literature

034 Stars

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    As a math major, Emily should not technically have been a part of her school’s chapter of the Society of Physics Students. But since she had many friends in the club, and since she practically lived on the second floor of Rohr Science all the time anyways, many of the boys in her Calculus III class had invited her to join them in their pizza partying. It didn’t help that Derek had been in the same unit as several of them back when all the boys lived in Young Hall (some of them still did; thankfully Derek had been lucky enough to draw a room in Wiley). So then, he dragged her along too.

    Truthfully she had only gone for the pizza. Having never taken a physics class before (she took two years of advanced biology in high school for the IB program and she wasn’t planning on taking University Physics I until the next semester), Emily wasn’t sure what to expect at a meeting for the Society of Physics Students.

    It turned out that she didn’t have to worry much.

    The parties consisted mostly of the students (mostly males, since that’s what all engineering departments seemed to be composed of) eating pizza and having fun. At the second meeting of the year, the so-called club members voted for the club’s cabinet positions. As a she was a sophomore, and one that wasn’t even in the proper major for the organization, Emily didn’t know any of the seniors who had been nominated for the positions. It was the seniors who seemed to be doing the most talking though.

    “Wait,” she asked, confused. “Who should I put for the positions? Are they saying something about how the guy who’s running for president isn’t even a physics or engineering major?”

    “Yah, that’s right. Iaen used to be a physics engineering major, but then he switched to math a couple years ago.”

    Oh. Math. That was Emily's major.

    “He is still a physics minor though.”

    “I guess that makes it better... hesitated Emily. Later, after the votes were tallied, she surmised that Iaen would have gotten the position anyways no matter who she picked. Although all the sophomore guys were gathered with her in one corner of the room, they were outnumbered by the seniors who were certainly having the most fun with all this.

    “Soo... I guess the Society of Physics Students is now headed by someone who’s not even in the major...”

    “Yup,” they replied nonchalantly. All the seniors seemed to like the man, or they happened to find the situation amusing. It sounded like Iaen was a very smart individual, and well respected among them. He lived off campus now, with one of the other engineering seniors (who was still stuck in her Calc III class, Emily noted), but he had stuck with the guys in Young Hall for their first two years.

    The third meeting went similarly, though there was no lobbying for the “Creative Specialist” or “Communications Director” positions. This time, they discussed the possibility of having an actual outing for the club (and not just a pizza party with strange videos about potentially creating a settlement on Marsa project that would apparently be funded as a reality TV show...). The club's advising professor taught the Cosmos class for the school’s general education course curriculum, so he suggested driving out to see the stars as a group some night. Iaen, the nearly unanimously elected president of SPS, pushed for setting a concrete date and time for the event.

    Emily had been planning on not attending the fourth meeting then, where they would all drive out some thirty minutes to an hour-and-a-half to a more remote place, farther away from the city lights, where they could see the stars.

    “Come on, Emily. It’ll be fun.” Derek tugged at her sleeve, trying to convince her to join them in their escapades. “I know that the Calc test is on Wednesday, but we’re going on a Saturday. It can’t be that bad.” The grin was still on his tanned face.

    “We’re not staying overnight, are we?” she asked.

    “Nah, not enough people have sleeping bags,” he joked.

    “Oh. Umm, I’ll consider it then,” she replied.

    “Just say yes already!”

    “You’re not helping, Derek!” she brushed his hand off of her arm and headed off to class. “I’ll text you later!” she called back.

    “I won't take no for an answer!” the boy hollered back. He was so persistent sometimes.


    Her eyes widened as she looked out at the dark expanse. Emily had always known that they couldn’t see many of the stars where she usually lived since there was too much pollution, both from gas and from the city lights. But she had never imagined that there could be so many little sparkles out in space. Or that they would be visible just a few miles outside of the city limits.

    “There. Are. So. Many.” She put a pause after each word to emphasize her amazement. She couldn’t get her gaping mouth to shut itself; she had to force it. Emily gulped a bit.

    “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” asked Derek, putting an arm around her shoulder. Obviously he had pestered her enough to make her tag along. No Calc notes! he had made her promise. No studying would be done on this trip. It was time to get outside of school and appreciate the beauty of creation.

    “Yes, it is,” Emily breathed out into the cold air. Southern California, in particular, San Diego, weather might be mild compared to most other places in the world, but it was still cold. She shivered a bit and pulled her coat closer around her, snuggling a little closer to Derek.

    The two friends stood next to each other, smiling and losing themselves in the vast expanse of the universe.



Fun times, fun times. :D :D
(Emily and Derek are good friends who slave away at hw together until 2am. Despite the unnaturally large amount of time they spend in each other's company, they are both in a relationship with someone else.)



~ Dear Beans ~
A slice-of-life story focusing on four friends and their relationships as they grow up.

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Characters: Emily Huang; Derek Castillo | Setting: college/sophomore year (PLNU)
Written | Wed, Nov 14, 2012 // Edited | Fri-Sun, Sep 27-29, 2013 // Edit 2 | Fri, July 11, 2014 // Dear Beans (c) Sorcaron
© 2013 - 2024 Sorcaron
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Let's see if this works.

Porsheee, I told you earlier that I didn't come up with the idea of Emily's mysterious bf until after I had posted '034 Stars.' Upon reviewing the deviation, this is incorrect. I did know about Winston at the time of posting this (Sep 2013). I just hadn't thought of him at the time of writing this (Nov 2012). Idea occurred in May 2013.