The next morning, I stuck to my routine: an early jog, grabbing breakfast at the cafeteria, and then heading to the classroom for some study time.
I put on my headphones and got lost in my thoughts. When I finally looked up, the room was packed with students.
This was one of those big lectures where everyone showed up, so naturally, the gossip started flying before class. I’d been deep in study mode, so I decided to take a break and pulled off my headphones.
“Did you hear? Julia, that first-year law student, went to the advisor this morning and asked to take a leave of absence.”
“Seriously? Why would she do that? She just got that internship offer from the law firm last month, the only one in our year to get one.”
“No idea. Maybe something’s going on at home.”
Just then, someone nudged my elbow with a pen. “Keira, you’re in the same dorm as Julia, right? Do you know why she’s taking a leave?”
I couldn’t help but smirk to myself.
Why else? For her wannabe gangster boyfriend Howard, for the baby she’s carrying, and for her ridiculous dreams of marrying into money.
She probably thinks Howard’s going to give her some sort of fairy tale life.
But I kept all that to myself and just smiled at my classmate.
“I was out early this morning, so I’m not sure what happened.”
It seemed like she wanted to ask more, but the bell rang just then, and the professor walked in.
“Alright, quiet down, everyone! What’s with all the noise?”
Our professor was old-school and strict. Even though this was just a general ed class, he was notorious for cracking down on things like lateness and skipping. His attendance policy was no joke.
Late once? You’d lose five points. Miss a class? Say goodbye to all your participation points. No one dared to mess around in his class.
Attendance was going smoothly until it got to the first-year law students. Suddenly, the room went dead silent.
The professor frowned, clearly annoyed. “What’s the holdup? Every other class is done with roll call. What’s going on with your department?”
Someone finally raised a hand, looking nervous. “Professor, she’s not here today.”
The student they were talking about was Julia, of course. She was probably back at the dorm, packing for her little runaway trip with Howard.