Shrrr...shrrr...the sound of the shower woke me up. I sat up on my bed, blinked a few times and glanced at my table clock. Realizing that it was 6:45 am, I hurriedly got out of my bed and went to the bathroom. I waited for some time at the bathroom door and then knocked on it.

" Annie, hurry up or we are going to be late.''

" I am coming. Just give me five minutes. " Annie said from the other side of the bathroom.

" okay, but hurry up. " I said and then leaned on the wall beside the bathroom door.

I yawned. I usually don't wake up this early but as today is the first day of our semester and me being a punctual student and all don't want to be late on my first day. Annie on the other hand is an early riser as she goes to walk in the morning. By the way, Annie is my friend, best friend to be exact. We have known each other since our childhood and despite our completely different personalities, we get along pretty well. We always do everything together. From preschool to high school, we have always been on the same class. Then when it was time for university, Annie suggested that we both apply in the same university. I agreed and then we both applied to the university in which we are studying in present. We both got accepted and then we came to Russia. Yes , we are not from Russia but both of us wanted to study here really badly so we came here. We are actually from America. At first, it was difficult adjusting here but after spending some time here, we have realized that Russian people are very generous and loyal completely opposite to their image. Time really flies. I still remember the first day of university and now its the start of our fourth semester. As I was thinking this, I didn't even notice as the bathroom door opened and Annie stepped out. Seeing me in a daze, she must have thought of some mischief as she came close to my face and said in a cheeky tone:

" What is my Sylvie thinking this early in the morning? Don't tell me you've fallen in love. "

I gave her a serious look and she immediately understood that I was in no mood for joking. Awkwardly, she cleared her throat and asked me now in a serious manner.

" okay , enough with the jokes, tell me what were you thinking? "

" Nothing special, just that time really flies. " I said still with a serious face.

" Not another one of your lectures about time first thing in the morning. " Annie said pulling a face at me.

" Alright, alright, there's no use lecturing you anyway. I am going to take a shower and then we will grab coffee from the coffee shop nearby. Make sure you're ready by the time I come back. " I said and walked into the bathroom.

Once inside the bathroom, I heard her say,

" You got it, Boss. "

I chuckled and began washing up. After about fifteen minutes I got out of the bathroom and walked into my room. The apartment that we live in is a two bedroom apartment so me and Annie have our own rooms but there is only one bathroom so we have to share it. Still its pretty good considering that the students living in hostels have to share rooms and the whole floor has only one bathroom. We got this apartment at a reasonable price so we rented it although the locality isn't too good. That's why me and Annie don't go outside when its dark.

I looked inside my closet searching for what to wear until my eyes fell on a white t-shirt. Yes I am going to wear this, I thought. Now you must be thinking that how sloppy of me to wear a bland white t-shirt but I like it that way. Like most girls, I don't like dressing up so I prefer wearing t-shirts over skirts. Upon hearing Annie telling me to hurry up, I immediately put on the t-shirt and black jeans. Then I wore my glasses, my cap and finally my mask. Then I wore my sneakers and began lacing them up. When I was done, I looked at myself in the mirror one last time to check if my face was fully covered or not. After seeing that it was, I grabbed my bag and ran towards the apartment door where Annie was waiting for me.

Unlike me, Annie likes to dress up so she was wearing a dark blue v neck with a short skirt. Her face also had makeup plastered on it. When she saw me, her jaw dropped open. Seeing her reaction, I said innocently,

" what ? "

" Are you seriously going to university this way ? " She asked me almost screaming in my ear.

" Yes, what's wrong with it? " I said already knowing what was to come.

" You ask me as if nothing's wrong. What is with this jeans and t-shirt ? And Can you explain why you're wearing a hat and a mask when its so hot outside? You look like a boy from every angle. Do you know back when we were in second semester, some seniors asked me if you were my boyfriend. " She said almost making me deaf.

" Annie, you know I don't like dressing up and doing makeup. " I said not liking the way in which this conversation was going.

" But how would you get a boyfriend at this rate. " Annie said already knowing that I won't change my mind.

" I don't need a boyfriend. I am better off alone. Also , if we stay here and continue this meaningless conversation. We will have no time to grab our coffee and we will have to go the the university without coffee as I don't want to be late on our first day. " I said looking at my watch.

" Its useless talking some sense into you. Lets go. " Annie said .

We both took the lift and after getting out of our apartment building, we hurriedly walked towards the coffee shop as we had only half an hour before our bus left the stop. One inside the coffee shop, we ordered our coffee and stood beside the counter waiting for our coffees. About five minutes later, our coffees arrived. I asked Annie to go ahead. She took the coffees and I took out my wallet to pay, After paying, I ran after Annie as she was already close to exiting the shop. As she was about to open the door, a guy came in the coffee shop and bumped into Annie. Our coffees fell down on the floor and some of the coffee also spilled on the man's shoes. I ran to Annie and checked if she was okay. She was fine, just her cloths had some spots of coffee on them. Annie immediately began apologizing to the man saying it was her fault for bumping into him. That's when I first looked at him. He was a pretty heighted guy. I consider myself a really heighted girl with a height of 5:6 but he was even towering over me. He chuckled seeing Annie so baffled and apologizing continuously. Well she did look funny doing that. I was about to tell her that it was enough and that it was alright when I heard him say,

" Woman, if you knew my name, you'd be trembling in fear but since I am in a good mood, if you lick my shoes and clean them, maybe I will forgive you. "

I couldn't believe my ears. Was this guy for real? I turned to Annie who was also looking at me shocked.

" Look here, whatever your name is, my friend apologized and that is the end of the matter so get lost and do your work before I make a mess out of your face.''

I said obviously disgusted by him.

After saying that I took Annie's hand and shoved past him leaving him stunned. We had walked a few steps and were about to leave the shop when he grabbed my hand and pulled me towards him. I was taken aback by his action and glared at him.

" What do you want? " I glowered at him.

" No one has ever spoken to me in this manner. How dare you? Should I just cut off your tongue to make you obedient or should I just break your wrist. " He said, anger evident in his voice.

" I dare you to do that. " I said and smirked at him. I wasn't afraid of these kind of people. After he heard what I said, his grip on my hand tightened as if he really wanted to break my wrist. Right at that moment, the shop owner came and shouted angrily at us,

" If you wanna fight, go fight somewhere else . Don't drive my customers away. "

" we are so sorry. We will just go. " Annie apologized to the shop owner and before that jerk could react Annie grabbed my hand and we ran out of the coffee shop.

After exiting the coffee shop, we ran to our bus stop. The bus was already there. We got on on the bus and sat on the back bench.

" Sylvie, Are you okay? " Annie said worry evident in her voice.

" I am fine. My wrist just hurts a bit. I am just surprised how people behave nowadays. " I said rubbing my wrist as it hurt.

" Alright, I will take you to the infirmary after our first class, Don't get angry. It was my fault too. I happened to glance at his cloths and shoes and they were all from famous brands so he must have been angry that I ruined his shoes. " Annie said explaining to me as if I wasn't there.

" Its because of this attitude that people think that you are easy to take advantage of. I know these types of jerks. All they have is a little money and they can think they can do whatever they want. You know what, I don't even want to talk about that jerk . We will probably never meet him anyway. Lets just go to class and focus on our studies. " I said not wanting to talk about this anymore.

" Alright. " Annie said and we began talking about other stuff.

At that time, we both didn't know that we will meet him pretty soon and not in a good situation.