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Chapter One
“Follow your dreams; they don’t lead you astray.”
Sedona
I was running late. I woke up to my alarm at 5:45 AM, drove to the gym for 2 laps in the pool and took a shower by 6:30. I dried my hair in 5 minutes, and put on my lip gloss in the car. I was on the front steps of California State University San Francisco (CSUF) at exactly 7:15 AM.
My day always started out with a cup of tall Mocha, no whip, and extra shot of espresso from either Yany’s Donut Express orXtreme Coffee. On exam days, I went to Xtreme Coffee. On regular school days, I went to Yany’s.
So here I was, # 5 in line for that steaming mocha, while perusing my Pediatric Nursing final exam notes. I had a final exam to get to in exactly 45 minutes. I had 15 minutes to get my coffee and drink it, run to my classroom in 10 minutes, go to the bathroom in 5 minutes, and still have 14 minutes to get settled in, arrange my pen, pencil, and eraser (to a perfect isosceles triangle) on my desk, and even have time to spare to catch up with my classmates.
It sounded like a great plan, untilHEshowed up somewhere between minutes 0:12 and 0:15 when it was almost my turn to give my order to the chatty barista. I was going to take a step towards the counter, with my mouth opening, ready to say ‘Mocha’, but all I managed to say was ‘Mo –‘
He cut in front of me! I was not able to get a good look at his face because he faced the barista. He was wearing a baseball hat, loose green shirt, and denim jeans. From my peripheral line of vision, he was about 6’4, slightly tanned skin, most likely from the sun, a silhouette of a beard on the side of his jaw, and a tiny condor tattoo was visible on his right arm as he handed money to the barista. The barista apparently knew him because she had his order ready to go.
I heard muffled, “So sorry, but I really gotta go.” Whispers started behind me. They were probably as annoyed as I was.No, when I glanced back, the hushed whispers weren’t of annoyance, rather, they were of reverence.
Reverence?! As if it was a normal daily occurrence for that man to be cutting in front of people! Before I had a chance to say anything, he gave a short nod to the barista, grabbed his cup, and left as inconspicuous as he came in. How rude!
I forced myself to take deep breaths. Positive Chi could not be drained before finals.
Breathe, Sedona. The measure of intersecting straight angles is 180 degrees. The complementary angles equate to 90 degrees each.I was imagining the actual measurement between parallel triangular forms.
“Miss, are you ready to order?”
I merely nodded at the barista. Pictures of perfect, geometrical shapes were now floating in my head. I was back in control.
I was about to hand her my $5 bill when she shook her head, “Coffee’s paid for.” My confusion must have shown on my face, “He’s got it covered. He’s probably apologizing because he had to cut in front of you.”
My mouth stretched into a tight grin. What were the chances that my coffee would be paid for this morning because the dude who cut in front of me felt sorry for actually cutting in front of me? Before I could form any more algebraic equations in my head, I moved to the ‘Pick Up Here’ side of the coffee shop and waited for my steaming mocha.
Zander
I felt really bad. I wasn’t in the habit of cutting into lines. There was no excuse for what I did. I just wanted to get my coffee and run to class. I was going to get in line but as soon as I saw the long-ass line, I knew I’d be 30 minutes late for the finals. My Architecture Design III professor was such a stickler for punctuality. I had been late three times in his class already. If I was late one more time, he would probably hand me a refusal note for finals. Without at least a cup of black Joe’s, my body refused to function. Desperate times called for desperate measures. My plea was answered when I caught a glimpse of my buddy, Tyler, behind the Xtreme Coffee counter; I signaled him if he could make an exception for me.
I cut in front of a woman who was about ready to order. I pulled on my cap way low to hide my face. I couldn’t even look at her face because I was embarrassed. But, getting to finals trumped my embarrassment. I pulled on my cap even lower when I reached the counter and smiled at the barista. Hopefully, the $10 bill I left for the lady in line was enough to cover her order.
Finals were hard. Good thing I had a B+ going in. I didn’t have much time to study for the Finals. I had 2 away games in a row and the traveling really drained me. I hated buses and airplanes or any form of transportation where I was not in front of the wheel. I had 2 more finals to go and I was done for this semester. Looking forward to a week off was a great thing.
*****
Two days later
Sedona
I felt really good about the results of my final exams. I checked my grades online for the 4thtime. I always checked my grades 4 times, which meant I logged on and logged off 8 times. 8 was a good number. It was lucky for me. I did not mess with what worked in the past. All my Chem grades were posted. A+ for all of them. Yes! Now, I was just waiting on my nursing theory exam results. Nursing classes was 50% Theory, 50% Clinical Rotations. I only needed an average of 60% to pass all of my nursing theory classes because I had an average of 98% going into my finals. If Ms. Perez did not post my grades online by 6 PM today, I would call her directly. She was contact # 93 for me, right after Mr. Penafiore, my social anthropology professor.
After logging off the computer, my phone buzzed, it was Kieran.
“Hey, Ace, how did finals go?” he sounded cheerful. Swim meets must have been great.
‘Ace’ was his childhood nickname for me. He said it was because I ‘aced’ at everything. Well, almost everything. Swimming was one of the exceptions.
“Great, just waiting on other grades,” I replied.
“I’m sure you did great. When have you never?”
I smiled; he was my number # 1 fan, as I was his.
