The Variations by Jones M (christmas read aloud txt) 📖

class, she had made her way towards the campus library. She had situated herself in one of the secluded areas of the building, busy trying to think of a story that she and Chris could use for their project. Nothing was coming to mind, and it made her want to smack her head into the table.

Apart from the project, Kate's class had been given an after-class assignment. Part of it was an essay related to her course, and another part involved reading.

She hadn't even started on either of them.

Marie knew she wasn't in the mood of forming a story, and so she decided to focus on her school work. Just as she was about to type the heading on her small Lenovo laptop, she felt a presence occupy the seat in front of her.

She looked up from the device, and whom she saw made her form tense in surprise. Chris had occupied the space.

"Hi," he greeted as he turned to his bag. He was taking out his own laptop.

Kate was tongue-tied, not knowing how to speak to him. He had surprised her again. She wanted to ask him why he had chosen to sit right in front of her when there were many empty spots in the library.

It had three floors for Pete's sake!

But then, she stopped herself. 

'When are you going to get over this?' she wondered. It was ridiculous for the both of them to keep speaking like strangers who were afraid of each other. They had an assignment that would take them months to complete. It would be time-involving, and if they didn't start on it soon, they would fail and find themselves repeating the semester.

"Have you started on the story?" Marie spoke, and she was surprised to hear the clarity in her voice.

At her question, Chris angled his head to look at her. He had already taken out his laptop and logged into his device.

"I have," he replied, much to Kate's shock. "I just have to make some adjustments to it."

Marie found it hard to nod. She meant for that to be the end of the discussion as she turned to her laptop.

"What about you?" Chris questioned.

"I've got nothing," Kate answered, and that had him furrowing his eyebrows at her.

"Okay... Just don't expect me to do all the work," he said. Marie had been typing on her laptop, making the formats for the essay she would have to type when she heard Chris' words. That forced her to stop and look at him.

His eyes were not even on her as he typed on his device.

"I'm not stupid, you know," she said. That ceased Chris' typing, making him turn to look at her.

"I never said that."

"But the way you said it implied that I am incompetent in doing my own work."

"Wow. Incompetent... Do you even know what that means?" he said with a smirk. 

Marie narrowed her eyebrows at him.

"I'm not the same person I used to be."

Chris snorted. "Says the person who believed that the weekend lasted a month."

She found it unfair. Chris knew about the troubles she had faced in her studies when she was in high school. Having him make fun of her for it just made her furious. It was one of the reasons why she had been avoiding him. He was a constant reminder of her early teen years, and she wanted to put them behind her.

With quick movements, she had placed her laptop into sleep mode. It was when she went to grab her books that Chris noticed the change in the atmosphere.

"What are you doing?"

"Leaving," Marie replied as she quickly grabbed her stuff to walk away from him.

"Why? Kate, I was joking," he said.

Marie knew, but she did not want to talk about it.

"Kate--" Chris cut himself off with a sigh.

She did not look back as she headed towards the stairs that led to the ground floor of the library. 

Kate was glad Chris had said those words. It just proved that he would always see her as the thoughtless idiot she used to be.

 

Chapter 05

 

Marie sighed in anger as she made her way towards the campus gates. The morning had turned out to be bad for her, and there was no one to blame but Chris. It had only been minutes since she had seen him, and the comment he had made when they were in the library still echoed in her mind. 

'How dare he?' she thought. Just the memory of it made Kate wish she could have just smacked his face with his own laptop.

Honestly, Marie had never felt that way towards him. They had rarely talked to each other in high school, even though Chris had been a popular jock at that time. Sitting around the same table in the cafeteria had done nothing to change their lack of communication because they always talked to the people around them.

Kate's phone suddenly started ringing in her pocket, disrupting her thoughts. She quickly reached for it to identify the caller.

'Mom,' it read.

"Hey, Mom," Kate greeted as soon as she answered the call.

"Hi, Honey!" her mother greeted back. "Your dad and I were calling to ask how you were doing so far. Is school still treating you okay?"

"Is that Kate?" Kate heard her father shout. He seemed to be a distance away from the phone.

"Hi, Dad," Kate said with a smile. Hearing their voices made her miss them. "You don't have to worry about anything. School is fine. In fact, I just got assigned a project for my semester."

"Oh! That is so excellent! What is it about?" her mother asked.

"Well, you guys know how much I love stuff that include drawings," Kate said. "It's about motion graphics."

There was static heard on the other end.

"You know. That stuff to do with CGI? Like cartoons."

"Seriously? You guys are allowed to do that?" Marie heard her father comment, the volume of his voice indicating that he was close to the phone.

"Well, if that is what you want to do, then go ahead."

"Thanks. Love you guys," Marie said. It was at that moment that she spotted Gwen waving frantically at her.

"Look. I have to go. There is some work I have to catch up on. I'll call you later."

"Okay. Love you!"

Marie smiled before she ended the call. Once she had securely placed her phone, she hurried her steps toward her friend.

"Hey! Did you hear?" Gwen started.

"What?"

"There is a party tonight."

Kate was puzzled.

"On a Tuesday?"

Gwen rolled her eyes before saying: "It will be at a frat house."

Marie was already thinking of ways to decline the invitation.

"Come on," her friend begged. "With what you have picked for your project, who knows when you will be free again?"

Kate sighed, knowing she was right. Also, she had just started her junior year of college. A party sounded like a good distraction from thinking about her project.

"Fine."

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Night had rolled in. Gwen and Marie had left their dorm, and they were on their way to the party. The moon and stars were out, but they were outshone by the light provided by the street lamps that led the path to the university. The party was going to be hosted outside the campus grounds, but not too far for it to be a driving distance.

"Is my hair okay?" Gwen asked, turning her head so that her friend could get a good look at it.

"It's okay," Kate replied. With a sigh, she turned to look around the area. She spotted a couple of people walking towards the same direction as they were, no doubt heading towards the party.

"Look at that ass!" someone hooted. Both Marie and Gwen swiveled their heads to face a group of boys checking them out. One of them was even making hand gestures on how he would squeeze the buns. Kate blushed, whereas Gwen blew a kiss towards them.

Marie eyed her friend.

"What?" she questioned. "They can look, but they aren't going to touch this."

Kate chuckled at her friend.

A couple of minutes later, they found themselves going through a crowd of students that had formed outside a  mansion. Just like many parties they had been to, it was full. Christmas lights were taped outside the residential building. A couple of people were dancing to the music that was blaring from the inside of the house, and then there were the usual couples making out.

"Let's go!" Kate encouraged, and so they both entered the house.

The scene inside was not better. The colorful lights that illuminated the area were not enough of a distraction from the loud music that thumped everywhere. Moreover, the room was packed.

Marie and Gwen pushed past drunk people. Some were dancing in the dining room, albeit in an unsynchronized manner, and others were even close enough to having sex in public with the way they humped against each other.

All in all, it was an energetic yet claustrophobic scene.

'Why do I always go to these?' Marie questioned herself. She had no idea of what to do at first, but Gwen made the choice for them when she pulled her towards the kitchen. It seemed less crowded there for some reason.

"Hey, guys!" Gwen greeted the people in the room. Kate recognized some of them from college. They all responded with incoherent words, no doubt from all the alcohol they had consumed.

Marie was suddenly not feeling the whole party vibe. She was wishing she could be back in her dorm where she could be spending the night watching a couple of 2 Broke Girls episodes.

It would have been fun to watch Caroline pee on herself again.

A cup was suddenly thrust into her vision. She looked to the side, noticing that her friend was the one offering it to her. With a shrug, she took it and drank the contents in one gulp.

"Kate!" Gwen seemed to chastise her, more so because she was shocked.

It was no big deal. Kate had drunk more than a cup of her fair share of alcohol. If Gwen had known the number of times Kate had participated in anything that involved drinking when she was in high school, she would have changed her belief of her being a loner and more of a party freak.

It was even a miracle her kidneys were still working fine.

"Another one," Kate demanded, impersonating DJ Khaled. Gwen did as requested, but when her friend went to gulp it down again, she stopped her.

"Not again. I don't want you falling face first before we even leave the house," she said, and Kate smiled as she pictured the scenario in her mind.

An hour filled with drinks and dancing soon passed. The two found themselves comfortable in the crowd of dancing people, and they lost themselves to the beats of the songs that were played. Moments later, Gwen found herself being led away by a boy she knew from her class. With the way they were locking lips before they had left, one did not need to ask what they were going to do.

Marie found herself alone, but she didn't mind it. It made things better because she wouldn't have to look for her friend if she wanted to leave.

Kate returned into the kitchen. She stood by the island, slowly nursing the drink in her styrofoam cup. Then somebody bumped into her. The cup slipped from her grasp, and the contents went splashing onto the