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As the sliding door opened and she walked in, Anne Boonchuy looked up to see the amber eyes of an unfamiliar girl sitting isolated in the middle of the room on a single wooden stool. Her deep black hair glowed gently under the setting sunlight as she gazed back at Anne standing at the doorway. Oh boy, this was gonna be hard.
☆☆☆
The air was cold as a desperate Anne Boonchuy sat at her dining table in the late hours of the evening, her gazes fixed to her laptop screen as she nervously dragged her cursor down to the email app at the bottom of the taskbar. She let out a shaky sigh, feeling two hands reach her shoulders from above,
“Don’t worry Anne, I’m sure they accepted you.”
Mrs Boonchuy assured her daughter as she looked to her husband,
“Yeah, and if they don’t, that’s their loss to lose such talent like you.”
Mr Boonchuy smiled at his daughter which somehow got her nerves to calm down, as Anne reluctantly clicked on the app and opened the email. With nervous mumbles as she read, the girl murmured,
“...with great joy we are glad to announce that you are now a student of California Arts College! OH MY GOSH I DID IT! I ACTUALLY MADE IT!”
The brunette daughter yelled out as she stood to pull her parents into a hug, they too cheered.
“OH WE’RE SO PROUD OF YOU ANNE!”
“CONGRATULATIONS DEAR!”
The parents of the girl congratulated Anne and cried happy tears. Anne had been stressing about her entry for weeks now, so thankfully she needn’t worry about it anymore. This was great news for her and her family, and now she just needed to get ready for this new chapter in her life.
☆☆☆
“OH MY GOD GIRL, YOU ACTUALLY MADE IT?”
Through the crackling static, Sasha on the other end of the facetime call screamed out happily.
“YEAH I KNOW RIGHT? IT’S CRAZY!”
Anne laughed back, still in shock even if it was the next morning already. The girls laughed together as Sasha continued to congratulate her friend before suggesting an idea,
“Oh my god girl we need to celebrate this. Meet me at the cafe at eleven?”
Sasha asked, getting a hasty answer from her brunette friend,
“You know it dude! Now hurry on before you miss your silly therapist classes or whatever.”
“Oh har har.”
Anne fake mocked, getting a sarcastic laugh from the blonde. The two said their goodbyes and hung up the phone as Anne tied her hair into a ponytail with a blue scrunchie before she headed downstairs. The warm and ever so comforting smell of her mom’s thai cooking made the girl’s mouth water.
“Hey mom, need any help at the restaurant before I head out? Gonna go meet Sasha at a cafe.”
Anne asked as she poked her head around the corner, drawing her mom’s attention away from the stir fry rice to respond,
“Oh hi sweetie, could you get a few things from the grocery store? Just some veggies.”
“You got it!”
Anne smiled as she continued to walk to the living room. Her dad had made it out earlier to start up at the restaurant, and sat at the couch were Anne’s little siblings, Sprig and Polly. Well, half siblings, but whatever. The siblings had bowls of cereal in their hands, even if it was already 10am. They perked up at the sight of their eldest sibling,
“Hey Anne! Wanna binge the next episode of Suspicion Island with us?”
The young boy asked as he looked up, holding up the remote.
“Nah, sorry dude, gotta run some errands! Maybe later.”
Anne waved off her brother’s request, which got an unbothered shrug from him as he pressed resume on the TV remote and continued to watch.
“Bye guys!”
Anne called out before stepping out of the door and locking it behind her, her keys decorated with a cute frog keychain she got from Sasha. In her white tank top paired with jean shorts and topped with a cream colored cardigan decorated with flowers, her white boots clacked against the pavement as she made her way to their nearest convenience store.
☆☆☆
She thanked the cashier as she exited the store and out past the sliding doors, a small plastic bag in tow full of the requested veggies. The girl looked down at her phone.
Huh, only 10:20?
Anne thought to herself, deciding to head early to the cafe and beat the crowd, and to secure a spot for her and Sasha. Cars of all colors passed the girl as she walked on the sidewalk, before turning the corner to see the cafe in the distance. She brought a hand up to open the glass door, being met with the sight of a slight crowd each enjoying their respective drinks and company. The Thai girl stood in the line and waited patiently, before it finally reached her turn as she ordered a caramel milkshake and a croissant.
Minutes later, she gladly took her order and stepped back outside to take a seat at a table for two. The brunette sighed contently as the glass of her drink lightly hit the table and the plastic of the bag of groceries wrinkled. Anne leaned forward towards her table and took a sip of the sweet liquid through the straw, her gaze bouncing around her surroundings. As she sipped, a certain figure passed her by and caught her attention.
Equipped with white headphones and a green shirt tucked into baggy jeans with a caramel colored jacket on top, a girl with jet black flowy hair brushed past Anne, the brunette’s head turning as the figure kept her gaze captive. The stranger’s eyes were fixed towards the front, completely unaware of the seated girl staring as she walked. Anne didn’t know what it was about her, but something just drew the girl in. Was it the amber eyes? Maybe the long straight hair, some pulled back by a green hair clip. The stranger’s figure grew smaller and smaller down the footpath, Anne’s eyes not leaving the sight. Anne sat there frozen for a moment, still captivated by the new stranger, before a familiar voice called to her,
“Yo, what’s up?”
A certain blonde haired companion sat on the opposite side of Anne,
“O-oh, hey Sash..”
Anne replied in an almost monotone voice, still partially distracted by the recent encounter. Sasha stared at her friend, as she sat there dressed in a baggy sweater with her favourite band logo on it, her ripped baggy jeans folding under the table. The blonde clicked her fingers infront of Anne’s daze as she stared in confusion,
“Uh, Boonchuy? You good?”
She asked, slightly laughing. Anne broke out of her trance, slightly embarrassed,
“Oh, yeah, no I’m fine. Why don’t you, uh, go get a drink from inside?”
Anne replied, which got a nod out of her companion as the blonde stood to open the cafe door.
Minutes later, Sasha returned with a small coffee in her hands, the girl sighed as she took a seat back down in front of Anne. She sipped gently as her mouth pressed against the hot liquid before speaking up,
“So, when do you start?”
“Oh, uh, I think I have until next month. Yeah, next month.”
Anne nodded, Sasha hummed, content with the answer given. The two spoke throughout their sipping, Anne speaking about her tedious journey to acceptance while Sasha spoke about her seemingly endless struggles whilst studying psychology. Even as Sasha spoke, Anne couldn’t get her mind off of that girl from before.
Deep, deep down,
the girl hoped to see them again,
though she didn’t know that this,
this was just the beginning.