students gained an advantage through the place they were educated is really critical to understanding our society today. We also thought about resistance, and how to change our current education system with leans heavily in favor of some to become a system for all students. This class went along well with my other sociological class--
6. SOC250: Theories of Society. The professor, Marc Steinberg, manages to make this otherwise-boring class really interesting. First of all, Marc Steinberg is incredible and if you take this class I would try and take it with him although he’s on sabbatical next year. Second of all, Marc Steinberg is incredible and hilarious and gives us candy. (Why yes, bribing me with food does work!) But seriously, while this class may sound boring and dry, Professor Steinberg does a fantastic job of completely laying out the theories and making it digestible because honestly, some sociologists are ridiculously hard to understand. This is a required class for a sociology major, and I didn’t find it tedious at all. Learning these theories really made SOC226 easier to understand, as well as future sociology classes I took.
One of the problems I started to hit was all of the reading-intensive classes I was taking. Even my astronomy class had a lot of reading in it! One of the skills I had to learn was skimming because sometimes, there just aren’t enough hours in the day. (This skill came in handy the next semester...) All in all, I took a lot of interesting classes my fall semester--some I had never even thought about before! Taking these classes showed me that I was ready to handle two reading-intensive majors, which really guided me towards declaring my majors the next semester. 
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