Onesie

Prior to starting university, I was able to check my courses. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to choose my courses because I’m a full-time student. Which brought me to my ultimate demise.

I got back from my part time job and heard clatter resounding from the kitchen. As I made my way to the kitchen, I heard my mom talking to someone. It took me a while to realize who it was until they noticed me as I tried to leave the room.

“So, I heard you’re taking psychology for university” he said.

Oh shoot, out of all people my mother had to invite.

“Oh yes! He’s going to take psychology this fall. Say hi to *kuya Connor.” My mom exclaimed. Kuya Connor aka my cousin is a physiology professor at the university I’m enrolled in. Hopefully, I won’t have him in any of my classes. At least, that’s what I hoped.

“Yeah I am.” I said.

“Well, I happen to teach most of the first-year students so I’ll probably have you in one of my classes.” He said with a grin.

Dang it. I immediately left the kitchen after this and retreated to my room. After he left my Mom scold me for not greeting him earlier.

Yet a few months later, I found out that I got into his class. He was thrilled when he called out my name during attendance. How I dreaded being here. I really wanted to slap that guy’s face right now. It took me a few weeks to get used to seeing him smirking at me.

For some reason, something about today didn’t sit right with me. Almost like a gut feeling.

Was it because he arrived earlier than usual or was it because I arrived later?

I almost missed my bus this morning. Not that it matters.

“Okay everyone, so our next assignment is an essay on syndromes. The assignment is due a month from now so you’ll have plenty of time to work on it. The topics will be draw out randomly from a hat. Also, remember to write a bibliography too otherwise you will lose marks for not handing it in. Nobody should use the internet as their only reference. You should cite at least one book or material other than the internet.” He explained.

His hand reached below and placed a magician’s hat above the desk. The hat was filled with random pieces of paper with different shapes and colors. It looked like something my elementary school teacher would have.

I thought I would be one of the few people picked first but he didn’t start walking towards me. Instead, he started from the other end of the room which makes me one of the last people to draw from the hat. It’s okay anyway since the topic is chosen randomly yet it felt odd to me.

Finally, he made his way to me and placed the whimsical hat on my desk. I quickly pulled out a purple piece of paper and unfolded it. The heck was is this?

Kuya continued on to the person beside me. After going through everyone, he called out the names alphabetically and asked us what topic we got.

“Shawn” he said. I glanced at paper just to make sure that this wasn’t a joke.

“Kigurumi syndrome?” I questioned. My friend looked at me surprisingly because I said it out of the blue. We were at the library working on our assignments.

“Did you email him about it?” he asked.

“I did and talked to him after the class. He said that was indeed a topic from his list but I couldn’t find anything on the topic. So, I pulled out my phone and googled it to show evidence. Then suddenly I got some results on the kigurumi syndrome. But it wasn’t even there last night. He thought I was lying to him but really there was nothing there when I checked.” I spoke. I checked my phone again and it was still there. Was I delusional or something?

“That’s weird, maybe screenshot it next time?” he suggested.

“No, he’ll probably think I photoshop it.” I replied.

“Aw that sucks. Maybe you should try looking around?” he suggested again.

“Couldn’t find anything in the library. How the hell am I going to cite a topic that isn’t from the internet? He said he would deduct marks if we only used the internet in our bibliography.” I frustratingly alleged. Nevertheless, there was nothing I can do but suck it up and write my topic. At least, I had a month to write an eight paged essay. We spent about two hours typing and researching our topics.

“Mind if I take this chair?” A girl stood in front of us and asked.

“Sure” my friend responded. I didn’t really look at her and was focusing on my topic. However, I caught a glimpse of her hoodie. It was like one of those hoodies I remember seeing in middle school. Some girls wore hoodies with ears. It was a weird trend.

Sometimes they wore matching hoodies and sweatpants.

Then again, I’m wearing a color block hoodie and he’s wearing a grey hoodie. My hoodie resembles the pieces of paper from the hat earlier.

She took the chair and walked towards her group of friends. I had a writer’s block for a moment and didn’t know what to write next. I checked some of the websites but none of them were anything useful to me. It all led me to websites to purchase onesies yet that’s not what I need. Then my thoughts mind on what my friend said earlier.

That’s weird, maybe take a screenshot next time?

No, that’s not it. Well, I will for next time.

Aw that sucks.

Yeah it does.

Maybe you should try looking around?

I did look around. There wasn’t anything. I stared at the blank screen and looked at my friend. There wasn’t anything unusual about him. I pulled out the essay paper guidelines or whatever you called them.

A syndrome is a group of symptoms that represent a specific health care cause.

Not helpful. A syndrome isn’t a disease.

Mind if I take this chair?

Why did I think of her? This isn’t about you.

She’s still there with her friends and I’m still here with him.

Look around?

She got up for a moment to leave. Nothing special.

Hoodies

Mostly everyone wears hoodies but remember that gut feeling? Something that she would use as an excuse before. There wasn't any evidence. It felt like I was forgetting something. No.

A sudden thought of realization.

She wasn't wearing a hoodie.

Author’s note: 

**kuya: it means older brother but could also be used to address an older male for respect.

LOL I forgot about this. Ahhh I remember 2020 like it was yesterday.