The Universe In Her

Six: Mars

Days before the opening of school, I rented an apartment near the university. No, I didn't want to stay inside the university all the time so I chose to live outside.

I texted Jess as soon as I finished preparing to meet me up at the cafe in our university.

I sighed, "You can do this, Gab."

I made my way into the cafe and immediately heard my best friend's voice.

"Wow, it seems like something good is happening huh." I sat down on the comfy chair.

"Well hello to you too, Gabby," she sipped into her vanilla latte, "First things first, we have the same building which makes me really happy. And second... hmm you guess what."

"From the looks of it, I think I already know it," Yes, it's Jessica. Of course, it's a guy.

"Right, you know me so well.. So I met him a week ago, here in Tasmania and guess what? He also goes here. Ahhh, what a lovely way to start the school year," Jessica is the type of girl that easily gets what she wants and sometimes it makes me sad that I don't have the same guts, but I'm happy for her because I can see how joyful she is right now.

I glanced at my watch to realize that I'm almost late for my first subject, "Jess, let's talk about it all later shall we? When are you going to introduce me to this guy by the way?"

She laughed, "Time will come. You go girl, my class is on the afternoon. Love you!"

I gave her a peck on the cheeks and quickly made my way into my building. As I was about to enter the hallway, I bumped into somebody. I quickly picked up the things that fell off my hands and looked at the guy,

"I am sorry," He said and made his way out of the building.

"That's fine," I muttered and looked at him.

I was about to continue walking when my gaze fell on a familiar figure on a bench, I couldn't really grasp who that person is but I feel like I know who he is but since time is running, I just brushed it off for a while.

"Gabby!" I saw Ian ran towards me before I could enter my room.

"Can you drop by our house later? My parents want you to join our dinner."

I smiled at the thought of it, "That sounds exciting, sure I will. See you later."

I entered our room and sat down in the middle of the room, after about 10 minutes the room started filling up. Our professor, which was very intimidating, but I love these kind of people because I know that they have a lot of wisdom, walked in. He started to introduce his name and told us that for the first semester, we need to write a number of poems, in whatever genre that we want.

"I know this is your first day but I want you to be used to this. You have to be equipped, no complains. If you graduate university, you'll face something harder than this. So if you want to survive, do as I say."

The room then got filled with mutters, sighs and complains meanwhile, I was minding my own business because I got really excited about this. I just don't know what should I write in the first place.

"Ms. Sanchez?" I jumped out of my thoughts as I heard my surname.

"Here, sir," he looked at me with his sharp eyes, but I wasn't scared. My dad is just like this, he acts all too intimidating but you can learn a lot from him.

"Who could refrain, That had a heart to love, and in that heart, Courage to make love known? Tell me, Ms. Sanchez, what's the relevance of this passage in our society."

I was stunned, not because I was scared to answer but because it struck me deep in my heart. I tried my best to muster my surprise and answered Mr. Carter's question.

"People act based on what they desire and a desire comes from the heart. You just have to bold to be able to do it," I stopped for a second, I feel like these words are somehow familiar to me. My heart started pounding, I heard these words before.

"Go on," Mr. Carter said

I thought for a moment, "Just like a small seed, in order to let it grow, you take care of it for it to live and as soon as a flower started to grow out of it, it becomes stronger. It means the heart becomes determined to speak up, no matter what the consequence is, as long as we get to say it out loud, nobody can stop us. We don't want to lose the battle, sometimes we are confused of the things in life but the moment we realize that we have a.. a.. spark inside us, we are not afraid," I laughed to myself as I slowly remember where I heard it,

"The moment you realize what you want, you won't be able to stop yourself from doing it. It's just a combination of your desire and the courage in you," I said it with confidence and I saw how everyone, including Mr. Carter were all indulged with my words.

"A small fire burned up inside me,
A fire that keeps me up,
It's you, it's you who
Lighted up this fire."

I smiled to myself, there's a reason why I am here. It's not because I planned it out, it's because I acted based on what my heart wants. I thought of Jessica and how I envied her for the way she can get what she wants, but I was wrong.

I didn't know what I want, but when you came, I realized that I want to write and it's because of you and in this way, I can freely express how I feel about you.

Mr. Carter nodded and told me to sit down, "I have read the manuscripts that you all submitted. I'm going to get this straight, half of this class wrote the worst poem. Some can be bearable but it's poorly written. You, Ms. Sanchez," he said and pointed at me, I suddenly got nervous, "You answered me well enough but there is something lacking with what you wrote," he claimed and the room went silent.

I sighed, the battle is on and in order to win, I must be capable to fight.

Who could stop me?

If my heart knows what it wants,

it will fight for it.